Filters are the way you decide which form tabs, form fields, services, jobs or tasks apply to specific clients, based on criteria you have chosen.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Why would you want to use filters?

 

Filters are an incredibly powerful feature in Senta and you can use them in many ways. You'll probably come up with different ways of using them, but here are some ideas:

  • In a job, having one form filled out for limited companies, and a different form filled in for partnerships.

  • For setting a service, for instance having the Client take-on service only run for new clients, but not for prospects or former clients.

  • Kicking off a new job in response to something being entered on a form in another Job.

  • In a job, having an email only send to the client if they owe above a certain amount.

  • To show a VAT quarter field if the VAT frequency selected is "Quarterly"


We have a separate guide available which runs through the steps for creating a new lookup, and using it as a filter on tasks within jobs. Click here for more information.

How do I implement a filter?

 

It's the same on forms, tasks, jobs or whole services: wherever you can add a filter, you will see a button Add filter.


Click the Add filter button and choose which criteria you want to filter by using the field picker.


Please see our guide How do I implement a filter? to find out where you can add filters and also see some examples of how to use them. 

Using expression filters


You can use expressions/functions as filters within Senta, for example, if you only want a task to display for a client if the value of a field is over a certain amount.


You can find the expression filter under the advanced section in the filter picker.



This filter will add a text field where you can enter the expression. The example below would ensure that a task/job only runs if the client owes more than £0 in PAYE.





You can also use an expression filter to have a task create only if a previous task hasn't been completed. 


Firstly, you need to store the "Task completion date" for the first task under the Advanced tab:



Tick Store task completion date and type in a field reference for that date, so that this can be used in the next task.


For the task you want to only happen if the previous task is not completed, you can use the expression filter. Go to the Filters tab and select Add filter. Scroll down to the Advanced section and choose Expression. The expression required is NOT(job.fieldreference) - "fieldreference" will refer to the field reference you have created against the task completion date in the previous task:



What this will do is only create the next task when there is no task completion date for the previous task, meaning once the previous task is completed this task will disappear. 


It is important that an automated task (like an email) includes a date offset in the Timing tab. For example, setting the automated task 1 week after the previous task means that this task doesn't happen at the same time as the first task becomes ready. If both tasks become ready at the same time, the email will send immediately and you will be chasing the client unnecessarily. 


 

Using yes/no filters to kick off new Jobs

 

You can choose Yes/No radios as fields on forms, the outcome of which can then be used to kick off another job after your current one.

 

Within your job, create a new task type 'Kick off another job', and select the new Job you want to kick off.

 



In the filters section, add a filter to select the yes/no option. In this example, I have used 'Do they have their own bookkeeping?', which I added to the Client details form.



This will now kick off a job to set yourself up as the client's bookkeeper, but only if they are not already doing their own bookkeeping.


Using the activated users field as a filter


You can use the activated users field to filter tasks to only display if a certain number of users have been activated for a particular client. 


To filter the task by the Activated users field, go to Filters tab > Add filter > Scroll down to Advanced > Select Activated users.



Enter values to only display the task if the amount of activated users is between two numbers.



Using the imported field as a filter 


The imported field can be used as a filter if you would like to only display a certain task if the client record has or hasn't been imported. You can add the imported filter by going to Filters tab > Add filter > Scroll down to Advanced > Imported.



Select either Yes or No to filter the task to either show if a client was or wasn't imported.



Things to note about filtering options:


If 2 separate filters are applied with one option ticked on each filtering option, the client would need to fulfil both filters for the job/task to be created. 


For example, you might filter a task within a Bookkeeping job to only kick off if the Bookkeeping method is set to Online and if the Type of client is set as an Individual:



In order for the task to be created, both the Online and Individual filters need to be selected.


On the other hand, If 1 filter is applied with 2 (or more) options ticked, you would just need to fulfil one of those options for the task to kick off. For example, you might have a task which is filtered to be created for all client states other than "Former client": 


 

In this case the task only has 1 filter (State) and multiple options selected. The task will appear in the job if the client is either a Client, Prospect or Target. 



Viewing existing filters


You can hover over existing filters to view which form the filter has been added from. For example, the Date of next payroll (weekly) field is filtered to the Payroll frequency. When I hover over this filter with my cursor, I can view which form this filter has been added from:



This feature is helpful when viewing filters in jobs. You can see whether the filter is from the job:



Or whether this is from a form outside of the job: