Why data in your project or framework has changed

As your project or framework evolves, or after you archive or temporarily delete a project, you may notice structural or terminology changes. You may even notice missing data. These changes come from a few places.

• Updates you make to project types associated with a project or framework
• Cloning and importing items
• Syncing items between projects and frameworks
• Intentional changes made through Diligent One or the API

Updating project types

Every project or framework has an associated project type. Project types define the structure of a project or framework, including the terminology used in the project or framework.

Creating and updating project types

If you have been assigned the Project Admin or Project Type Admin privilege, you can create a project type to support a customized project or framework structure and workflow.

You can also update default and existing project types to:

• customize terms to align with your organization's preferred terminology
• display or hide tabs or fields to align with your organization's workflow requirements
• add, update, and delete custom fields
• configure reminder notification frequencies
• change the project type to a different project type

Where are my updates applied?

The updates that you make to a project type apply to all associated:

• active projects
• archived projects
• temporarily deleted projects
• frameworks

Wait. Aren't archived projects read-only?

Archived projects are read-only for the most part, but updating a project type associated with an archived project is an exception to this rule. Any updates to entities are also an exception to this rule.

If you archive a project, and subsequently make changes to the project type associated with the project, the changes are also applied to the archived project.

Preventing updates to archived projects

If you need to preserve an archived project and want to avoid further updates, do the following:

1. Do not make any further updates to the project type associated with your archived project.
2. Create a new project type.
3. Create new projects and / or apply the new project type to your active projects.

Result Your archived project and active projects now have different project types. This ensures that any updates that you make to the project type associated with your active projects will not impact your archived projects.

What happens if I update a project type?

The impact to active projects, archived projects, temporarily deleted projects, and frameworks depends on the type of update you make to the associated project type.

Update	Impact
Customizing a term	The new term displays in all associated active projects, archived projects, temporarily deleted projects, and frameworks. The term also displays in reports generated from the Projects and Frameworks apps. Note Customized terms for projects and frameworks are not reflected in Diligent HighBond for iOS or Android.
Enabling a tab or field	The tab or field displays in all associated active projects, archived projects, temporarily deleted projects, and frameworks. Any data that you previously entered is preserved. Reports display all entered data, regardless of whether the tab / field is enabled. Note Enabling a tab or field in the Projects app has no impact in the Reports app. Since Views are pre-defined in the Reports app, all tabs and fields are automatically available, regardless of whether they are enabled.
Disabling a tab or field	The tab or field is hidden in all associated active projects, archived projects, temporarily deleted projects, and frameworks. Any data that you previously entered is preserved. Reports display all entered data, regardless of whether the tab / field is disabled. Note Disabling a tab or field in the Projects app has no impact in the Reports app. Since Views are pre-defined in the Reports app, all tabs and fields are automatically available, regardless of whether they are disabled.
Adding a custom field	The new field is added to all associated active projects, archived projects, temporarily deleted projects, and frameworks.
Updating a custom field	The update is applied to all associated active projects, archived projects, and frameworks. If you updated a multiple choice or dropdown choice option associated with the custom field, previously defined field values are preserved. However, going forward, only the updated choice value can be selected.
Deleting a custom field	The custom field is removed from all associated active projects, archived projects, temporarily deleted projects, and frameworks. Caution Deleting a custom field permanently removes the field. Once removed, you are not able to restore this data.
Configuring reminder notifications	The update is applied to all associated active projects and frameworks. Configuring reminder notifications does not apply to archived projects. If you archive a project, reminder notifications stop sending.
Changing the project type to a different project type	The new project type applies to all associated active projects, archived projects, temporarily deleted projects, and frameworks. You can only change the project type of a project or framework to a project type that belongs to the same workflow (Internal Control or Workplan). Caution Changing the project type permanently removes data associated with the following items: assessment drivers custom risk scoring factors custom date fields custom attributes Once removed, you are not able to restore any of these items.

Disabling or deleting project types

If you don't want to use a project type anymore, you can disable or delete it.

• If the project type is associated with active, archived, or temporarily projects, or frameworks, you can't delete the project type. However, you can disable it to prevent it from being associated with future projects.

  For more information, see Disable a project type

• If the project type is unassociated with any current projects or frameworks, you can delete it.

  For more information, see Delete a project type

Cloning and importing items

Cloning and importing items may also impact active projects, archived projects, and frameworks. The way that items are copied is based on whether or not the project types associated with the project / framework are different or the same.

How items are copied when project types are different

When you clone or import an item, if the target project / framework has a required field that is blank, the first available value from the required field is chosen.

Items copied only when project types are the same

The following items are copied only if the project type of the source project and target project are the same:

• assessment drivers and linked metrics
• custom risk scoring factors
• custom date fields
• custom attributes

If the project type of the source project / framework and target project / framework are not the same, only field values from the above items are copied.

More help

For more information on cloning and importing, see the following topics:

• Cloning and importing objectives
• Importing narratives
• Importing risks
• Importing procedures or controls
• Rollforward projects

Syncing between projects and frameworks

Importing an item from a framework to a project creates a link between the item in the framework and the item in the project. This link can experience unintended data changes in two cases.

• Changing or updating the project type of a framework can make items out of sync in the project.
• Making changes to both the framework and the project, then syncing data and overwriting newer changes in the sync destination.

Best practices

If you need to sync projects with frameworks:

• Ensure that both your source framework and target project have the custom attributes and fields you need. The project type of the framework and project can be different. However, for an optimal syncing experience, the two project types should both contain the custom attributes and fields you need.

• To avoid unintentional data changes or loss, carefully inspect the predicted result of each sync before proceeding.

Example scenarios

In both scenarios below, the control is marked as not up-to-date in the project until you sync changes with the framework.

Scenario 1	Scenario 2
You import a control from a framework to a project. You update a custom control attribute in the framework. You change the project type of the framework.	You import a control from a framework to a project. You update a custom control attribute in the framework. You remove a custom control attribute from the project type of the framework.

Intentional changes

Sometimes, data is changed or deleted intentionally through Diligent One itself or through the Diligent One API. You can investigate this further through the activity log.