Alternative Forms
Alternative forms are where you record information about an alternative, such as its name, background, responsible people, categories and any other properties your organization tracks. You work in them on the Summary tab and the Form tab of the alternative page. This page explains how to open the forms, which form you see, how your changes are saved and when a form is read only.
Summary tab and Form tab
Both tabs show a form, but they hold different information.
Tab | What it holds | Node tree |
|---|---|---|
Summary | Information about the alternative as a whole, such as name, short name, creation date, model health and state | Hidden |
Form | Information for each node in the organizational structure. Each node has its own values | Shown, down to site level |
🔧 Configuration: The Summary and Form tabs appear only in projects that use form sets, which your administrator sets up. The Summary tab also needs a Summary form in the form set. If you do not see the tabs, contact your administrator.
Opening an alternative's form
In the alternatives overview, click the name of the alternative.
The alternative opens on the first tab you have access to. In projects with form sets, this is the Summary tab.
Click Summary or Form in the left navigation.
On the Form tab, select a node in the tree. The top node is selected when you open the tab.
💡 Tip: To move to another alternative without going back to the overview, use the list of alternatives below the node tree.
📌 Note: Only active alternatives can be opened. A deactivated alternative returns you to the alternatives list.
Which form is shown
The form depends on the alternative type and, on the Form tab, on the level of the selected node.
Tab | Form used |
|---|---|
Summary | The Summary form for the alternative type |
Form, group or division node selected | The Division/Group form |
Form, middle level node selected | The Middle Level form |
Form, site node selected | The Site form |
Your administrator decides which forms are used. A division can have its own forms, otherwise the group's forms are used.
Fields that do not apply to the alternative type are hidden.
If the form is empty, one of these messages is shown. In both cases, contact your administrator if you expected to see fields.
Message | What it means |
|---|---|
No form for alternative | No form is set up for this alternative type at this level |
There are no matching properties for the current alternative to display | A form exists, but none of its fields apply to this alternative |
👉 Learn more about Form Sets in Capex Strategy
Capex strategy process rail NEW IN 5.3.7
When you open an alternative, a process rail appears above the alternative form on the Summary tab and the Form tab. It names the four stages of the capex strategy process and highlights the stage the open alternative belongs to, so you can see how base alternatives, strategic building blocks and strategic alternatives relate. The rail is read only.
Each stage is highlighted for one kind of alternative:
Where we are: Base Alternative
What we can do: Strategic Building Block
How good we can become: Strategic Alternative, at division or group level
Recommendation for action: the approved current strategy
The headline on the rail names the alternative type, for example "Where this building block sits in the capex strategy process". The right side shows the position, such as "Stage 2 of 4", or "Approved as current strategy" on the approved strategy.
📌 Note: The stages and their text are fixed and cannot be changed.
Reaching stage 4
Stage 4 is reached only by the group-level strategic alternative that is the approved current strategy. That is the one set with Approve strategy and shown as Selected strategy at group level, so only one alternative shows it at a time.
📌 Note: Approve for scope level does not move an alternative to stage 4. Division strategic alternatives always show "Stage 3 of 4", including those approved for scope level.
When the process rail is not shown
The process rail appears on the Summary and Form tabs, so a project without form sets shows no process rail. There is no setting to turn the rail off.
Field types
Field type | How you fill it in |
|---|---|
Integer | Enter a whole number. Click the clear button to empty the field |
Decimal | Enter a number. Some fields are shown as a percentage |
Short text | Enter up to 128 characters |
Long text | Enter up to 32,767 characters. The field grows as you type |
Rich text | Click the field to open the editor, format your text, then click Save or Cancel |
Checkbox | Select or clear the checkbox |
Code | Select a value from a searchable list. The list can have a default value |
User | Search for and select a person |
Date | Select a day, a month and year, or a year, depending on how the field is set up |
A form can also contain:
Sections, which you can collapse and expand by clicking the section header.
Text blocks, which are instructions or explanations written by your administrator. They cannot be edited.
💡 Tip: Hover over a field label to see a description of the field, if your administrator has added one.
Saving changes
Changes are saved automatically. There is no Save button for the form.
A value is saved shortly after you stop typing or make a selection.
No confirmation message is shown.
You can leave the page at any time without losing saved changes.
Rich text fields are the exception. Click Save in the editor to keep your text, or Cancel (or press Esc) to discard it.
📌 Note: A value that fails validation is not saved. Correct the value and it is saved automatically.
Validation rules
Field | Rule | Message |
|---|---|---|
Name | Required, at most 150 characters, unique among alternatives of the same type | "Name is required", "The Name may not be greater than 150 characters", "Name is already taken" |
Short name | Required, at most 16 characters, letters, digits and underscore only, unique among alternatives of the same type | "Short name is required", "The Short name may not be greater than 16 characters", "Short name format is invalid", "Short name is already taken" |
Date fields | Must be within the allowed date range |
📌 Note: If your administrator has renamed the Name or Short name field, the messages use the new name.
Read-only forms and fields
The whole form is read only when:
the project is locked, or
the selected node is a reference node. A reference node is a site that has been added to a middle level for analysis only, outside the normal organizational structure. For example, you might group two or three sites to analyse them on their own. The site's form values belong to its place in the normal structure, so you edit them there.
📌 Note: To change the values of a reference node, select the same site where it sits in the normal organizational structure.
A single field is read only when:
your administrator has set the field to read only;
on the Summary tab, your administrator has not allowed the field to be edited there;
it is the Name or Short name of a Base Alternative;
it is the Name or Short name on the Form tab (edit these on the Summary tab);
it is Node name, Creation date or Model health, which are always read only.
Deactivating an alternative from the form
You can change an alternative's state on the Summary tab.
In the State field, select Inactive.
In the Deactivate alternatives dialog, click Deactivate.
The message "Alternatives were deactivated" appears and you return to the alternatives list.
If you click Cancel, the field goes back to Active.
🔒 The State field can be changed only if you are allowed to deactivate alternatives, and the alternative is not a Base Alternative, is not approved for scope level and is not a group-level alternative. A building block that is used in a strategic alternative cannot be deactivated.
👉 Learn more about Alternative Status
User fields and notifications
If your administrator has set up notifications for a user field, the person you select receives a notification.
Change history
Every change is logged. Open the Logs tab and select Properties. The log shows the site name, property, old value, new value, date and user. You can filter, sort and search the list.
Duplicating an alternative
The copy gets the same form values as the original. Name, short name, creation date and model health are set again for the new alternative.
Related pages
👉 Alternative Types (BA, SBB, SA)
👉 Creating and Editing Strategic Alternatives and Strategic Building Blocks
👉 Form Management in Capex Strategy (administrators)
👉 Form Sets in Capex Strategy (administrators)