Adding visual pathways (flowcharts)

The built-in RDS Pathway Builder tool enables you to create pathways and flowcharts in the Right Decision Service.

Unlike placing a picture of a flowchart on your page, the Pathway Builder tool is optimised for viewing on various devices, allowing pinch and zoom for example, and allows you to add explanatory information and links. 

Note

Each pathway is a page and cannot be embedded in other page types such as guidelines. You can however link to a pathway from within a guideline.

Creating a pathway 

First you should consider whether your pathway(s) can stand alone as a page, or whether you need to create a section within your app/site for pathways so that you can link to the pathway from another page.

  • Navigate to the place in the structure where you want your pathway page to sit 
  • Click on the three dots beside the section title and then select Page from the list of option  

  • To create your pathway, the first thing you need to do is give it a Title and then save. 
  • You will not be able to open the Pathway Editor until this step is completed. 

starting your pathway.png

Using the pathway editor 

You may find it easier if you are working from an existing pathway or have sketched out your pathway so that you know its structure and content before you start. 

To open the Pathway Editor, click on the green Open Pathway Editor button that becomes visible the first time you save your pathway. 

Building your pathway 

The design of these is based on best practice and optimised for mobile device use.  Note there is little scope for changing how these work for this reason.  

Initially you will be presented with your start node:

       Text Box

When editing a node, you will have the following options:

Text Box

 

Copying pathways

It is important to note that you cannot copy and paste a pathway in the same was as you would a toolkit page. To copy a pathway, follow these steps:

  • Open a pathway builder node, whether new or existing 
  • There will be a button with text "Import pathway data" or similar 
  • Clicking this button will allow a user to select an existing pathway node 
  • Selecting another node will copy data from that pathway into the open pathway 
  • Editing the open pathway, it will be identical to the imported pathway 
  • The imported pathway will not be affected