Selections

A selection is a named set of IDs of the same record type. It has a name and description and is often used as input into a process or report as a means to specify which set of records should be acted on by that process. For example, the “Acknowledge Revenue” process accepts a selection as a parameter and acknowledges previously unacknowledged gifts only for records included in that selection. Because selections consist only of IDs (rather than output fields), they are optimized for peak processing speed.

A selection can be either static or dynamic. A static selection is a fixed set of IDs that does not change. For example, if a record that originally met the criteria of the query on which the selection is based changes so that it does not currently meet the criteria, the record ID is still included in the selection each time you use it. The selection contains the same records until you refresh it manually or with an automated process. A dynamic selection analyzes membership each time it is used in a function, so records may be added or removed from it each time you use it.

Many processes not only use selections as parameters, they also produce static selections as output because selections capture the records that were processed. For example, you can use a static selection of exceptions from a process as input when you use the process again.

To view a list of all the selections in your database, from Analysis , click View selections.

There are several ways to create selections:

• Ad-hoc queries — The selections are either static or dynamic and contain the IDs of the rows that meet the query criteria. In many cases you create ad-hoc queries just to create selections from the results. For more information, see Create Selections from Queries.

• Smart query instances — The selections are either static or dynamic and contain the IDs of the rows that meet the query criteria. For more information, see Smart Queries.

• Business processes — Selections you create from business processes have a query type of Other. For information about how to edit or set the active status of these selections, see Manage Selections with a Query Type of Other.

You can also merge two selections of the same type together. For example, you can merge two constituent selections to create a selection of recipients for a communication. For more information, see Merge Two Selections.