based on user assigned labels the user assigned labels may be assigned by users when connections are provisioned altered etc a protection type search field 178 allows a user to search for connections based on the type of protection provided for a connection as described previously protection schemes may be assigned to connections using the protection setup wizard the protection type search field 178 may be associated with a drop down menu that allows a user to select protection types from a predefined list the different types of protection used may be stored in storage medium 31 to populate the drop down list once the user has entered search criteria in one or more search fields the user selects the search icon 180 to initiate the cross connection search user system 30 searches a database of cross connections stored in storage medium 31 for cross connections meeting the search criteria as described above cross connect configuration data from memory device 28 may be copied into storage medium 31 the cross connect configuration data includes connection rates port identifiers connection type connection labels and protection types the user system 30 retrieves connections meeting the search criteria the retrieved cross connections are presented in a results table 182 the user can retrieve detailed information concerning the cross connections in result table 182 by selecting a detail icon 184 this causes the user interface application to retrieve information concerning retrieved cross connections from storage medium 31 and display the detailed information to the user the user may also select a display icon 186 to view a retrieved cross connection from the result table in a graphical format such as that shown in fig4 the user system 30 determines the suitable slice level and granularity so that.