that's the best way I know of for number/text values

Cool, good deal.. thanks for confirming!

I wonder if SuiteQL will perform better (by replacing some CASE formulas)?

Could be! would be a fun exercise to test out.. not sure exactly how we would compare them.. other than creating a timer at the start/end of the calls... Would be nice if NS mothership would invest time into this and provide some real guidance for these practical use cases.