User Guide: Copy Entity Settings

Copying entities can have various purposes under different scenarios when working in WorkPoint.

With the option to copy entities, WorkPoint makes it possible to create copies of existing entities while simultaneously setting specific data fields. One example of this could be creating a copy of a Case entity on a Case Management solution. when creating the copy of the case, the completion date can be automatically set in relation to the original case, e.g. by displacing the original completion date and using that date for the copy.

A typical use case for this feature could be accountants making annual accounts for clients. Each year becomes a case with it's own set of tasks that needs to be completed. Every year, the case from the previous year could be copied using this feature along with all tasks, and deadlines can then be displaced by e.g. a year.

Another use case could be related to Project Management where a new project a new project similar to a previous project needs to be created. In that case, the previous project can be copied along with e.g. task- and risk lists. A deadline for the new project can then be set, and sub-deadlines for e.g tasks can then be displaced accordingly.

Copying entities are done from the business module lists on which the entities are located.

The following example demonstrates how to create a new copy of an entity using the following case:

An accountant is making financial statements for clients. Each year's financial statement becomes a case with a set of tasks that needs to be completed. Every year, the financial statement from the previous year is copied. In this copy, all task deadlines must be displaced 1 year.

In this example, we have set up a Case Management solution on which we have a business module which holds Financial Statement entities, which can be copied using time displacement to fulfill the requirements from the case:

1. In the list of financial statement entities, we select the "2020 Financial Statement" entity.
2. In the Command Bar of the list we click "Copy Entity" to create next year's Financial Statement entity.

This opens the Copy Entity wizard:

3. In the first step, we can select which content to copy from the original entity onto the new entity. Content refers to the contents of the respective list on the original entity. Folders refers to whichever folders might exist in the respective lists. Reset can be enabled if items in the list which are generated from templates should be created anew on the new entity using the same template but with data from the new entity.
4. Padlocks signalize that the options for the respective list are locked as per the configuration of the Copy Entity settings. If these appear and you believe you should be able to change the settings which are locked, contact your system administrator.
5. In this example, we do not want to make any changes to the default settings here, so we click "Select and continue".

6. We are now presented with the opportunity to change some of the meta data for the new entity. In this case, we change the title and description to reflect the year of the financial statement.
7. We then click "Save" to start creating the new financial statement entity.

Note that there is a hidden step in this wizard, which would allow the user to select time displacement settings for the copied entity. Since the configuration we are working with in this example are set to time displace the new entity by one year, and because this setting is locked, the step is hidden in the wizard.

In the following image, we have for demonstration purposes unlocked these settings, such that the step is shown:

8. In this step, the time displacement type can be selected. Options are:
   • Fixed: The copied entity is time displaced to a fixed date which can be set in the Copy Entity wizard during copying. All selected date fields of items copied along with the entity (e.g. tasks) are time displaced accordingly. An example of this could be an original project with a start date on the 21^nd of October. If we create a copy of this entity and use a Fixed time displacement to the 14^th of April, that would be time displacement of 175 days. The start date of the copied entity would then be the 14^th of April and the selected date fields for items copied (e.g. Tasks) are time displaced by 175 days. Note that time displacement values can be negative (e.g. time displacement of -90 days).
   • Relative: The copied entity is time displaced by a configurable amount relative to the original entity, e.g. 1 year relative to the original start date of a project.
9. Depending on the selection in pt. 8, the user can either provide an amount of days/weeks/months/years to displace by entity by as shown in the previous image (for the Relative type), or enter a date to displace to, as shown in the following image (for the Fixed type):

Once the wizard is done creating the new financial statement entity, it appears in the business module list:

10. Note that the Start date, Due date, and Completion date for the new 2021 Financial Statement entity has been automatically time displaced by one year in relation to the original 2020 Financial Statement entity. The same is true of tasks copied from the original entity to the new entity:

Note that due to the configuration for the Copy Entity Settings in this example, the Task Status is not copied from the original entity to the new entity. This is because if a task is set to completed in the 2020 Financial Statement, this status should not be copied to the 2021 Financial Statement task, as the task is not yet started. Instead, all task statuses are set to their default starting value.

Note that the Copy Entity with Time Displacement feature can use different types of time displacement depending on the configuration of the feature. the options for time displacement are the following:

• Fixed: The copied entity is time displaced to a fixed date which can be set in the Copy Entity wizard during copying. All selected date fields of items copied along with the entity (e.g. tasks) are time displaced accordingly. An example of this could be an original project with a start date on the 21^nd of October. If we create a copy of this entity and use a Fixed time displacement to the 14^th of April, that would be time displacement of 175 days. The start date of the copied entity would then be the 14^th of April and the selected date fields for items copied (e.g. Tasks) are time displaced by 175 days. Note that time displacement values can be negative (e.g. time displacement of -90 days).
• Relative: The copied entity is time displaced by a configurable amount relative to the original entity, e.g. 1 year relative to the original start date of a project.