Copying NE Areas

If you will be renewing an order for a repeat client, you can make a template NE for orders of this sort for this client, and copy the template for each new order. By copying the associations, you can ensure that the process for each order is the same. Essentially, you can copy a recipe for success. Even if a new employee takes over the order, the recipe for renewing this order is inscribed right into the NE. If you include in fields a checklist for all the particulars, then by copying fields to the NE for each order you can ensure that every step in the order is completed. Finally, if you add an empty tile to the template for each form that will be required (although the actual form will be added separately for each order), then you can ensure that all the paperwork is done: if a form is missing from an order, then the tile for that form will still be empty.

The DNE allows you to add as much or as little structure as you want to your information management system, which makes the NE a very flexible tool. Different NEs, if they are used for different types of information in different contexts, can look and work very differently. On the other hand, if you are creating an NE that will work in much the same way as an NE you already have, you can copy exactly those parts of the structure of the previous NE that you want to use. This means that you don't have to repeat work where the new NE is similar to the old but also makes it easy to change the structure where the two NEs differ.

It is possible to copy associations, fields, tiles or any combination of these:

An important use of copying NE areas is that it allows you to save time by creating and applying template NEs. If a particular aspect of a job is done in a certain way each time, then you may want to make a template NE for that aspect of the job. This template NE would reference all the contribution relations for this aspect of the job, would include a list of all the information that you will require in fields (including, perhaps, a checklist for completion of this sort of job) and a set of tiles (possibly including general forms) containing the relevant information content.

The areas of any NE can be copied, whether the NE is active, in association or history, or in the cabinet

For example, so that you have a client who periodically renews the same order. You can make a template NE for this order, and copy the template each time it is renewed. By copying the associations, you can ensure that the process for each order is the same. Essentially, you can copy a recipe for success. Even if a new employee takes over the order, the recipe for renewing this order is inscribed right into the NE. If you include in fields a checklist for all the particulars, then by copying fields to the NE for each order you can ensure that every step in the order is completed. Finally, if you add an empty tile to the template for each form that will be required (although the actual form will be added separately for each order), then you can ensure that all the paperwork is done: if a form is missing from an order, then the tile for that form will still be empty.