How do I relate tactics and plans together?

Short Description Hive9 supports relating one tactic to another, and one plan to another, in parent/child relationships outside the main hierarchy. This article covers when and how.

What this article answers

The difference between hierarchy and relationships.
How to relate tactics or relate plans.
What relating does and doesn't carry across.

Hierarchy vs. relationships

Hierarchy is the strict tree: Plan → Campaign → Program → Tactic → Line Item. Each object has one parent.

Relationships are separate, optional links between objects that exist alongside the hierarchy. You can use them to:

Tie a tactic to another tactic in a different Program.
Mark a child Plan that supports a parent Plan in another structure.
Indicate that two tactics are versions of the same effort across regions.

Relationships are descriptive, not aggregating — they help users navigate and report, but they don't roll up costs the way the hierarchy does.

Relating tactics

If your instance has tactic-relating enabled:

Open a tactic's Inspection Window.
Find the Related Tactics section (often a tab or panel).
Click Add Related Tactic.
Search for and select the tactic to relate.
Save.

The relationship appears on both tactics — the relation is bidirectional.

[SCREENSHOT NEEDED — Inspection Window with Related Tactics section]

Relating plans

If your instance has the Relate Plans Configuration turned on:

Open a plan's Inspection Window.
Find the Related Plans grid.
Click Add Related Plan.
Pick the related plan from the list.
Choose the relationship direction (parent / child).
Save.

Note: child entities of related plans are NOT related to each other. Relating Plan A and Plan B doesn't auto-relate their Campaigns, Programs, or Tactics. If you need tactic-level relationships across plans, set those separately.

What relating does

Improves navigation. From either side of the relationship, you can jump to the related object quickly.
Supports reporting. Some reports and saved views surface related objects together.
Documents intent. Indicates to other users that two objects are conceptually linked even though they're in different parts of the hierarchy.

What relating does NOT do

Doesn't aggregate costs. Costs roll up through the hierarchy, not through relationships.
Doesn't share workflows. Each related object has its own approval workflow.
Doesn't sync attribute values. Editing a custom attribute on one tactic doesn't propagate to a related tactic.
Doesn't auto-relate children. Children of related parents aren't automatically related.

Removing a relationship

Open either side, find the relationship row in the Related section, and click Remove (or the equivalent action). The relationship clears on both sides.

Common questions

How is this different from just searching for the related tactic? Search is a one-time action. A relationship is persistent — it shows up on both objects every time and is visible to other users navigating either one.

Can I see all related tactics in a single view? Use Saved Views and Filter Panel to find tactics by attributes. There's no single "all related tactics" view, but you can filter for tactics that have any relationships if your instance supports it.

Why doesn't relating roll up costs? By design — Hive9 treats hierarchy as the cost backbone. Relationships are descriptive. If you need to aggregate costs across different parts of the hierarchy, restructure or use Related Plans for plan-level grouping.