Using the Roll-Up Feature in Innoslate: A Comprehensive Walkthrough

Mastering Data Aggregation in Innoslate

This guide is designed to give you a clear and in-depth understanding of how Innoslate’s Roll-Up feature operates in calculating and consolidating data from its child entities. The Roll-Up feature allows for the aggregation of specific attributes, such as duration, from immediate child entities (leaves) up to their parent entity. Notably, this process only considers the direct children and does not encompass the entire hierarchy of descendants.

Innoslate's Roll-Up feature is capable for hierarchies that extend up to 25 levels deep. Additionally, it accommodates a variety of attribute data types, including:

Numbers: Numeric values such as quantities or measurements.
Durations: Time-based attributes, like hours or days.
Enumerations: Predefined categorical values (e.g., "High," "Medium," "Low").
Multiselects: Multiple selectable options assigned to an entity.

In this walkthrough, we’ll use a sample hierarchy to demonstrate how the Roll-Up feature aggregates Duration. For a broader understanding of where and how to enable the Roll-Up feature in Innoslate, refer to the this article: Roll-Up Overview.

To follow along and try out the feature and see the diagram in this walkthrough, click here to instantly download the Roll-Up Walkthrough Project .INNO File and import it into a new Innoslate project.

Walkthrough Use Case

Please proceed to the Diagrams Dashboard and identify the Hierarchy Diagram designated as "A." The diagram provided below will serve as our foundational reference as we explore this feature in detail.

a_hierarchy_diagram (4)

Entity A: Top-level parent, Duration: 9 hours
Entity B: Child of A, Duration: 9 hours
Entity C: Child of B, Duration: 7 hours
Entity E: Child of C, Duration: 3 hours
Entity F: Child of C, Duration: 4 hours
Entity D: Child of B, Duration: 2 hours
Entity G: Child of D, Duration: 1 hour
Entity H: Child of D, Duration: 1 hour

This hierarchy illustrates an arrangement where each entity is associated with a specific duration value. The Roll-Up feature is utilized to consolidate these durations from immediate child entities to their corresponding parent entities. The diagram maps out these relationships, facilitating a clearer understanding of how data ascends through the hierarchy.

Now, let's break down the Roll-Up feature's operation within this sample hierarchy step-by-step, with a particular focus on the duration attribute. We will analyze each parent entity and pinpoint the children that contribute to its aggregated duration.

For Entity A:

Direct child: Entity B (Duration: 9 hours)

Roll-Up calculation: Entity A’s rolled-up duration is based solely on Entity B, totaling 9 hours.

Note: Entity A does not consider Entities C, D, E, F, G, or H, as they are not its immediate children.

For Entity B:

Direct children: Entity C (Duration: 7 hours) and Entity D (Duration: 2 hours)

Roll-Up calculation: Entity B aggregates the durations of C and D, resulting in 7 + 2 = 9 hours.

Note: Entities E, F, G, and H are excluded from B’s roll-up because they are children of C and D, not B directly.

For Entity C:

Direct children: Entity E (Duration: 3 hours) and Entity F (Duration: 4 hours)

Roll-Up calculation: Entity C sums the durations of E and F, yielding 3 + 4 = 7 hours.

For Entity D:

Direct children: Entity G (Duration: 1 hour) and Entity H (Duration: 1 hour)

Roll-Up calculation: Entity D combines the durations of G and H, totaling 1 + 1 = 2 hours.

Conclusion

Innoslate’s Roll-Up feature seamlessly aggregates data, like duration, from a parent’s direct children, offering a straightforward view of hierarchical connections. This feature is especially valuable for users managing intricate hierarchical projects, as it enables accurate data aggregation. By grasping the steps outlined in this guide, users can greatly improve their project analysis and visualization.