Milestone Cases
- Context Menu to Create a Milestone Case or Select an Existing One (Share Milestone Case of Another Project or Process)
In some projects or processes, there may be situations in which several possible alternative routes need to be taken depending on what exactly happens during its execution. Using "Milestone Cases", you can actually plan several alternatives (cases) in advance, one of which will be chosen when the project or process actually gets to the milestone. This happens via myCommunigram: the responsible for the milestone will be asked to choose one of the possible alternatives when the project or process actually gets to there.
Note: Apart from milestone cases, you can also define loops within the project or process by drawing conditional arrows directly, without using milestone cases. If the responsible of the milestone decides to follow a loop, this means that the activities between the milestone and the one the arrow points to are copied and added to the running project or process.
To create a milestone case, choose an existing milestone, click on its line to activate it, and click on the right mouse button to select "Milestone Case". From there, a drop-out menu opens that gives you the opportunity to Create a new milestone case, or to select an existing one (Choose Existing).
When you create a new milestone case, a colored line is inserted after the milestone. To add deliverables to the new milestone case, simply click on the line and add new deliverables as you would elsewhere in the Communigram (e.g. with Ctrl+I).
- New Milestone Case (blue line) With Several New Deliverables (light blue lines)
When you move over the target icon of the milestone, a list of all milestone cases appears in the tooltip. From here, you can change the labels and the colors of the milestone cases. The labels are displayed in myCommunigram when the responsible of the milestone is prompted to take the decision concerning which milestone case will be actually done in the project.
- The Tooltip of the Milestone Contains the Label and Color Information of All Associated Milestone Cases
- Prompt for Conditional or Normal Arrow
After you create the information flow to take place within the milestone cases, you need to "hook up" the milestone cases to the milestone by drawing arrows. When you draw an arrow from a milestone, Communigram asks you whether you wish this arrow to be a "conditional arrow". Conditional arrow means that this information flow will only take place if the responsible of the milestone chooses the corresponding case when the project or process actually gets to the milestone during execution.
In this example, two milestone cases exist: a green one (case OK, we can do internal development) and a red one (case NOK, we need to do external development). Both are connected with conditional arrows.
- Milestone With Two Milestone Cases Connected Via Conditional Arrows: Depending on the Decision of the Person Responsible for the Milestone, One of the Alternative Cases Will be Copied to the Running Project or Process
In myCommunigram, the responsible for the milestone is prompted to take a decision as shown in the following screen.
- Message Box in myCommunigram Showing "Decision to be Taken"
- Prompt to Confirm Decision and Modified Project / Process Including Former Case ("OK")
After one of the cases is selected by the responsible of the milestone, it is copied into the main body of the current project, i.e. it is no longer a possible alternative, but an actual part of the project or process. Because this is irreversible, the responsible needs to confirm the decision. Since this means that new deliverables are added to the running project or process, the responsible is also asked whether it shall be "scheduled". If the responsible chooses to do so, then the entire project is recalculated to take the latest changes into account.
- The Milestone Case Added to the Current Project / Process: the Label "OK" Was Added to the Name of the Case ("Internal Development")
Loops
Apart from branching into Milestone Cases, arrows from milestones can also be used to go back within the project or process and redo part of it.
To create a loop, simply draw an arrow from a milestone and accept to make it a conditional arrow. For example, simply draw an arrow up from a milestone (i.e. back in time). If later in the running project or process, the decision is taken in the milestone to follow this arrow, then all deliverables back to the milestone will be repeated, i.e. copied to the project and assigned to the same people again.
Note: Whether or not a milestone case or a loop is actually executed is determined when the project actually takes place. Via myCommunigram, the person designated as responsible decides whether the situation merits executing the milestone case or loop, or whether the default continuation of the project will be followed.