Let's start by looking at a couple of the Data Views that come out-of-the-box. Data Views are configured under Tools > Data Views.

Below is a figure of the default list of data views. Over time you'll collect plenty of data views. To help you organize them we allow you to create a hierarchical directory of categories. The use of categories again becomes a part of your reporting strategy. What good is a reusable data view if you can't find it when you need it?

• Categories - Data views are organized into hierarchical categories. Categories help you sort and organize your data views.
• Id and Create Report - The Id of the data view is displayed here for reference. You can also click the Create Report button to start creating a report using the data view. We'll explain creating reports in the next chapter below.
• Run Details - How this area looks will change depending on the activity, or lack of activity, associated with a data view. In this example we can see:
  • Time to Run - This label shows how long it took to retrieve the data. This is a great way to identify potential performance issues.
  • Runs Since - Here you can see how many times the data view has been run since the displayed date. This is an easy way to get a sense of how frequently the data view is used.
  • Reset - Click the ti ti-arrow-back-up button to reset the Runs Since field. This will set the count of runs back to zero, as of today's date.
  • Last Run - This displays the most recent date that the data view was run. If the date is very far in the past, you might examine if the data view is needed anymore. Removing unused data views may help system performance but will also ensure a tidy system in general.
• Data View Filter Summary - This is an automatically generated summary of the filters used in this data view. We'll talk more about these filters below.
• Data Views / Reports - In this area you can easily see which other data views, reports or group syncs are using this data view. If you make any changes to the data view, these items will be impacted.
• Copy / Security - The ti ti-copy icon will create a new data view that is a copy of this one. You can also click the ti ti-lock icon to change security permissions for this data view.
• Results - These are the actual results of your data view configuration, according to the filters you've added. We'll go over filters in more detail below. Note that the results are in their own block, so you can do things like launch workflows for the items listed.

Now let's drill into the first data view called Adult Members & Attendees. As you probably guessed, this view filters adults who have the connection status of Member or Attendee. It also only returns only active records. Click the Edit button to see how this data view is configured.

• Name / Description - The name and description of the data view. We highly recommend writing a detailed description for your data view. Be sure to include how you intend the data view to be used. These details may not seem important now, but your future self will be thanking you.
• Category - A category should already be assigned when you first create the data view, but you can change it here if needed.
• Applies To - Technically, this field is where you specify the entity the data view is referencing. This tells Rock what filter options you have, which we'll discuss below. Most of the time you'll probably use either 'Person' or 'Group', but you're not limited to those.
• Include Deceased - This field will appear for data views that apply to people. If this is enabled, people who are marked as deceased in Rock will be included in the data view's results. In most cases this will be disabled.
• Post-filter Transformation - This is where you can optionally select one of the following post-filter transformations:
  • Allowed Check-In
  • Allowed Check-In Children
  • Children
  • Family Members
  • Father
  • Giving Leader
  • Grandchild
  • Grandparent
  • Head of Household
  • Mother
  • Parents
  • Spouse
• Speed Settings - Here you can choose to set a Persistence Schedule. To learn more about these settings, see the Persisting Data Views section below.
• Filters - This is where you create the filters that are used to define your criteria for limiting records. We'll dive into how the filter area is used in later sections below.
• Preview - To help check your work you can select the Preview button. This will show only the first 15 rows of data returned by your filters.

Next, let's look at the Adult Members & Attendees > Females Data View. Initially you might expect to see a lot of the same criteria as the previous Adult Members & Attendees data view, with the addition of the female gender filter. Clicking the Edit button, you’ll see the data view strategy at work.

Notice how the first criterion is Included in Data View: Adult Members & Attendees? That says, "Take all of the filter criteria from the Adult Members & Attendees data view and apply it here." Since that logic was already built, all we needed to do here was add the gender filter.

Now, let's say in the future you'd like to enhance the definition of Adult Members & Attendees by ensuring that the age of the individual is over 18. You can add this to the base view, and it will dynamically apply to all subsequent views that use it.

Age Classifications

Speaking of the ages of individuals...Rock allows for simple and quick filtering on whether an individual is an Adult or a Child using the Age Classification property. This property is available as a Person filter type when creating Data Views and as a Field Type when creating Reports (more on that in the next chapter). In Rock, an adult is anyone over the age of 18 or marked as an adult in one or more families. A child is anyone less than 18 or a child in all families. If neither of these conditions are met, the individual is marked as Unknown. Rock calculates age each time a person is saved and re-calculates it every time the Rock Cleanup job is run.

Any vs All

At the top of the filter group, you’ll notice a setting that says Show if Any/All of these are true. You might be wondering what’s the difference between Any and All. Let’s define each:

• All: This means that each of the filter criteria must be true in order for a record to be displayed. One helpful trick is to read through each filter and insert the word and in between each. So, for a record to display in the Adult Members & Attendee view, a record must: have a record status of active AND a connection status of member or attendee AND must be an adult in a family.
• Any: This setting means that if Any of the filter criteria is true then display the record. It's like inserting the word OR between each criterion.