TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
QUICK FILTER
Use the right click “Quick Filter” option and edit
for actual value you want to test
 This gives you the appropriate filter format til
you learn the requirements for filters in ACL
 Use drag to create MATCH function with QF

GAPS ON DATES

To run GAPS on dates ALWAYS send the results
to an ACL table
PRINTING TABLE LAYOUTS
Print Project Contents
 Display command

TIPS FOR INTERMEDIATE
USERS
SUMMARIZE ON NUMERIC VALUES
To use the Summarize command on numeric
values use the “EXPR” option in “Summarize On”
 If you use the “save as” option in the expression
builder, you can reference the character value
you create

HARMONIZING FIELDS FOR
JOIN/RELATION
When you have character fields of various
lengths, you can test the longer one using the
LENGTH & ALLTRIM functions to determine if
you can change the length of the current field or
need to create a computed field
 If you need to pad with blanks, you may use the
SUBSTR function, specifying the length you
need, e. g., if the Name field is 30 and you need it
to be 50, you can use SUBSTR(Name, 1, 50)
 Lengths do not have to match when you use date
or numeric fields as keys!

TIPS FOR ADVANCED USERS
SCRIPTS FOR MULTIPLE SYSTEMS
Identify the fields you will need for the analysis
process & create a file layout
 Create a “dataprep” script to move the data from
the appropriate system to the file layout you have
created
 The EXTRACT command can be a multi-lined
command in a script which can help ensure that
you put data (or blanks) in all fields
 Use the AS option in the EXTRACT command to
create the required field names

USING DATA FROM MULTIPLE FILES IN
SCRIPT
You can create a file of exceptions or data that
you want to use to do analysis using a separate
file
 Use the DO…WHILE Option and LOCATE
RECORD to step through the exception file
 Move the data from the exception file to variables
 Use the variables in the analysis script

CONTINUOUS MONITORING RESULTS
Create exception files during your analysis
 OPEN the exception file and run the COUNT
command
 Use the IF command, e.g. IF COUNT1 > 0 and
EXPORT results to an excel spreadsheet
 Use the IF command again and NOTIFY the
appropriate persons using the ATTACHMENT
option to include the spreadsheet you created
 The persons who receive the emails will know
that they are only notified if there are exceptions

SET COMMAND OPTIONS FOR SCRIPTS
SET SESSION
 SET FOLDER
 SET LOG
 SET DATE

PROBLEM WITH THE “APPEND” OPTION

When you are wanting to append data & you wait
for the “APPEND” option on the “file already
exists” dialog and it doesn’t appear – determine if
the file you are writing to has spaces in the
name, if it does you will NOT get this option and
you have to use the checkbox on the “MORE” tab
to do the append