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Creating joblists with joblist templates

This chapter explains the general logic of joblist templates. For a detailed walkthrough of a sample joblist template, go here:

A joblist in Plint may span hundreds of jobs that are to be completed sequentially. These lists can be created manually, but in most cases that would be way too tedious and time-consuming. This is where Joblist templates come in. They are arguably the most complex feature in Plint, but once mastered also the most powerful. In essence, they consist of a set of rules dictating:

  • where to add jobs,
    • For example: once for each part or episode or repeated for all target languages 
  • in which order they should be done
    • using the parent-child logic
  • who should do it
    • using the assignment criteria
  • and how the job should be done
    • such as settings for the online editor, or expected file types for an upload job.

When correctly set up, joblist templates can add a thousand jobs in a matter of seconds. Any number of Joblist templates can be created, but it’s a good idea to try to keep them as general as possible and use tags and other project data to trigger differences. 

You need this:

1) A correctly set up project

Since Joblist templates rely on project data, the project itself should be in order first.

This typically means:

  • deciding what language is “First” (the template language),
  • specifying other target languages
    • Optional: adding Tags to target languages.
  • Usually it’s also a good idea to
    • specify Project manager and
    • Client contact person
    • before applying the template since certain jobs may be intended for them.
2) A Joblist template tailored for the project type in question

The Basic rules of template rules

a) Joblist templates work with nodes

As explained here. 

b) Rules are general

Instead of specifying, for example, what languages to add jobs to, you specify types of target languages, for example the "First" language, or those with a certain tag. Or just parts, for that matter.

Instead of specifying which user is to do a certain job, you specify criteria. When applying the template, the system looks for user matching those criteria. These can be simple criteria, like “Current Project manager” or advanced combinations of factors.

c) Rules contain job info

Any information that can be set for a single job, can be set for a rule. This will make the jobs created by the rule inherit all its properties. Everything from basic job type to advanced settings for the Online Editor.

d) Rules are applied in the order they appear in the list

Simply put: order the rules in the chronology you want for the workflow. When you apply a Joblist template the rules will be applied one by one, going through all the project nodes and looking for the right place to act/add. You can reorder rules by dragging and dropping them.

(Make sure to adjust the Most recently created by option under Select parent job if needed.)
Information on which rule created a job is saved with the job, and can be used by other rules to find the correct parent job.

e) Joblist templates can be copied and tested

The best way to understand them is use them. You can easily duplicate a functioning template and modify it, without destroying the original. And after applying a template to a project, you can use Project milestones to remove all the recently added jobs if things didn’t turn out the way you expected.

Reapplying joblist templates to a project

If you run a joblist template more than once on an existing project/joblist, it will do two things:

  • Add missing jobs
    • For example if you have added target languages or parts
    • or added a tag that instructs the joblist template to add additional jobs
  • Re-parent existing jobs if needed
    • If, for example, something has changed in the middle of the workflow

What it won't do

  • It will not add duplicate jobs.
    • A duplicate would be a job in the same node with the same jobtype/custom label
  • And it will never change the data of existing jobs. 
    • If a rule that created the original job has changed, an already created job will never be updated to reflect this
    • Changes to joblist template rules only affect new jobs

 

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