Selecting this topic in the Census Specifications dialog box allows you to specify default values that will be used at the time a calculation is executed. If this option is used, the Member Data table in the output of calculation results will indicate that default values were used for the calculation by asterisking each affected database field. In addition, the processing messages will list the fields for which default values were applied. (Note that under certain circumstances, such as re-running calculations, hand-editing data or saving data with an un-executed calculation setup, ProAdmin may no longer “know” that data was initially defaulted and will not provide the default messages.)

All existing Defaults are listed. You may click the summary of an existing Default to edit it, or click New to enter a new Data Default. Either action will lead to the Default Definition dialog box.

Within the Default Definition dialog box, select the Field that you wish to default for calculations. Clicking the New button allows you to add a field to the Data Dictionary without exiting the Data Defaults topic.

Once you have selected a field to modify, enter the Default value or expression to define the field during a calculation. You can enter a value or use ProAdmin’s flexible expression language to calculate a value. If you press the F1 key when your cursor is in the expression box, ProAdmin will display a list of all relevant fields and operators that you may use to default this field.

If the field you choose to default has been defined in the Data Dictionary as an array field (either start/stop or effective date), the Array Dates button will be available. Clicking this button allows you to define the dates associated with the field value.

• You may define the Effective Or Stop Date as either the Default (plan year end before hire) or by Expression. The expression can be an explicit date (e.g., 12/31/2010) or a more complex calculation. If you press the F1 key when your cursor is in the expression box, ProAdmin will display a list of all relevant fields and operators that you may use in the expression.

• If the field is a start/stop array field, you may define the Start Date as either the Default (stop date minus one year and plus one day) or by Expression. The expression can be an explicit date (e.g., 1/1/2012) or a more complex calculation. If you press the F1 key when your cursor is in the expression box, ProAdmin will display a list of all relevant fields and operators that you may use in the expression.

• When using the Array Dates button to create the effective/start/stop dates for the array, the expression must return a scalar (single) value. If the expression returns multiple values then an error will occur.

Rather than using the Array Dates button to create an array, you can use #ARRAY (or #MPSUM, #MPNET, #MPMUL) on the last line of the expression to build an array. In this case the Array Dates button will become ghosted.

If necessary, you can limit the records that will be considered for this data default by entering a For records selected by expression. If the selection expression evaluates to true then the defaults are used. Clicking the button accesses the Retrieve Selection Expression dialog box. Pick a selection expression to retrieve by clicking its name in the list of selection expressions unhidden in the current Project. You will return to the preceding dialog box and the selection expression will appear in the For records selected by text box.

The Applicable to check boxes allow you to indicate if the defaults should be used for Estimates, including Date/Age/Service calculations, and/or Final Calculations. Checking the box indicates that the default value should be used for that type of calculation.

The following options are provided to apply the data default:

• For numeric fields, you have the option to replace Missing and zero values. Note that these default values merely fill in missing field values (blanks or, perhaps, “zero-filled” data) or compute absent fields (not in the database); existing database field values are never replaced.

• The replace Missing values, only option will apply the default to only those fields that are missing field values. As with the option above, existing database field values are never replaced.

• The third option is to replace All values, whether or not missing. This option should be rarely used. The intent of this option is to default a data element within the data dictionary, but not included in a database linkage. For example, this option could be used to identify the most recent reported salary data. With this option, the default value will always be applied when a calculation is processed. If the default is replacing data for a field linked to a database, a warning message will be displayed.

Save the Default by using Replace or Save as New, as appropriate. This will bring you back to the first dialog box, where you can select another Default for editing. The Cancel button discards all changes and additions to the current data default.

On the Data Defaults dialog box, clicking the Erase button allows you to omit data defaults from the list.

Multiple Defaults can be used for a database field. ProAdmin will execute the Defaults in the order in which they are numbered in the Data Defaults dialog box. Once a field has been temporarily populated by a default value during execution of a calculation, it will no longer be considered “missing” by ProAdmin and will therefore generally not be modified by further Default Definitions. Clicking Reorder allows you to change the numbering and execution order of the Defaults.

In order to see all of the fields for which there are default values, as well as the values or expressions themselves, use the View button in the Census Specifications dialog box. 

Checking the Default numeric fields to zero checkbox indicates that any missing numeric fields should be defaulted to zero. This option is applied after all user defined data defaults have been applied. If value data is missing for a numeric array field , this option will keep the non-missing (non-date) values in the array but replace the missing values with zero.

Checking the Default scalar date fields to 1/1/1900 checkbox indicates that any missing scalar date fields should be defaulted to 1/1/1900. This does not apply to calculated dates or array dates. This option is applied after all user defined data defaults have been applied. If value data is missing for a scalar date field, this option will keep the non-missing values and replace the missing values with 1/1/1900.

Once a calculation has been processed, results for the applied Data Defaults can be reviewed within the detailed results.