After a plan template has been published, there may be times when the template needs to be updated or modified in some way. This article will demonstrate what options are available and how to edit the template without losing important data.

Only the original creator of the plan can edit the plan template.
Changing a template can have a significant impact on the student data recorded in that plan. Please use caution when updating published templates, and note any warnings that appear in Otus.
Any changes made when editing the template are only officially saved once the Publish button is clicked. Click Cancel at any time to undo the changes made while editing.

Accessing the Published Template

Editing a published template provides most of the same options that were available when the template was created.

❗️Any sections or items that are deleted from the published template will result in all student data associated with that section or item of the plan being deleted as well. This data cannot be restored.

From the plans module, locate the plan you'd like to edit, and select Edit Template from the menu.

Editing the Template

Restrictions

The following features of the template cannot be edited:

🚫 Change Status Scale

The grading scale used in the overall status or in any individual item cannot be changed to a different scale after publishing.

Deleting Features

Any column, item, or entire section can be deleted from a published template.

➡️ Columns

Columns can be deleted. Select the ellipsis on the right side of the column header and select Delete Column.❗️This will delete all student data associated with that column.

Note: If there is only one column, you will need to add at least one additional column before the original column can be deleted. At least one column is required.

➡️ Items

Items can be deleted. Select the ellipsis on the right side of the item title and choose Delete Item. ❗ This will delete all student data associated with that column.

➡️ Sections

Sections can be deleted. Select the ellipsis in the top right corner of the section and select Delete Section.

❗️Since this will delete all student data associated with all items in this section, you’ll need to follow the instructions in the warning and type the exact name of the section into the field for the delete button to be enabled.

➡️ Templates

Entire templates can be deleted. From the list of plans templates, select the ellipsis on the right side of the plan row and select Delete Template.

❗️Since this will delete all student data associated with all items in this plan template, you’ll need to follow the instructions in the warning dialog and type the exact name of the section into the field for the delete button to be enabled.

❗️Deleting any column, item, or section will delete all student data associated with that feature.

Editing Existing Features

Any of the following features that can be edited can be changed safely without negatively impacting data in the plan.

➡️ Template Details

The following edits can be made to the template details after publishing:

✅ Title can be changed.
✅ Template Description can be edited.
✅ Customization can be toggled on or off.

The following edits cannot be made after publishing:

❌ Status Scale

❗️Any items that were hidden before Customization is toggled OFF will remain hidden and will not be shown again unless Customization is turned back ON here in the template. The data that was entered before the item was hidden is not deleted. See the Customization section of this article for more information.

➡️ Sections

The following edits can be made to sections after publishing:

✅ Name can be changed.
✅ Descriptions can be updated.
✅ Sections can be re-ordered.

Reordering Sections

➡️ Columns

The following edits can be made to columns after publishing:

✅ Name can be changed.
✅ Columns can be rearranged.
✅ Elements of some columns types can be edited.
- Text columns: Default text can be edited.
- Dropdown columns: Dropdown selections can be edited.

➡️ Items

The following edits can be made to items after publishing:

✅ Names can be changed.
✅ Items can be rearranged.

Adding New Features

The following features can be added to plans after publishing:

✅ New Columns
✅ New Items
- Items can be added individually by clicking Add Items.
- Add multiple items at once by adjusting the number and then clicking Add Items.
- Choose to hide or show newly-added items when you publish the updated plan.
✅ New Sections
- In addition to adding a new section, you can also Clone an existing section.

Otus Live

Click to see a video from our Otus Live series on how to edit a published plan and what to consider when editing a plan after student data has been collected.

FAQ

Click here to view frequently asked questions about plans.

Why can't I edit the template?

The template can only be edited by the person who created it.

We added a new section to the plan, but teachers do not have access to it. Why?

Any new sections or items that are added will be hidden from use and will need to be manually enabled for each student. See Customize Plan for more details.

Can I change the status scale? We created a new scale that works better.

The status scale cannot be adjusted on any published templates. If student data has not yet been tracked, you can clone the template to make that adjustment. If student data has already been tracked, you would need to clone the template, add the students, and re-enter the updates for each student.

Update a Student's Plan

Plans Overview

Create a Plan Template

Clone a Plan Template

Grant Student and Family Permissions for Visibility