š Introduction
A fast way to trace hierarchical relationships in your data ā no matter how many levels deep.
This template uses Savantās Recursion tool to automatically follow parentāchild links (like employee ā manager) across multiple levels.
Whether youāre mapping reporting chains, drilling down into bill-of-materials structures, or analyzing category hierarchies, this template delivers a clean, fully expanded view of your data in seconds.
ā” Why Recursion Replaces Iterative Macros
In tools like Alteryx, mapping hierarchies often requires Iterative Macros ā custom workflows that loop through data repeatedly until all relationships are resolved. Savantās Recursion Tool takes this concept and makes it simple, visual and automated:
Iterative: The tool automatically repeats the parentāchild mapping process until the full hierarchy is built.
Recursive: It doesnāt just loop ā it builds the chain level by level, handling complex multi-level relationships without manual intervention.
Hierarchical: Perfect for org charts, product structures, or any dataset where relationships span multiple levels.
With Savant, you get the power of iterative workflows without writing or maintaining macros ā just configure your parent and child columns, and Savant handles the rest.
š¼ Business Impact
Example use cases include:
Employee reporting chains in HR datasets
Product category rollups for e-commerce analytics
Bill-of-materials or component hierarchies in manufacturing data
Customer account structures with parent/child entities
Key benefits include:
Simplifies complexity: Automatically unravels multi-level relationships without messy manual lookups or nested formulas.
Increases visibility: Gives instant insight into organizational structures, product hierarchies, or other parentāchild relationships.
Saves time: Eliminates repetitive steps ā one template handles any depth of hierarchy in a single workflow.
Reduces errors: Ensures consistency when tracing relationships across large or frequently changing datasets.
Scales easily: Works on small teams or global org charts with thousands of employees and managers.
š„ Data In
Source: Any dataset with parentāchild relationships
Minimum columns:
Child ID (ex: Employee ID)
Parent ID (ex: Manager ID)
Example Input:
Employee ID | Employee Name | Manager ID |
1 | Alice Johnson | 3 |
2 | Ben Thompson | 3 |
3 | Carla Fernandez | 5 |
4 | Derek Smith | 5 |
5 | Evelyn Martinez |
|
š¤ Data Out
The Recursion tool creates a fully traced chain for each record.
Example Output:
Employee ID | Employee Name | Full Chain |
1 | Alice Johnson | Alice ā Carla ā Evelyn |
2 | Ben Thompson | Ben ā Carla ā Evelyn |
3 | Carla Fernandez | Carla ā Evelyn |
4 | Derek Smith | Derek ā Evelyn |
5 | Evelyn Martinez | Evelyn |
š Template Setup
Follow these steps to set up the AI Header Agent template:
Step 1: Data Input
Replace the example employeeāmanager dataset with your own table containing parentāchild relationships.
Step 2: Configure the Recursion Tool
Child Column: Select the column representing the individual (ex: Employee ID)
Parent Column: Select the column representing the parent (ex: Manager ID)
š Further Customizations
Add attributes: Include department or region for richer context in the final chain.
Add calculations: Configure aggregations to calculate metrics like total team size, cumulative salaries, or span of control at each level of the hierarchy.
Automate updates: For recurring org chart or hierarchy changes, schedule this template to run automatically.
Chain with other tools: Combine with Summarize or Pivot tools to analyze reporting lines by department, region, or manager span.
Handle multiple hierarchies: Extend this approach to other datasets like product categories, supply chains, or account structures.