The primary way to find information in the installed base is by end-user address, item number, serial/lot number, or ISB reference number. When a database includes many ISB records and the serial number and end-user code are not known, it is difficult to find the exact item you are looking for.

If you expect to have a large number of items to search, you should consider creating a hierarchical classification of installed base data. This lets users limit the number of records returned from installed base searches by narrowing the search criteria based on user-defined item classifications.