A Script With A Time Span Comparison
A script that is only eligible for senior citizens has the following eligibility rules:
- Customer class = Residential
- Birth date equates to that of a senior citizen
These rules require only one eligibility group on the script. It would look as follows:
| Group No. | Group Description | If Group is True | If Group is False |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Residential and Senior Citizen | Eligible | Ineligible |
The following criteria will be required for this group:
| Group 1: Residential, Calif, Senior | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seq | Field to Compare | Comparison Method | If True | If False | If Insufficient Data |
| 10 | Algorithm: retrieve account's customer class | = R | Check next condition | Group is false | Group is false |
| 30 | Person characteristic: Date of Birth | Algorithm: True if senior | Group is true | Group is false | Group is false |
The first criterion is easy; it calls an algorithm that retrieves a field on the current account. This value, in turn, is compared to a given value. If the comparison results in a True value, the next condition is checked. If the comparison doesn't result in a True value, the Group is false (and, the group indicates that if the group is false, the script isn't eligible).
The last criterion contains a time span comparison. Time span comparisons are used to compare a date to something. In our example, we have to determine the age of the customer based on their birth date. If the resultant age is > 65, they are considered a senior citizen. To pull this off, you can take advantage of a comparison algorithm supplied with the base script as described below.
- Field to Compare. The person characteristic in which the customer's birth date is held is selected.
- Comparison Method. We chose a comparison algorithm that returns a value of True if the related field value (the customer's date of birth) is greater than 65 years (refer to SECC-TIMESPN for an example of this type of algorithm). Note that this time span algorithm can be used to compare days, weeks and months as well.
You'll notice that if a value of True is returned by the True if senior algorithm, the group is true (and we've set up the group to indicate a true group means the script is eligible).