Copy branch action

With a copy branch action you can copy an item and its children to the same parent item or a different parent item. The action copies all associated data across all modules and list properties in the model.

Copy branch enables many-to-many copying. This means you can copy more than one branch in a list hierarchy and select more than one parent item under which to copy the branch data.

When you set up a copy branch action, you must ensure that the list you copy with the action is a numbered list and has a parent hierarchy.

If the list has a child list, this must also be a numbered list. However, you can also use copy branch to copy items in lists that do not have child lists.

You must be a workspace administrator to set up a copy branch action. However, any user with write access to the child and parent lists can run the action from a dashboard.

You can configure the copy branch action to copy the selected parent item along with either:

• All descendent items, down to the lowest level, and their related data
• The immediate children of the selected item or items, and their related data

You can configure a copy branch action to copy items from a flat list. However, if you do so, the action only copies the item or items the user selects in that list.

You can also configure:

• A target dashboard for the action to open when users run the action
• A prompt to enable users to restrict data on the target dashboard
• List filters, so users can filter the list they want to copy based on properties of the parent list

Parent list properties must have the list format for you to use them as filters.

A marketing manager for a shoe company wants to manage promotions across Marketing, Sales, and Production. They need to ensure sufficient production to meet the demand generated by their marketing promotions and that sufficient sales reps are assigned to support the promotion. They therefore want to be able to copy a promotion, and the products it promotes, from one organizational unit to another.

To meet this need, a workspace administrator sets up a composite hierarchy: Organization > #Promotions > #Products. Organization contains the items Product, Marketing, and Sales. They then create the standard lists Promotions and Products, and format a list property for #Promotions with the list Promotions. This property can then be used as the display name for the numbered list. They then create a similar property for #Products, and formate the property with the list Products, so this can be the display name for #Products.

This means that unique numbered items the numbered lists can have the same display name. For example, items #1 and #4 in Promotions can both have the display name Super sandals.

The workspace administrator can assign the products the manager wants to promote as children of the Super sandals promotion, and assign Super sandals as the child of Marketing. Then set up a copy branch action to copy all levels from #Promotions. They can create a Sales dashboard as the default dashboard to open, so the manager can move directly to assign sales reps to the promotion.

The workspace administrator can then publish the action to a dashboard as a button, along with the #Promotions list. The marketing manager can now  select any promotion in #Promotions and then the Copy branch button. The action launches the Copy branch dialog, and they can select which item or items in Organization to copy the promotion to. When they select OK, the Sales dashboard displays. The promotion and its children are copied as a branch under the parents the manager selected. They can now assign sales reps to the promotion.