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Relationship groups

A relationship group is a named set of facilities that share a relationship context — typically the members of a single operating line or the facilities that make up one operation. Groups scale better than per-facility edits the moment a project has more than a handful of relationships. The Relationship Group Editor is where groups are defined, populated, and connected to each other via the per-criteria matrix.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

  • Define and name relationship groups
  • Author the per-criteria matrix that sets the relationship code between groups
  • Run the build to materialize the matrix into pairwise relationships across the project
  • Recognize when a per-pair override is in play and how to clear it later

The four working areas of the editor​

The Relationship Group Editor opens as a dialog with four working areas.

1. Pre-flight banner. Surfaces blockers before a build can run. Two common conditions:

  • "Run analysis before building relationships" — encumbrances haven't been built yet. The spatial-analysis pass must run first so the engine knows what PES → ES pairs exist (see Spatial Analysis (encumbrances)).
  • "Project features have changed since the last spatial analysis" — re-run spatial analysis before building so relationships reflect current geometry.
warning

The relationship group builder uses the project's encumberances to determine what PES -> ES pairs need to have a relationship assigned. The spatial analysis must be up to date for accurate results.

2. Sidebar (Relationship Groups). List of groups, each with:

  • A drag handle to reorder
  • An inline-editable name
  • A feature count (how many facilities belong)
  • A delete button
  • An Add Group button at the bottom to create a new empty group

3. Matrix pane. The per-criteria authoring surface. A criteria-set selector at the top; below it, a grid where rows and columns both list the project's relationship groups. Each cell holds the relationship code (unrelated, related, sameline, integral, idsessential) that applies between the row group and the column group under the chosen criteria. The diagonal (group-to-itself) typically holds the within-group code — usually sameline for an operating line.

Right-clicking a cell exposes "Apply this value to all criteria" — useful when the same relationship pattern holds across DCMA, DESR, NATO, etc.

4. Footer. Action row with three controls:

  • Build — materializes the matrix into pairwise relationships across the project. Shows a progress bar while running, with a Cancel option.
  • Conflict Report — appears when the build detects contradictory rules between groups a feature belongs to.
  • Clear Overrides menu — Clear User-Override Flags drops per-pair overrides while preserving matrix-derived relationships; Reset All Relationships wipes everything.

Assigning features to groups​

A feature can join a group from two places:

A feature can belong to more than one group; the build resolves the resulting pairwise relationships across every group the feature participates in. Where multiple groups would assign different codes to the same pair, the build surfaces a conflict report.

Running the build​

Once groups are defined, populated, and the matrix is authored, click Build. The build:

  1. Walks every encumbrance the spatial-analysis pass produced
  2. Looks up each PES → ES pair against the group memberships of both
  3. Applies the matrix's relationship code for the (PES group, ES group) combination, per criteria
  4. Surfaces a conflict report if any pair has contradictory rules

Re-run the build after any matrix edit, group-membership change, or spatial-analysis re-run.

User overrides​

Per-pair overrides — relationships set directly on a feature outside the matrix — are flagged as user-override and survive subsequent builds. The Clear Overrides footer menu offers two cleanup operations:

ActionEffect
Clear User-Override FlagsDrops the override marking but does not delete the relationship — the next build will overwrite the pair with the matrix value
Reset All RelationshipsWipes both matrix-derived and override results; start clean

Use Clear User-Override Flags when you want a re-run of the matrix to take effect without losing the underlying relationship data. Use Reset only when you want a fully clean slate.

Try it​

In a project with at least two operating lines:

  1. Run spatial analysis if you haven't already
  2. Open the Relationship Group Editor and create two groups: Line A and Line B
  3. Assign three features to Line A and two to Line B (via the dashboard chip list or the bulk dialog)
  4. In the matrix, set Line A → Line A and Line B → Line B to sameline, and Line A ↔ Line B to related
  5. Click Build and wait for the progress bar to complete
  6. Run analysis and verify:
    • Pairs within Line A evaluate as sameline (barricaded ILD reductions available)
    • Pairs within Line B evaluate as sameline
    • Cross-group pairs evaluate as related (no barricaded reduction)

This is the full power of groups — and the K9-vs-K18 distinction from the barricaded exercise playing out across the whole project at once.