The Action Plans setup window is divided into four areas. The top left displays a list of variations on the normal Action Plan. Selecting one from the list will open the information for that variation in the other panes. The top right shows the detail of the Action Plan/variation. The bottom left displays the Action Plan item step tree. Selecting an item from the tree activates the detail on the bottom left.
Action Plan
Description will show on the first line of the Action Plan in the Dispatch Action Wizard pane during dispatch. Notes will show below the description during dispatch. Action Plan Notes allow for Rich-Text and Variables. Remember that Descriptions and Notes are also the fields used to look up the Action Plan.
The Copy Button will copy into a new Action Plan entry. The Variation Button will copy the Action Plan as a new variation (see below).
Global Action Plan Edit and Activation
Global Action Plans can be in use by Operators and cannot be edited during live operations. The Global Plan opens in a view only window. A 'work' plan can be created for Global Plans by pressing the Edit button. This will open the Action Plan in an editable window. Only one 'work' plan can be created at a time. The 'work' plan can be closed and accessed again by pressing the Edit button. Once the changes have been made, the 'work' plan is activated by pressing the Activate button.
Site Specific Action Plans do not run the same risk of being in alarm while work is being done on them and open directly in Edit mode. 
Action Plan Items
Action Plans are driven by the steps created as Action Plan Items. The Item describes the action to be taken at this step in the dispatch process. Each item is given an Action Type and are set up differently according to the type. The main Actions that can be taken in an Action Plan are Dialing (Phone List), Verifying Contacts (Code Word), Asking Quesions (Decision) and Dispatching (Operator Action). In addition, checks can be made for other available Action Plans based on other Alarm signals (Check Additional Action Plans), the Action Plan can 'jump' back to a previous step (Retry Loop) or Dialing and Verification can be done in one step (Phone Verify Code Word).
Action Plan Items are organized in an expandable/collapsible tree. The first created will be at the beginning of the tree. Subsequent steps are created by selecting the item for the previous step from the tree and pressing the add button on the Action Plan Item pane. This will create a step with the selected step as the previous action. Multiple 'branches' can be created by returning to the previous step in the tree and creating a new step.
Depending on the Action Type of the previous step, a step may require an Action Outcome or Outcome Prompt to tell the Dispatch Action Wizard how to proceed.
Variations
Variations of Action Plans apply under certain conditions. This can be a Day/Time condition, or a variation type based on site event history. Variation type includes conditions such as 2 dipstaches in the last 8 hours, 30 minute rule, residual alarm, and storm.
Variations are complete Action Plans. The 'normal' Action Plan can be copied as a new variation and then changes made as appropriate. In the event alarm conditions match more than one variation, the lowest variation # takes precedence (except '0' which is used for the 'normal' Action Plan).
The variation level is used for Action Plan Steps to perform a check to see if any variation conditions now apply. This check is performed on a certain variation level before the stop and will switch from the originally called Action Plan to an applicable variation Action Plan. A list of all variations that apply to the Alarm can also be seen anytime by pressing the Action Plan Override button on the site summary of the Alarm Dispatch window.
Variations can be temporary by setting the effective and expiry dates. When the dates are left blank, the variation is permanent.