---
id: KB-MA-009
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/marta/asking-about-several-things-at-once
idioma: en
categoria: marta
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-MA-002, KB-MA-006]
citadoPor: [KB-MA-017]
---

# Cross-referencing information from different places

_What a filter cannot do and a question can._

**Responde a:** cross-reference supplier and site data · ask about several things at once · find information spread across places · the filter does not give me what i need

A filter answers a simple question: what meets this condition. When the question crosses two things — which suppliers on this site have something expired and have also gone quiet — the filter falls short and manual work begins.

## The kind of question worth asking

| Question | Why a filter cannot give it |
| --- | --- |
| Which suppliers on this site have something expired and are not responding? | It crosses two conditions and a history |
| Which clients have we asked the same thing twice this year? | It needs the pattern, not the status |
| Which cases resemble this one that stalled? | It is a comparison, not a filter |
| What documentation is missing before we can invoice this client? | It joins things from different places |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Before acting on an answer that crosses things, open one of the cases and check. The more elaborate the question, the more pieces where something may be out of date — and the answer sounds equally confident either way.

## How to ask better

**En corto**

- Name both conditions separately and explicitly.
- State the period: "this quarter", not "recently".
- And say what you want it for: it changes the shape of the answer.

> [!WARNING]
> If the answer surprises you a lot, be suspicious before celebrating or panicking. An unexpectedly long list usually means the question was understood more broadly than intended.

> [!NOTE]
> When a cross-referenced question serves you every month, it deserves to become something fixed. Asking is for exploring; what repeats belongs set up.

**Can it cross with data from another of our systems?**

Not on its own; that is what the integration is for.

**Are complex questions more expensive?**

Each query consumes the same; what changes is what it saves you.

**What if it finds nothing?**

It says so. Finding nothing does not mean nothing exists: the question may not have been the right one.

## Ejemplos

**A manager needs to know which subcontractors on a site are incomplete and have gone quiet for three weeks.**

- Asks naming both conditions and the period
- Opens two of the cases to check

→ Comes away with four verified names in five minutes, instead of cross-checking two lists by hand.

**The figure is in one document and the context in another.**

- Asks about both at once

→ The answer cross-references without opening anything.

**Two suppliers' material is compared by hand.**

- Asks for the comparison

→ The cross-reference is immediate.

**You want to know which files share a problem.**

- Asks about the pattern

→ The pattern appears without walking them.

**The answer crosses data from different periods.**

- Specifies the period in the question

→ The comparison is the one intended.

**Information is crossed from files you cannot see.**

- Checks the scope before relying on it

→ The answer is read knowing what it covers.