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Progression Workflow with Automation

Nucleus provides two mechanisms to copy Entries between projects:

  • The copy functionality, which creates a clone of an existing Entry and is described in the How to Copy and Entry guide. the copy functionality does now create automated copies on submission and Parent/Child relationships between copied entries.
  • The Progression functionality, which provides a more complex workflow and can be used to move an Entry or to create a parent/child relationship.

Although largely achieving the same end result, there are some core differences between copying Entries and progressing Entries. There is no correct method but this article will explain the Progression features. Admin Users can decide if Copy or Progression best suits their Awards management processes. Please ensure you read all guides and decide which mechanism works best for your workflows.

When is Progressing an Entry Advantageous to Copying an Entry?

The copy functionality simply creates a clone of an Entry in the same or a different Award/project in Nucleus.

The Progression functionality is used as part of a workflow and setup in the Award settings. Progression replaces the approval functionality and instead of an entry being approved, the entry is progressed to a new award.

Some use cases for this are, but not limited to:

  • Multistage Entry
  • Preapproving an Entry before payment is taken
  • Moving the Entry to a new User
  • Multistage Judging Rounds

Progression Functionality:

  • An email can be triggered to the current or new Entry Owner when the Entry is progressed
  • The Entry can be moved, resulting in it no longer existing in the current project
  • A parent/child relationship can be created allowing Admins to track the progress of an Entry

How to Create an Award to Progress Entries to

Before you set up a new Award to which you want to progress make sure that the initial Award Entry Form is fully complete. Entry data is only copied if the Award where the Entry is progressed to contains a Question Type which is identical to the original, and the Internal Question Names match. If there is a disparity between the two the question data will be lost in the process. Please bear in mind that is much easier to edit one form, than to copy it than to edit two forms at the same time.

  1. Go to Awards
  2. Your Award List opens. Choose the relevant Award you want to copy
  3. Click on … >Copy
  4. A ‘Copy’ version will now appear in your Award List. In the Actions drop-down alongside this, click Edit. The main settings page for your new (‘Copy’) Award will open. Here you will update a few key settings as follows
  5. It is important to edit both the Internal and Display Names for your Award here – for yourself as the Administrator and also for your Viewers (Judges), respectively. We suggest you use something that will be especially understood by your Viewers eg. <Awards Name> Stage 2
  6. It is likely that you do not want Entrants to crate entries directly into this award so Answer NO to Active question. This will prevent the award appearing as on option to enter on the Create Entry Page. If you are happy for Entrants to create Entries leave this option set to YES. (IMPORTANT: On the Admin side, when you want to view your new Award in the Awards List, be sure to set Show to ‘Both’ in order to see this new, ‘Inactive’ Award from here onwards).
  7. Answer Yes to Show Entries on Entrant Dashboard question if you want Entrants to be able to view and edit the Entries and submit further information otherwise set this option to No and users will not be able see their entries have advanced.
  8. Set your Open, Create, Submit and Payment dates as required. How to set these will depend on if the new Award requires payment or entrants to submit their entries etc.
  9. Set up the options as required.
  10. Set up the viewing as required.
  11. Set up the payment as required.
  12. Save.

How to Set Up Progression

Progression workflow is setup via the Automation section, and it works by setting a Rule Trigger, with the desired criteria (i.e. transitioning an Entry’s status from Submitted to Approved from the first stage Award), that when met, activate an Action (i.e. Progressing the Entry to the destination Award of choice). Assuming the all the intended Awards have been created, the following steps explain how to create a Progression Automation Rule.

  1. Log into the Admin Interface
  2. Click on Automation to open the page where you are able to see any existing Automation rule, or to create a new one
  3. Click on the Add blue button at the top-right of the screen, or below the rules list. this will open the Automation Rule creation form
  4. Add the Rule Name, it is good practice to choose a name that is recognisable, especially if multiple similar rules are created, in order to simplify workflow
  5. From the Rule Trigger drop-down list, choose the desired criteria that need to be met in order to trigger the Progression. Depending on which Rule Trigger you choose, a different set of settings field may appear on screen. A comprehensive list and description of every Rule Trigger available can be found in the main Automation help guide
  6. To set up a basic Progression workflow based on Entry Status changes (i.e. Automatically progress an Entry to the next stage Award when Approved), choose Entry Status Transition
  7. On the Transition Options list, tick the checkbox that describes the Entry status transition that is intended to trigger Progression (i.e. Submitted > Approved)
  8. Under Rule Criteria, click on the Award drop-down list and select the source Award for this rule. Entries from this Award will be progressed to the next stage Award when the selected status transition occurs
  9. Use Check Media Item ID, Criteria and Dependency to implement additional factors – based on questions in the Form Setup list and Media Items uploaded – that need to be met in order to trigger Progression. Those fields are not mandatory, and can be skipped if not needed
  10. in the Action drop-down list, select Progress Entry. Selecting this will prompt a few additional settings fields to fill
  11. in Destination Award select the Award in which the newly Progressed Entries that meet the Trigger Rule criteria will be placed into
  12. In Entry Progression Status select whether the Entry in the destination Award should appear as Unsubmitted, Submitted, Approved or Unsuccessful
  13. in Entry Progression Type choose whether you wish to:
    1. Use a Parent/Child Progression setup. If chosen, progressing creates a copy of the Entry in the initial Award into the Destination Award, which will have a new Entry ID number
    2. Move the entry from the initial Award into the Destination Award, meaning that once progressed, the entry will no longer be visible in the initial Award, but will be placed in the new one, maintaining its ID number
  14. in Add custom message to progression email, select Yes if you wish to add any message to the Entrant when their Entry is progressed into the Destination Award. The standard template, if enabled from the Email Management section, will be triggered regardless, but the message added from this Automation rule will be pulled and added thanks to the special value @@message@@, which is present into the template
  15. Click on Save

How to Set Up the Progression Email Templates

If you wish to send a communication to the Entrant as part of the progression process, you will need to set this up in advance of progressing Entries across to your new ‘Award’.

  1. Go to Email Management
  2. Select Email Templates from the Email Management section
  3. Find the entry/progress email and click edit
  4. Ensure Enabled is set to Yes
  5. Decide if you wish to include the Standard Header and Footer, to add the emails as New or On-hold and the Delivery Priority
  6. Add any emails you wish to BCC
  7. Add a Subject and Content Copy
  8. When you are ready click Save

Note – If you do create an award specific template for progression then you will need to create the template for the Award where the entries are progressed To not From. For more information about creating email templates you can read the How to Mange Email Templates guide. Also note that you can create Award Specific templates, which are also detailed in the guide.

How to Update a Question Across All Entries with the same Family ID

In Progression workflow, it is common to ensure that the initial Award and the Destination Award contain a certain number of questions that are set up in the exact same way, in order to automatically carry over answers and data that the Entrant has already filled in their initial Entry, but that are still needed in the second stage Award. Admins are able to apply changes to these questions across all forms with the same Family ID at once, without having to manually change them one by one in each form. This ensures that each form has consistent information, preventing vital updates from being missed. To set this up:

  1. Go to Control centre
  2. Click on General Settings
  3. Look for Edit All Entries in Family ID
  4. Set the value to Yes
  5. Click Save

If the Configuration Value is set to Yes, when the Admin Entry Form is loaded, the system will perform a lookup to check for matching internal question names across the linked awards. If matches are found, a new section called ‘Linked Entries’ will appear at the top of the form, with checkboxes for each matching award.

Admins can update a question’s answer across all awards by ticking the relevant checkboxes. Once they click “Save,” the changes will automatically apply to all selected awards.

Important Note – Please note that the Progression functionality will work only if the “Transfer Entries to a New User” Configuration Value is set to No.