A Filter Combination is a named set of Saved Filters, grouped by Search Component, that describes a group of applicants, such as boarding students in grades 9 to 12 who receive financial aid. An applicant matches the combination when, for every Search Component the combination names, they pass at least one of the filters chosen for that component. Filter Combinations are used on Application Forms to show a widget only to matching applicants, to give matching applicants a different price, text, or pre-selection through Application Form Overrides, and to decide who is invited under an Application Form Invitation Type.
A Filter Combination is built from two things.
- A Search Component is a category of filters that answer one question about the applicant, for example Grade Level, Residency (Day or Boarding), or Financial Aid. Search Components are defined in Campus under Admin > Filtering > Search Components and require the Admin Full role to edit (Admin Read to view).
- A Saved Filter inside a Search Component is one possible answer, for example Grades 9-12, Boarding, or Receives Financial Aid. Review Creating DAT Filters for how to build a Saved Filter.
Setting up Search Components
On the Search Components list, New opens the Details tab of a new component. Name is the component's display name. The family never sees it, but the school sees it everywhere the combination is shown. Category is the record type the component's filters are written against, normally Students. Inquiry, household, and household person categories are also available. Active determines whether the component is offered when combinations are built. Click Save to create the component, which makes the Filters tab available.
The Filters tab shows the component's Category, an Add filter list, and the component's filters. Add filter offers only Saved Filters of that Category that no other Search Component uses. Pick one and click Add. The remove icon takes a filter out. Changes on the Filters tab are saved immediately.
Note: A Saved Filter can belong to one Search Component only. Filters within one component should not overlap, so that each applicant gives one answer per component.
Note: The Category cannot be changed while the component has filters. Remove the filters on the Filters tab first.
Example: A school that prices its enrollment agreement by grade band, residency, and aid creates three Search Components.
- Grade Level (Students): filters Grades K-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, each written as must have Student Info (Grade Level Next Year in (...)).
- Residency (Students): filters Day and Boarding, written against the student's day or boarding attribute for next year.
- Financial Aid (Students): filters Receives Financial Aid and No Financial Aid, written against the financial aid award for the next academic year.
Building a Filter Combination
Filter Combinations are not created on a page of their own. They are created where they are used. Each Search Component is shown as a list of check boxes, one per filter, and any number of filters can be checked in each component. A combination that already exists with exactly the same filters is reused rather than duplicated, and saving a different selection never changes a combination that other widgets, overrides, or invitation types use. A combination is labeled by its components and filters, with the filters of one component joined by "or", for example Financial Aid: Receives Financial Aid, Grade Level: Grades 6-8 or Grades 9-12.
- Widget visibility. The General tab of a widget's properties window has a Filter Combination section with one check box list per active Search Component. Check filters in one or more components and save; the widget is then shown only to a user who matches the combination. Leave every check box clear for a widget that everyone sees. Review CMS Widget - Standard Properties.
- Overrides. On the Application Form tab of a priced widget, the Add Override builder offers one check box list per component chosen in the widget's Override Scope. Check the filters, check the properties to override, and click Add. Review Application Form Overrides.
- Invitation types. The Filter Combination section of the invitation type edit window has one check box list per active Search Component and decides who is invited. Review Application Form Invitation Type.
Note: The pickers list only filters that have been shared with a Website role on the Saved Filter's Filter Roles page. A filter that is missing from a picker is usually one that has not been shared.
A combination does not have to name every component. A component with no filter checked is ignored when the applicant is matched. A combination that names one component, such as Residency: Boarding, matches every boarding student in every grade with or without aid.
How an applicant is matched
Each filter in the combination is evaluated against the applicant, which on an Application Form is the student of the invitation. The filters checked in one component are alternatives: the applicant needs to pass any one of them. The components are all required: the applicant must pass a filter in every component the combination names. Grade Level: Grades 6-8 or Grades 9-12, Residency: Boarding therefore matches a boarding student in any grade from 6 to 12.
Overrides of one widget must not overlap. An applicant may match at most one override combination for each property of a widget. When an applicant matches two, the form cannot be started for that applicant: the family sees "This form isn't ready for your student yet. The school has been notified.", nothing is saved for the student, and the school is sent the student, the widget and property, and the two combinations. Fix the overrides, then the family can start the form. Check for overlaps on Application Form Overrides lists every invited student who matches two overrides, so that conflicts can be found before families open the form. When no override matches, the widget's base values apply. Matching happens when the family starts the form, and the result is frozen in the applicant's snapshot; review Application Form Signing.
Example: tuition by grade band and residency. The Tuition bound field has a base Product of Day Tuition K-5. Its Override Scope is Grade Level and Residency. The school adds these overrides for the Product property.
- Grade Level: Grades 6-8 or Grades 9-12, Residency: Day uses the product Day Tuition 6-12.
- Grade Level: Grades 6-8 or Grades 9-12, Residency: Boarding uses the product Boarding Tuition 6-12.
A boarding student entering grade 10 matches only the second override and is charged Boarding Tuition 6-12. A day student entering grade 7 matches only the first and is charged Day Tuition 6-12. A kindergarten student matches neither and is charged the base product. The two combinations cannot overlap because Day and Boarding are different answers to the same component.
Example: a fee only some applicants see. The Boarding Health Fee check box should be shown to boarding students only and pre-selected for them. On its General tab, the Filter Combination section is set to Residency: Boarding, so day students never see the check box. On its Application Form tab, Is Selected is checked in the base values, so every boarding student sees the fee selected.
Example: aid recipients read different terms. A text widget on the Terms page holds the financial aid agreement wording. Its Filter Combination is Financial Aid: Receives Financial Aid, so families without aid do not see the paragraph. A second text widget with the standard wording has the combination Financial Aid: No Financial Aid.
Example: one campus, several stages. A school invites the students of one campus who are entering any of the contract stages. The invitation type's Filter Combination checks the campus filter in the Campus component and each contract stage in the Stage component, for example Campus: St. Vincent, Stage: MD1 or MD2 or CS6. Every St. Vincent student in one of those stages is invited, and students of other campuses or stages are not.
Note: When a Saved Filter that belongs to a combination is deleted, no applicant passes that filter any more. A component whose only filter was deleted can match no applicant, so a widget that used the combination for visibility is hidden from everyone and an override that used it applies to no one; a component that still has other filters checked keeps matching through them. Recreate the filter, add it back to its component, and check it again where it was used.
Note: A combination that no longer exists in the school's filters is an orphan. Widgets that used it for visibility are hidden from everyone, and overrides that used it can match no applicant. Application Form Details lists orphan combinations in red under Override summary across this form, and Application Form Overrides offers Delete orphan row to clear them.
Note: Changing the conditions of a Saved Filter changes every combination that uses it, for every form, from the next time an applicant is matched. Applicants who have already started a form keep their frozen snapshot until the school resets it on Application Form Invitation.