Issue
Users report that search "misses" records that definitely exist — or finds a record on one spelling but not on a very similar one.
The usual complaints:
Shortening a first name works, but shortening a surname finds nothing.
Adding more search criteria returns fewer results, not more.
A record is found with a hyphen included, but not without it.
One wrong digit in a date of birth returns nothing at all.
This is expected. Fenergo search tolerates typos, but it is not a SQL-style wildcard search.
Key Points
Search allows up to 2 wrong characters per word. Never more, however long the word.
Punctuation splits words apart.
Ashworth-Bellis stored as two words:AshworthandBell.First names are forgiving. Surnames, entity names, dates and dropdowns are not.
Every field you fill in must match. More criteria = fewer results.
Search is not case sensitive.
Resolution
The four rules
1. Up to 2 wrong characters per word.
A wrong character means one missing, extra, replaced, or swapped letter. Ashwrth finds Ashworth (1 missing). Ashwrt does not reach it (2 missing is the limit, and this needs more).
2. Punctuation and spaces split words apart.
Each piece is stored and searched separately, and the pieces are never rejoined. So Ashworth-Bell and AshworthBell behave completely differently.
3. First names get an extra shortcut. Nothing else does.
A first name also matches on just its first three letters — so Kat finds Katherine. Surnames and entity names have no such shortcut, so Ash will never find Ashworth.
4. Some fields must be exact.
Dates (including date of birth) must match to the day. Dropdown fields like Country and Entity Type must match exactly. Any difference removes the record from your results completely.
Example
An entity exists in the system:
First Name: Katherine Surname: Ashworth-Bell Date of Birth: 12 March 1975
You search for | Result | Why |
| Exact match | Both words match perfectly |
| Found | Matches the first stored word |
| Found | Matches the second stored word |
| Found | One missing letter — within the limit |
| Not found | No hyphen makes it one long word, too far from |
| Not found | Far too short, and surnames get no shortcut |
| Found | First names match on their first three letters |
| Not found | Same shortening, but surnames don't allow it |
| Not found | One wrong digit in a date removes the record |
The same idea applies to company names. If an entity is stored as Northwind Capital Partners Ltd, searching Northwind or Northwind Capital finds it. But searching all four words against an entity stored only as Northwind will not — you typed more words than the record contains.
How to search well
Type less, not more. Start with the most distinctive word and add criteria only if you get too many results.
Never abbreviate a surname or entity name. Type it in full, or type just its first word.
Match the punctuation as it is stored or leave that part out.
Only add a date or dropdown if you are certain. These are the criteria most likely to silently hide the record.
Skip generic words like
Ltd,LimitedorHoldings. Thousands of records contain them.If a record won't appear, remove criteria one at a time to find which field is excluding it.
Verification
Search on one thing only — the entity's most distinctive name word. If the record appears, another criterion was excluding it.
Copy the name exactly as shown on the Entity Profile page and search that. It should always return an exact match.
If it still returns nothing, this is not fuzzy matching — raise a support ticket with the entity name and the exact text you searched.