🤷 Why Transition to Configurable Joins

Institutions that have been in Slate for several years often have a deep library of queries and reports built out in Slate Template Library (STL) or local query bases. Your staff may just now be getting comfortable pulling data in these legacy queries and reports. When meeting with teammate schools, it's not uncommon for us to be asked why they should bother transitioning to configurable joins (CJ) when they have other priorities and what they have is working just fine. Here's how we respond to that question.

1. Maintainability:
   • At this point, Technolutions is no longer supporting legacy queries built on anything other than configurable join query bases. If something goes wrong with those they will ask you to rebuild it on configurable joins, then reach out to them for assistance if there is something wrong with the CJ query. When you are in a crisis, the last thing you want to be doing is panicking while trying to learn configurable joins. Rebuild now before a crucial query fails.

2. Flexibility:

   • Configurable join queries enable you to adapt your queries to different use cases or evolving business requirements without the need to rewrite the query on a different base. Your STL/local base queries have their limits and making the most out of your investment in Slate means working with queries that can be customized for your institution's needs.

3. Improved Performance: 

   • Configurable join queries allow you to fine-tune the performance of your queries by choosing the most efficient joins. This can significantly reduce query execution times and improve overall database performance.

4. Security: 

   • Configurable join queries can help you implement fine-grained access control by specifying which users or roles have access to specific data.

5. Analytics and Reporting: 

   • Configurable join queries are essential for building complex reports and performing advanced analytics. They allow you to create custom queries that aggregate, group, and filter data as needed for reporting and analysis. You no longer need to depend on Technolutions' assumptions about the data you need, but get to define that data for your institutional needs.

You and your institution deserve a Slate instance performing as well as possible and right now you won't achieve that without making use of configurable joins. You're missing out on the power of workflows and the efficiency possible in rules when built on configurable joins. Now is the time to prioritize converting queries and reports and start envisioning the business processes you can build out in portals powered by CJ queries.

Feeling inspired? We've got tips on recreating STL filters in CJ!