17,2 - How constraints are interchangable

To facilitate modular products of any kind, Elfsquad itself is set up in a modular way too. When building a Configuration Model many of the constraint options you have are interchangeable. In this video we will Explain how it can might smart to swap one constraint for another.

Excludes and Filters

Whether you pick an exclude or a filter selection depends on the number of Features you want to remove compared to the whole. When setting up a Filter selection you have to select the Features that you want to keep. When setting up an Exclude, you do the opposite, by selection the Features that should be removed from the model.

Filter selection

Let’s imagine we have a list of Lego Bricks. The list consists of around 30 unique Bricks. In our first Configuration Model we want to filter all bricks with the color green. There are about 7 green bricks.

This means, the number of bricks that must be filtered out is greater than the number of bricks that must remain. When the ‘filter out’ number is higher than the ‘keep’ number, you should go for a filter selection.

Exclude

You should go for Excludes in the exact opposite scenario, when the number of ‘keep’ features is higher than the number of ‘filter out’ features. In this case, setting up Excludes will save you a lot of unnecessary clicks.

Let’s consider the list of Lego Bricks again, you should use Excludes when you want to remove all yellow Bricks from the list, as the number of ‘keep’ features is greater than the number of ‘filter out’ features.

Requires, Mandatory + Condition

A require indicates that a certain Feature cannot go without another Feature. In other words: when Feature A is selected, Feature B must be selected too, because Feature A ‘requires’ Feature B. However, there scenarios in which a require is not the best way to go. Like when the require should not always be there.

Conditional requires

A require does not consider other external factors. When Feature A is selected, Feature B must always be selected as well. More complex products might actually need a ‘conditional’ require. In other words: When Feature A is selected and a certain condition is met, Feature B must be selected. This means that Feature A does not always require Feature B. This can be setup with another (Mandatory) Feature and condition.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say that you are configuring a boat. The boat has a Screw, but you are able to add a extra screw to your boat if you want to. You also have to specify the Length of the boat. But after 20 meters or 20000 millimeters, an extra screw is mandatory.

If we look into the logic of this model, you will see that the extra screw has two different Features. A optional and a Mandatory Feature. These two have conditions set to it. The optional extra screw has the condition that states if the value of Boat Length is below 20.000 mm the Extra Screw is optional.

On the mandatory Feature is stated that if the value of boat length is equal or above 20.000 millimeters, the optional Feature will disappear and the mandatory Feature will activate.

Condition instead of Excludes

Requires are not the only constraints that could be swapped out for conditions. If you are creative enough, the same goes for Excludes, Filter selections and much more.