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User’s Guide
 

Managing Planning Items

View and Open Planning Items

View Planning Items

To view the planning items, on the navigation bar click Planning Planningthen selectPlans.

You can view planning items in the following views:

Table View Table view

By default, planning items are displayed in the Table view. All of the information about the planning items is displayed in a tabular format. The total number of items that you added is displayed at the top, based on the criteria that you select in the Advanced Filter pane.

Each planning item is listed in a separate row. Information about the planning items is displayed in the columns. You can hide or display any of the columns. You can also search and filter planning items.

Calendar View Calendar view

You can view the schedule and duration for the planning items on the calendar, based on the information that you specified for each planning item. In the Calendar view, you can view planning items for the predefined and user-defined time periods that you might specify. You can also see planning items on a Gantt chart.

For more information, see Viewing Planning Items on a Calendar.

Manage Columns in the Table View

You can select and adjust the columns in your view. Click Manage columns and select an option:

  • Click Manage columns to add or remove columns from your view.
  • Click Resize all columns to fit to adjust the column widths, depending on the content in the visible rows.

Open Planning Items

You can open the planning item by using any of the following options:

From the Table view

In the Name column, click a planning item to open it from the default Table view.

From the Calendar view

From the Table view, click Calendar view, and then click a planning item to open it in the Calendar view.

From the Relationships tab

From the Relationships tab in a planning item, click an associated planning item at the parent or child level.

From the Breadcrumb trail

When you open several associated planning items, a breadcrumb trail is displayed at the top. You can click a planning item in the breadcrumb trail to open the item.

From a Workflow

On the Details tab of a workflow, the Source field displays the name of the planning item from which the workflow was initiated.

From a Task

If you associated a task with a planning item, click View in planning mode to open the related planning item. For more information, see Switch between Planning Mode and Design Mode.

TipInside an open item, the total number of opened items is displayed at the top left corner. Click the number to display the list of opened items.

View Marketing Hierarchy

You can view the hierarchy of the planning item. In the Table view for Planning Planningthen selectPlans, click the planning item to view its details. On the Relationships tab of the open planning item, you can view the child planning items, which are arranged in a hierarchical order. For more information, see About Planning Items and Marketing Hierarchies.

Depending on your assigned permissions, you can perform several actions on selected items, such as remove, delete, copy, rename, and export to Microsoft Excel. Use the breadcrumb trail that is available at the top left of the window to return to the previous planning item.

Search and Filter Planning Items

Find Specific Items

On the Planning Planningthen selectPlans page, by default the Table view and the Calendar view display all of the items for a selected time period. To find an item by name, by status, or by the user who modified the item, enter the relevant keywords in the search box.

To filter items and refine your search, click Advanced Filter. You can filter items by Type, Parent Level, Association, Status, Approvers, Tags, Currency, Planned Start Date, Planned End Date, Date Modified, and Modified By user name.

For more information, see Search for Items.

In the Advanced Filter pane, if the complete list of items is not displayed, click More. To filter items, in the filter window, select the items or enter relevant keywords in the search box.

TipTo display items, click the drop-down list and select All items, Selected items, or Deselected items, and then click OK.

Find Items in a Specific Time Period

When you switch from the Table view to the Calendar view for Planning Planningthen selectPlans, by default the items that occur in the current month are displayed in the Month view. You can use the Planned Start Date and Planned End Date fields to filter items that occur during the specified time period. You can also use the Date Modified field to filter items that were modified during the specified time period.

Click Advanced Filter and in the Advanced Filter pane, enter date ranges for Planned Start Date, Planned End Date, or Date Modified fields. Depending on the priority that is defined for these date fields in the calendar definition, the Calendar view displays the first month of the date range that you specified for that field.

For example, if the priority defined for the Planned Start Date field is 1, the Planned End Date field is 2, and Date Modified field is 3. The Calendar view displays the first month of the date range for the Planned Start Date field.

Note: If you do not specify the date range (value) for the field with priority 1, then the first month of the date range that is specified for the field with priority 2 is displayed.

Work with Enhanced Search Capabilities

The search engine provides an enhanced search experience that enables you to effectively search through long lists and find items quickly and easily.

Perform these actions to search a list of items:

  • Enter a keyword or a group of keywords and click Start search in the search box or press the ENTER key on your keyboard.

    You can also enter one or more search keywords from the file name.

    Note: To search for document-type file formats such as .pdf, .doc, and so on, do not enter the text document in the search box. The search results display only asset files that contain the text "document" in the file name or properties.
  • If you add multiple words in the search box, the search results display the items with item names that are an exact match of the search keywords. The results also display items with item names that contain at least one of the search keywords. This means that the results match all of the search keywords and subsets of the search keywords.
Note: Pagination is currently not supported for planning items.

Edit a Planning Item

  1. On the navigation bar, click Planning Planningthen selectPlans.
  2. Click a planning item to open it.
  3. On the Details tab of the open planning item, edit the details.
  4. Click Save to save the changes.

If the currency settings are changed, you need to select a valid currency for the planning item. If a valid currency is not selected, you cannot add any more planning items to the hierarchy. The details of the planning item can be edited.

Note: When you edit a planning item, ensure that the start date of the child item is within range of the start and end dates of the parent planning item.

Copy a Planning Item

There are two ways to copy a planning item:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Planning Planningthen selectPlans.
  2. Select the item to be copied.
  3. Click Options and select Copy.
  4. Enter a unique planning item number and name for the copy. The default name is item name 1. This action copies only the planning item details, not the items that are associated with the planning item.

In the context of the planning item:

  1. Click Options and select Save as.
  2. Enter a unique planning item number and name for the copy. The default name is item name 1. This action copies the planning item details and associates the planning item with the parent item. The items that are associated with the planning item are not copied.

Copy a Task

If you associated an existing task or created a task from the Relationships tab of a planning item, you can create a copy of the task.

Complete these actions:

  1. On the Relationships tab of a planning item, select the task that you want to copy.
  2. Click Options and select Copy Copy.

The task is copied and listed below the original task on the tasks page.

If a task has a Planning status, the status is retained in the task copy. If the task has any other status, the status of the task copy is reset to Designing.

All of the planning information, as well as the content and design elements from the original task are copied.

Rename a Planning Item

Complete these actions:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Planning Planningthen selectPlans.
  2. Select the item to be renamed.
  3. Click Options and select Rename.
  4. Enter a unique name for the item.
  5. Click Save.

You cannot rename activities and tasks that are associated with the planning item from the Relationships tab. You can navigate to the Activities or Tasks page and rename the items.

Delete a Planning Item

There are two ways to delete a planning item:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Planning Planningthen selectPlans.
  2. Select the items to be deleted.
  3. Click Delete.
  4. Confirm the deletion.

In the context of the open planning item:

  1. Navigate to the Relationships tab of the planning item.
  2. Select the items to be deleted.
    TipTo delete multiple items simultaneously, select only the child items that share the same parent item. Repeat this step for planning items at each level.
  3. Click Delete.
  4. Confirm the deletion.

Real-time journeys and tasks that are associated with the planning item are not deleted. The journeys and tasks are removed or disassociated from the planning item. Only the selected planning items and the associated planning items are deleted.

Disassociate a Planning Item

You can remove items that are associated with a planning item. Removed items are not deleted from the system, but they are disassociated from the parent planning item.

In the context of the open planning item:

  1. Navigate to the Relationships tab of the planning item.
  2. Select the items to be removed.
  3. Click Remove Selected Items.
  4. Confirm the removal.

Which Items Can You Disassociate?

To simultaneously disassociate multiple items, you must select items that share the same parent planning item.

View and Save Planning Information in a File

Depending on your whether you want to edit, review, share, or save the planning information that you added, you can export planning information to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or a read-only PDF file.

Export Planning Information to a Microsoft Excel File

You can export all of the information that you added in a planning item to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. You can download the file and save it on your system.

TipThe file is generated in a spreadsheet format. Microsoft Excel is the most widely used application. However, you can view the file in any spreadsheet application.

When you download and save information about a planning item in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, information about the child planning items that are associated with the selected planning item is also included in the file. A separate worksheet is created for each level of items that are associated with the planning item. The downloaded file contains information about each item.

You can export the custom properties fields and the values that you added in a planning item to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. All of the ad hoc properties, connector-driven properties, and table-driven properties and their values that are added from the user interface are included in the exported spreadsheet.

However, if you update the values and import the spreadsheet, the updated values for the table-driven properties are not included. When you save and import the planning item, any table-driven properties values that you might have edited are not updated. Instead, the table-driven properties values are overridden by the existing values.

For connector-driven custom properties, the connector metadata is not exported. Updating the values of connector-driven properties might cause some discrepancies. If you do not want the connector-driven properties to be edited and overwritten, you can mark them as read-only properties. Any values that you might have edited for read-only properties are not updated and saved when you import.

For more information, see About Custom Properties in SAS Customer Intelligence 360: Administration Guide.

On the navigation bar, click Planning Planningthen selectPlans. You can export the selected planning items in one of the following ways:

On the page that lists the planning items:

  1. Select the check boxes for the planning items that you want to export.
    Note: Tasks and real-time journeys are associated with planning items through planning properties. As a result, only those activities and journeys that contain planning properties can be exported.
  2. Click Options and select Export to Excel. You can export only one planning item at a time. All the details that are associated with the planning item are exported to an Excel spreadsheet.

On the Details tab of a planning item:

  1. Click a planning item to open it.
  2. On the Details tab, click Options and select Export to Excel.

On the Relationships tab of a planning item:

  1. Click a planning item to open it.
  2. On the Relationships tab, select the items that you want to export to a spreadsheet.
  3. Click Options and select Export to Excel.
  4. When the file download is complete, click Download. You can open and save the downloaded file to your drive.

View Planning Information in a PDF File

You can view the standard properties and custom properties information from a planning item in a PDF viewer. You can download the PDF file and save it to your local drive or a shared network location.

  1. On the navigation bar, click Planning Planningthen selectPlans.
  2. Click a planning item to open it.
  3. In the open planning item, on the Details tab, click View PDF.
  4. You can use the options in the PDF file to download a copy of the file and save the downloaded file to your local drive or a shared network location.

Comment on a Planning Item

Post a Comment

  1. Click Comments in the upper right corner of an open planning item.
  2. Enter a comment and click Post.

Manage Comments

You can perform the following actions on an existing comment:

  • Click Edit to edit the comment.
  • Click Delete to delete the comment.
  • Respond to the comment.

Add Attachments to a Planning Item

To add an attachment in an open planning item:

  1. On the Details tab, click Attachments. The Attachments pane is displayed.
  2. Click Attach and select an option from the drop-down menu:
    • Select Files to attach a file. Browse to upload a file that is stored on your system or on a shared drive. The attached file is added to the list of attachments. Click the file name to view or download.
      Note: It is recommended that you upload only clean files. Files that you upload are scanned for malicious content such as viruses. Potentially harmful files are not uploaded.
    • Select Asset to attach an asset. Browse to select an asset from the Assets Selection window in SAS Customer Intelligence 360. Only active assets are available for selection. The Attachments pane displays the most current version of the asset that you attached, and also displays the expired status of the asset when the status has changed after the asset is attached.

      To open or download the file, click Options and select Open or Download.

      To open and view the asset details, click the attachment.

  3. To delete an attachment, select the check box next to the file and click Delete.

    The following file types are supported as attachments: .ai, .asf, .avi, .bmp, .dng, .doc, .docx, .eps, .epsf, .flv, .gif, .htm, .html, .xhtml, .img, .indd, .indt, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .mov, .mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .mpeg, .mpg, .pdf, .pict, .png, .ppt, .pptx, .ps, .psd, .sgi, .swf, .tif, .tiff, .txt, .ucf, .wav, .wma, .wmv, .wpd, .wpg, .xls, .xlsx.

Initiate Workflows

You can initiate a workflow from the Workflows tab of an item to manage work assignments for the item and track progress. Within a workflow, a workflow initiator can assign tasks to contributors (users and groups) and activate the workflow.

In an active workflow, a workflow initiator can view and update the status of the workflow, post comments, share resources, attach files, and track the progress of the assigned workflow tasks.

Workflow contributors can view and update the status of workflow tasks, share resources, post comments, and attach files.

For more information, see Create a Generic Workflow.

Note: You can initiate a workflow from the Workflows tab of an item, if workflows are enabled for that item. You cannot initiate a workflow for an item with a Complete status. For more information, see Enabling Workflows in SAS Customer Intelligence 360: Administration Guide.

Switch between Planning Mode and Design Mode

When a task or a real-time journey is associated with a planning item, you can work on the task or journey in the Planning mode or in the Design mode.

Tasks and real-time journeys are created in the Design mode. In the Design mode, you can specify the information that you need to create and deliver content to your customers through the tasks and journeys.

Tasks and real-time journey are associated with a planning item to enable you to group all of the information that is relevant to a marketing goal. In the Planning mode, you can specify the information that you need to plan and execute the tasks and journeys.

In a task or a real-time journey that is associated with a planning item, you can easily switch between the Planning mode and Design mode.

  • To edit a real-time journey, open the associated journey from the planning item. On the Details tab click View in Design Mode to switch to the design mode. Click View in Planning Mode to return to the planning mode.
  • To edit a task, open the associated task from the planning item. On the Details tab, click View in Design Mode to switch to the design mode. You can edit the task and click View in Planning Mode to return to the planning mode.
Last updated: August 18, 2026