LP3: Linked Activity (Parent and Child Activities)

Introduction

e-flow activities can be linked together to separate different elements of a business process. This will either happen automatically as per the activity template, or associated projects can be linked manually.

Often, packaging elements are grouped together into a project in order to keep track of the different elements.

Parent Activity (Project)

The parent activity is a template that includes all tasks to be completed that apply to all packaging elements – this is often referred to as the 'project'. Packaging elements or components will branch off from the parent activity to be completed before the parent can be completed.

Child Activity (Project Item/Packaging Item)

The child activity is an activity template that includes all tasks to be completed in a business process that applies to a specific element – such as a packaging element.

Parent and child activity templates are linked together at the template level by the e-flow template designer (only accessible by those with an Admin role).

Multiple child activities can be linked to one parent activity.

When looking in linked activity from a parent task you can see all the associated children and their statuses. Expanding the activities will show the status of each, its running tasks, and the assignee's and task’s due date. This is toggled by the '+ Expand linked activities' or '- Collapse linked activities' button.

Manually Linked Activities

Sometimes it is useful to link similar activities to the project. Manually linked activities is a feature that allows you to navigate to other activities that may relate to the project but aren't linked by the activity template. This can be useful to link previous iterations of the project or other references.

To do this, select 'Manually link activity' and select any activity you want to link. These will then appear beneath the child activities and can be un-linked by clicking the 'X' button (highlighted below).

Accessing Tasks From the Linked Activities Tab

If you expand the activity you will see the task that is assigned to you or that role, this will only feature if the task is running. You can click on the task and it will then take you the task for that particular activity. 

Navigate to a Linked Activity

The Linked Activity tab of the current activity you're viewing, allows you to open a linked activity using a hyperlink (thus giving you a quick way to navigate between parent and child activities).

For example, you may have opened the parent and you would now like to open one of the packaging elements of that project.

1. Navigate to the Linked Activity tab: here you will see the linked children.

2. Select the Child you would like the view and this will take you directly to that component. 

Adding a New Child/Packaging Activity

Once a parent/project activity has been created and the children/packaging items have been added, further activities can be added to this project using the +New Activity function.

1. Navigate to and open the parent/project activity and then select '+ New Activity'.

Note: you will only be able to add a new activity when the activity is active.

2. You will now be presented with a form where you have the ability to add as many more activities using the '+ Add more' icon. 

With each click of the 'Add More' button  a further form instance (activity) is added. Navigation buttons are introduced to allow you to switch between the instances of the new activity form data.

3. Complete the form and select 'Complete'.

4. You should now see the child activities appear in linked activity when looking at the parent activity.

See more:

LP2: Viewing Activity Summary (Key Metrics, Tasks, Linked Activity, Fields, Assets, Products, Briefs and Commercials)