6 Tricks with Subtrees Ben Christenson

 14 years at Kinetic Data   Ben Christenson Developer Fun fact! “Kasandra, our director of operations, beat me out for 1 st place in the office fantasy football league.”

 How many of you own Kinetic Task?  How many of you develop task trees?  What are some processes you have built with Task?  How many of you are already using subtrees? About You

5 Agenda  What is a subtree?  6 Tricks 1. Build reusable subprocesses 2. Break up large trees 3. Simplify task parameters 4. Reduce task parameters 5. Use subtrees for updates 6. Use subtrees to repeat  Recap and discussion

What is a subtree?

7 What is a Subtree?  Tree that can be called by other trees  (Introduced in Task 3.1)  Subtrees are to trees as subprocesses are to processes  A process is comprised of subprocesses  A subprocess is also a process

8 Why subtrees?  Why subprocesses?  Reuse  Simplification

9 Subtrees in Kinetic Task  Created like a tree, cloned like a tree

10 Subtrees in Kinetic Task  Inputs are available in the Pre-defined values menu  Outputs are specified by the Tree Return system control

11 Subtrees in Kinetic Task  Configurable like a task handler  Has an id (like task handler ids)  Has inputs (like task handler parameters)  Has outputs (like task handler results)  Shared subtrees are categorized like a handler

12 Two Type of Subtrees Shared  Categorized like handlers  Any source root or source group Local  Displayed in “Local Subtrees” category  Same source root and source group as the master tree (Introduced in Task v4, will be in Task v3.2)

13 Subtrees in Kinetic Task  Callable like a tree and a task handler

14 Subtrees in Kinetic Task  Subtrees can defer like handlers  Deferred are processed serially  Non-deferred are processed in parallel

The 6 Tricks

16 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses  Problem: I’m doing the same thing over and over…  Trick: Build a reusable subtree!

17 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses

18 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses

19 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses

20 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses

21 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses

22 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses  What subprocesses are often duplicated?  Approvals  Reminders  SLA logic

23 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses  Two strategies of reuse Shared  One subtree referenced by multiple trees  Changes effect all trees  Introduced problems effect all trees Templated  One template tree cloned for use on each tree  Changes effect single tree  Introduced problems are isolated

24 1. Build Reusable Subprocesses Organization Recommendations  Create Shared and Templates source roots (for trees not specific to a source application)  Use a source group of Shared and Templates (for trees specific to a source application)

25 2. Break up Large Trees  Problem: Processes can get big and complicated…  Trick: Break up large trees!

26 2. Break up Large Trees

27 2. Break up Large Trees

28 2. Break up Large Trees  Create new local subtrees for logical subprocess  Each subprocess analyzed/viewed independently  Master process is smaller, cleaner, and easier to follow (and support!)

29 3. Simplify Task Parameters  Problem: Task handler parameters can be complicated…  Trick: Create a subtree to “wrap” the handler with easier parameters!

30 3. Simplify Task Parameters

31 3. Simplify Task Parameters

32 3. Simplify Task Parameters

33 3. Simplify Task Parameters

34 3. Simplify Task Parameters

35 3. Simplify Task Parameters

36 3. Simplify Task Parameters

37 3. Simplify Task Parameters

38 4. Reduce Task Parameters  Problem: My task handlers have multiple related parameters…  Trick: Create a subtree to “wrap” the handler with fewer parameters!

39 4. Reduce Task Parameters

40 4. Reduce Task Parameters

41 4. Reduce Task Parameters

42 4. Reduce Task Parameters

43 4. Reduce Task Parameters Fill out once… Call many times!

44 4. Reduce Task Parameters  To improve usability, wrap complex handlers  Create a shared “wrapper” subtree  Categorize the subtree  Uncategorize the task handler

45 5. Use Subtrees for Updates  Problem: I have a complicated process that needs to run multiple times for a deferred task…  Trick: Call a subtree in the update branch!

46 5. Use Subtrees for Updates

47 5. Use Subtrees for Updates

48 5. Use Subtrees for Updates

49 5. Use Subtrees for Updates  Subtrees can facilitate complex update branches  Create (or recreate) the branch as a local subtree  Replace the branch with single subtree task

50 6. Use Subtrees to Repeat  Problem: I need to repeat a process an unknown number of times…  Trick: Have a subtree call itself!

51 6. Use Subtrees to Repeat  Some processes are repeated “indefinitely” in parallel to master  Send reminders every hour until an issues is closed  Run a process every night at midnight  Some processes are repeated “indefinitely” serially to master  Allow changes to a request until approved  Require an unknown number of work items for an ad-hoc work order

52 6. Use Subtrees to Repeat  Implementation and more uses will be covered in task training Parallel (Reminders)Serial (Request for Changes)

Conclusion

54 Conclusion  Recap  Build reusable subprocesses  Break up large trees  Simplify task parameters  Reduce task parameters  Use subtrees for updates  Use subtrees to repeat  Takaways  Subtrees help reduce repetition and duplication  Subtrees help simplify your processes  Questions?