We're targeting our Global Text Search capability for the Winter 2009 release (in two months). Since no new feature just "pops up" from the aether, fully formed and complete, it's obviously a work in progress.
Effective last Friday, all new instances will have the Text Search plugin installed by default. This includes /demo, refreshed every day. As of our Summer 2008 Stable 2 build, the plugin is installable by an admin.
Admins can define who can search what, and in what order the results are displayed. I think that makes more sense than us trying to rank and file results from hundreds of tables of information. Out of box there are defined search groups, with specific tables in each (tasks are collected, policy-type information, too, and so on).
Make no mistake: this plugin is BETA quality at this exact moment. As one of the folks primarily responsible for its success, I can think of a few things definitely wrong, another few things that need slight improvement, but also a few things that are pretty darn cool. And I can also say that practically every day since I started working on it, it has improved. Two more months? Fuggedaboutit. It'll be topnotch.
So please check it out, at http://demo.service-now.com at the very least. All feedback is welcome; a comment on this blog entry is sufficient: I'll see it.
Find documentation at http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?title=Global_Text_Search
--J
