As many things in MOSS there are numerous ways to do something, and numerous levels. In this entry I am going through setting up a search scope in my SSP (vs. doing one local on a site collection), mapping  columns from a custom content type, and making a managed property searchable in an advanced search control. This is VERY simplistic but hopefully, you can take the guide given hear and apply it to whatever you need to do.   

                Please check out the links I reference on the end of this article. These guys have some great and more in depth info on parts of this process.

1.       Create and deploy Custom Content type

2.       Create Search Scope(s)

a.       Central Administration/SSP level

                                                               i.      Set up the Search scope in the SSP administration

1.       Click “Search settings “ link

2.       In the Scopes section click “View Scopes”

3.       Click “New Scope”

4.       Enter all valid info and click “OK”

5.       Click on you new scope and click “new rule”

6.       Enter your rule and click OK.

7.       Repeat #7 as many times as you need to complete your set of rules for the current scope.

                                                             ii.      Once search scope is set up you will need to enable it on your various site collections that will need to utilize it.

1.       To do this, do into the site collections settings menu (go to your root site, and in the site actions drop down go to all settings).

2.       Click Search Scopes link (your new scope will be in here marked as “unused”)

3.       Click on the link that says “Search Dropdown” it is in the search scope listing on one of the section titles.

4.       Check the box next to your scope, set any appropriate order/default settings and click OK

3.       Set Managed Properties for Content Type Columns

a.       Navigate to the SSP Administration site, click “Search Settings”

b.      Next click on the “Meta data property mappings” link

c.       Click on “New Managed Property”

d.      Enter the properties friendly name (no spaces), description, and select the data type

e.      Then click the “add mapping” button

f.        Find your property in the listing, select it, and click OK

g.       Check the search scope checkbox if you want this managed property to be used in defining search scopes.

h.      Click OK

4.       Modify Advanced Search Web part to allow search on Managed properties

a.       Open page that contains  the advanced search web part

b.      Edit page, on the advanced search web part, modify shared web part

c.       Under the properties section, find the entry in the Properties text box.

                                                               i.      T o make your life simple,  copy it into some type of XML editor that will format it for you.

                                                             ii.      First, in the “propertyDefs”  node, insert and entry for your Managed Property

                                                            iii.      Next, add it to every valid Result type (see the result types node

                                                           iv.      Copy your updated text into the Properties entry for the advanced search web part. You should  now be able to search on your property (make sure you run a full crawl from your SSP site to be safe.

References

1.     http://blah.winsmarts.com/2007-5-MOSS_2007_Trick_-_Search_Scopes_+_Managed_Properties__Tasty_Dish.aspx

2.    http://blogs.msdn.com/cjohnson/archive/2006/10/19/moss-search-scopes-missing-in-action.aspx