Specifying sort/group criteria for a CBS view

You use the CBS tab of the Sort/Group Properties dialog to specify the sort/group criteria with which to sort/group allocations in CBS views when this sort/group is applied. Use the other tabs of the dialog to specify sort/group criteria for project hierarchy and RBS views.

In the Identification group of fields, enter a name for the sort/group in the Name field, specify a category to assign to it if required and select the Display on menu check box if you want the sort/group to appear on the Sort/Group dropdown in the View Data group on the View tab, making it easier to apply the sort/group.

You use the Detail group of fields to specify the criteria by which allocations should be sorted/grouped. Each criterion is displayed as a row in the grid on the left side of the dialog. You can specify more than one sort/group criterion, each one of which can be based on a different attribute of the allocation, of its associated task, of the bar on which the associated task is located, or of the resource or cost centre that is associated with the allocation - or with other allocations on the associated task. For example, you can specify that allocations are sorted/grouped first by their start date, then by the unique task ID of the associated task. If you specify more than one criterion, the allocations are sorted/grouped by the primary criterion, then by the secondary criterion, and so on.

To specify individual sort/group criteria:

Click Add. A new sort/group criterion appears in the grid.
Click the Type column and select the type of sorting/grouping you want to carry out.

Click the Attribute column and select the parameter by which allocations are sorted/grouped under this sort/group criterion. The available attributes differ depending on the type of sort/group criterion.
Use the fields on the right side of the dialog to specify the way in which you want each sort/group criterion to be used. The fields that appear depend on the type of sort/group criterion that is selected in the grid on the left side of the dialog.

Available sort/group criteria fields

Direction - specify whether items should be sorted/grouped according to the sort/group criterion in ascending or descending order.
Flatten cost hierarchy - select this check box to ignore the cost centre hierarchy in the sorted/grouped view, or clear the check box to sort/group items in the view within the constraints of the hierarchy.
Keep separate when contracted in RBS/CBS view - select this check box to specify that this sort/group criterion should be respected when a CBS view to which this sort/group is applied is contracted, or clear the check box to specify that this sort/group criterion can be ignored when a CBS view is contracted. Selecting this check box may mean that a CBS view cannot be contracted onto as few lines as would otherwise be the case; however, it does result in a more accurate contracted and sorted/grouped CBS view.
Show duplicate items for multiple assignments - select this check box to specify that items with multiple code, cost or resource allocations (or bars with multiple code allocations) appear multiple times in a sorted/grouped view: once for each unique allocation value or assigned code; clear this check box to specify that items with multiple allocations appear once only in a sorted/grouped view, according to the first relevant allocation that corresponds to the sort/group criteria.
Group by - select a time period to group items according to the criterion by day, week, month, quarter or year. If you select a time period in this field and display subheadings for the criterion, the date or duration of each time period appears in the subheadings.

If a date or duration-based sort/group displays an undesirably large number of sort bands, grouping items in this way enables you to reduce the number of sort bands that are displayed.

Note that this check box only appears for sort/group criteria that relate to dates or durations.
Retain hierarchy - select this check box to retain the code library or WBS hierarchy within a sort/group criterion that is based on a code library or on the WBS; clear this check box to sort/group items by the code - or WBS attribute - only, regardless of its position in the code library hierarchy - or in the WBS.

Note that this check box only appears for sort/group criteria that relate to code library assignments or to the WBS, and for sort/group criteria that relate to the resource or cost centre hierarchy (it is permanently selected for the latter type of criteria).

You can specify the number of levels within the code library, WBS, resource or cost centre hierarchy that you want to sort/group by specifying a hierarchy limit. For example, if you specify a hierarchy limit of 2, items will only be sorted/grouped by the initial two levels of the hierarchy; if you specify a hierarchy limit of 1, items will only be sorted/grouped by the first level of the hierarchy.

Use the Appearance group of fields to specify the way in which you want the breaks in between each group of sorted items to be highlighted.

Follow the instructions above to define as many sort/group criteria as you need to construct the sort/group. You can change the priority of each criterion by selecting it and clicking Up and Down to alter its position in the grid. Select a criterion and click Remove to delete it from the sort/group.

The Sort/Group Properties dialog may or may not display three tabs that you can use to specify how the sort/group sorts tasks in other types of view: Bars/Tasks, Permanent RBS and Consumable RBS. If these three tabs are not currently displayed, you can click More >> to display them. If they are currently displayed, you can click Less << to hide them from view.