Using the Attribute method to create an expression, you select pre-defined attributes to build SQL statements. The Attribute method includes three selection lists that you use to narrow the categories of information and select the specific attributes you want to define for the conditions in an expression. The selection lists are organized in logical groupings with high level categories in the first list, subcategories in the middle list, and specific condition attributes in the last list.
If you don’t know what category an attribute belongs to, you can search for the attribute by typing the attribute name in the Filter field. The system will narrow the list of items in each list based on what you type in the Filter field. For example, if you enter the word
“state” in the Filter field, only attributes that include “state” will display in the attribute list.
You can add dynamic prompts to expressions you build with the attribute method. Users are dynamically prompted for input parameter values at the time of execution of the expression.
Note
If you create a new expression to use with a funnel state or rating factor, you should check the box “Prompt user for values during Expression execution” for your term and student level attributes, and your college, campus or program attributes if you decide to use the optional funnel qualifier. No other attributes with dynamic prompts are allowed in funnel expressions, and ratings expressions can only include prompts on term
and student level attributes.
After you select and add values for an attribute, the system builds the SQL query based on your attribute selections.
Building a sample expression using the Attribute method To illustrate this task, we’ll use a story that takes place at the fictitious Coastalview University. Over the past three years, Coastalview University has experienced a decline in enrollment in their College of Business Administration (BUSI). Kate Butler, the Dean of the BUSI College, wants to change this. She and the Recruitment Director have decided to launch a recruitment program that would target BUSI prospects with personal e-mail contact from a school recruiter and a representative from the College of Business Administration.
To meet their goal, Dean Butler and the Recruitment Director need a list of prospective students who have shown interest in Coastalview’s College of Business Administration.
• Step 3, “Viewing expression details”
• Step 4, “Calculating and viewing expression results”
• Step 5, “Saving expression as a population list”
The following sections outline the detailed steps needed to perform these tasks.
Step 1 Creating expression overview
Dean Butler begins building an expression by creating the expression overview. The expression overview is where she defines identifying information about the
expression: the name, description, constituent type, and method by which she’ll create the expression.
Dean Butler will create an expression using the following steps.
1. Within Administration, select Expressions.
2. Click New.
3. Enter Business Intended List in the Name field.
The Name field is required and can include spaces.
4. Enter List of all prospects interested in Bus Admin in the Description field.
Dean Butler includes a description that defines the group of prospect profiles that will be returned by the expression. A description is not required, but including one will help users identify this expression.
5. Select the Prospect constituent type.
6. Leave the Use SQL checkbox blank.
Leaving this field blank indicates that Dean Butler will use the Attribute method to build the SQL query for the expression.
7. Click Save.
Step 2 Adding conditions to the expression
The expression conditions are the actual SQL statements of the SQL where clause in an expression. Dean Butler needs to add an expression condition that will return a list of all prospective students who have shown interest in Coastalview’s College of Business Administration.
Dean Butler will add the condition to her expression by selecting the Planned Program of Study/College attribute and setting its value to BUSI using the following steps.
1. Click Edit in the Expression Conditions area of the Expression Details page.
2. Click Add Conditions.
3. Choose the Curricula/Program of Study/College attribute.
4. Click Add Values.
5. Select the Equals operator from the Values list.
6. Click Lookup to access the list of codes for the Program of Study/College attribute.
7. Choose BUSI from the list of validation codes and click Select.
8. Click Complete.
9. Click Save.
Dean Butler has finished creating an expression that will return a list of prospects interested in the College of Business Administration (BUSI).
Step 3 Viewing expression details
The Expression Details page shows the information defined by Dean Butler for the
“Business Intended” expression. From the Expression Details page, she can review Expression Overview information, Expression Conditions, and the SQL statement created for the expression. When viewing the SQL statement, Dean Butler also has the option to copy the SQL statement.
Dean Butler will use the following steps to view the expression details and copy the SQL statement.
1. Click Expression Details.
2. View Overview and Expression Condition information.
3. Click More Actions and select View SQL.
Click Copy to Clipboard to copy the SQL query in the Description field to the
5. Click Close.
Step 4 Calculating and viewing expression results
After creating the expression, Dean Butler can calculate the expression, which runs it against the database and returns a count of profiles that meet the expression conditions.
She can then view profiles on the results page.
Dean Butler will use the following steps to calculate the expression and view results.
1. Click Calculate.
When the expression is finished calculating, the Population field in the Expression Results pane will display the number of profiles in the result set.
Note
Dean Butler must wait for the results count to display in the Population field before she can view the results page.
2. Click Expression Results.
The Expression Results page displays up to 2500 profiles in the results. Dean Butler can use search criteria to filter the displayed list or locate a specific profile.
3. Enter search criteria in the Search field and click Search . or
Click Advanced Search to select a combination of attributes, and enter the attribute search criteria. When searching on attributes, any attribute that is not populated will be ignored.
4. Click Go to display the results of the search.
Note
Because expressions can be created for any constituent type, you must have permission to search for the population list’s constituent type to view results. For example, you must have permission to search for students in the Students workspace to view the results of a Student type expression. Step 5 Saving expression as a population list
After creating the expression and calculating it, Dean Butler can save the expression results as a population list. She can then use this list as the target population for her new recruitment program, which targets prospects interested in the College of Business
Administration. She can use the communication workspace to create an e-mail message that she will send to all prospects on the population list.
Note
The constituent type specified for the expression determines the
constituent type of the population list, and where it will be available in the workspace. For example, if you select “Prospect” as the constituent type of an expression, when you save the results as a population list, the list will be assigned a constituent type of “Prospect” and will display in the
Prospects workspace Population Lists page.
Dean Butler will use the following steps to save the expression results as a population list.
1. Click Save as Population List on the Expression Results page.
2. Enter BUSI Intended List in the a Name field.
The Name field is required and can include spaces.
3. Enter List of all prospects interested in the College of Business Administration in the Description field.
Dean Butler includes a description that defines the profiles included in the list. A description is not required, but including one will help users identify this population list.
4. Select the Reference this expression for future list refresh results option.
Selecting this results option allows Dean Butler to recalculate the expression later to generate an updated population list of prospects interested in the College of Business Administration.
Using expression operators
You can add attribute values to expression conditions using the following comparison operators. The operators you can use depend on the type of attribute you are defining.
Table 8: Expression attribute value operators
Operator Function Use
Equals Searches for values that are an exact match to the value entered or selected.