Understand entities and the Flow Production Tracking schema

Understand entities and the Flow Production Tracking schema

Data in Flow Production Tracking is organized into entities, somewhat similar to a table in a database or a spreadsheet.

Each thing, or entity, in Flow Production Tracking is a container in which data can be stored.

Shots, Assets, Levels, Episodes, Tasks, Versions, Time Logs, and more are all considered entities within Flow Production Tracking. They are all containers in which data can be stored.

The term schema refers to how data is organized and constructed. The Flow Production Tracking schema refers to how entities are used and configured and how they are connected to one another.

Think about it in spreadsheet terms. An entity type is the name of our spreadsheet. Each spreadsheet contains a table of rows and columns. Rows represent the records we'll be tracking, while column headers contain the information specific to what we'll need to track on each of those records.

In each table, there is a set of cells where trackable data lives. Flow Production Tracking is structured in a similar way, where the column headers equate to fields, and cells equate to all the data we will be entering and tracking based on those field headers.

Consider the following example:

• In Flow Production Tracking, an Asset is an entity.
• "sven" is a character model asset in Hyperspace Madness.
• In Flow Production Tracking, "sven" is an Asset entity, and this entity holds information about "sven".
  • The "sven" asset entity holds asset information, tasks that need to be completed to create "sven", versions of "sven" that artists are submitting, feedback notes that supervisors are providing to artists, and more.   
    • So "sven", the asset, is a container for everything that is being done, and has been done, related to this asset.  
      
      
      
      
• "sven" is an asset, and an asset is an entity, but all of the information inside of the "sven" asset, which includes the tasks, versions, notes, are also entities.
• Many entities can fall within others, and the hierarchy in the structure of entities will vary within each Project.

Flow Production Tracking comes with several pre-built schemas.

A simple film schema in Flow Production Tracking looks something like this:

• The Project entity is the container for all the information tracked within that Project.
• Sequences, Assets, and Shots are entities that fall within that Project.
• Tasks, Notes, and Versions fall under the parent entities they relate to, whether that's a specific Sequence, Asset, or Shot.

A simple episodic schema in Flow Production Tracking may function similarly to the film schema, with the addition of seasons and episodes:

• The Project entity is the container for all the information tracked within that Project.
• Seasons are entities that fall within that Project that contain all Episodes.
• Episodes are entities that contain all Sequences and Shots.
• Sequences and Shots are entities within each episode, and Assets are entities within the Project that may be used in any Episode.
• Tasks, Notes, and Versions fall under the parent entities they relate to, whether that's a specific Sequence, Shot, or Asset.

Consider the following diagram of how information flows through Flow Production Tracking on Hyperspace Madness:

• "Hyperspace Madness" is a VFX film project with shots as the deliverables.
• The shots will be organized into sequences, and various assets will be linked to various Shots.
• For each Shot and Asset, a set of Tasks need to be completed.
• For each Task, time needs to be logged.

There are endless variations of schema that can be applied within Flow Production Tracking. The schema will depend upon the types of projects a company is working on and how many layers of hierarchy users need to effectively track their data.

Standard built-in templates are available in Flow Production Tracking and may be used as-is or customized by a site Administrator. Templates are a good schema base, especially if you are not sure how to map out your workflow.

Here are the key takeaways when it comes to the Flow Production Tracking schema and how data is structured in Flow Production Tracking:

• Data in Flow Production Tracking is organized into entities, which are the containers in which data is be stored.
• The Flow Production Tracking schema refers to how entities are used and how they are connected to one another.

There are many different ways to connect entities in Flow Production Tracking. The hierarchy of entities will depend on your industry, your project, and the type of information your team needs to track.