Understand Entities and the Flow Production Tracking schema

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In this session,

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we will discuss the organization of data within Flow

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Production Tracking and bring up a few new terms,

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entity and schema.

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Data in Flow Production Tracking is organized into entities somewhat

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similar to a table in a database or a spreadsheet.

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Each thing, or entity, in Flow Production Tracking is

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a container in which data can be stored.

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Shots, sequences, assets, levels, episodes, tasks, time logs, and more

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are all considered entities within Flow Production Tracking.

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Now, the term schema refers to how data is organized and constructed.

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The Flow Production Tracking

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schema refers to how entities are used and configured

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and how they are connected to one another.

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Think about it in spreadsheet terms.

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An entity type is the name of our spreadsheet.

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Each spreadsheet contains a table of rows and columns.

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Rows represent the records we'll be tracking

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while column headers contain the information specific to what

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we need to track on each of those records.

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In each table, there is a set of cells where trackable data lives.

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Flow Production Tracking is structured in a similar way where the column

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headers equate to fields and cells equate to all the data

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we will be entering and tracking based on those field headers.

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Let's look at an example:

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we have entities which are the containers for information about anything.

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Let's consider the asset entity.

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An asset could be a character model, an environment, a prop,

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a vehicle, or anything in between.

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Let's say our asset in this case is a character model.

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Let's take a look at Hyperspace madness,

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one of the projects in Flow Production Tracking

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that we'll be using throughout this course.

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Sven is one of the character models on this project.

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In Flow Production Tracking,

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Sven is an asset entity and this entity holds information about Sven.

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The Sven asset entity holds asset information, tasks

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that need to be completed to create Sven, versions

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of Sven that artists are submitting, feedback notes

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that supervisors are providing to artists, and more.

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So, Sven the asset is a container for everything that is being done

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and has been done related to this asset.

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Sven is an asset and an asset is an entity.

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But all of the information inside of the Sven asset,

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which includes the tasks, versions, notes, these are also entities.

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Many entities fall within others,

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so you'll start to see that there is a

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hierarchy in the structure of entities within each project.

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Let's look at some project schemas to give you a bigger picture.

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A simple film schema and Flow Production Tracking looks something like this.

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The project entity is the container for

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all the information tracked within that project.

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Sequences, assets, and shots are entities that fall within that project.

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Tasks, notes, and versions fall under the parent entities

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they relate to, whether that's a specific sequence asset or shot.

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Now,

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a simple episodic schema in Flow Production Tracking

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may function similarly to the film schema,

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with the addition of seasons and episodes.

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the project entity is a container for

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all the information tracked within the project.

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Seasons are entities that fall within that project that contain all episodes.

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Episodes are entities that contain all sequences and shots.

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Sequences and shots are entities within each episode,

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and assets are entities within the project that may be used in any episode.

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Tasks, notes, and versions fall under the parent entities

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they relate to, whether that's a specific sequence shot or asset.

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Let's demonstrate this with a diagram of how our

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information flows through Flow Production Tracking on Hyperspace Madness.

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Our project Hyperspace Madness is a VFX film with shots as the deliverables.

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Our shots will be organized into sequences and

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various assets will be linked to various shots.

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For each shot and asset, a

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set of tasks needs to be completed.

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For each task time needs to be logged.

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There are endless variations of schema that

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can be applied within Flow Production Tracking.

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The schema will depend upon the types of projects the company is working

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on and how many layers of hierarchy users need to effectively track their data.

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Standard built in templates are available in Flow Production Tracking and

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may be used as is or customized by a site administrator.

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Templates are a good schema base,

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especially if we're not sure how to map out our workflow.

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Here are the key takeaways when it comes to

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schema and how data is structured in

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Flow Production Tracking.

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Data and Flow Production Tracking is organized into entities

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which are containers in which data is stored.

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The Flow Production Tracking schema refers to how entities are

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used and how they are connected to one another.

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There are many different ways to connect entities in Flow Production Tracking.

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The hierarchy of entities will depend on your industry,

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your project, and the type of information your team needs to track.