Can I save my subset for future use or to share it with other WebCATS users?
If you create a subset that will be frequently used by yourself (or others), you have the option of saving that subset during its creation process, as described in the FAQ titled How do I create a subset?. Upon saving, that subset is always available to you. For example, if you create and save a client subset titled "All HUBZone Certified Clients," then whenever you view client records, regardless of which center is currently active in WebCATS, this custom subset will be available to you for selection, as shown next.
Sharing Saved Subsets With Other WebCATS Users
By default, saved subsets are only available to the user who created and saved them. But, if you think other WebCATS users will benefit from your saved subset, you can share it (or edit or delete it) from WebCATS' Subset Management screen.
The steps for sharing a saved subset are outlined next.
- From WebCATS' left-hand menu, select Tools|Manage Subsets.
- The Subset Management screen opens to display all subsets that you have created. Click the edit icon to the left of the subset you want to share.
- In the Subset Detail screen, find the Make subset available to field and from this field's drop-down menu, select "Selected centers."
- By default, WebCATS makes the subset available to the same centers that records are included from. But you can expand this selection, as shown in the next graphic, to select other or all centers.
- Click the Update button. Your subset is now available to anyone who is viewing records from one of the centers you chose in step 4.
You may notice that subsets in addition to the ones you've created are listed here as well. These are subsets that other users have already shared. (If you're an administrator, you'll see every single subset ever saved in WebCATS—regardless of who created it or which centers it's shared with.)
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Editing and Deleting Saved Subsets
From the Subset Management screen, you can edit other aspects of your subset; not just who it's shared with. The most common edit made to a saved subset (not counting making it available to others) is changing which centers' records are included in the subset using the Subset should include records from field. You can either select the centers that should always be included in the subset or, as shown in the next graphic, you can select "Current center only" which means that WebCATS will dynamically choose which center to include at the time the subset is run based on the current active center.
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Other edits you can make are changing the subset name, or even the actual criteria although this isn't recommended unless you are comfortable writing SQL queries. If you edit the subset SQL query, click the Check Criteria button before saving your changes. Clicking this button will tell you if you have any query language errors or are referencing incorrect database column names; or, if the query is accurate, you'll see the number of matching records in the database.
You can also delete your saved subsets from the Subset Management screen.
Note: If you're an administrator, you have the ability to edit or delete any subset ever saved—not just those specifically created by you.
Strategies for Creating and Using Saved Subsets
When you select a saved subset as the view for an activity record type, that subset's criteria is applied in combination with the criteria of the record status filter box, as shown in the next graphic. The biggest advantage to this is that you can easily generate commonly-used subsets for different date ranges, without having to recreate the subset each time.
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However, this can pose conflicts if both filter methods share the same criteria. For example, let's assume for a moment that you have saved a counseling session subset that returns all counseling sessions that occurred in the first quarter of 2007. If you were to open this subset in 2008, it's likely that no records would display. Why? Because the record status filter box typically restricts records to the most recent three months. So even though we know that there are many counseling session records that should meet the saved subset criteria, none are displayed because the filter box's date range is being applied to a subset of records whose dates do not fall into the filter box's date range. The two date range criteria cancel each other out and you would need to alter the filter box date range to encompass the subset date range in order for any records to be returned.
Because of this potential conflict, Softshare recommends that you create saved subsets for client activity records with those record types' filter boxes in mind. In other words, think twice before using criteria in your saved subset that could be overridden by that record type's filter box criteria. Date range, funding source, and reportable status should generally be avoided as subset criteria. And then, depending on the activity record type that you are creating the saved subset for as well as your default filter criteria for each activity record type, there may be other fields you'll want to avoid as well. For example, if you save an award subset that restricts awards to sub-contract awards, but your award record filter box is set to restrict awards to prime contract awards, your two filters will be in conflict.
For more information on subsets, view our other popular resources on this topic: