It is important to select the car that fits your needs. The first thing you need to do in this template is defining your criteria in the Criteria table. These are the characteristics of the car that you find important. For example: the price, size, the number of doors, etc. Each criterion has threshold values. Those values determine the classification of the car into low, high or medium for the criterion. There is also a tag for each classification together with a score. You can set the Importance for each criteria. Once you have set the criteria, you can start inserting new Cars. Each criterion has 3 or more columns in this table. There is the column with the absolute value, the category of that value and the corresponding score. The category and score are each time calculated with a formula based on the values in the Criteria table. The result is a Total score and Average score for each car.

Criteria

A criterion is a characteristic or feature of a car you find important to consider. Each criterion has threshold values, together with corresponding tags and scores.

Fields

• Name. The criterion’s name.
• Preferred value. A single select field indicating if either a high or a low value is desired for the criterion. This is used to calculate Value low and Value high.
• Unit. The unit in which the criterion is expressed.
• Importance. A number without unit indicating the weight of the criterion. The higher the number, the more important you find the criterion.
• Threshold low. A number indicating the maximum value for a criterion to be considered low.
• Tag low. A corresponding description for Cars where the criterion is considered low.
• Value low. A formula field that returns the number 1 or 3 depending on the Preferred value. This will be 3 is you indicate to prefer a low value. Otherwise it will be 1.
• Threshold high. A number indicating the minimum value for a criterion to be considered high.
• Tag high. A corresponding description for Cars where the criterion is considered high.
• Value high. A formula field that returns the number 1 or 3 depending on the Preferred value. This will be 3 if you indicate to prefer a high value. Otherwise it will be 1.
• Tag medium. A corresponding description for Cars where the criterion is between the Threshold low and Threshold high value.
• Value medium. A formula field that always return the number 2 because this is always the number that lays between Value low and Value high
• Cars. A linked field to the Cars table that sums up all the Cars that use the criterion.

Views

• All criteria. Displays all criteria sorted in chronological order of Importance.
• Important criteria. Displays all criteria with an Importance of at least 3.
• Criteria with preferred low value. Displays all criteria where a low number is positive.
• Criteria with preferred high value. Displays all criteria where a high number is positive.
• Criteria by preferred value. Displays all criteria in a kanban view, stack by Preferred value.
• Add new criterion. A form that adds a new criterion to the table.

Cars

A car has multiple objective characteristics. The numeric characteristics such as price or horsepower are measured against the Criteria. Depending on their value, they will receive a tag and a score. The table sums up all the scores to detect which cars suits you best.

Fields

• Name. The car’s make and variant.
• Year. The car’s original building year.
• Picture. The car’s picture.
• Criteria. A linked field to the Criteria table that sums up all the criteria that must be taken into consideration to calculate the car’s Total score and Average score. This will mostly be all the records from the Criteria table.
• Starting price (USD). The car’s expected starting price without any options.
• Price category. A formula field that assign a tag to the Starting price (USD) based on the threshold values set in the Criteria table.
• Price score. A formula field that calculates the score for the car’s Starting price (USD) based on the importance set in the Criteria table.
• Horsepower. The car’s horsepower.
• Horsepower category. A formula field that assign a tag to the Horsepower based on the threshold values set in the Criteria table.
• Horsepower score. A formula field that calculates the score for the car’s Horsepower based on the importance set in the Criteria table.
• MPG city. The car’s miles per gallon in city traffic.
• MPG highway. The car’s miles per gallon on a highway.
• Average MPG. A formula field that calculates the car’s average miles per gallon.
• Average GPM. A formula field that calculates the car’s fuel consumption in gallons for a distance of 100 miles.
• Fuel consumption category. A formula field that assign a tag to the Average GPM based on the threshold values set in the Criteria table.
• Fuel consumption score. A formula field that calculates the score for the car’s Average GPM based on the importance set in the Criteria table.
• Tank capacity (gallons). The car’s tank capacity in gallons.
• Distance (miles). A formula field that calculates the distance a car can travel with a full tank.
• Distance category. A formula field that assign a tag to the Distance (miles) based on the threshold values set in the Criteria table.
• Distance score. A formula field that calculates the score for the car’s Distance (miles) based on the importance set in the Criteria table.
• Seats. The car’s amount of seats.
• Trunk (cubic feet). The size of the car’s trunk expressed in cubic feet.
• Calculated space. A formula field that calculates the amount of space your have in the car based on the amount of Seats and the size of the Trunk (cubic feet).
• Capacity category. A formula field that assign a tag to the Calculated space based on the threshold values set in the Criteria table.
• Capacity score. A formula field that calculates the score for the car’s Calculated space based on the importance set in the Criteria table.
• Transmission. A single select field that indicates the car’s type of transmission. This can be manual or automatic.
• Fuel type. A single select field that indicates the car’s fuel type. This can be dies, gasoline or electric.
• Total score. A formula field that calculates the score a car receives based on the considered Criteria.
• Average score. A formula field that calculates the average score based on the considered Criteria. This is useful if not all cars use all the criteria.

Views

• All cars. Displays all cars sorted in chronological order of Total score.
• Gallery: all cars with tags. Displays all cars in a gallery view with their assigned tags.
• Gallery: all cars with characteristics. Displays all cars in a gallery view with their characteristics.
• Cars by transmission. Displays all cars in a kanban stacked by their Transmission type.
• Cars by fuel type. Displays all cars in a kanban stacked by their Fuel type.