---
schema_version: "1"
id: e2039038cda9f719fb362b49b41a60bdaeaabeaa574252ec2f3b59035b860b4d
title: Text Ranges in Decision Matrices
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description: If your matrix has considerable data, use ranges to keep the matrix small. With text ranges, you can concisely specify a range of acceptable values in a matrix column instead of listing individual values.
products:
  - Industry Solutions
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Text Ranges in Decision Matrices

If your matrix has considerable data, use ranges to keep the matrix small. With text ranges, you can concisely specify a range of acceptable values in a matrix column instead of listing individual values.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: Lightning Experience</td></tr><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: <strong>Enterprise</strong>, <strong>Unlimited</strong>, and <strong>Developer</strong> Editions for clouds that have Business Rules Engine enabled</td></tr></tbody></table>

![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ind-business_rules_engine-264-0-0-production-enus/b2d6dd5c-c231-428b-abbf-3dd2cd51a11f/images/icon_note.png)

Note To resolve any issues with the data in text range columns in a decision matrix, download the data from the version that has issues. Then, create a matrix version with a higher version rank, and upload the downloaded data to the new version.

![Example](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ind-business_rules_engine-264-0-0-production-enus/b2d6dd5c-c231-428b-abbf-3dd2cd51a11f/images/icon_example.png)

Example

You want to assign a group to users based on the letter that their last names begin with. Here’s how to set up the columns.

Here's how you can set up the matrix:

 
| Input Data | Output Data |
| --- | --- |
| Last\_Name\_Starts\_With (Text) | Group\_Assignment (Text) |
| --- | --- |
| A | Group 1 |
| F | Group 2 |
| L | Group 3 |
| R | Group 4 |
| W | Group 5 |

The Last\_Name\_Starts\_With is a text range column. Each value in the column defines the start of a range. Each subsequent value represents the start of a new range, and therefore, is excluded from the previous range. The column represents these ranges:

- From A to E
- From F to K
- From L to Q
- From R to V
- From W to Z

According to the input condition in the matrix, here are the group assignments for some sample last names:

- Fowler: Group 2
- Olson: Group 3
- Bates: Group 1
- Zimmerman: Group 5

![Important](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ind-business_rules_engine-264-0-0-production-enus/b2d6dd5c-c231-428b-abbf-3dd2cd51a11f/images/icon_important.png)

Important You must be consistent in defining the alphabetic value ranges in a 'Text Range' column across all rows in the matrix. Range boundaries are evaluated across the entire column — they aren't scoped to the values in other input columns.

![Example](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ind-business_rules_engine-264-0-0-production-enus/b2d6dd5c-c231-428b-abbf-3dd2cd51a11f/images/icon_example.png)

Example Here's what invalid data would look like for text ranges.

 
| ACADPLAN | StudentLastName (Text) |
| --- | --- |
| AMS\_BA | A |
| AMS\_BA | S |
| HTLHBS | J |

In this example, there’s invalid data in the text range column. That’s because this setup attempts to define different sets of ranges for StudentLastName depending on AcadPlan (AMS\_BA: A–R, S–Z; HLTHBS: J–Z). Because the range boundaries (A, J, S) are applied across the whole column, the effective ranges become A–I, J–R, and S–Z for every AcadPlan. This produces ambiguous lookup results. For example, the last name of "John" under AMS\_BA falls into the J–R range rather than the intended A–R range.