Specifying Request State Transitions

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A request state transition is a rule telling MainBoss to change the state of a request whenever a linked work order changes its state. For example, you could tell MainBoss that every time you close a work order, MainBoss should automatically close all the requests linked to that work order.

You can link a request to a work order using the Link Work Orders button in the Requests table viewer or in the window for editing a request. Alternatively, if you create a work order from a request using the New Work Order button, the request is automatically linked to the new work order.

To specify request state transitions, go to the Defaults for Requests section of the Requests table viewer and click Edit Defaults. In the resulting window, go to the Close Preferences section.

The Close Preferences section has a checkbox labeled Requests are automatically changed to a new state when linked to a work order, or when a linked work order state changes. If this checkbox is blank, MainBoss will not change the state of requests in response to work order changes—if you want automatic changes, you must checkmark the box.

To specify a rule for changing request states, click New Work Order Request Transition. This opens a window where you can specify a request state transition. Each transitation rule states the following: when a request is in state A and a linked work order changes into state B, the request should be changed into state C. For example, when a request is In Progress and a linked work order changes to Closed, then MainBoss should automatically change the request's state to Closed.

When MainBoss changes a request's state in this way, MainBoss automatically sends an email message to the request's requestor, provided that you have the MainBoss Service module. The request transition record lets you specify text that should be included in such a message. If you don't specify your own text, MainBoss will use default text.

The window for managing a request transition rule contains the following:

Request State: A drop-down list specifying all the possible states a request may be in. For more information, see Requests.

Work Order State: A drop-down list specifying all the possible states of a work order. For more information, see Work Order States.

Change To Request State: A drop-down list specifying the new state into which the request should be put.

Putting these three fields together, you are saying, "When a request starts off in "Request State", and a linked work order changes into "Work Order State", then put the request into "Change To Request State".

For example, suppose "Request State" is In Progress, and "Work Order State" is Closed, and "Change To Request State" is Closed. This says that when a request is In Progress and a linked work order is closed, then MainBoss should close the request too.

Comment To Requestor: A drop-down list giving possible messages to send to the requestor. You can choose from MainBoss's pre-existing messages. However, in many cases you would use the facilities of the drop-down list to create a new message of your own. To do so, click the right-hand drop-down arrow and then select New Message in the resulting menu. This lets you create a new message of your own. For more information on creating new messages, see Message String Translations.

Note: The same user message key can have different messages depending on the recipient's preferred language. For example, you might have key named CommentWhenRequestIsClosed. You could then have an English language message, a French message, a Spanish message and so on, all associated with the same key. MainBoss chooses which translation to send, based on the recipient's preferred language (if any).

Current Translation: A read-only field giving the current translation of the message specified in Comment To Requestor (in your chosen language, if such a translation exists).

Save & New: Saves the current record and sets up the window for you to enter a new record. Fields in the new record will be blank or set to default values.

Save & Close: Saves the current record and closes the editor window.

Cancel: Closes the window without saving any changes you've made to the record since the last time you saved. When you Save the record, the Cancel button changes to Close, indicating that you can safely close the window without losing any changes.

Close: Closes the window. This button only appears after you've saved changes with Save or before you've entered any data at all. Otherwise, the button is labeled Cancel.

For more on requests, see Requests. For more on editing requests, see Editing Requests.

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