Groups
You can use groups to make record definition easier for tables such as Transportation Policies. For example, assume you have two groups - one (called "All NE DCs") has all North East DCs as members, the other (called "All NE CZs") has all North East Customers as members. You can then define a Transportation Policies record where the Source is All DCs and the Destination is All CZs. When the model is run, this record is expanded to all the valid combinations of Distribution Centers to Customers.
Once you create groups, you can use them when defining records in tables. Groups are available in the appropriate column drop down list.
As you create groups, they are added to the navigation node for that group type.
A special case for groups is Product substitution, where Network Optimization can satisfy demand using any of the products in a specified group.
Group precedence
There are cases where you should be aware of how groups are evaluated when populated in table records. One concerns the order in which records are used when they contain one or more groups compared to ungrouped records. The other is when groups, dynamic filters and record names have the same value.
Grouped vs. ungrouped records
When running a model, records in tables that support groups/filters are evaluated to prevent duplicate records from being written to the input tables. The basic logic is that
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Records with fewer groups take precedence over grouped records, since they are more specific, and
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When there are records with identical groups, the last record in the database (as displayed in the table in the UI) is used.
Consider the following records in Transportation Policies. (ALL_DCs) and (ALL_Products) are filters, "PrimaryCust" is a group and "LaneCost" is a Lane Cost definition:
Source | Destination | Product | Mode | Variable Transportation Cost |
---|---|---|---|---|
DC1 | CZ1 | Product1 | Mode1 | 9 |
(ALL_DCs) | PrimaryCust | (ALL_Products) | Mode1 | |
(ALL_DCs) | PrimaryCust | (ALL_Products) | Mode1 | 0 |
(ALL_DCs) | PrimaryCust | (ALL_Products) | Mode1 | LaneCost |
(ALL_DCs) | CZ3 | (ALL_Products) | Mode2 | 5.5 |
The first and last records take precedence over the 3 in the middle, as they have less groups in the definition and are therefore more specific. The 3 records in the middle have the same groups defined; as a result, the third record (the one with "LaneCost" as the Variable Transportation Cost) is used.
Group, filter and record name precedence
Coupa recommends that you do not use the same name for your groups, filters and record names. For example, assume you have a Site with Name = "Plant", a Site group called "Plant" with 3 members and a Site filter called "Plant" that returns 2 records. This can cause unexpected results when you run scenarios. If you do have groups, filters and record names with the same value, be aware that they will be used in the following order:
- Group name has first priority
- Filter name has second priority
- Individual record name has third priority
Working with groups
You can create groups from the Groups Editor or from the table containing the records you want to group, such as Sites or Products.

- Select Builds > Groups
- Click New Group.
- Select the Table for the group. This is one of the following (the Group Type is the internal name used in the model's Groups table):
Table Group Type Battery Charging Option Definitions ChargingOptions Bills Of Material BOMs Customers Customers Drones DroneTypes Electric Vehicle Battery Definitions Batteries Inventory Processes InventoryProcesses Inventory Process Steps InventoryProcessSteps Modes Modes Periods Periods Production Processes ProductionProcesses Production Process Steps ProductionProcessSteps Products Products Returns Processes ReturnsProcesses Returns Process Steps ReturnsProcessSteps Shipments Shipments Sites Sites Site Shipping Spaces SiteShippingSpaces Site Storage Spaces SiteStorageSpaces Sourcing Processes SourcingProcesses Sourcing Process Steps SourcingProcessSteps Transportation Assets Assets Transportation Processes TransportationProcesses Transportation Process Steps TransportationProcessSteps Work Centers WorkCenters Work Resources WorkResources - Enter the Name for the group. The group Name should contain only alphanumeric characters, spaces, periods (.), hyphens (-) or underscores(_). The Name should not begin with a space, a period, a hyphen or an underscore.In SCGX, you will receive a validation error when entering a group Name that contains characters other than alphanumeric characters, spaces, periods (.), hyphens (-) or underscores(_).
When copying groups, the new group name will be in the format groupName_1, where groupName is the original group name and 1 is an incrementing number. If the source group name for the copy has any invalid characters, the new name of the copy will not include those characters.
You see the Groups Editor where you can add members to or remove members from the group.

- From the list of groups, open the group you want to update.
- Optionally enter filter criteria in the filter row at the top of the AVAILABLE MEMBERS list box when adding members or the SELECTED MEMBERS list box when removing members.
- Select the group members from the AVAILABLE MEMBERS list box when adding members or the SELECTED MEMBERS list box when removing members. Use Select All to select all members displayed in the list box. Use Ctrl to select multiple members, one by one, or Shift to select all members in a range.
- Drag and drop members or use the selection buttons to move the members between the list boxes:
>>> Moves all the members from the left (AVAILABLE MEMBERS) to the right (SELECTED MEMBERS) > Moves selected potential group members from the left (AVAILABLE MEMBERS) to the right (SELECTED MEMBERS) < Removes any unwanted group members previously selected from the right (SELECTED MEMBERS) to the left (AVAILABLE MEMBERS) <<< Removes all the members from the right (SELECTED MEMBERS) and places them on the left (AVAILABLE MEMBERS)

- Click Delete
next to the name of the group you want to remove. The group is deleted.

You can create groups from within the following tables:
Table | Group Type |
---|---|
Battery Charging Option Definitions | ChargingOptions |
Bills Of Material | BOMs |
Customers | Customers |
Drones | DroneTypes |
Electric Vehicle Battery Definitions | Batteries |
Inventory Processes | InventoryProcesses |
Inventory Process Steps | InventoryProcessSteps |
Modes | Modes |
Periods | Periods |
Production Processes | ProductionProcesses |
Production Process Steps | ProductionProcessSteps |
Products | Products |
Returns Processes | ReturnsProcesses |
Returns Process Steps | ReturnsProcessSteps |
Shipments | Shipments |
Sites | Sites |
Site Shipping Spaces | SiteShippingSpaces |
Site Storage Spaces | SiteStorageSpaces |
Sourcing Processes | SourcingProcesses |
Sourcing Process Steps | SourcingProcessSteps |
Transportation Assets | Assets |
Transportation Processes | TransportationProcesses |
Transportation Process Steps | TransportationProcessSteps |
Work Centers | WorkCenters |
Work Resources | WorkResources |
- Open the input table for which you want to create a group.
- Select one or more records.
- Click Add to Group.
- Enter a Group Name.
- Select one of:
- Group records matching the current filter
- Group selected records
- Group all records
- Click OK.
Last modified: Wednesday March 05, 2025