Portal Search Filter not returning users with no value set when set to 'Not Equal To'

Products

• CA Identity Suite

Issue/Introduction

After upgrade to 14.3CP2 we don't get all users when we search. We have a filter saying not equal something.  If we have a filter and the attribute is blank in IDM then the user is not searched.
If we put in eg x in the attribute it works. 

For example, with 3 test users in IDM:

Test1 with a Title of 'Test'
Test2 with a Title of 'User'
Test3 with no title. 

In the Portal with a Form set with a Search with a Filter on the attribute Title:

With no filter, a search for user 'test' in Portal returns all 3 users.
With filter: "Title Equal Test"  only user Test1 with Title "TEST" is returned. 
With filter: "Title Not Equal Test" Only user Test2 with Title "User" is returned. 

Environment

Release : 14.3

Component : CA IDENTITY SUITE (VIRTUAL APPLIANCE)

Resolution

This was discussed at length internally and our engineering team was consulted.   This did work in the past, but the database load was significant, and sometime around the 14.1 cp9, 14.2 CP4, 14.3 cp1 time frame this was changed to only return attributes with actual values. Meaning the search filters ignore users with no attribute value set at all. 

The resolution will be to update all of your users to ensure everyone has a Title set. 

The simplest method would be to create a generic or default Employee type and use dxmodify to update everyone without a Title to have this default Title.  Once users have a Title set, they will be returned in both the 'equals' and the 'not equals' filter conditions. 

Additional Information

Documentation on DXModify:

DXmodify Tool -- Add New or Changed Information to a Directory