The docstring is incorrect this function is only creating a copy with modified parameter on the fly. If someone wants to create a snapshot he needs to use the function generate_snapshot. 

We did this like that because when you have a workflow poping new workflows which should have the same datas than in the previous workflows, you need a copy function allowing to change the version etc... 

But even if this object has been created by the parent workflow of the workflow in which it is running it is not a direct children of the object running in the parent workflow. 

I hope it is lighting up a bit the things