It can be easy to confuse consolidation and visibility in Stratsys. Read below to understand how they differ.
Visibility
Visibility is primarily used for text nodes but also appears in some cases for activity and measure nodes.
WARNING: We recommend not using a combination of both visibility and consolidation/distribution, as this often becomes difficult for users to manage.
Visibility in Stratsys means that a node only exists at the department level where it was created but has been made visible downwards in the organization for informational purposes. An example of this includes Goals, Visions, and Areas, to which underlying departments then link their own goals, measures, and activities.
A text node made visible downward in the organization can be commented on by underlying departments at their respective levels.
If visibility is used for activities and measures instead of distributing them, it means that status (for activities) and measure data (for measures) can only be edited at the top level. The departments that can see the node are able to view the progress at the top level and comment at their own department level (if comments are configured accordingly), but they cannot actively interact with the activity or measure at their own level.
This can be appropriate when you have an overarching measure that you want several departments to be able to see, but not modify.
Consolidation / Distribution
Unlike text nodes that are made visible, measure and activity nodes are typically distributed to underlying departments by being replicated. Since nodes in such a chain are linked, we say that they are consolidated rather than copied, and that the nodes are part of a consolidation chain. There are a few terms associated with these chains, with the most common described below:
- Consolidation icon is a node property shown in views to indicate whether the measure or activity is consolidated and in which direction within the organization.
Horizontal icon: The node is consolidated at the current level and is followed up on by underlying departments. (Click the icon to see which departments are following up on this node.)
Vertical icon: The node is consolidated (created) from a higher-level department, and your department is responsible for follow-up, which is then aggregated upward.- Combination:
The node was created at a higher level, and both your department and departments beneath it are responsible for follow-up.
Tip! Click the consolidation icon to see which departments are following up on the node and which department it was created in.
- Consolidation view: By clicking the consolidation icon, you access the consolidation view, where various properties such as responsible person can be displayed simultaneously for each department in the consolidation chain. The consolidation view is often used to report measure data for multiple departments at once or to get an overview of which departments have completed their reporting.
- Consolidation formula: For measure nodes, this refers to the calculation formula used for each measure column and is found under the departments tab.
- Consolidation fields: It is recommended to consolidate both description fields and keyword groups, which is not done by default. Therefore, activate/check the desired fields under the heading in the administration settings. Exceptions apply when underlying departments should be able to enter their own text in a specific description field or select a keyword group specific to their department.
- Consolidate status: An option available for activity nodes.