Sort Order

A Person Finder and Profile Page Parameter

The Sort Order option in the Profile Page MultiEdit lets you override the default sort order of a Person Finder. For example, you can place a Dean or Department Chair at the top of the list regardless of their alphabetic position.

Sort Order Numbering

Adding a numeric value to the sort order field will override alphabetic sorting (e.g. to place the Dean at the top of the list, enter '1', or to push someone to the bottom of the list, enter a value > 1000).

There are no campus-wide guidelines on how you can use sort ordering, however, you can use the Faculty Staff Listing Sort Order Numbers spreadsheet as a guide*.

*the sort order spreadsheet was developed by Manny Uribe for use in the College of Education. Feel free to reach out with any questions about sort ordering.

Tips When Implementing

The Sort Order field on a profile page is optional.
Profiles with a sort value are listed numerically first, followed by profiles without a sort value in alphabetical order.
Sort Order numbers do not need to be sequential. For example, profiles with sort values 10, 20, and 30 will be listed first. Leaving gaps between sort values allows easier insertion of new profiles without renumbering.
Multiple profiles can share the same sort value. These profiles will be grouped together, with alphabetical order serving as a tiebreaker.
Profiles without a specific sort number are assigned a default value of 999. To push profiles to the bottom of the list, use sort values greater than 1000.

Handling Profiles with Multiple Roles

If a profile needs different ordering based on job roles in various Person Finder listings, you can use a duplicate profile as a workaround.

Scenario: Dr. Wan, Associate Dean for Research & Professor

Context

Dr. Lalita Wan is an associate dean in her college but she is also a professor in her academic department. Therefore she appears on the following Person Finder pages:

Full College Listing
Dean's Office Listing
Academic Department Listing

Problem 1: Conflicting Role Order

According to the Sort Order Numbers spreadsheet, an Associate Dean ranks higher than a Professor, so Dr. Wan appears above her department chair on the Academic Department Listing.

Solution: two profile pages with different sort order values

Create two profiles for Dr. Wan, one for each job role.

Associate Dean Profile
- Filename: lalita-wan.pcf
- Sort Order #: 30
- Tite: Associate Dean of Research
- Tag: Dean's Office
Professor Profile
- Filename: lalita-wan-department.pcf
- Sort Order #: 300
- Title: Professor
- Tag : [tag used in department listing, e.g. Physics, Special Education, or Management]

Problem 2: Duplicate Profiles

If we create a second profile, Dr. Wan will appear twice on the Full College Listing.

Solution: exclude duplicate profile

To avoid duplicate profiles, use the Duplicate Profile tag. Then, in the Properties of the Person Finder page, use the "Exclude Tags" option to target thte Duplicate Profile tag.

Problem 3: Maintaining Two Profiles

We don't want to maintain two separate profile pages.

Solution: redirect duplicate profile

If you only want to maintain one profile, redirect the duplicate profile to the main profile page. The option to redirect a profile page is not available by default. You will need to submit an IT support ticket for assistance or, if you have source code access, add the following code to the source code just after the Search Engine Optimization parameter:


                <parameter name="redirect-type" group="education page-redirect" type="radio" prompt="Redirect Type" alt="Choose whether to use a temporary or permanent redirect to the location set in Redirect Destination.">
                  <option value="" selected="true">No Redirect</option>
                  <option value="302" selected="false">Temporary Redirect</option>
                  <option value="301" selected="false">Permanent Redirect</option>
                </parameter>
                <parameter name="redirect-destination" group="education page-redirect" type="filechooser" dependency="yes" lockout="no" prompt="Redirect Destination" alt="Enter a URL or select a file which users will be redirected to when visiting this page (if Redirect Type is set)."></parameter>

If you choose to redirect a duplicate profile, you may want to use both job titles in the main profile (e.g. Associate Dean of Research and Professor).