Importing and Exporting Project Link Types

Accolade provides Administrators and Process Designers the ability to export link types from one Accolade environment and import it into another Accolade environment. For example, your company may have a test environment set up during your implementation, or you may have company branches that are new to Accolade that are hosted in a separate environment. Instead of having to recreate link types in each environment, download the information and import it into the new environment.

The download exports the link types configuration into a spreadsheet file with the information grouped into the following tabs within the file:

• Link Types
• Roles
• Mappings

To export project link types:

1. From the System menu, select Process > Link Types.
2. Click Download in the top right corner of the page.

By default, the file exports automatically to a temporary internet files directory. Save it to a more accessible location.

To import project link types into Accolade:

1. Ensure the data within the spreadsheet meets the requirements for a successful import.
2. Remove any link types that you do not want to include in the upload from the spreadsheet and save the file.
3. From the System menu, select Process > Link Types.
4. Click Upload in the top right corner of the page.

Accolade uploads the changes to the link types in the spreadsheet, and adds any new link types with unique system names.

5. (Optional) Click Print to print the import results for your records.

Project Link Types Settings Included in the Spreadsheet File

The columns in the downloaded spreadsheet include the settings for each link type in the order listed below. For a description of each link type setting, see Creating Project Link Types.

Important! Using the import and export tools to update configuration can result in unintended changes if information is missing or creates an error during the import process. Sopheon recommends reviewing Importing and Exporting Configuration Components Best Practices before making changes in a production environment.

• Link Types

   

  Column Name	Accepted Values on Upload*	Additional Notes
  Link Type System Name	Alphanumeric characters, underscore**	Used for matching for upload. If a link type exists, its settings are changed with the values in the uploaded file. If a new, unique system name exists in the file when uploaded, a new link type is created.
  Link Type Display Name	Any	If blank, the link type does not upload.
  Link From Name	Any	If blank, the link type does not upload.
  Link To Name	Any	If blank, the link type does not upload.
  Description	Any	Can be blank.
  Line Color	Any color.	If blank, defaults to Black.
  Arrow Direction	Neither Direction To --> From From --> To Both Directions <-->	If blank, defaults to Neither Direction.
  Dependency Type	Start - Start Finish - Finish Finish - Start Date - Date None	If blank, defaults to None. If Date - Date is selected, Source Default Date and Target Default Date need to be defined.
  Source Default Date	Project Start Date Project End Date Gate 1...20 any available project date metric	Leave blank unless Dependency Type is defined as Date - Date.
  Target Default Date	Project Start Date Project End Date Gate 1...20 any available project date metric	Leave blank unless Dependency Type is defined as Date - Date.
  Manage Links	To --> From From --> To Both Directions <-->	If blank, defaults to Both Directions <-->.
  Order	Any number	The field is set to 0 on upload if no value is entered or the value is not a number.
  Active	Yes, Y, True, 1, X*	All other values are treated as No on upload.
  Delete	Yes, Y, True, 1, X*	All other values are treated as No on upload.

  * For any column that accepts Yes, Y, True, 1, or X, you can also enter No, N, False, or 0 if it helps you when entering data in the spreadsheet. All values other than Yes, Y, True, 1, or X are treated as No when you upload the spreadsheet.

  ** Limited to characters between a - z, A - Z, and 0 - 9, and the underscore ( _ ).

   

• Roles

   

  Column Name	Accepted Values on Upload	Additional Notes
  Link Type System Name	Alphanumeric characters, underscore**	Used for matching for upload. If a link type exists, its settings are changed with the values in the uploaded file.
  Restrict to These Roles	Valid Accolade role	Separate roles using the pipe ( | ) character.

  ** Limited to characters between a - z, A - Z, and 0 - 9, and the underscore ( _ ).

   

• Mappings

   

  Column Name	Accepted Values on Upload*	Additional Notes
  Link Type System Name	Alphanumeric characters, underscore**	Used for matching for upload. If a link type exists, its settings are changed with the values in the uploaded file.
  From Process Model	Valid process model system name	If blank, the link type does not upload.
  To Process Model	Valid process model system name	If blank, the link type does not upload.
  Max Project Links	Any number	Can be blank.
  Delete	Yes, Y, True, 1, X*	All other values are treated as No on upload.

  * For any column that accepts Yes, Y, True, 1, or X, you can also enter No, N, False, or 0 if it helps you when entering data in the spreadsheet. All values other than Yes, Y, True, 1, or X are treated as No when you upload the spreadsheet.

  ** Limited to characters between a - z, A - Z, and 0 - 9, and the underscore ( _ ).