Using Views and Filters in Tour deForce

Purpose

 

The purpose of this technical bulletin is provide users with instructions and overview of how to use the Grid Manager to create views and filters so that users can view information relevant to their daily processes.  This document also discusses how views can be used to speed up the load times of grids, as well as provide a best practices and tips for using filters and managing views.

 

This technical bulletin contains the following sections:

 

1. Overview of Personal and Global Views
2. Overview of Client-Side Filters, Server-Side Filters, and Parent Filters
3. How to Create a New Personal View
4. How to Set a Default Date Range to a New or Existing View
5. How to Set a Default View
6. Best Practices for Creating and Managing Views

 

Note: Read the documentation completely before using views and filters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Overview of Personal and Global Views

Views are one of the main components, if not the main component, of the grids in Tour de Force.  Without views each user of Tour de Force would see all the information pulled in from the ERP System or entered in by other users, even if that information was not relevant to their daily operations. A view in Tour de Force is similar to looking through a window; they are designed to only let users view a limited amount of information.  At first views may seem limiting, and for some company’s views may not be necessary, however for most company’s views are necessary parts of using Tour de Force effectively and efficiently.

 

Views are especially useful when viewing large volume records and items, such as Accounts and Contacts.  Even when limiting a user’s permissions to only view what is in their territory or region, the amount of Accounts and other records that show in the grids can become overwhelming; especially when that user may only have a few Accounts they need to view on a daily basis.  

 

However, with filters and views users can create their own personal window into the information available in Tour de Force, which allows those users to quickly and effectively view the information that is only relevant to their day-to-day business practices.  There are two view types associated with Tour de Force: Personal Views and Global Views.  Understanding the differences between these two view types is important when working with views in Tour de Force.

 

Global Views

 

A Global View is typically used to display company related information that all users can view.  For example, a Global View can be created to show all Account records created in the first, second, third, or fourth quarters for the current fiscal year.  While Global Views can be viewed by all users, only users that have Global Grid Management rights have the ability to create and edit Global Views.

 

The Earth symbol is used to designate that the user is currently viewing a Global View.

 

 

 

Personal Views

 

A Personal View is created by a normal user of Tour de Force by filtering information off of a Global View.  For example, if there is a Global View called All Account Records, a normal user could filter down to the Accounts that they need to see and then save the view.  Clicking the Save button displays a dialog box that informs the user that they cannot create a Global View but can save the view as a Personal View.  Personal Views can only be accessed on that user’s computer who created the Personal View.  Personal Views are sometimes referenced in other documentation as Local Views.

 

The House symbol is used to designate that the user is currently viewing a Personal View.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Overview of Client-Side Filters, Server-Side Filters, and Parent Filters

Filters are used to narrow down a particular view to either narrow the focus of that view or to create a new view.  A majority of the Views in Tour de Force were created by adding a filter to an existing view.  There are three types of filters in Tour de Force:  Client-side filters, Server-side filters, and Parent filters.  While all three types of filters functions the same, there are key differences that determine when a user should use each filter.  All three types of filters can be accessed in the Grid Manager.

 

Server-Side Filters

 

The Server-side filters are used to filter information before the data is downloaded to the user’s computer from the server.  Using a Server-side filter can reduce load times, but does not allow the user to see the number of records or items filtered from the view.  Also a Server-side filter cannot be enabled, disabled, or edited directly from the grid.  In order to disable a Server-side filter the user must return to the Grid Manager and remove the filter that is set.  So in order to see what information has been filtered from the current view the Server-side filter has to be removed and the view needs to be resaved.  

 

 

The biggest benefit to using Server-side filters is for users with lower spec computers or salespeople located at a customer site with a slow internet connection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parent Filters

 

The Parent filters are used to create filters based on the record or items Parent fields and to filter out or down to records that meet the criteria.  Parent filters work similarly to Server-side filters in that the information filtered before downloaded to a user’s computer.  

 

For example, if a user wants to create a view that only displays Activities linked to or created from a certain Account record, the Parent filter would be used to create the necessary criteria for that filter.  Just like the Server-side filter, using a Parent filter can speed up the load time of grids but does not let the user see how many records and items have been filtered out of the view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Client-side Filters

 

When a user is creating a filter the filter is typically a Client-side filter.  The Client-side filters are used to filter information after the data is downloaded to a user’s computer from the server.  While using a Client-side filter does not speed up load times, there are a few advantages to using Client-side filters over using Server-side filters and Parent filters.  One of the advantages is being able to see the filter string at the bottom of the grid that indicates the filter being used for that view.  A Client-side filter also displays how many records have been filtered out of the view giving a user a good indication of how many records or items for that record or item type could be in the view.  Users also have the ability to remove the filter temporarily to see the record or items that have been filtered out without having to go to the Grid Manager and deleting the filter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. How to Create a New Personal View

Not every user in Tour de Force wants, or needs to see all of the information available in Tour de Force.  Most users may only have a few Accounts or Contacts they need to view on a regular basis.  Although permissions can be used to limit what people have access to and what those users can edit, there are still going to be certain records or items users do not need to view on a daily basis.  Views are necessary to give users of Tour de Force a window to view their relevant data and help improve their effectiveness and efficiency.  Tour de Force is pre-loaded with certain Global Views, views such as All Account Records, or All Opportunity Records, and users with Global Grid Management permissions can create Global Views.  However, Global Views may not be a narrow of enough look for some users and some users would like to create their own views without having to ask an administrator to create a view.  

 

Tour de Force allows users to create their own views that are stored on their local machine.  Personal Views work the same way that Global Views do, however any Personal Views created by a user can only be accessed on the computer that the view is created from.

 

Use the following procedures to create a new Personal View:

 

1. Open any grid in Tour de Force that contains a view; such as an Account grid, Opportunity grid, etc.

 

2. Choose the view that contains the necessary information to create the Personal View.

 

For example, a good Global View to use to create an Account view is the All Accounts view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Right click on a column in the grid after the view loads.

 

4. In the Quick Actions menu that displays, select Manage Grid. The Grid Manager opens.

 

 

5. In the Grid Manager select the type of filter that needs to be used.

 

Note:  The type of filter that needs to be used is determined by the user and the company practices and policies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. In the filter box, select a condition.  There are four different types of conditions to use:

 

1. And
2. Or
3. Not And
4. Not Or

 

7. To change the condition, click the operator hyperlink.  This displays a list of the different conditions to use in a filter string.

 

 

8. After a condition has been set, click the plus sign next to the condition to begin a new filter string.

 

9. Click the User Defined Field hyperlink to select the UDF to use in the filter.  The UDFs that are available are dependent upon the grid being used to create the new View.

 

For example, if the grid that is being used is the Accounts grid then UDFs available on the Account record form are going to be available for use in the filter string.

 

 

10. Click the Operator link to display a list of filter operations available for the UDF selected.

 

For example, if the filter string needs to be an UDF equaling a value, select the Equals operator.

 

 

 

11. In the value field, select the necessary value that is going to define the Personal View.

 

 

Note:  The UDF selected in the UDF link determines what UDF values display in the value link.  If the UDF is a text field, then only a text box displays that users can use to type in the desired value.

 

12. Once finished creating the necessary filter string, click the Apply button.  The gird refreshes to show the data that is going to display for the current filter set.

 

 

 

 

 

13. After the grid refreshes click the Save button.

 

 

14. In the dialog box that appears click the Create as Local button.

 

Note:  Only users with Global Grid Management rights can overwrite or create a new Global View.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15. Type in a name for the new Personal View and click the OK button.

 

 

16. The new Personal View gets added to the Personal View list for that grid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. How to Create a Default Date Range for a New or Existing View

A date range can be set in the Grid Manager that allows users to filter information based on several date fields.  Date ranges can be set for a fixed date range, a relative date range, or a pre-defined date range.  The fields that are available to filter on are based on the creation date, mod date, link creation, link mod date, last activity date, and Prospecting date.  

 

Setting a default date range is a useful method for filtering out old items, speeding up load times, and creating views based on date fields in Tour de Force.  For example, if the Sales Manager wanted to create a view called “New Accounts Created in the Last 30 Days”, then the date range filter would be used to create a new relative date range.

 

Use the following procedures to set a default date range:

 

1. Open a record or item grid in the Manager’s Console that needs to have the new view.  If using an existing view then choose the grid that contains that view.

 

For example, if the date range needs to be applied to Account records, access the Accounts grid and select the view to use to add the date range to.

 

2. Once the grid loads, right click on any column in the grid and select Manage Grid in the Quick Actions menu.

 

3. In the Grid Manager, click the “Click here to add a new row” box in the Default Date Range section.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Select a date field to base the date range off of in the Select a date field.  The date field that needs to be selected is dependent solely on the purpose of the new view being created.

 

 

5. After selecting the date field to use, select which type of date range to use.  There are four options to choose from:

 

1. Create a fixed date range – This option would be used if the user needed to select a fixed date range for a specific period of time.  For example, if the view being created needed to view all Activities created in the month of September then the Start Date would be September 1^st and the End Date would be September 30.  Note that this date range is based on a specific year for the dates selected.

 

 

2. Create a relative date range – This option is used to create a date range plus or minus the current day’s date.  The relative date range is used to look at a set date range based on a start date and an end date.  The relative date range works similarly to an open ended relative date range; however, because this option needs to look at two filters instead of one, this default date range operates slower.

 

 

3. Create an open ended relative date range – This option is used to create a date range plus or minus the current date and then looking in the future or the past from that date.  For example, if users want to create a view that shows all Activity items created in the last seven days, then select All Future in the Open End field, then in the Start Date field type in -7, and finally in the Unit field select Days.

 

 

4. Use a pre-defined date range – This option is used to create a view based on a specific set of time based on a pre-defined setting set by the company.  For example, if the view being created needed to view all Activities created in the Last Quarter then Last Quarter would be selected in the Select a pre-defined date filter field.

 

 

6. If the option selected is not the correct date range to use, do not click the X in the lower left hand corner.  Click the Options hyperlink to return to the date options screen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Click the X in the lower left corner to save the date filter.

 

 

8. After the date range has been selected, click the Apply button.  This applies the change to the view.

 

9. Click the Save button.  

 

10. Click Create New to create the view as a Global View or click Create as Local to create a new Personal View.

 

11. Name the new view and click the OK button.

 

12. To remove a date range from a view select the row of the date range to remove and press the Delete key on the keyboard.  Make sure to click Apply and re-save the view to completely remove the date filter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. How to Set a Default View

When a user of Tour de Force opens a record or item type grid in the Manager’s Console, the first view that displays is the Default View.  Two default views can be set: A Global Default View and a Personal Default View.

 

Default views are used to give users quicker access to information that they need to see on a daily basis.  For example, a Sales Manager may want to see a view that displays all Activities created in the last 24 hours, they would want to display that view each time they go to the Activity item grid.  How default views are used is entirely dependent upon the company using Tour de Force.  If no view is indicated as being the default view, then the grid is going to load all the available records or items for that grid type selected.  

 

Tour de Force recommends selecting a Global Default view to prevent large amounts of data from being loaded each time a user opens a record or item grid.  The views available to set as a default view is dependent upon the grid currently opened.

 

Use the following procedures to set a Global and Personal Default View:

 

1. Access any of the record or item type grids in the Manager’s Console.

 

2. Once the view loads, click the Manage Grid Views button on the toolbar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. In the Summary View Manager window, click the Global Views tab.

 

 

4. Click the checkbox in the Default View field to set that view as the Default View.

 

Note: Only one Global View can be set as the default view for that record or item type.  Only users with Global Grid Management Rights can set a default Global View.

 

 

5. Click the Personal Views tab.

 

 

 

6. Click the checkbox in the Default View field to set that view as the default Personal View.

 

Note:  Only one Personal View can be set as the default view for that record or item type.

 

 

7. Close the Summary View Manager.

 

8. The Default View now loads when initially accessing that grid and the Default View is bold in the view list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Best Practices for Creating and Managing Views

There are multiple ways to create views, and to cover all of the filters and methods for creating views goes beyond the scope of this technical bulletin.  However, there are some tips and best practices to follow to maximize the efficiency of using views and filters in Tour de Force.  Listed below are a list of best practices and some tips.  These are not requirements but are meant to give users a good idea of what to watch out for, and some fields to use when creating views to help with creating and managing those views.

 

• Understand the differences between each filter type, and use them accordingly

 

The three types of filters; Client-side filter, Server-side filter, Parent filter each have different methods of filtering data.  When to use each filter is always going to be up to the discretion of the company and the user.  Knowing the pros and cons of each filter type should help with making that decision.  For example, if a user is having a difficult time loading a view with a large amount of data, but they are using a Client-side filter, it may be a good idea to change that filter to a Server-side filter to help with load times.

 

• Inactive versus Active records and items

 

When it appears that a view does not contain all the records or items it should, or the view contains more records than it should, one of the first areas to check is the Grid Manager.  The Grid Manager contains settings that can be applied to the view that can change what can or cannot be seen while using that view.  If the numbers do appear to be off make sure that the view is displaying either Active or Inactive items, or both depending upon what the view was designed to show. Please refer to Technical Bulletin 6603 – The Grid Manager for further information regarding the settings in the Grid Manager.

 

• Impacts on load times of grids

 

There are several factors that come into play when it comes to load times for grids in Tour de Force.  There are a few options that, if enabled, can greatly impact the load time of a grid.  The Auto-size columns and Expand All Groupings settings have the biggest impact on grids in Tour de Force.  Auto-sizing columns should only be applied to grids with smaller amounts of data, and Expand All Groupings should be used only if necessary.  These two features, while useful, have a great impact on grid load times and should only be applied to grids that load quickly.

 

• Create views that show the necessary information

 

Views are windows that users look through to view the data contained in Tour de Force.  Filters are used to narrow down those windows to create views that are more specific and relevant to a user’s daily operations.  If users are continuously loading a large View just so they can see a few Account records users should create a new view to narrow down the results.  For example, if users are accessing the All Active Accounts view just so that they can look at a few Accounts, those users should create a new view based on that filter they are using instead of trying to load a grid that could potentially have thousands of records they do not need to see.

 

 

• Views cannot be created in Tour de Force Mobile

 

Tour de Force Mobile currently does not allow users to create or manage views.  However, views that have been created in Tour de Force appear in Tour de Force Mobile with the exact same filtering.

 

• Multiple filters can be applied to the same view

 

If a user creates a view that contains a Server-side filter, the user can use that same view to create a new view using a Client-side filter.  Applying a new filter does not remove the existing filter.  However, if using multiple filters on a single view it is important to make sure that the filters are not trying to contradict each other.  For example, if the Server-side filter is filtering out Accounts with sales less than $10,000 dollars, a Client-side filter cannot be created on that same view to show Accounts with sales greater than $10,000.  These filters contradict each other and no data would display for that view.

 

• Relative date range works similar to the open ended date range but returns data much slower

 

The relative date range and the open ended date range operate in a similar data, however because the relative date range is looking at two filters it returns data at a much slower rate.  If a user has a relative date range filter set up and their grid is loading data at a slower rate, try and set up an open ended relative date range instead.  The open ended relative date range is only looking at one filter instead of two, and normally returns data at a faster rate.

 

 

 

Version: 6          Technical Bulletin 6602