Advanced Grouping
Advanced Grouping

In ERS, all reports and exports run off the data groups that you set up. Data groups allow you to group and filter your part files in different ways to produce various reports. Groups consist of the characteristics of one or more part files filtered in several different ways in the order you choose. If you are in the Analysis tab and instruct ERS to memorize your report, it will create the group for you save the time of setting it up. Of course, it can be edited later.

Choosing Characteristics

In each part file within the group, the desired report characteristics are chosen. Alternately, a characteristic filter can be used to filter across part files dynamically.

Cycling Filters

After choosing characteristics, a series of "cycling" filters is added that will be used to group the data in various ways when the report is run. For instance, a report may be desired that is run by month for the third quarter. In this case, 3 cycling filters for July, August, and September would be added. When the report is run on that group, the data would first filtered for July and calculated, then for August, and finally for September.

Cycling filters can be any filter created and can be mixed, matched, and ordered as desired to make the report. When setting up the report, a global filter can also be added to the cycling filters providing a second level of filtering. For example, using the sample above of months as cycling filters, a global filter of "Machine 5" could be applied. When the report runs, it will first filter the data down to just Machine 5 and then look month over month to get Cpks or other data. Conversely, Machines could be used as cycling filters (for example, Machine 1, 2, and 3). Then "Last month" could be the global filter to just compare the machines for the past month. The options are limitless.

The screen shot below shows an example of a group in the Group Editor screen.