Viewing Unassigned Requests

This help file applies to an out-of-date version of MainBoss.
The most recent version of MainBoss is MainBoss 4.2.4.
For the latest version of this help file can be found here.

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My Assignment Overview | In Progress Requests | Unassigned Requests lists any requests that are New or In Progress but do not have anybody assigned to them. The window contains the following:

Number: Click this heading to sort the list by request number. Click again to reverse the order.

Priority: Click this heading to sort the list by request priority. Click again to reverse the order.

Requests with explicit priorities are considered more urgent than requests where the priority field is blank. Therefore, if you sort your requests by priority, those with no explicit priority will come last.

Current State History Status: Click this heading to sort the list by status code. Click again to reverse the order.

Subject: Click this heading to sort the list by subject. Click again to reverse the order.

Apply Filter: Lets you set up a filter to select which records should be shown in the table. For more information, see Table Filters.

Details section: Shows information from the selected record.

Assignments section: Shows people assigned to this request.

Email Request section: If this request originated from an email message, this will list the contents of the message. (Email requests are only possible if you have licensed the MainBoss Service module.)

Work Orders section: Lists work orders associated with the selected request.

State History section: Contains an entry for each time the selected request changed its state. For example, this section might list when a request was created, when it was marked "in progress", and when it was closed.

: This drop-down button offers several possible actions:

Edit: Opens an editor window to let you edit the selected record.

View: Opens an editor window where you can examine the selected record.

Self Assign: Clicking this button lets you assign yourself to a selected request. MainBoss will open a window for creating a state history record; this record will indicate that you claimed the request for yourself. It will also let you specify comments, a status code, and other information. For more on state history records, see Editing Request State History Records.

Once you save the state history record, your name will be added to the request's Assignments section. The request will disappear from the Unassigned Requests list because the request now has an assignment.

In Progress: Puts the selected work request into the "In Progress" state. This action is only enabled if the request is currently in the "New" state. In Progress also has the following drop-down choices:

In Progress (With Comment): Marks the request as "in progress". MainBoss will also open a window where you can record a comment about what you're doing. This action is only enabled if the request is currently in the "New" state.

Close Request: Closes the currently selected work request. This action is only enabled if the request is currently in the "In Progress" state.

Close Request (With Comment): Closes the selected request, and also opens a window where you can record a comment about what you're doing. This action is only enabled if the request is currently in the "In Progress" state.

Void: Cancels the selected request. MainBoss will also open a window where you can record a comment explaining why you are canceling the request.

Reopen: Is disabled in this table viewer because it can't be applied to new or in-progress requests.

As noted above, In Progress (With Comment) and Close Request (With Comment) both open a window where you can record comments about what you're doing. This window also gives you an opportunity to record comments to be sent to the original requestor. If you have the MainBoss Service module, these comments are automatically emailed to the requestor. The comments are also recorded in the request's State History section. For further information, see Editing Request State History Records.

: Lets you search through the list of records for a particular record. For more information, see Searching for a Particular Record. The button has an accompanying drop-down list containing the following:

Find Next: Uses the same search condition(s) as your most recent search and finds the next record in the table that matches the condition(s). If the search reaches the end of the table without finding a matching record, it goes to the start of the table and continues the search.

Find Previous: Same as Find Next except that it goes backward in the table. If the search reaches the start of the table without finding a matching record, it goes to the end of the table and continues the search.

Link Work Orders: Lets you indicate that this request is associated with an existing work order. This is useful if you get several requests reporting the same problem. The first time someone submits a particular complaint, you can use New Work Order to make a work order to fix the problem. If other people complain about the same thing, you can use Link Work Orders to associate their requests with the work order you've already created. This makes it easier to keep track of which requests are associated with which work orders.

Note that it's also possible for a single request to be associated with multiple work orders. For example, you might create one work order for a short-term work-around fix, and another work order for a more permanent repair. Using Link Work Orders lets you associate the request with both work orders.

A request may be linked to any number of work orders and vice versa. When you click Link Work Orders, you get the window described in Requested Work Orders.

New Work Order: Opens a window that lets you create a work order based on the selected request. Information from the request will be copied into the new work order; however, this information can be changed if desired. For more on creating and editing work orders, see Editing Work Orders.

New Requestor Comment: Lets you record a comment for the requestor. If you have the MainBoss Service module, this comment will be automatically emailed to the requestor. If not, you will have to convey the comment to the requestor in some other way.

You can click New Requestor Comment on a request as often as you like; each time, MainBoss will give you a chance to record a comment about the request. New Requestor Comment therefore gives you a good way to keep track of problems, delays, and other special situations that arise during the course of a request, and to keep the requestor informed about these situations.

Each requestor comment is recorded in the request's State History section. For more on state histories, see Editing Request State History Records.

: Updates the list to reflect any recent changes.

For more information on requests, see Requests. For more information on creating or editing request records, see Editing Requests. For general information on table viewers, see Using Table Viewers.

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