mis 5208 l5 - working with expressions · § a filter sifts records, only returning those that meet...

Fox School of BusinessCopyright©2015EdwardS.Ferrara

MIS 5208 – L5 ACL: Work ing with Express ions

EdFerrara,MSIA,[email protected]

AuditCommandLanguageFundamentals


Work ing with Express ions§ Expressionsarestatementsusedprimarily

tocreatefiltersandcomputedfields.§ Theyperform:

§ Calculations,§ Specifylogicalconditions,§ Createvaluesthatdonotexistinthedata

file.§ Expressionscanbe:

§ Namedandsavedaspartofaproject§ Createdjustforimmediateuse(temporary)

§ Theoutputofanexpressioncanbereturnedinanyofthefourdatatypes:§ logical§ character§ numeric§ datetime

§ Filters(Logicalexpressions)§ Filtersarelogicalexpressions,that

selectrecordsinyouranalysisfilebasedonaparticular- evaluatingeachrecordasbeing:

§ True§ False

§ Logicalexpressionsrestricttheviewedrecordsbasedontheexpressioncriteria

§ Forexample,youcancreateafilterthatselectsonlyrecordsthatfallwithinaspecifiedrangeofdates.


Computed F ie lds§ Acomputedfieldis:

§ Virtual§ Derivedfromacalculationthatreferenceseither

physicalfield(s)and/orpreviouslycreatedcomputedfield(s).

§ Return:§ Character(character)§ Numeric(numeric)§ Date(datetime)§ Logicalvalues§ Conditionalorunconditional.

§ Oncecreated,theycanbetreatedasphysicalfields.

§ ACLAnalyticsevaluatesexpressionsfromlefttoright,accordingtothefollowingrules:§ Operatorsareevaluatedinorderofarithmetic

precedence.§ Useparentheses()tomodifytheorderinwhich

theexpressionisevaluated.§ Eachoperatorworksonlyifitsoperandsareofan

acceptabletype.


Us ing Express ions

§ Valuableandflexibletool - usethemto:§ Performawiderangeofcalculations§ Createfilters§ Preparedataforanalysis§ Createcomputedfields

§ ExpressionContent§ Datafields§ Functions§ Literals§ Constants§ Variables§ Arithmeticorlogicaloperators

Source:ACLAnalyticsOnLineUserGuide(https://enablement.acl.com/helpdocs/analytics/12/user-guide/en-us/Default.htm#cshid=using-expressions)


Us ing Express ions

Source:ACLAnalyticsOnLineUserGuide(https://enablement.acl.com/helpdocs/analytics/12/user-guide/en-us/Default.htm#cshid=using-expressions)


Express ion Operators


F i l ter ing§ Afiltersiftsrecords,only

returningthosethatmeetspecifiedconditions;filtersevaluateastrueorfalseandreturnrecordsthatmeetthespecifiedconditions.

§ Thevaluesinthefiltersyntaxgovernwhichrecordswillbereturnedafterapplyingthefilter.

§ Filtersareconstructedusingacombinationoffieldnames,operators,andstrings,dates,orvalues.

Source:ACLAnalyticsFoundations(https://academy.acl.com/unit/view/id:7465)


C reate F i l ters and Quick F i l ters



Search ing Us ing F i l ters§ SearchforaStartingString

§ Filterscanbeusedtofindspecificwords.Bydefault,searchbehaveslikeawildcard(looksforeveryoccurrencewherethe valuebeginswiththe filterstring;itdoesn’tmatterwhatisafterthestring).

§ Whenthefilter,fieldname="string"isconstructed:§ Thestringbeingsearchedformustbeatthestartofthefield.§ Alphacharacters(A-Z)arecasesensitive

§ Onlycharacterfieldscanbeusedforwordsearches.§ Thesearchcanbeperformedonanycharacterswithinthefield(A-Z,0-9,orsymbols).

• ThewildcardbehavioriscontrolledbyExactCharacterComparisons(ECC).

• IfECCison,theremainderofthefieldvalueafterthesearchforstringmustbeblankinorderforittobepickedup.

• ThetableshowshowvalueswillevaluateifECCisturnedonoroff.

Source:ACLAnalyticsFoundations(https://academy.acl.com/unit/view/id:7467) Consider the filter LastName = "SMITH"


Turn ing ECCOn/ Of f ECCcanbefoundunder Tools > Options>Table.

Source: ACL Analytics Foundations (https://academy.acl.com/unit/view/id:7467)


Express ion Bu i lder

Source:ACLAnalyticsSoftware v12


App ly ing F i l ters – Dynamic &Programmat icECCcanbefoundunder Tools > Options>Table.

Source:ACLAnalyticsSoftware v12


Search ing§ SearchforaStartingString

§ Filterscanbeusedtofindspecificwords.Bydefault,thesearchbehaveslikeawildcard(looksforeveryoccurrencewherethe valuebeginswiththe filterstring;itdoesn’tmatterwhatisafterthestring).Whenthefilter,fieldname="string"isconstructed:

§ Thestringbeingsearchedformustbeatthestartofthefield.§ Alphacharacters(A-Z)arecasesensitive§ Onlycharacterfieldscanbeusedforwordsearches.§ Thesearchcanbeperformedonanycharacterswithinthefield(A-Z,0-9,orsymbols)



Filter&SearchingClassActivity


F i l ter wi th Condi t iona ls

Howmanycustomershaveacreditlimitofatleast$10,000ANDbelongtoSalesRep00210,00140,or00190?


F i l ters wi th Express ion Bu i lder


C lass Act iv i ty§ Howmanycustomershaveacreditlimitofatleast$10000ANDbelongtoSales

Rep00210,00140,or00190?§ Createafilternamed limit_less_10000.§ Usingyoursavedfilter,limit_less_10000,buildafilterthatwilldisplaycustomers

whodonothavealimitofatleast$10000.Whichoperatorwillaccomplishthis?§ Createafilternamesf_limit_less_10000.Usingyoursavedfilter,buildafilterthat

willdisplaycustomerswhodonothavealimitofatleast$10000.Whichoperatorwillaccomplishthis?

§ Howmanycustomershaveacreditlimitlessthan$10000?§ HowmanycustomersbelongtoSalesRep00210?§ Intotal,howmanycustomersbelongtoSalesRep00210,00140,or00190?


Uncondit iona l Computed F ie lds

§ Anunconditionalcomputedfieldappliesthesameexpressiontoeveryrecordinthefile.

§ Note:§ Acomputedfieldmustbenamedandalwayssavedtoyourwork

file.§ Example:

§ Inasalestransactionfile,everytransactionrequiresadiscounttobecalculatedonthefinalamountat10%.

§ Theexpressionneedstobeappliedunilaterally(unconditionally)toeveryrecord.



Uncondit iona l Computed F ie lds


Computed F ie lds§ Onlyexistinthetableandarenota

partofthedatasource.§ Mustbenamed.§ Canreturnacharacter,numericor

dateoutput.§ TherulesforusingtheExpression

BuildertocreateacomputedfieldaresimilartothoseforcreatingafilterasdetailedintheExpressionBuilderpage.

ComputedField

Unconditional(Same Expression

Applied)

Conditional(Different Expression

Applied Based On Each Condition)


Thank you.

ComputedFieldClassActivity


C lass Act iv i ty§ Background:Sincepaychecksareissuedmonthly,thepay_per_period foreachemployee

shouldequal1/12thoftheirsalary:§ Calculatethevariance(difference)betweentheoriginalsalaryfieldandthecomputedfield,

c_SalaryRecalc,createanotherfieldcalledc_SalaryVariance.§ Positivevaluesinthec_SalaryRecalc fieldshouldreflectpayperiodoverpayments.§ SelectEdit>TableLayout.§ ClicktheAddaNewExpressionbutton.Under nameenterc_SalaryRecalc.Click onthef(x)buttonand

enterthesyntaxpay_per_period *12.§ ClickOK.§ Clickthegreencheckmarktoaccepttheentry.§ Don’tclosethetablelayoutwindow.§ Usingthesyntaxpay_per_period *12,createacomputedfield,namedc_SalaryRecalc,torecalculate

thesalaryforeachemployee.§ Nexttotheoriginalsalaryfield,addthec_SalaryRecalc andc_SalaryVariance fieldstoyourview.§ Whatisthetotalvariance?(TOTALcommand).§ Foramoredetailedbreakdownofthevariance,youcanruntheSTATISTICScommandonthe

c_SalaryVariance field.§ Noticehowmanyofthevariancesareforonly4cents?§ Filtertoexcludevariances+/- 5centsusingthefilterc_SalaryVariance >.05ORc_SalaryVariance <-

.05


Condi t iona l Computed F ie lds

§ Whendifferentcalculationsneedtobeappliedbasedondifferentconditionswithinthefile,oneexpression,knownasaconditionalcomputedfield,canbecreated.Inaconditionalcomputedfield,valuesarecalculatedconditionally.

§ Note:§ Acomputedfieldmustbenamedandalwayssaved.

§ Inaconditionalcomputedfield,differentvaluesareassignedwhenaspecifiedconditionismet.

§ Everyconditionalcomputedfieldhasa defaultvalue whichisthevaluethatisassignedifnoneoftheconditionsaremet.


Condi t iona l Computed F ie lds


Funct ions

§ Functionsareusedtoapplycalculationsforawidevarietyofpurposes.


Between


Between§ Tolearnmoreabouta

specificfunction,selectHelp>Contents andenterthefunctionname.

§ Canbeaccessedfromthefunctionlist,ontherightsideoftheexpressionbuilder.

§ Canbesub-listedintooneofeightcategories:§ all,bit/char,conversion,date

&time§ financial,logical,math§ miscellaneous,andstring

§ Bydefault,thePasteParameterscheck-boxischecked,meaningthat


Computed F ie ld – YEAR() Funct ion


ClassActivityComputedField


YEAR( ) Funct ion§ Createacomputedfield, c_HireYear,thatcalculatestheyearthateachemployee

washiredin.§ Inthe Empmast table,right-clickintheViewandselect Addcolumns.§ Click Expr...§ IntheSaveAstextbox,enter c_HireYear.§ IntheFunctionslist,scrolldowntothe YEAR() functionanddouble-clickonit

sothatitappearsintheExpressiontextbox.§ Double-clickonthe'date/datetime'parametersothatitishighlighted.§ Inthe AvailableFields list,scrolldownto hiredate anddouble-clickonitso

thatitreplaces'date/datetime'intheExpressiontextbox.§ Click Verify toconfirmthatthesyntaxisvalidandthenclick OK tosavethe

fieldandclosetheExpressionBuilder.§ Inthe AddColumns dialog,click OK.


ABS( ) Funct ion§ Sincepaycheques areissuedmonthly,thepay_per_period foreachemployee

shouldequal1/12thoftheirsalary.§ ClickontheEditViewFilterbuttonatthetopoftheview.§ Entertheexpression:ABS(c_SalaryVariance)>.05.§ ClickOK


F i xed Po int Ar i thmet ic (Rounding)§ Whencalculating

multiplicationordivision,ACLAnalyticsusesfixed-pointarithmetic.Thismeansthattheresultisroundedtothelargestnumberofdecimalplacesusedintheexpression.


Questions?

mis 5208 l5 - working with expressions · § a filter sifts records, only returning those that meet...

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