Whenever you move a node you will be asked to confirm your movement. You will have various options depending on the type of node you are moving.
Action
Select they type of action you would like to perform:
Move
Select this option to move each selected branch from its current position to its new position.
Move Questions
Move the question(s) from the source node to the destination node.
Copy
Select this option to copy each selected branch. Copying creates new data objects. So if you subsequently change a copy, the original object that is was copied from does not change. In this way, copying differs from sharing, which merely creates a "reflection" of sorts.
Note: When you copy a node, you can choose to copy any cross-reference links (links to table items) too.
If copying analysis items or objectives, you can also choose to copy or share any attached questions.
If copying programs, you can choose to copy or share any objectives that are sequenced in the programs, and, optionally, the questions in those objectives.
Share
Select this option to share each selected node. Sharing does not create a new data object; rather, it makes a single data object appear in multiple hierarchy locations. A shared object, in other words, is a hierarchy node having multiple parents.
Any alteration to a shared node will be reflected in all its hierarchy locations (since it really just one object displayed in more than one place). This is a good thing when sharing has been used appropriately, but a bad thing when sharing has been used inappropriately (i.e., when copying ought to have been used instead).
Note: Sharing should not be confused with copying. Copying creates a new data object that initially is identical to the source object. For this reason, the initial result of copying may appear indistinguishable from sharing. But unlike a shared object, a copied object is a separate, independent object. Any subsequent change to the copy does not affect the original, and vice versa.
Insert as
Choose where to insert the new node:
Last Child
Select this option to position all nodes as the last child under the drop target node.
Sibling Above
Select this option to position all nodes as siblings above the drop target node.
Sibling Below
Select this option to position all nodes as siblings below the drop target node.
Copy Options
Select which options you want to include when you copy a node:
No Questions
Copy the objectives or Skill/Knowledge items only. If they contain any questions, ignore those while creating the copies. Thus, the copies will initially contain no questions.
Share Questions
Link the question(s) to the destination node. They remain linked to the source node.
On the surface, sharing and copying look alike. But copying creates an independent question, whereas sharing just links the same question to another objective (or S/K). Any changes to a shared question are visible everywhere it is shared.
Share Questions
When objectives or Skill/Knowledge items are copied, this choice links their questions, if any, to the objective or S/K copies.
No new questions are created. The original questions will afterward be linked to both the original objectives or S/Ks and their copies.
Copy Questions
Copy the question(s) from the source node to the destination node. This creates new questions (copies of the originals).
This option enables the checkbox at bottom.
Copy Questions
When objectives or Skill/Knowledge items are copied, this choice creates copies of their questions as well. The question copies get attached to the objective or S/K copies.
Should you copy the questions?
If you foresee that the objective or S/K copies will soon get altered so much after copying that the copied questions will no longer relate, then maybe it's a waste of time to copy the questions.
If you don't expect to change the question copies in any way, then maybe you should consider sharing the original questions with the objective or S/K copies. That way you don't needlessly proliferate copies of essentially the same questions.
But there are various justifiable reasons for copying the questions. For instance, maybe you expect the questions will need to get changed for the copied objects, but only moderately, not completely rewritten. Or maybe you are copying from one project to another, and need the questions to be independent of the original questions, even if they remain essentially the same.
No Objectives
Copy the programs only. If they have any sequenced objectives, don't transfer those objectives to the program copies. Thus the program copies will initially have no objectives.
Copy Objectives
When programs are copied, this choice creates copies of the objectives, if any, that are sequenced in the original programs.
The objective copies will be sequenced into the program copies, just as the original objectives are sequenced into the original programs. However, the copied objectives won't be automatically inserted anywhere in the objective hierarchy, because there is no obviously appropriate location for them. Afterward, if you wish, you can drag and drop the new copies from the objective links window into a suitable location in the objective hierarchy.
If you don't foresee that the objectives will need to be changed for the program copies, then perhaps sharing the original objectives would be a better choice than duplicating them.
Share Objectives
When programs are copied, this choice links their sequenced objectives to the program copies.
No new objectives are created. The original objectives will afterward be linked to both the original programs and the program copies.
Copy Cross Reference Links
Check this box to link the copies to whatever Cross Reference table items the originals are linked to.
This choice pertains to all objects created in this copy operation, not just to the principal objects. So if secondary data objects are included in the copy (in the Copy Options section), then their cross-reference links get copied as well.
Copying to a Different Project
VISION doesn't permit a data object in one project to be linked to a table item belonging to a different project. So when copying data to a different project, only the links to shared table items get copied.
Copy Cross Reference Links
Check this box to link the copies to whatever Cross Reference table items the original questions are linked to.
Copying to a Different Project
VISION doesn't permit a data object in one project to be linked to a table item belonging to a different project. So when copying a question to a different project, only the links to shared table items get copied.
Analysis to Objective Confirm Drop
What would you like to do?
•Create Objective(s): Select this option to create an objective for each analysis node selected in the Analysis Hierarchy window.
•Consolidate into objective: Select this option to consolidate each selected analysis node into the selected objective.
Tip: You can also consolidate analysis nodes into the selected objective by dragging the analysis nodes and dropping them into the consolidation links window at the bottom of the Workbench. Before you can do this, however, the Consolidation box must be checked and in the Objective Hierarchy window, select the objective into which you want to consolidate.
Create as?
What would you like to create?
Objective types
When creating an objective from an analysis node, you must pick one of the following objective types:
•Cognitive Terminal
•Cognitive Enabler
•Performance Terminal
•Performance Enabler
See also the following Advisor topic:
