Process Table Lookups

ProcessPlan allows you to reuse information from Processes by using Process Table Lookups. Any process template can be accessed in a lookup field. If you want to create a place just to hold information to be accessed by lookup fields, you can create a process template containing only Process Fields and no tasks in the flow diagram, so that only the Start oval remains (see Using a Process Table to Store Reference Data). You can come back at any time and add tasks to the template.

To add a Process Table Lookup field, do the following:

1. Open the template designer, click Process Fields > Create New

2. Select Process Table Lookup (Single) (or Process Table Lookup (Multiple) to allow multiple values) as the field type

3. Begin typing the name and select the process template you want the lookup field to pull from.

4. Click Save

Filtering Process Table Lookup Fields

To determine which value appears in a Process Table Lookup field, do the following:

1. Open your Process Template > Click Process Fields > Click the 3 dot Navigation button on the lookup field you want to edit > Click Edit

2. Expand the Process Table Filters section

The following will appear:

• Filter On Field - Select a process field to compare

• Comparison - Select the type of comparison you want to make

• Filter Value - The value you want to compare against

A field’s filters hold up to 2,000 characters in all. Each process field a filter names counts as about 30 characters, whatever length its name shows. Filters that are too long are not saved: you are told how long they are, so you can remove a condition and save again.

When the filter value comes from a blank field

A filter value can be a field from the same form, so the lookup follows what was entered there. For example, offer only the purchase order lines whose PO number matches the PO number on this record. The comparison you pick decides what happens while that field is blank:

• equals (no match if blank) - the lookup offers nothing until the field is filled in, and says which field to fill in, such as “Fill in PO Number to see choices”. Pick this when the field must have a value before a choice makes sense. This is the choice for a new filter.

• equals (ignore if blank) - the condition is left out, and the rest of the filter decides. Pick this when a blank field means “any”, such as offering every region’s records when no region is chosen.

• equals (blank matches blank) - the lookup offers only the records whose Filter On Field is blank. Pick this when blank is a real answer, such as a line item that has no part number.

• contains (no match if blank) and contains (ignore if blank) work the same way for “contains”.

The same comparison behaves the same way wherever the filter runs: in this lookup, in a formula such as =TABLELOOKUP, and in automated actions. Two exceptions keep automations from touching the wrong records:

• With ignore if blank and a blank field, an action or formula that changes or links the records it finds, such as =INSTANCEUPDATE, stops instead of leaving the condition out.

• Process: Find In Process Table and the Process Instance Exists conditions need every field in their search filled in, whichever comparison you pick.

Filters saved before these choices existed show equals (original) or contains (original). They keep working as before in this lookup, in formulas and in automated actions. With a blank field, this lookup leaves the condition out, while formulas and most actions stop instead. Switch to one of the choices above when you want the lookup and your automations to agree.

Asking the AI Strategist to Fix a Lookup

You do not have to open the designer for either change above. If a lookup field is offering the wrong records - or comes up empty because it is pointed at a table that holds nothing to match - describe the problem to your AI Strategist in a strategy session. It checks which table the field reads today, tells you what it finds, and once you confirm the table it should read instead, it makes the change and reports back. It can also set or remove the filter that limits which records the field offers, including a filter that follows a value already entered on the same form (for example, offering only the projects belonging to the company chosen a moment earlier).

Two things worth knowing. Values already saved on runs in progress are not rewritten, so anything filled in from the old table stays as it is - only new selections come from the new table. And if the field already has a filter, the Strategist will tell you the filter cannot follow it to a different table and ask whether to replace it or remove it, rather than leaving a filter behind that matches nothing.

Aggregate fields (Sum, Average, Count, and the rest) are the exception: the figure they total belongs to the table they read, so those are changed on the field in the designer.

You never have to refresh an aggregate field yourself. The figure updates on its own, usually within a few minutes, after anything it counts changes - a value edited on one of the runs it reads, a run added, a run canceled or deleted, or a change to what the field totals and which runs it includes. So if you have just made one of those changes, give it a moment before checking the number.

Adding Values to Process Table Lookups

To add a value to a Process Table Lookup, do the following:

1. On the Process Table Lookup field you want to add a record to, click the Plus icon.

2. The Start Process panel will open. Fill in the required fields > click Start Process.

3. Your new value will be available for selection