Performing On-Demand Bulk Actions

On-demand bulk actions enable you to perform actions on multiple records in bulk from a Search results page in an application. You can update fields across multiple records, create new reference records from the search result records, or delete records

You can also inline edit fields from a cross-reference grid in a record. For more information, see Inline Editing.

Important: The job engine must be running for users to complete on-demand bulk actions.

On this page

Update Records in Bulk

  1. Run a search.

    The search must meet the following conditions:

    • The search must be a single application search.
    • If you are searching across a leveled application, the search results must only return results from a single level of a single application.
    • The display format must be either column-flat or column-hierarchical.
  2. On the Search Results page, select Options > Enable Bulk Update.

    Checkboxes appear next to each search result, and header controls appear above each field column that is enabled for bulk update.

    The Enable Bulk Update option is available only under the following conditions:

    • You must have update permission for this application.

    • The search results cannot contain a History Log or a Sub-form field.

    Note: For leveled applications, the Enable Bulk Update option appears only when fields from 1 level are displayed on the Search Results page.

    Note: If you run and modify a report created from the Search Results page and enable Bulk Update, each time you save and re-run the report, you must enable Bulk Update again.

  3. Select the records to update. You can select individual records, all records on the page, or all records on all pages.

    Note: If the number of records returned in the search result exceeds the threshold set by your administrator for bulk action in the Archer Control Panel, you cannot select individual records. You can only apply the bulk update to all search results. When you apply updates and save your changes, the search is re-run and the updates are made against all records that meet the search criteria.

  4. Enter new field values in the header controls.

    Note: For on demand-bulk updates, reference fields are only available if you have read rights to the application that they reference, along with appropriate field permissions.

  5. Click Save Changes.

    If you click Cancel, all of your record selections and updates are cleared.

  6. Click OK to continue.

    A progress bar appears.

  7. (Optional) To view a detailed report of the bulk update, click Details. If the bulk updates are still in process, click Refresh to load the latest status. Click OK to close the report.

    If configured, the system also sends a notification to the submitter when the bulk update job completes.

  8. Click Close to return to the Search Results page.

    When you close the progress bar window, the search results refresh. If the bulk update job is not complete, it continues to run after you close the progress bar window and you can click Refresh to see the updates. You can also view the status of your bulk action from your Bulk Action History page.

Create Reference Records in Bulk

  1. Run a search.

    The search must meet the following conditions:

    • The search must be a single application search.
    • If you are searching across a leveled application, the search results must only return results from a single level of a single application.
    • The display format must be either column-flat or column-hierarchical.
  2. On the Search Results page, select Options > Enable Bulk Create.

    Checkboxes appear next to each search result, and header controls appear above each field column that is enabled for bulk create.

    The Enable Bulk Create option is only available under the following conditions:

    • You must have create permission for the reference application.

    • Enable Bulk Create must also be activated for the reference application.

    • The records cannot contain a History Log or Sub-form field.

  3. Select the records from which you want to create a new reference record. You can select individual records, records from 1 level of a leveled application, all records on the page, or all records on all pages.

    Note: If the number of records returned in the search result exceeds the threshold set by your administrator for bulk action in the Archer Control Panel, you cannot select individual records. You can only apply the bulk create to all search results. When you configure the reference fields that you want to update and save your changes, the search is re-run and the updates are made against all records that meet the search criteria.

  4. Click Create New Reference. The Create New Record window appears.
  5. From the Reference Field selector, select the reference field that you want to create in bulk. Fields configured for the referenced application appear.

    For example, if you have a Vulnerability Scan Results application that contains a cross-reference to the Findings application, you can create a new finding for all of the vulnerability scan result records that you select in the search results.

    Note: In the Reference Field list, reference fields only appear if you have create rights to the application that they reference.

  6. Do 1 of the following:
    • If the reference field targets an application that is not leveled, go to the next step.
    • If the reference field targets a leveled application, select the level in which you want to create a new reference. Filters only include fields from the selected level.
  7. Complete any required fields and optionally complete any others.
  8. From the Group By selector, select the option by which you want the new records grouped.

    For example, if you select Security Analyst for the Group By field, 1 finding would be created for each group of vulnerability scan results that belongs to each security analyst returned in the search results. This is done for each selected application.

    On the Group By Fields selector, the meta-data relationship build-out from the primary application is based solely on reference fields to the primary application, with the ability to expand additional n-tiers through the levels in the relationship. You can select single and multiple fields from primary and n-tier applications.

    Group By fields selected with a value of No Selection are grouped into a default bucket. Create a new reference record and link all primary records that could not be associated to a separate grouping to this new reference record.

    The Group By Field selector supports the selection of field n-tier relationships from the primary applications. In the Group By Field selector, click the plus sign (+) next to the available application and select the desired n-tier relationship(s). When you select an n-tier application, it adds all levels necessary to represent the build-out.

    Note: For leveled applications, you can only group records by fields in the selected level.

    Note: New reference records can be grouped by record permissions, user groups, cross-references, related records, and values lists fields.

  9. For each field, under the Operator column, do 1 of the following:
    • Select the Static operator, and enter a new value for the field.
    • Select the Mapped operator, and do the following:
      1. Under the Value(s) column, click the ellipses to open the selector window.
      2. From the Available column, select which fields to map. Your selections appear in the Selected column.
      3. When finished, click OK.
    • Select the Calculated operator, and do the following:
      1. Under the Value(s) column, to the right of the field, click Edit. The Calculation Editor window appears.
      2. From the Available column, click on field names to paste the full path syntax at the correct location of the cursor in the Configuration area. The formula can be a combination of static text terms and fields, which must be separated by an ampersand (&).

        Important: You must select between 2 and 255 static text terms or fields.

        Note: The available text, numeric, values list, and tracking ID fields are based on the Group By value in the Bulk Create Configuration.

      3. When finished, click OK.

        Note: After the system validates the calculation, the value in the Value(s) column shows as Defined; if an error occurs with the formula, you are prompted with a validation error. For more information, see Calculated Operator Validation Messages.

  10. Click Submit.

    A progress bar displays the status of the new records being created. After each new record is created, the system links the new record to the associated records from the search results.

    If you did not select a Group By field, 1 reference record is created and then associated with all of the records selected for bulk create. If you selected a Group By field that has multiple values in the search results, 1 reference record is created for each value and then associated with the appropriate set of selected records.

    Note: Mapped and Calculated fields are populated dynamically at run time.

  11. (Optional) To view the details report, click Details, and click OK. If the bulk create job is still in process, you can click Refresh to load the latest status. Click OK to close the report.

    If configured, the system also sends a notification to the submitter when the bulk create job completes.

  12. Click Close to return to the Search Results page.

    When you close the progress bar window, the search results refresh. If the bulk create job was not complete, it continues to run after you close the progress bar window, and you can click Refresh to see the updates. You can also view the status of your bulk action from your Bulk Action History page. You can also modify the search to display the new referenced field if you previously did not include it.

Delete Records in Bulk

You can delete records from the Search Results page if you have delete privileges for the searched application or questionnaire and for its content records. Deleting a record from the search results deletes it from the Search Results page and from the Archer database.

  1. Run a search.

    The search must meet the following conditions:

    • The search must be a single application search.
    • If you are searching across a leveled application, the search results must only return results from a single level of a single application.
    • The display format must be either column-flat or column-hierarchical.
  2. On the Search Results page, select Options > Enable Delete.

    Checkboxes appear next to each search result, and header controls appear above each field column that is enabled for bulk delete.

    The Enable Delete option is available only under the following conditions:

    • You must have delete permission for this application.

    • The records cannot contain a History Log or Sub-form field.

  3. Select the records that you want to delete. You can select individual records, all records on the page, or all records on all pages.
  4. In the page toolbar, click Delete.
  5. When prompted to confirm the deletion, click OK. A progress bar appears.
  6. (Optional) To view a detailed report, click Details. If any record deletions failed, a message lists those records and the reasons they were not deleted. If the deletions are still in process, click Refresh to load the latest status. Click OK to close the report.
  7. Click Close to return to the Search Results page.

    Note: The delete job continues to run after closing the progress bar window.

    After the selected records are deleted, the Search Results page refreshes to show remaining records.

    When you close the progress bar window, the search results refresh. If the bulk delete job was not complete, it continues to run after you close the progress bar window, and you can click Refresh to see the updates. You can also view the status of your bulk action from your Bulk Action History page.

View Your Bulk Action History

Use the history page to view all on-demand bulk actions that you have performed, including bulk update jobs.

  1. From the User Menu, select History.
  2. Select the Bulk Action tab.
  3. (Optional) In the Actions column, click Run details to view the report details.

    Note: When failures and errors occur, an explanation appears in the Messages section of the report details.