<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  General Functions > Conditions > Grouping operands together

Some times logical operands must be grouped together in order to create the desired evaluation.  For instance, consider the following condition:

When status is either "In Stock" or "In Use" and Business unit is blank or Department is blank.

Without grouping, the or's and and's would evaluate left to right, as follows:

1. Status = "In Stock" or Status = "In Use"

2. and Business Unit is blank

3. or Department is blank.

However, that is not what was intended.  Rather, the following was intended:

1. (Status = "In Stock" or Status = "in Use")

2. and (Business unit is blank or Department is blank)

The first evaluation is different than the second.  In the second, Business unit is blank or Department is blank is evaluated first, as is Status = "In Stock" or Status = "In Use".  The result of those two evaluations is then anded to create the final true/false evaluation.

The MIE allows up to four groupings of operands which will be evaluated first, before being connected together by AND or OR.

To create a group of operands, choose the OR1st or AND1st to create one group, OR2nd or AND2nd to create another, and so on.  Connect each group together using AND or OR.