Actions

In this article we look at the actions located in the diagram drawer.

Kaveh Afroukhteh avatar
Written by Kaveh Afroukhteh
Updated over a week ago

Here we will look at the variety of built-in actions for sublayers and calculations in regards to the diagram. We can access these actions by clicking the Action button at the bottom of each individual node drawer.

In the image above we see a full list of actions of all available actions. This view will differ if the node has a sublayer and/or whether the diagram is a process or project.


Sublayer Actions


Sublayer actions aim to pull information in a quick, useful manner to save the user time - otherwise having to input the the numbers in manually. It is important to note that most of these actions happen automatically when you create a sublayer. They enabled in the settings area of the node - located just below the settings. Below we will go through each action and what they do. The default actions enabled will be marked with an asterisk (*)


Create Sublayer

The create sublayer action is shown in the actions menu for nodes without a sublayer. Clicking the button will create a new sublayer and automatically bring you down into the new layer to start editing.


View Sublayer

Clicking the View Sublayer button will take the user down into the sublayer of the node.


Convert Sublayer → Diagram

This action will convert the existing sublayer into a diagram node with its own new corresponding diagram; available immediately after taking part in the action on the home page. You will receive a prompt asking if you are certain regarding this action. This action is unavailable on the Starter plan and will be disabled.

Pull Titles ← Sublayer *

This action will pull all the titles from the nodes in the sublayer into the description area of the parent node in a list format. Will overwrite any already written information in the description.


Pull Descriptions ← Sublayer

This action will pull all the description from the nodes in the sublayer into the description area of the parent node in a list format. Will overwrite any already written information in the description.

Pull Completion ← Sublayer *

This action will cycle through all the child nodes from the sublayer looking at all inputed completion level percentages, calculates the average and sets it in the parent status located next to the status.

Pull Planned Cost ← Sublayer *

This action will take all existing planned costs from the child nodes from the sublayer, adds all of the costs together and places the sum in the planned costs field located in the costs tab.


Pull Actual Cost ← Sublayer *

This action will take all existing actual costs from the child nodes from the sublayer, adds all of the costs together and places the sum in the actual field located in the costs tab. Please note that this action only exists in Project type of diagrams.


Pull Planned Duration ← Sublayer *

This action will cycle through all the child nodes from the sublayer, pulling any inputed planned duration, adding them together and placing them in the planned duration textfield. If there is already a unit selected, it will convert the duration to the selected unit otherwise it will default to minutes. Please note, the duration will show in decimal format up to two places.

Pull Actual Duration ← Sublayer *

This action will cycle through all the child nodes from the sublayer, pulling any inputed planned duration, adding them together and placing them in the planned duration textfield. If there is already a unit selected, it will convert the duration to the selected unit otherwise it will default to minutes. Please note, the duration will show in decimal format up to two places and that this action only exists in Project type of diagrams.

Pull Schedule ← Sublayer

This action will cycle through all the child nodes from the sublayer, looking at any inputed start and end dates. It will return the furthest back start date and the closest end date.


Delete Sublayer

This action will delete the sublayer and all child nodes.


Calculate Actions

Calculation Actions are targeted at giving the users quick actions to perform basic calculations for information within the node and the diagram as a whole. Many of these can be turned on to occur automatically in the settings section of the actions menu. The calculate settings, unlike the sublayer settings, are not turned on by default and need to be done manually.


Planned Costs ← Planned Duration

This action takes the Swimlane Cost Per Duration along with the planned duration in the node to calculate a cost - which will be placed in the cost field.
Required Fields: Swimlane Cost Per Duration, Planned Duration
Returned Field: Planned Cost


Actual Cost ← Actual Duration

This action takes the Swimlane Cost Per Duration along with the actual duration in the node to calculate a cost - which will be placed in the cost field.
Required Fields: Swimlane Cost Per Duration, Actual Duration
Returned Field: Actual Cost

Planned Duration ← Planned Costs

This action takes the Swimlane Cost Per Duration along with the Planned Costs in the node to calculate a duration - which will be placed in the planned duration field. The Duration calculation will be based on the selected Per Duration from the Swimlane Dialog unless there is already a unit duration selected in the node; which in this case, it will be converted to the selected duration unit.
Required Fields: Swimlane Cost Per Duration, Planned Costs
Returned Field: Planned Duration

Actual Duration ← Actual Cost

This action takes the Swimlane Cost Per Duration along with the Actual in the node to calculate a duration - which will be placed in the actual duration field. The Duration calculation will be based on the selected Per Duration from the Swimlane Dialog unless there is already a unit duration selected in the node; which in this case, it will be converted to the selected duration unit.
Required Fields: Swimlane Cost Per Duration, Actual Cost
Returned Field: Actual Duration

Actual Duration ← Schedule

This action takes the inputed Start Date and End Date, as well as the selected duration unit to return a computed actual duration.
Required Fields: Start Date, End Date, Duration Unit
Returned Field: Actual Duration

Schedule ← Actual Duration

This action takes the input from Actual Duration along with the duration unit to set a Start Date and End Date. If there is no Start Date already inputted, the calculation will add in the current date and time - otherwise it will add on to the inputted Start Date.

Required Fields: Actual Duration, Duration Unit
Returned Field: Start Date, End Date


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