Actions & Decisions: Bulk Edit

Modified on Tue, 15 Aug 2023 at 04:00 PM

Use Bulk Edit to easily create and update actions and decisions.

The Actions & Decisions bulk edit functionality allows you to create new action items or update existing ones. It can be used to create or update meeting actions, project actions or actions from your personal dashboard.

The Bulk edit functionality can therefore be accessed from:

The meeting dashboard page of any meeting you are part of.
Any Project Workspace page of projects you manage.

To access the functionality, select 'Tools' (top right of the page) and select 'Bulk Edit' or select bulk edit from the left hand navigation.

Step 1: Download the data file

In the Bulk Edit dialog, select the Actions tab on the left. Then there are 2 things to consider:

To export any existing actions / decisions / tasks from the project workspace or meeting dashboard, leave the first option checked. If you want to exclude existing entries from the export and download the actions and decisions template only, uncheck 'Include existing data'.
The second check option determines the report you'll be exporting, if this is unchecked you'll be exporting the 'Grouped Actions' file, if the second box is checked, you will be exporting the 'Actions' file.
1. 'Grouped Actions' - If you want to update the action details (i.e its title, description, due date, status, etc.), uncheck the second box to export the version that lists a single line item for EACH ACTION / DECISION / TASK in the action log. The title of this extracted file will be prefixed with 'Grouped Actions' followed by the date/time of the extract. This extract allows you to update the details of actions/decisions/tasks like:
  - the title
  - the parent
  - due date
  - assignees
  - description
  - priority
  - Status of items with a single assignee
2. 'Actions' - If you want to update the action status, set the second flag to No to export the version that lists a single line item for EACH ASSIGNEE of actions/decisions/tasks (items with more than one assignee will therefore have multiple entries in the extract - one entry for each assignee) - allowing you to update the status of each person in turn. The title of this extracted file will be prefixed with 'Actions' followed by the date/time of extract.

The actions returned in the extract will be the items that are currently displayed on the project workspace.

Step 2: Edit the data file

Make your changes to the excel spreadsheet you have downloaded.

See the table at the bottom of this page for a full description of each column

Step 3: Upload the data file

When you are happy with your changes select Upload in the Bulk Edit dialog and select the file you want to upload.

The progress bar will indicate when the upload process is completed and if any errors occurred during the upload process, they will be listed below the progress bar.

Upload rules

You can find the description of the file format in the next section but here are the rules that need to be applied in order to successfully create or update action items.

Creating new actions

The bulk edit functionality makes it very easy to create new action items in bulk.
If you are using the Bulk edit function from a meeting dashboard, you can only create new items if you are the meeting owner or the meeting facilitator.
The action title (column C), the request type (column E) and the assignee ID (column H) values are required in order to create a new action record.
If the new action is a follow on/child action of another pre existing action in your project workspace or meeting dashboard, you must insert the Shortid of the parent task in the parent column for the new action.

Updating existing actions

The bulk edit functionality can also be used to:

update the action details or delete the actions (if you have downloaded the 'Grouped Actions' extract)
or update the action status (if you have downloaded the 'Actions' extract)

Updating the action details or deleting actions
- you can only edit the details of the actions you have full edit rights on.
  - if the action was sent from a meeting, project or teamspace, you must be the owner or the facilitator (editor) of the given meeting, project or teamspace in order to be able to edit the action details.
- if you have the rights to edit the items, then the following fields can be updated:
  - Title
  - Description
  - Assignee ID
  - Priority
  - Due Date
  - Theme
- You can also choose to delete an action by setting a Yes value in column N.
- The Id (column A) and/or Guid (column M) of the action to be updated must be specified
  - the upload process first uses the action Id value to retrieve the action to be updated. If no value Id is specified or if the Id is incorrect, then the Guid value is used to retrieve the action. If no action can be found but a GUID value is specified, then a new action with this Guid value will be created.
Updating the action status
- to be able to edit the action status, you need to:
  - either be the assignee of the action
  - or have full edit rights on the action (see above for more information on edit rights).
- if you have the rights to edit the items, then the following fields can be updated:
  - Status
  - RAGStatus
  - StrapLine
  - StatusDate (this must be set to todays date in order for the action status to pull through.)
  - Percent Complete
- The Id and/or Guid of the action to be updated must be specified
  - the upload process first uses the action Id value to retrieve the action to be updated. If no value Id is specified or if the Id is incorrect, then the Guid value is used to retrieve the action. If no action can be found but a GUID value is specified, then a new action with this Guid value will be created.

It is important to note that the file being uploaded does not need to contain all actions. Only the schedule tasks listed in the upload file will be updated, all other tasks will remain unchanged.

Field Description

Column & Title	Description	What happens if this field is left blank?
Id	The unique identifier of the action being edited.	If blank Fluid will create a new action / decision. If updating existing actions / decisions the ID extracted must not be edited - if it is edited, Fluid will not match it to an existing record and will create a new record.
ShortId	The short reference ID for the action	Fluid automatically generates the ID - whether you populate the field or not.
Title	The action title	This is the only mandatory field to complete in order to add an entry to the action log. To edit the title of items use the 'Grouped Actions' extract.
Description	The action description	Field will be left blank. To edit the description of items use the 'Grouped Actions' extract.
Parent	Insert the Shortid of the parent task. The parent task needs to be an existing task in the sheet. This field will only be present in the Grouped Actions extract.	The task will not have a parent task associated with it.
RequestType	The action type - the most common values being Action or Decision.	This value is mandatory. For an existing entry the type will remain as already defined in Fluid. Once an item is created its type cannot be changed.
Status	The status of the item. The possible values for the status field are: Action: Request, Not Started, In Progress, Completed or Rejected Decision: Request, Conditional, Approved or Rejected Message: Request or Acknowledged Handshake: Request, Approved or Rejected Board task: status values will vary depending on the board the task is coming from. If the extract is a 'Grouped Actions' extract there could also be a status of Container - this indicates a multi-assignee item. To update the status for assignees on multi-assignee items you would need to use the 'Actions' extract.	The status of new items will be set to Request The status of existing items will be maintained as they are currently set in Fluid. To edit the status on items use the 'Actions' extract.
AssignedTo	The full names of the assignees	It is not necessary to populate this column on upload. Assignees full names are included in extracts to help you better identify who is assigned to an item - because the User ID (which is the proper identifier - column G) can be cryptic!
AssignedToID	The assignee usernames (visible in Fluid in brackets after a person's name when you search on them). This is the unique identifier Fluid will use to set the assignees To change the assignees on items use the 'Grouped Actions' extract and use a comma separated list if there is more than one assignee.	This value is mandatory.
Priority	The priority of the action – High, Medium or Low.	If it is a new entry, Fluid will default it to Medium. To change the priority on items use the 'Grouped Actions' extract.
DueDate	The date by which the action is due.	No due date will be set on the new action. To change the due date on items use the 'Grouped Actions' extract.
PercentComplete	% complete of the action – include any numerical entry between 0 and 100.	The percentage complete for each assignee. To change the percentage complete for each assignee use the 'Actions' extract.
Theme	The action theme	No theme will be set for the new action. To edit the theme of items use the 'Grouped Actions' extract.
RAGStatus	The RAG status of the action.	Field will be left blank.
Strapline	A high level update that speaks to the RAG status of the action.	Field will be left blank.
StatusDate	The date of the action status.	The RAG status and strapline will not be submitted without the status date detailed in the relevant cell.
Guid	The action global identifier of the action being edited	If blank Fluid will create a new action/decision/task. If updating existing action/decision/task the Guid extracted must not be edited - if it is edited, Fluid will not match it to an existing record and will create a new record.
DeleteRecord	Enter Yes if you want to delete the item.	Fluid will not delete the entry. To delete items use the 'Grouped Actions' extract.

REMINDER:
The changes you can make via the bulk upload depends on your permissioning to the items in question.
You need to have full edit rights to items (as owner or creator) to make changes to title, description, assignees, priority, due date, theme, to delete an item or make status updates on behalf of others.
As an assignee to items you can only make updates to your own status and percentage complete.