Our domain is a hierarchy of

Scorecard
Scorecards( can have one to many)
Measure(can have one to many)
KeyPerformanceIndicator

Each object at every level has a versioned id(a generated string and a version) and a set of effective dates. When this hierarchy is to be retrieved, the hierachy is to be built so each defintion is the max version based on the effective dates. My question is which construct would be the best way to build my query HQL or criteria?

Guess filtering is something for you. Have a look ag Chapter 18. Filtering data of the reference manual.

HTH
Ernst