Critical Path
The Critical Path tab tracks an order’s lifecycle through both predefined and manually added activities. These activities follow a Critical Path Template configured in Site Settings > Order > Critical Path, ensuring consistent milestone tracking and clear visibility across departments.
The Critical Path provides a chronological view of all required activities for an order—from design and sampling to production, QA, and shipment. It helps teams:
- Monitor progress against deadlines
- Identify delays early
- Maintain alignment between departments
- Improve accuracy and accountability for time-sensitive tasks
Each activity includes deadlines, completion status, comments, and supporting documents, giving teams a real-time snapshot of whether the order is on track or not.
Quick Check - Before You Start
- Select the correct Critical Path Template in Order Details so activities load from Site Settings.
- Confirm Site Settings > Order > Activities and Critical Path are configured for your site.
- For condition-based activities (for example Advertised or Licensed Sub No.), ensure the related fields on the style or order are populated.
Display & Layout
The Critical Path interface is optimised for different screen sizes and improved readability.
- Text Wrapping: Activity fields support text wrapping, allowing longer text to display properly without being cut off.
- Autosized Columns: The Group, Due Completed, and Action columns are automatically sized to fit their content appropriately.
- Responsive Layout: The layout adapts correctly to smaller laptop screens, ensuring all fields are displayed properly and remain accessible.
Activities
Activities represent the individual steps that must be completed throughout the order lifecycle. This may be triggered automatically by the template or manually added depending on workflow requirements.
| Activity | Description |
|---|---|
| Section | The category or stage the activity belongs to (e.g., Design, Sales, Samples, Production, QA). The visibility of this column is controlled by the Display section headings setting in Site Settings > Order > General Settings > Critical Path. When this setting is disabled, the Section column is hidden from the Critical Path view. |
| Activity Name | The specific task to be completed (e.g., Product Submission Sent, PP Sample Approval, Artwork Submitted). |
| Due Date | The expected completion date, based on the template or manual input. |
| Completed Date | The date the activity was marked complete. |
Setting Up Activities
The Activities are configured in Site Settings > Order > Activities.
Group
Groups allow related activities to be organised under a shared category (such as Design, Sales, Tickets, Samples, Production, or QA). Grouping simplifies navigation and provides a structured view of the milestones relevant to each department.
Each group can be expanded or collapsed, giving users a clear snapshot of progress without scrolling through the entire list.
Conditions
Conditions determine whether an activity should appear for a specific Order, once the required criteria for optional or dependent activities have been met in the main Style item or Order configuration.
Setting Up Activities
The Activities are configured in Site Settings > Order > Activities.
Sample Critical Path
For example, if you create a Critical Path template called "Tech Pack Finalisation" and assign it to the Sales group, you may add an activity named "Product Submission Received" with the condition Definition > Branding.
This activity (Product Submission Received) will only appear if the style has a value entered in Style > Definition > Branding. If this field is empty, the activity will not be displayed in the Order > Critical Path view.
This ensures that each activity appears only when its conditions match the order's attributes, helping teams focus on the steps that are truly relevant to their workflow.
Dynamic Activity - Advertised Condition
Activities with the condition Advertised are dynamically displayed in the Critical Path based on the Advertised checkbox status in the Order > Colour Quantity & Pricing section.
- When the Advertised checkbox is ticked: The activity is immediately triggered and displayed in the Critical Path, allowing teams to track advertising-related milestones.
- When the Advertised checkbox is unticked: The activity is automatically removed from the Critical Path, ensuring the workflow accurately reflects the current order configuration.
This dynamic behaviour ensures that advertising-related activities only appear when relevant, keeping the Critical Path focused on applicable tasks.
Dynamic Activity - Licensed Sub No. Condition
Activities with the condition Licensed Sub No. are only displayed in the Critical Path when a value has been entered in the Order > Style Details > Licensed Sub No. field.
- When Licensed Sub No. has a value: The activity is triggered and appears in the Critical Path, enabling teams to track license-specific milestones.
- When Licensed Sub No. is empty: The activity does not appear in the Critical Path, ensuring that license-related activities are only shown for orders that require license tracking.
This ensures that each activity appears only when its conditions match the order's configuration, helping teams focus on the steps that are truly relevant to their workflow.
Notes
The Notes feature provides a centralised, collaborative workspace for capturing key decisions, outcomes, and essential information directly within each Critical Path activity group.
Unlike detailed comments, Notes offer a streamlined way to record concise updates, approvals, rejections, and status changes—ensuring that important milestones and decisions are immediately visible to all stakeholders. Each group in the Critical Path maintains its own separate Notes section, allowing teams to organise activity-specific documentation by department or workflow stage.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Notes | A concise text entry field for capturing essential information, decisions, or status updates related to the activity. This feature is critical for maintaining a clear, accessible record of key outcomes without requiring detailed explanations. |
| @ Mentions | Use the dedicated @ icon in the textbox tool panel or press @ while typing to mention multiple team members at once. The dropdown list shows up to 10 results, making it easier to find and mention colleagues in larger teams. This multiselect feature allows you to notify several people simultaneously in a single action. When you type "@" in an activity comment, the system displays "Internal: All members" as an option, allowing you to quickly mention all members associated with the Order in a single action. |
| Reply Notes | Respond to existing notes to create threaded discussions, enabling teams to maintain contextual conversations and follow-up on specific updates. |
| Edit Notes | Modify existing notes to update information, correct errors, or reflect changes in status. |
| Delete Notes | Remove notes that are no longer relevant or were added in error. |
| Use Emojis | React to notes using emojis to provide quick feedback, acknowledgment, or visual indicators. |
| Lock Notes | Mark notes as private to restrict visibility to internal users only. This critical security feature ensures that sensitive information, internal discussions, or confidential details remain within your organisation and are not shared with external stakeholders. |
| Pin Notes | Pin important notes to the top of the Notes section for immediate visibility. This essential feature ensures that critical information, urgent updates, or key decisions are always accessible and cannot be overlooked, even as new notes are added. |
Separate Notes for Every Group
Every Group in Critical Path has its separate Notes section.
Managing Critical Path
Activities can be automatically generated from templates or added manually, enabling flexible and accurate workflow management. Users can update activity details, add comments, approve or reject steps, attach files, and monitor progress through visual status indicators. With inline editing, bulk actions, and a complete comment history, the Critical Path ensures every staff has clear visibility of what needs to be done and when.
Adding Critical Path Activities
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| 1. Select Template | Choose a Critical Path Template in the Order Details section. |
| 2. Auto-Populate Activities | Once selected, all activities from the template will automatically appear in the Critical Path view. |
| 3. Add Manual Activities | You can add manual entries using the plus (+) icon next to the comment icon for each group. The add activities icon is displayed for all groups (Design, Sales, Samples, Production, QA, and Activities), regardless of whether sections are hidden or displayed in Site Settings > Order > General Settings > Critical Path. These entries: • Do not affect the template in Site Settings • Are placed within the relevant section • Can be added successfully to any section without errors |
Approval & Rejection
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Approve/Reject | Click the green comment badge to approve or the red badge to reject an activity. |
| Pop-up Actions | In the pop-up window, you can: • Enter comments • Attach files (maximum file size: 500 MB) • Set or update dates • Mark the activity as completed |
| Latest Comment | The latest comment is displayed in the table. |
| Approval Tick Boxes | When the Section column is hidden in Site Settings > Order > General Settings > Critical Path, the approval tick boxes are displayed under the Group column instead, ensuring they remain accessible regardless of column visibility settings. |
Actions
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Edit Activity | Activities can be edited in-line directly within the table. |
| Approve Activity | Use the circle check icon to mark an activity as completed. This automatically sets the Completed Date and supports bulk approvals for each section. When an activity is marked as complete, its name displays with a strikethrough for clear visual indication. Unchecking a completed activity removes the strikethrough. |
| Activity Status | • 🟢 Green: Completed on or before the due date • 🔴 Red: Overdue • 🟠 Orange: Completed after the due date |
| Delete Activity | Click the trash icon to delete manually added activities. The delete icon is displayed for manually added activities in all sections, including the Activities section. You can delete individual activities or use bulk deletion for multiple items. Manually deleting an activity here does not modify the original template. |
Comments
The Comments feature allows teams to communicate, provide updates, and maintain a clear audit trail for each Critical Path activity.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Add Comments | Comments can be added through the Activity Action pop-up, allowing users to provide context, updates, or clarification for the selected activity. |
| Attachments | Supporting documents such as: reference files, approvals, or screenshots can be attached directly to a comment for better traceability. |
| Comment History | All comments related to an activity are stored in chronological order, ensuring a complete communication record throughout the workflow. |
| Latest Comment Preview | The most recent comment appears directly in the table. |
| Reply to Comments | Users can respond to existing comments to maintain threaded discussions. |
| Automatic Activity Updates | Adding a comment during approval or rejection can be paired with setting dates or marking the activity as complete, ensuring updates are captured in one step. |
| Files | Attachments or supporting documents uploaded to that activity. The maximum file upload size is 500 MB. |
| @ Mentions | Use the dedicated @ icon in the textbox tool panel or press @ while typing to mention multiple suppliers or internal members at once. The dropdown list shows up to 10 results, making it easier to find and mention colleagues in larger teams. This multiselect feature allows you to notify multiple people simultaneously in a single action. When you type "@" in an activity comment, the system displays "Internal: All members" as an option, allowing you to quickly mention all members associated with the Order in a single action. Each mentioned user displays an X button next to their name, making it easy to remove them if needed. @ mentions work correctly even when comments contain font styling such as highlights, bold text, or other formatting. |
Email Notifications
When an activity is created in the Critical Path, email notifications are automatically sent to all members who are mentioned in the activity or assigned to the order. This ensures that team members are promptly informed about new activities and can take appropriate action in a timely manner.
Notification Behavior
Ensure that the instance account has turned on the notifications for Email notifications in Profile > Settings > Notifications > Email notifications. 
Tip
- Use Templates to Save Time - Selecting a Critical Path Template automatically loads all predefined activities, reducing manual setup and ensuring every order follows the correct workflow.
- Add Manual Activities for Flexibility - If an order requires extra steps, use the plus (+) icon to insert manual activities. These additions won’t affect the original template and allow you to tailor the workflow as needed.
- Keep Communication Clear with Comments - Add comments, replies, and attachments directly within Activity Action pop-up. This keeps all discussions and files in one place, making it easier for teams to stay aligned and track updates.
Related Actions
Troubleshooting
Why don’t I see certain activities on the Critical Path?
Activities can be conditional on style or order data (for example Definition > Branding, Advertised, or Licensed Sub No.). Section headings may also be hidden by Site Settings.
Steps to resolve:
- Fill in the fields referenced by the activity condition (see the Conditions examples on this page).
- For Advertised, toggle the checkbox in Order > Colour Quantity & Pricing.
- Check Site Settings > Order > General Settings > Critical Path for Display section headings and column layout if groups look wrong.
I didn’t get an email when a Critical Path activity was created—why?
Notifications depend on Profile > Settings > Notifications and mention/assignment rules described on this page.
Steps to resolve:
- In Profile > Settings > Notifications, enable Email notifications as shown in the note on this page.
- Confirm you were @ mentioned or assigned on the order if your process relies on mentions for mail.
If I delete a manual activity, does it change the template?
Manual adds and deletes on the order do not modify the Site Settings template.
Steps to resolve:
- Re-add activities with the plus (+) icon beside the group when you still need a step.
- Edit the master template in Site Settings > Order > Critical Path only when a permanent workflow change is required.