The matching criterion within a filter in P6 defines the relationship between lines of criteria, making up a block, or between blocks of criteria.
The matching criterion in the Filter (singular) dialogue box becomes decisive when the filter contains two or more lines of criteria to form a block of lines. A higher-level matching criterion can define the relationship between blocks of criteria.
In a previous article, we demonstrated that the Filters (plural) dialogue box has a matching criterion setting that comes into play when selecting two or more filters. Refer to the following link for the matching criterion related to multiple filters.
The matching criterion options for the Filter (singular) dialogue box are either ‘All of the following’ or ‘Any of the following.’ The ‘All of the following’ criterion is a higher bar to jump over, as each criterion line in a block or the criterion separating blocks must be met for the task’s inclusion.
The other setting, ‘Any of the following,’ requires any one line in a block or any one block for the criterion between blocks.
So, the ‘All of the following’ setting is like putting the “And” conjunction between each individual or block of lines; the criteria of every line or block must be met for the task to display. The ‘Any of the following’ is like placing an “Or” conjunction between each selected filter; a task is included if it meets any individual line or block’s criteria.
A practical higher and lower-level criteria application is for the higher level between blocks to be “Any of the following”, and the lower level between lines in a block to be “All of the following.” But you can experiment with other combinations of criteria; perhaps a higher level of “All of the following” combined with a lower level of “Any of the following” would be useful.
It is beyond the scope of this article to comprehensively list every possible combination of applicable matching criteria among lines and blocks.
This article demonstrates the coding of a complex filter using the Filter matching criterion between individual lines of criteria and blocks of criteria.
Demonstration
We demonstrate the matching criterion within a filter in P6 to code a complex filter.
We begin by clicking the Filter By button in the layout tool group, Figure 1.
This opens the Filters (plural) dialogue, Figure 2.
To create a new User-Defined filter, we select any filter in the User-Defined list of filters and click the + New button, as shown in Figure 2. We enter the filter’s name, Three Week Look Ahead, and under Parameter, we click the dropdown menu and select ‘Any of the following,’ Figure 3.
This ‘Any of the following’ Parameter matching criterion applies to the two blocks of line criteria we will enter. Below this line, we enter the ‘All of the following’ matching criterion for each line within the first block, Figure 4.
If the task meets every criterion in this first block, its inclusion in the report is certain. Figure 5 displays the first block, which is coded to capture tasks in progress.
The first line in this first block is the criterion that the activity type cannot be Level of Effort (LOE), as shown in Figure 5. The second block will also contain a similar LOE restriction. So, LOE tasks are excluded from our reporting. For a primer on LOE tasks, refer to the article at the following link:
We enter the ” All of the following ” parameter below the last line in the first block, Figure 5. Then in Figure 6, we click the left arrow to outdent the “All of the following” line we just entered.
This is done to make it fall within the realm of the first “Any of the following” higher-level parameter criterion we specified earlier in Figure 3. Note that the conjunction identifying this “Any of the following” matching criterion line is “Or,” Figure 7.
The first line of the second block is the criterion to exclude LOE tasks, as shown in Figure 8.
The second line in this second block is a date parameter, Start, Figure 8. As shown in Figure 8, when the parameter is a date, the value field displays a menu list of items when you click on the ellipse for the value field. In our demonstration, we want to capture tasks that start on or after the data date (DD), so we choose the value DD in Figure 8.
This is our start date lower bound. (The DD in P6 is the equivalent of the status date in Microsoft Project.) The DD supports updating the schedule progress. Refer to the article at the following link for a primer on the DD’s role in progressing the schedule in P6:
In Figure 9, we add another start date criterion to specify the upper bound of starting tasks we want to capture.
Again, we choose DD for the value, but then we modify the DD by entering “+ 3W,” which is code for “plus three weeks.” Note that the code for three days would be “3D,” three months “3M,” and three quarters “3Q.”
The completed Three Week Look Ahead filter displays in Figure 10.
We plan to apply this filter to our demonstration schedule shown in Figure 11.
This schedule has progressed for three weeks. We want to list all tasks in progress or starting in the time frame from the status date to the next three weeks. In the Filters dialog box, Figure 12, we select our newly created Three Week Look Ahead filter and click OK.
Our report on tasks starting between the DD and three weeks out is displayed in Figure 13.
Summary
Using the matching criterion within a filter in P6 we can create filters that mix “And”/”Or” match criteria within each filter, and in this way code complex filters in P6. This greatly expands our ability to generate lists of tasks for reporting. We apply the matching criterion within a filter to individual lines or blocks of lines.
When we set the matching criterion to “All of the following,” the task must meet every line and block of lines at that level. Otherwise, the matching criterion is set to “Any of the following,” where the task must meet any one line or block of lines criteria at that level.
A matching criterion at different levels gives rise to the ability to define an overarching matching criterion at the higher level and another criterion below.