Plan templates and element templates
How templates define the shape of a plan, and why editing one never changes the plans already built from it.
Everything you plan in Insaplan is built from two templates. Understanding how they relate is the fastest way to stop guessing in the Builder.
The two templates
| What it defines | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Element template | One kind of thing you plan, and which fields it carries | Objective, Risk, Milestone |
| Plan template | Which element templates may appear, and how they nest | Strategic Plan, Product Roadmap |
An element template decides whether elements of that kind have an owner, a status, a percentage complete, start and end dates, or a review cadence. Each field is set to hidden, optional, or required.
A plan template names one element template as its root, then declares what may sit beneath it. A Strategic Plan might allow Objectives at the top, Key Results beneath them, and Initiatives beneath those.
You create both in the Builder.
What happens when you create a plan
A plan is created from a plan template, inside a project. From that point the plan holds its own elements — your actual objectives and risks, with your own titles, owners and dates.
The template decides what a plan is allowed to contain. The plan holds what it does contain.
Draft and published
Until a template is published you can change it freely. Publishing makes it available to build plans from and assigns it a version number. After that, your edits collect in a draft until you publish them (see Drafts, publishing and versions).
Treat publishing as a commitment rather than a save. It is the point at which other people start depending on the template.
Editing a template that is already in use
This is the part that surprises people most often.
Editing a published template does not change plans already built from it. Those plans keep the structure they were created with.
This is deliberate. A plan you approved last quarter should not silently change shape because someone adjusted a template this morning.
Your edits wait in a draft. To roll a change out, publish the draft as the next version of the template. New plans pick it up; existing plans stay as they are until their owner chooses to update. If a change would break existing work, such as changing the type of a field that already holds data, the Publish dialog tells you and offers to publish it as a new template instead.
Deleting a template
Templates are hidden rather than erased. A deleted template disappears from the lists you pick from, but every plan already built from it keeps working.
Deletion is blocked outright while something still depends on the template. You will be told what is holding the reference rather than left with a broken plan.
Where to go next
- Element Templates — define the kinds of thing you plan
- Plan Templates — assemble them into a structure
- Projects — create plans from your published templates