The Limit feature in the Apricot Report Builder can pinpoint records that were created the earliest or most recently for a Tier 1 record. This allows for quicker comparisons and easier interpretation in reports with many rows of data. The limit sections generated from using limits and aliases in a report require that users be more conscious of how report sections and filters are structured in a report.
Learn the most important considerations and best practices for adding limits to your report and filtering on limit sections below.
Q: What should I know before using limits in my report?
Below are notes on expected behavior and potential limitations that may be useful to know before adding a limit to your report:
If your organization relies heavily on the Import tool to create records, limits in a report may not act in your favor. All data within an import file is added to Apricot with the same creation date and time, at which point Apricot sorts the records by Record ID as opposed to importing them in any date order. If you know in advance that you'll need to create a report with limits, we strongly advise manually entering the data in the order that makes the most sense for your organization.
Each limit applied to a report section creates an additional section in the report called a limit section. Reports with a large number of sections tend to run more slowly, so we advise against using many limits as a workaround, including for reporting on unlinked forms in a single report section and row per participant.
Aliases cannot be added to a report section if the section's filter logic includes "OR"; every operator between filters must be "AND".
Auto-run is not available when editing reports with a limit applied. You'll need to publish and run your report in order to view how your results are impacted by your limit sections.
Limit sections are hidden in Run mode by default. You can make them visible from their Section Properties by clicking the gear icon and un-checking the Hidden box, though this often makes the report more confusing for most end users.
By Default, limit sections are not exported; however, you can include them in your export. When you click the Export Report button you will have an extra section titled "Limit Sections" just check the "Include Limit Sections" checkbox and it will export into it's own tab.
Q: What is an alias?
Once you know how many data points you want to compare, you'll pull the same form field into your report section that number of times. For example, if you want to compare a participant's First Created record to their Last Created record, you'll add two identical columns with that form field.
After applying your first limit to a form's properties, you can then add an alias to display the other limit. In other words, you'll place a First Created limit on a form then add an alias with the Last Created limit to assign each to one of the report columns you pulled in. To see an example of this use case, click here.
Consider the following before you add an alias to your report:
If you create a report with a First Created and Last Created alias, but a participant only has one record, the Report Builder will display the same record twice as it's both the first and last record associated with the participant.
If you create a report with multiple aliases (ex. First Created, Next Created, Last Created), participants must have enough records that meet any filters applied to the section and fulfill each alias requirement in order to be included in a report. For example, if your report uses three aliases but a participant only has two records, they will be excluded from the data set.
Aliases must be added in the appropriate order to function properly; you cannot add a Last Created alias then a First Created alias after it.
Q: Can I filter a report with limits?
Yes, though depending on where you add a filter your report can return very different data sets. Most often, you'll add a date filter to the limit section that's generated after a limit is applied to a report section. The filter will be applied before the limit, meaning it will show whatever record was the first or last created within the time period.
On the other hand, adding a date filter to the main report section will only show records that have been filtered after the limit is applied. This means it will only include records in the report if the first or last record overall was created during the specified time period. This scenario is much less likely to return results.
We highly recommend copying report sections and/or publishing your report often when using filters on limited reports to ensure that you can remove or revert unwanted or unexpected changes to your report as you build them out.
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