The objects available in the Standard Participant Universe or a participant-focused custom universe that includes Program Enrollment can provide useful information in reports. However, how to use them might not always be intuitive when building a query.
Was Dismissed, Is Active, and Was Active are Boolean objects (they return on a Yes or No value). They will force a date range prompt when running or refreshing the report, even when not included in the query filter.
It's important to note that while these objects can be used in the query filters, they will not filter information as might be initially thought. What they filter depends entirely on the date range the report is run for.
Date Range: 6/25/2020 - 6/26/2020
For example, this report was run for a very small 2 day period. In that time, Dio Brando had 1 dismissal in the Stands Training program. However, in his program history, he has a second dismissal from the same program on a later date. Because of this, he returns both a Yes and a No in the Was Dismissed column. He was dismissed during that date range for 1 enrollment, but not the other.
If Was Dismissed was added to the query filter to be Equal to Yes, then only 1 line will appear, but if a different date range is used, then different program enrollments could come into the report instead.
Note: Is/Was Active will behave in the same way
Date Range: 5/1/2020 - 5/3/2020
Date Range: 1/18/2021 - 9/1/2021
These objects are useful, but their data can be fluid depending on the date ranges provided in the report's prompts, and could filter in unintended ways.
Alternatives
Active Filter - Only shows participants that were active in the date range, and is used in the query filter
Enrolled Filter - Only shows participants that were enrolled in the date range, used in the query filter
Dismissed Filter - Only shows participants that were dismissed in the date range, used in the query
Program End Date - When used in the query filter it can either be a date range or can be filtered on being either null or not null
Program Start Date - Similar to Program End Date, it can either be set as a date range or can be null or not null
