Expressions-based Conditionality

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Introduction

Risk Assess features expressions-based conditionality within Risk Assess programs. Users can configure questions to be conditional based on responses to KPI- and component-level questions with the Expression System language.

Program administrators have the ability to get to the level of specificity they need in order to assess the risk of doing business with a supplier.

How it works

Risk Assess now includes an updated expression system in conditionality. Below is a list of basic rules for the new system:

Users can write expressions on the KPI types and components listed below.
Users can only write conditional expressions (i.e., expressions that evaluate to true/false)
Only one expression statement can be added per KPI. However, users can write compound statements (e.g., KPI[1.1] == "Yes" AND KPI[2.1] == "No")
Expressions are not case sensitive
Expressions are used to determine if a question will show based on a response from a previous question (e.g., Show question 2 if question 1 is "Yes"). The expression statement is written on question 2
Expressions can be written to determine whether to display components or KPIs based on the answer to a program’s KPI, other KPIs of the program, or component
Expressions are written in the program wizard on a new conditionality page
- If an expression is included in the Expression field, it will hide/show the KPI
- If an expression is included in the Component Expression field, it will hide/show the component
Users may save their work on the Conditions page to finish later—even if their expressions are invalid

The Enable Copy Previous Item Results program option may overwrite the visibility (i.e., hiding/showing a KPI or component) set by expressions. As a result, we recommend that you disable this option if you run your program as robo.

KPI expression statements

Below are examples of KPI expression statements in Risk Assess. This feature has been available since version r19.7.0.

KPI	Expression Statement Examples
Yes/No	KPI[1.1] == "Yes" KPI[1.1] == "No"
IsNull/IsNotNull	IsNull(KPI[1.0]) IsNotNull(KPI[1.0])
Numeric	KPI[1.1] >= 50 KPI[1.1] <= 80 KPI[1.1] != 50 KPI[1.1] == 50 KPI[1.1] >= 30 AND KPI[1.1] <= 90 KPI[1.1] <= 30 OR KPI[1.1] >= 70

Component expression statements

Users can now write conditional expression statements on select components.

When a component is referenced in an expression statement, the field name of the component should be referenced. Do not refer to the display name of the component.

Similarly, if the expression statement refers to a setup data value, the setup code should be referenced. Do not refer to the display name of the setup data value.

This feature has been available since version r19.8.0.

Components	Expression Statement Examples	Use Case
Basic Calendar Calendar Workflow	KPI[1.1].component["Contract_Date"].value == DATE("June, 2019") KPI[1.3].component["Contract_Date"].value != DATE("06-21-2019") KPI[1.5].component["Contract_Date"].value <= DATE("June, 2019") KPI[1.7].component["Contract_Date"].value >= DATE("06-21-2019") IsNull(KPI[1.5].component["Contract_Date"].value) IsNotNull(KPI[1.7].component["Contract_Date"].value) KPI[1.9].component["Contract_Date"].value == DATE("Friday, June 21, 2019") And IsNull(KPI[1.10].component["Contract_Date"].value) KPI[1.9].component["Contract_Date"].value == DATE("Friday, August 1, 2019") Or IsNull(KPI[1.10].component["Contract_Date"].value)	Reference a contract start date or contract end date. Reference a last audit date.
Setup Data Dropdown Setup Data Radio Button Setup Data Radio Button with Other	KPI[1.1].component["Bank_Country"].value == "US" KPI[1.3].component["Bank_Country"].value != "RU" IsNull(KPI[1.5].component["Bank_Country"].value) IsNotNull(KPI[1.7].component["Bank_Country"].value) KPI[1.9].component["Bank_Country"].value == "US" And IsNull(KPI[1.10].component["Bank_Country"].value) KPI[1.9].component["Bank_Country"].value == "US" Or IsNull(KPI[1.10].component["Bank_Country"].value)	Show or hide questions based on a dropdown menu selection such as a country of origin selection.
Setup Data Checkbox Setup Data Checkbox with Other Setup Multi-Select	KPI[1.1].component["Bank_Country"].value == {"US", “RU”} KPI[1.3].component["Bank_Country"].value != {"RU"} IsNull(KPI[1.5].component["Bank_Country"].value) IsNotNull(KPI[1.7].component["Bank_Country"].value) KPI[1.5].component["Bank_Country"].value AllIn {"US", "RU"} KPI[1.6].component["Bank_Country"].value Not AllIn {"US", "RU"} {"RU", "US"} AllIn KPI[1.5].component["Bank_Country"].value {"RU", "US"} Not AllIn KPI[1.7].component["Bank_Country"].value KPI[1.7].component["Bank_Country"].value AnyIn {"US", "RU"} KPI[1.8].component["Bank_Country"].value Not AnyIn {"US", "RU"} {"RU", "US"} AnyIn KPI[1.5].component["Bank_Country"].value {"RU", "US"} Not AnyIn KPI[1.7].component["Bank_Country"].value KPI[1.9].component["Bank_Country"].value == {"US", “RU”} Or IsNull(KPI[1.10].component["Bank_Country"].value) KPI[1.9].component["Bank_Country"].value == {"US"} And IsNull(KPI[1.10].component["Bank_Country"].value) These components act as a list and as a result, curly braces {} must be included around your values. In addition, the AnyIn and AllIn functions only work with Setup Data Checkbox, Setup Data Checkbox with Other, and Setup Multi-Select Components.	Show or hide questions based on a checkbox list selection such as a country of origin selection.
Money	KPI[1.1].component[“contract_amount”].value == 100000 KPI[1.1].component[“contract_amount”].value != 100000 KPI[1.1].component[“contract_amount”].value <= 100000 KPI[1.1].component[“contract_amount”].value >= 100000 IsNull(KPI[1.5].component["contract_amount"].value) IsNotNull(KPI[1.7].component["contract_amount"].value)	Show or hide questions based on a numeric value such as a contract amount.

Syntax

General syntax for expression statements include the following:

The order of operations for Expressions follow the standard mathematical order of operations (i.e., Exponents, multiplication & division, and addition & subtraction).
White space is ignored.
The specific formats for referring to Risk Assess data, Survey and Workflow identifiers, and attributes are described below.

Punctuation

Punctuation is the set of symbols used to implement the grammatical structure of the syntax by separating or grouping.

Separators	Symbol	Use
Comma	,	Used for separating items in a list
Double quotes	" "	Used for defining a string
Backward slash	\	Used to permit special characters such as “ (to use a string) or \

Groupings	Symbol	Use / example
Braces	{ }	Used for grouping list items (separated by commas)
Parentheses	( )	Used in functions and some specific statements
Square brackets	[ ]	Used to refer to a specific survey section, question, response, KPI, or component

Symbols	Symbol	Use / example
Question mark	?	Shortcut symbol used in if/then/else conditional statements to replace then
Colon	:	Shortcut symbol used in if/then/else conditional statements to replace else

Functions

A function is a pre-defined formula for performing calculations or executing commands on one or more parameters.

Defined Functions	Use Notes
COUNT	Count items in a group
MIN	Minimum
MAX	Maximum
AVERAGE	Average
SUM	Sum
MEDIAN	Median
STDDEV	Standard deviation
VARIANCE	Variance
DATEDIFF	Date difference To define the time unit, include one of the following in double quotation marks preceding the list of dates: days, months, years, quarters, weeks, hours, minutes
DATE	Date
ISNULL	Is null
ISNOTNULL	Is not null
TODAY	Today's date This is the date in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) at the moment of the expression's execution.
DATEADD	Add to a date by day, month, or year Day: KPI[1.1].component["BasicCalendar"].value == DateAdd("d", 1, launch_date) Month: KPI[1.1].component["BasicCalendar"].value == DateAdd("m", 1, today()) Year: KPI[1.1].component["BasicCalendar"].value == DateAdd("yyyy", 1, Date("09/13/2019"))
DATESUB	Subtract from a date by day, month, or year Day: KPI[1.1].component["BasicCalendar"].value == DateSub("d", 1, launch_date) Month: KPI[1.1].component["BasicCalendar"].value == DateSub("m", 1, today()) Year: KPI[1.1].component["BasicCalendar"].value == DateSub("yyyy", 1, Date("09/13/2019")

Keywords

Keywords are defined words which cannot be used for any other purpose (e.g., these words cannot be used as variable names).

Defined keywords	Use Notes
IF / THEN / ELSE
IN
NOT	Can spell out “NOT” or use exclamation point (!)
TRUE / FALSE
AND	Can spell out “AND” or use single ampersand (&) or double ampersand (&&)
OR	Can spell out “OR” or use single pipe (\|) or double pipe (\|\|)
KPI
COMPONENT
VISIBILITY
REQUIRED
TEXT
VALUE
DATE
MIN / MAX
AVERAGE
SUM
MEDIAN
STDDEV
VARIANCE
DATEDIFF
ISNULL / ISNOTNULL
MONTH

Operators

Operators are designated symbols, words, or phrases used for checking, changing, or combining values.

Operators	Use Notes
+	Add
-	Subtract
*	Multiply
/	Divide
!	Use in front of an expression to indicate the inverse of the expression. Can spell out “NOT” or use exclamation point (!)
>	Greater than
>=	Greater than or equal to
<	Less than
<=	Less than or equal to
==	Is equal to Test of equality (conditional)
!== ; !=	Is not equal to Test of inequality (conditional)
AND & &&	Boolean operator (resolves to true or false) used with conditional expressions. Can spell out “AND” or use single ampersand (&) or double ampersand (&&)
OR \| \|\|	Boolean operator (resolves to true or false) used with conditional expressions. Can spell out “OR” or use single pipe (\|) or double pipe (\|\|)
^	Power
IN	Determine whether a variable is included in a list. Must be followed by a list.
!IN	Not in a defined list
=	This is used to write assignment statements and cannot be used in an expression. Means “is.” This operator cannot be used in conditional expressions.
NOT	Not
ALLIN	All in
ANYIN	Any in
CONTAINSALL	Contains all The CONTAINSALL operator determines whether a specified string or list of strings is present within a component or KPI with string values. This operator is not case sensitive. It does not matter whether a component or KPI is on the left or on the right of this operator. For example: “the quick red fox jumped over the lazy dog” ContainsAll KPI[1.1].component["product_description"].value

Upgrade Impact

All programs created before this update will automatically migrate to the new conditionality format.

Previously, conditionality in a program allowed you to make additional questions appear depending on answers to specific yes/no questions.

In addition, you will now select KPI lines to show rather than hide.