Build a decision tree

A decision tree asks a few questions and, depending on the answers, leads to an outcome: which campaign package fits a client, or whether a campaign needs a photo or a video shoot. Everyone who runs it reaches the same decision in the same way, and every run is logged.

You build a decision tree in a process of the Playbook: questions that store their answers in variables, outcomes, and branches that lead from one to the next.

Create a decision tree

1. In the Playbook, open the folder and the process the tree belongs to.
2. Choose Add at the end of the process, then Decision Tree.
3. Enter a Name and, if you like, a Description.

   

4. Choose Create Decision Tree.

The editor opens, with a Start step on the canvas.

Add a question

Each question stores its answer in a variable, so the branches can check it. Declare the variable first.

1. Choose Variables, type a key for the answer in capitals (for example MAIN_CHANNEL), and choose Add Variable. Close the panel.
2. In the Step Palette on the left, choose Question, then select the new step on the canvas.
3. Fill in its Label and its Question Text.
4. Choose an Input Type, for example Select (single), and under Store in Variable the variable for the answer.
5. For a choice, choose Add Option for each answer and fill in its label and value.

   

Add a question in the same way for every question of the tree.

Add the outcomes

1. In the Step Palette, under Result, choose Output for each possible outcome.
2. Select each outcome and give it a Label, such as "Photo shoot". Under Output Fields, fill in the result it gives.

Connect the steps

1. Drag the steps into place on the canvas: the first question under the Start step, and the outcomes under the question.
2. Drag from the dot at the bottom of the Start step to the dot at the top of the first question.
3. Select the question. Under Branches, choose Add Branch for each way the tree can go on.
4. For each branch, choose its Target Step, the next question or an outcome. Under Condition, choose the variable and enter the value of the answer that leads there.
5. Tick Default on the branch to take when no other branch matches. The first branch you add is the default.

   

6. Choose Save Draft.

The branches show as lines on the canvas once you save the tree and open it again.

Validate and publish

1. Choose Validate. OKiDO saves the draft and checks the tree: every question needs a text, a declared variable and a branch, and the tree needs at least one outcome. If something is missing, a list shows what to fix.
2. When the tree is valid, the button changes to Publish. Choose Publish.

The tree is published and ready to run: see Run a decision tree. A system can also ask someone to answer it (see Build a system).