About action types

Action types serve as templates for actions and to categorize actions. Use them for repetitive actions that must be performed on all topics.

Once the action is created, the action type serves as a way of categorizing the action's work. For example, you might create a literature search action type because you always check to see if the event has already been documented. Or, if you find a signal, you often have to put together all the information and prepare a presentation for another team.

To use action types, you:

• Create the action type. Define default values to be used every time the action type is used in a topic template action or in an action.
• Create a topic template action using the action type. You can define multiple action types and at what point they transition from a planned action to an active action. For example, you might only prepare a presentation when the topic itself activates the action. Move this action from a planned state into an initial state by transitioning the topic state to the Analysis and Prioritization state.
• Create a topic using the template. This can happen from Submit Review, Save to topic, or when adding a topic. All the actions will either be planned or they will be initialized, depending on how you configured the topic template actions.
• Add an action to an existing topic. The action type selected determines whether the action will be activated based on the current state of the topic.

When working with actions, use the action type filter to filter the action table or calendar to include actions of a certain type or graph actions by action type to see a distribution of actions by action type.