Why do I receive an error when counting my segment?

Environment:

Audiences, Segments
Oracle RightNow Outreach/Feedback, All versions

Issue:

When counting a segment, we received the following error:

An error occurred while counting. Your segment appears to be invalid. Please recheck the segment for validity.

Resolution:

This error is caused when the segment query encounters a max join error while counting. Essentially, the rows examined by the segment exceed the allowable rows allowed by the database server. This issue may be resolvable using the following solutions:

1. Verify that the fields used in the segment are indexed. This is especially important in the case of a custom field.

2. If fields are indexed and you are still encountering the error, it may be necessary to break your segment into smaller segments. For instance, if you are encountering the error when filtering on a date less than -180 days, you may be able to resolve the error by creating two queries that search for greater than -90 days and between -180 and -90 days.

In the case that these steps do not allow you to resolve the behavior, please submit a service request to Ask Technical Support and we will examine additional methods to optimize the segment query.