Searching, sorting, and filtering data in Cimplico Workpapers is integral to furthering our goal of enhancing the efficiency of the workpaper preparation process. Having the ability to swiftly search, sort, and filter data allows users to reduce copious amounts of data and clutter, ultimately reducing cognitive load and focusing attention on the desired information.
The search, sort, and filter mechanics are consistent across Workpapers, and look like this:
The system works as follows:
Filter: Filters all data in the database based on the filter criteria, including data that may be out of view.
Search: Searches all data in the database based on the search criteria, including data that may be out of view.
Sort: Sorts the current data, which may be unfiltered, filtered, or search result data.
Important
Search will ignore any existing filters, therefore you cannot filter down search results. This was done purposefully, as search represents a user looking for a known item or short list of items, while the filter reduces the results down to a more specified list of unknown results.
Let's look at using search, sort, and filter on the trial balance, covered last lesson and how using these may enhance your workflow.
Filter
Filter is the most powerful of the three data management techniques, allowing you to specify and compound various criteria to refine your data to a smaller, more manageable, and more meaningful list.
In the above example, by using filters, you can reduce the list of accounts down to a focused priority, that can then be bulk-selected and assigned to users to complete, or exclude.
As a user, you may then filter by assigned to see the accounts you need to work on.
Search
Search is useful for users looking for a particular item or a very short list of items. The below example shows a user searching for "dep" to see accounts that may contain "depreciation". The results can then also be sorted if desired.
Sort
Finally, sorting is useful for reducing cognitive load by ordering the data for easier perusing. It works as follows:
