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How do I do an Actions Import?

Ella Lobb-Miller
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For general guidance on Imports and common import tasks please see our How do I do an Import? guide.

For the online help documentation and to access the Actions Import Sheet for Action Imports see the Classic help here.

The Actions import sheets are included in the 'Actions and Risks Import' document. Actions imports are spread across three worksheets:

  1. Actions Variables
  2. Action Milestones
  3. Action Notes

To import Actions data, Users must have the correct permissions and Ownerships to modify the relevant data type. 

 

Action Variables

Any user who has the create permission (i.e. Actions_Create, Site Admin, Actions_Admin, etc)  will be able to import data for new Actions using the Actions Variables sheet.

There are three mandatory fields in this import sheet:

  • Action Title - Short text, max 255 characters, non-unique.
  • Code - Short text, max 255 characters, non-unique.
  • Due Date - Date field, if a Start Date is entered, the due date must be after the Start Date.

Creating a Tree Structure

Actions can have a tree structure within the application, and Actions imports allow you to import items with this structure. 

To create a Parent Action enter your action details as normal, completing all the mandatory fields and any relevant optional fields. 

Once your Parent has been created, you can use the 'Parent Action Code' drop-down column to select a Parent for your child rows. Once you have selected a Parent Action Code, the Parent Action Title column will auto-fill with the title. 

An example is shown here:

mceclip0.png

  • The first row is the parent, and therefore has nothing in the parent title or code.
  • The second row is a child action of the PA parent action, as indicated by PA showing in the parent code (the spreadsheet will automatically work out the title for you).
  • The third row is also a child of the PA parent action, with the same code entered in the Parent Action Code column.
  • The forth rows is a child of ‘Child 1 of Parent Action’, as indicated by PA1 showing in the parent code – and as this is the lowest level this is where the progress for the Action would be entered.

When this is imported into the application it would look like:

mceclip1.png

Note: you cannot import new Actions as children under an Action which already exists on your Pentana Risk application. The tree structure can only be created if all of the referenced Actions are included in the sheet. 

Linked Risks

The Action Variables sheet also allows you create links between the imported Actions and existing Risks on your system in the 'Linked Risks' column. To do this, you must enter the Risk code exactly; multiple Risks can be linked by separating the the codes with a semicolon.

Code Format

The Code Format column allows you to select a pre-set code format for your Action. Code Formatting can be configured in the 'Actions Settings' of the Site Administration tools in Browser. For more information see our How do I Configure the Actions Module in Browser? article. 

To use a Code Format in the import sheet you must reference the Code Format title exactly in this column. 

Action Milestones

Any User who has the permissions/ownerships to allow them to modify existing Actions on the system (Actions_Create, Actions_Admin (and complex), Site Admin) will be able to import Milestones against existing Actions in the application. 

In the Action Milestones import sheet there are several mandatory columns:

  • Parent Code - Short Text, 225 characters, the code of the existing Action that this milestone will be imported against. 
  • Parent Title - Short Text, 225 characters, the title of the existing Action that this milestone will be imported against. 
  • Description - Short Text, 225 characters, the description of the milestone that will be displayed in the application. 
  • Weight - Number, this sets the weighting of the milestone; for more information see the Online help.
  • Completed- Dropdown, yes/no options, marks the completion state of the milestone (which will affect the status of the parent Action).
  • Due Date- Date Field, DD/MM/YY format, must be on or before the Parent Action Due Date. 

If a Completed Date is also added, the 'Completed' field must be set to 'Yes' to mark the milestone as completed. 

If you’ve entered the parent code and title incorrectly then it won’t be able to find the matching Action and an error will be reported. An error will also be reported if there are duplicate Actions with the same Code and Title, in either case you can pick the right parent action from the drop down list.

If you think you do have duplicates within your data then it may be less time consuming to enter the parent action in this format into the spreadsheet and overwrite the formula. If you do this you won’t also need to fill in the Parent Code and Title, and this will enable the correct Action to be found when you import. If this were to be used then this would look something like this:

mceclip2.png

Action Notes

Any User who has the permissions/ownerships to allow them to modify existing Actions on the system (Actions_Create, Actions_Admin (and complex), Site Admin) will be able to import Notes against existing Actions in the application. 

The Action Notes import consists of four mandatory fields:

  1. Action- the Action Code, Short Text, 255 characters. 
  2. Note Text - Unlimited Text, the body of the note.
  3. Created by - Short Text, a valid User on the system, 'Surname, Firstname' format, only a single User can be set as a note author. 
  4. Note Entry Date - Date field, DD/MM/YY format, the date the note was created.

 

 

 

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