As of yet, there is no group in the report.
The record selection criteria includes another field besides the date, so I believe I need to keep my field in in the Detail section. More than likely, it is coincidence that the first record that appears in the report is also the one associated with the most recent date. Choosing the most recent date is the better solution.
I'd like to be able to use the maximum formula you suggested, but I don't understand what "{table.group}" refers to.
The formula is below. As of now, the user can enter a date parameter if there are multiple records among which to choose. My objective is to allow the user to ignore the date parameter (defaults to 1/1/2001) if his need is to find the most recent record--so if I succeed, I'd add the condition that unless the default value was changed, get the record with the most recent date.
Detail field Formula:
--------------------
if {VTMTRACK.ISSUEID} = {?Issue_ID}
and ({VSTATEHISTORY.TRANSITION_USERID} = "Phil Bustin"
or {VSTATEHISTORY.TRANSITION_USERID} = "Todd Barbera")
and {?TT_task_To_group} = {VTMTRACK.TO_REGION}
and {VTMTRACK.ITEMTYPE} = "Task"
and (Date({VSTATEHISTORY.TRANSITION_DATE}) = {?TT_task_date}
or {?TT_task_date} = DateValue(2001,01,01))
and ({VTMTRACK.TITLE} = {?Cub_Title}
or ({?Cub_Title} = "Same as BADGIR"
and {VTMTRACK.TITLE} = {UBR_BADGIR.TS_TITLE}))
then
{UBR_BADGIR.TS_TI_PROMOTE}