A transition is a path used to move a record from one state to another in the workflow or can be used to assign the record to another user. A transition can include fields called Task Fields that require a user to enter some information into a record before it moves to the next step in the workflow. In some cases a transition may be a loop (a transition which keeps the record in the same state). A loop transition is used when a record simply needs to have information added to a field, but does not move to another state and / or does not move to another assignee.

Please note: The "+" icon is available for expanding the Transitions sub-sections in the Manage Workflows section. The "-" icon is available for collapsing sub-sections.

Defining Transitions for a State

The transitions for a particular state can be managed from the Managing Workflows section or in the Available States section.

To manage the transitions for a state in the Managing Workflows section:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the state for which you want to manage the transitions
5. Click on the Manage link to the right of Transitions. Use the steps in the sections below for adding, editing, or deleting a transition.

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the Manage link to the right of Available States
5. Click on a state in the States In Use column, then click on the Transitions button Use the steps in the sections below for adding, editing, or deleting a transition.

To add a new transition:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the Transitions button to the left of the state for which you want to define transitions
5. Click on the Add Transition button
6. Make selections for the properties described below
7. Click OK to save the transition

Properties of Transitions

The following options will be presented when you add or modify a transition:

Transition Name
Enter a label that will be used as the name of the transition during the Task operation

Order
The order of the transition. This will determine the order in which it appears in the transitions table as well as in the list displayed during the Task operation. Transitions which have the same value specified in the order field will be listed alphabetically.

New State
The state to which the record will be routed when this transition is selected during the Task operation. For this option, you may select one of the following:

• A specific state
  Any state in the Workflow State table can be selected as the new state for a transition.

• Prompt with <State Group>
  Selecting this option will allow the user performing the Task operation to choose from a list of all states within a particular state group as the new state for the record. When selecting this option, please select a state group from the second pulldown listed after New State. Review the Defining State Groups section for information on creating a state group. The current state of the record will be selected by default during the task operation if the current state is part of the state group selected. Otherwise, the states in the state group will be listed in alphabetical order.

• Previous State
  This option will send the record to the most recent state the record was in prior to its current state. Tracker will examine the Record History to determine the previous state.

New Assignee
The user to whom the record will be assigned when this transition is selected during the Task operation. For this option, you may select one of the following choices listed below:

• <State Manager>
  The record will be routed to the State Manager based on the New State for this transition and the State Manager settings for the combination of form and project set in the record. State Managers can be set in the Managing Projects section.

• <Same Assignee>
  This option can be used for transitions where a record does not need to be assigned to a different user. For example, if a record simply needs to be updated by the user who is currently assigned to the record.

• Prompt with <User Group>
  This option enables you to restrict the list of possible assignees to the members of a user group. The user performing the Task operation will select the new assignee from a list of users within the User Group that you specify for this option. When selecting this option, please select a user group in the second pulldown next to New Assignee. In the third pulldown next to New Assignee, select whether the user "TBD" should be included or excluded from this user group when presented during the task operation. TBD is a built-in user that can be used as a place holder or can signify "assigned to no one". Please review the User Groups Help section for information on creating a user group. The current assignee will be selected by default during the task operation if the current assignee is a member of the user group displayed. Otherwise, the users in the user group will be listed in alphabetical order.

• <Last Assignee for New State>
  When selecting this option, Tracker will examine the Record History to find the last user who was assigned to this record when it was in the state specified in the field State for this transition. For instance, if the New State is "Scheduled", Tracker will look in the record history for the record and find the last entry where this record was in the Scheduled state. The assignee listed in this entry will become the new assignee for this record. If the record has not passed through the state selected as the New State, another transition will have to be used to process that record since there is not a user who was the Last Assignee.

• Last Assignee for <State>
  When selecting this option, please select a state in the second pulldown next to New Assignee. With this option selected, Tracker will examine the Record History to find the last user who was assigned to this record when it was in the state specified in the second pulldown. For instance, if the state selected is "Scheduled", Tracker will look in the record history for the record and find the last entry where this record was in the Scheduled state. The assignee listed in this entry will become the new assignee for this record. If the record has not passed through the state selected for this option, another transition will have to be used to process that record since there is not a user who was the Last Assignee.

• <Reporter>
  This will assign the record to the original user who reported the issue according to the value of the Reported By field.

• <LoginUser>
  This will assign the record to the user performing the Task operation. An example where this option can be used is in cases where a record is assigned to another user, such as TBD, and the user needs to assign the record to his or herself using the Task operation.

• A specific user
  Any user with "Internal" selected as the user type can be selected as the new assignee for a transition. The user type is set when the user account is created in the User Management System.

History Comment

• Selecting Required for this option will require the user to enter a history comment when selecting this transition during the Task operation.
• Selecting Optional will allow the user to leave this field blank when this transition is chosen during the Task operation.
• When Do Not Display is selected here, the history comment field will not be presented to the user when this transition is chosen during the task operation. Even though the history comment is not displayed, the record history will still reflect that the task operation was performed on a record. In addition, if Do Not Display is selected and there are no task fields configured for the transition, the transition is set up for fast tasking. Up to 2000 characters can be entered into the History Comment.

Allow Attachments
Checking the box for this option will allow the user performing the Task operation to add attachments to the record being processed. When selecting a transition with this option enabled, the user will have the option "Add Attachment(s)" available for selection during the Task operation.

Allow Source Code Files
Checking the box for this option will allow the user performing the Task operation to add attachments to the record being processed. When selecting a transition with this option enabled, the user will have the option "Associate Source Code File(s)" available for selection during the Task operation. This option will only be available in a transition when the Source Code Control Integration is enabled in the General Preferences section.

Clone Record

• If Yes is selected for this option, Tracker will first create a copy (clone) of the record which the user selected for the Task operation (a new record will be added with all field values the same as the record that was selected), then it will perform the Task operation on the newly created record (clone). The originally selected record ("parent" of the clone) will only have its Record History updated to note that a clone was made of the record. The clone ("child" record) will also have an extra Record History entry to note that it was created as a clone of the parent. Whether or not an Email Rule (with a condition such as "change of Assignee") is triggered by this Task operation will be based on a comparison between the parent record (record being copied) and the child record (copy) after the Task operation completes (e.g. is the Assignee different for the child than for the parent). No "Add" Email Notification Rules will be triggered (to avoid getting one notification for an Add and a second one for a Task for what, to the end user, is a single Task operation). Additional general information on cloning a record is available in the Cloning a Record section of the View page help in the Users Guide.
• If Yes is selected for this option, you can also choose to have the file attachments and/or source code file associations copied from the parent record by checking the Attachments and/or Source Code Files boxes.

Visibility
Transition Visibility is the feature that allows you to limit which users and user groups can see this transition available when performing the task operation on a record. Transition Visibility can be set by modifying each transition using the Make Visible to These Users property or by modifying each user group. If you prefer to set visibility by user group, review the Transition Visibility information in the User Administration - Groups section. For this option, you may select one of the following:

• A specific user group
  Any user group in the User Administration section can be selected as a user group to which this transition will be visible.

• <All Users>
  Selecting this option will make the transition visible to all users (all members of the Users and RestrictedUsers groups).

• <Assignee>
  Selecting this option will make this transition visible to the user currently selected in the Assigned To field of the record.

• <State Manager>
  Selecting this option will make this transition available to the user selected in the State Manager settings for the combination of Form and Project currently set in the record.

• <Reporter>
  Selecting this option will make this transition visible to the user listed in the Reported By field of the record.

Fast Tasking
Fast Tasking is the process where a transition is chosen and the user clicks on the OK button, the record will immediately be updated because it is set such that there are no task fields and the history comment should not be displayed. If a transition is configured to allow fast tasking and is configured to display alert settings during the task operation, the alert settings will not be displayed during the task operation. The default alert settings for the transition will be used instead.

Transitions can either be edited from the Managing Workflows section or the Available States section.

To edit the transitions for a state in the Managing Workflows section:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the state for which you want to edit the transitions
5. Click on the Edit link to the right of the transition you wish to edit
6. Make any desired changes to the properties of the transition
7. Click OK to save the changes

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the Manage link to the right of Available States
5. Click on a state in the States In Use column, then click on the Transitions button
6. Click on the Edit button to the left of the transition you wish to modify
7. Make any desired changes to the properties of the transition
8. Click OK to save the changes

Transitions can either be deleted from the Managing Workflows section or the Available States section.

To delete the transitions for a state in the Managing Workflows section:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the state for which you want to edit the transitions
5. Click on the Manage link to the right of Transitions
6. Click on the Delete button to the left of the transition you wish to remove, then click OK to confirm the operation

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the Manage link to the right of Available States
5. Click on a state in the States In Use column, then click on the Transitions button
6. Click on the Delete button to the left of the transition you wish to remove, then click OK to confirm the operation

Defining Fields For the Task Operation

For each transition within a particular state, you can specify which fields should be presented to the user during the Task operation. By only presenting the user with the necessary fields, you can ensure each user will correctly adhere to the workflow process.

Task fields for a transition can be managed from the Managing Workflows section or the Available States section.

To add Task Fields to a transition from the Managing Workflows section:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the appropriate state
5. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the appropriate transition
6. Click on the Manage link to the right of Task Fields
7. Click on a field in the Available Fields column, then click on the Add button
8. The task field properties will be displayed at the bottom. Make selections for these properties, then click on the Update button to save your selections
9. Click on the OK button to return to the Transition list

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the Manage link to the right of Available States
5. Click on a state in the States In Use column
6. Click on the Transitions button
7. Click on the Task Fields button to the left of the appropriate transition
8. Click on a field in the Available Fields column, then click on the Add button
9. The task field properties will be displayed at the bottom. Make selections for these properties, then click on the Update button to save your selections
10. Click on the OK button to return to the Transition list

Task field properties can be edited from the Managing Workflows section or the Available States section.

To edit the properties of a Task Field in a transition from the Managing Workflows section:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the appropriate state
5. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the appropriate transition
6. Click on the Manage link to the right of Task Fields
7. Click on the field in the Fields Used In This Transition column, then click on the Edit button
8. Make changes to the properties for the field when it is presented during the Task operation
9. Click on the Update button to save your selections
10. Click on the OK button to return to the Transition list

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the Manage link to the right of Available States
5. Click on a state in the States In Use column
6. Click on the Transitions button
7. Click on the Task Fields button to the left of the appropriate transition
8. Click on a field in the Fields Used In This Transition column, then click on the Edit button
9. Make changes to the properties for the field when it is presented during the Task operation
10. Click on the Update button to save your selections
11. Click on the OK button to return to the Transition list

Task fields can be removed from a transition either from the Managing Workflows section or the Available States section

To remove Task Fields to a transition from the Managing Workflows section:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the appropriate state
5. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the appropriate transition
6. Click on the Manage link to the right of Task Fields
7. Click on a field in the Fields Used In This Transition column, then click on the Remove button
8. Click on the OK button to return to the Transition list

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Click on the Manage link to the right of Available States
5. Click on a state in the States In Use column
6. Click on the Transitions button
7. Click on the Task Fields button to the left of the appropriate transition
8. Click on a field in the Fields Used In This Transition column, then click on the Remove button
9. Click on the OK button to return to the Transition list

Properties for Task Fields

The following properties can be set for Task Fields when they are presented during the Task operation:

Field Order
The order in which the Task Field will appear on the page during the Task operation relative to the other task fields configured for the same transition. By default, the order will be the order value as listed in the Managing Fields section. Select an integer value. If multiple task fields have the same value for the order field, the task fields will be listed in alphabetical order.

Input Type
Specifies whether the field is required, optional, or read only when it appears during the Task operation. Selecting Required indicates that a user will not be able to complete the Task operation until something is entered or a different value selected for the field. For Integer, Float, Text, TextArea, or Date types this means that a blank value will not be allowed. For pulldown fields, this means that the user must select a value other than the initial value displayed on the form. Selecting Optional indicates that the user is not required to enter information into the field to complete the Task operation. Selecting Read Only indicates that the contents of the field will be displayed for the user's reference, but the field cannot be modified.

You may wish to highlight required fields during the Task operation with a particular color, bold type or with a special character (e.g. "*"). This can be done by configuring the Required Field Highlights option in the General Preferences section.

Initialize (Reset)
For Date fields, this property specifies whether the field should be automatically initialized to the current date/time when it appears on the Task page. You may wish to use a combination of setting the Type to "Read Only" and Initialize (Reset) to "Yes" for date fields. This combination will allow the date field to be set to the current date and time when the Task operation is performed, but the user will not be allowed to modify the date field.

For Text, TextArea, URL, Integer, and Float fields, this property specifies whether the field should be reset to blank. By setting the Initialize (Reset) property to "Yes" and setting the Type property to "Required", you can force a new value to be entered for a Text, TextArea, URL, Integer, or Float field. This property can be useful in combination with the Clone Record option in a Transition as you may find that you would like several fields to be reset when creating a copy (clone) of an existing record.

Note 1: For Float and Integer fields, if you set the Initialize (Reset) property to "Yes" and the Type property to "Read Only", the field value will be set to 0 (or 0.0) because Float and Integer fields must always have a value (blank is not a valid value for Float or Integer).
Note 2: For all field types, if you set the Initialize (Reset) property to "Yes" the existing value (if any) of the field will be overwritten. Any data previously entered in the field will be lost.

For Pulldown fields, this property specifies whether the field should be reset to its default value. By setting the Initialize (Reset) property to "Yes" and setting the Type property to "Required", you can force a user to select a value other than the default.

For Dependent Pulldown fields, if the parent pulldown is set to be initialized, the parent pulldown will be set to its default value. The value of child pulldown menus may be changed to its default relative to value of the parent pulldown if:

• The child pulldown is also a task field in the same transition and is set to be initialized OR
• The child pulldown is also a task field in the same transition and a value other than the default is selected in the parent pulldown (selecting another value in the parent will cause the items listed in the child pulldown to be updated based on the dependencies configured between the two fields).

For RelNum fields, this property specifies whether each component of the field should be reset to its default value.

For YesNo fields, this property specifies whether the field should be set to "Yes", its default value.

Annotate
This option will not be available if "Read Only" was selected for the option Input Type. This option determines whether any additions to the TextArea field will be preceded with an annotation when the field is modified during the Task operation. The annotation includes a date and time stamp when the field was modified and the User ID of the user who modified the field. Select "Optional" if you wish to have the annotation be included in the field only when the user clicks on the Annotate button. Select "Automatic" if you wish to have the annotation included automatically when the field is modified. When selecting Automatic, the Annotate button will not be displayed. The annotation will be applied to the field (only if it was modified) when the user clicks on the OK button to complete the Task operation. Automatic will not be available as a selection if "Yes" was selected for the option Initialize (Reset). Select "Unavailable" if you do not wish to have the field annotated when it is modified.

Append
This option will not be available if any of the following conditions applies:

• "Read Only" was selected for the option Input Type
• "Yes" was selected for the option Initialize (Reset)
• "Automatic" was selected for the option Annotate

Alerts are email notification messages that can be sent automatically by Tracker at a later date and time to remind a user or group about a record (e.g. send an alert a day before a deadline date in the record passes) or to notify people about a lack of change of status (e.g. record should be processed within a certain time threshold, send an alert if this is not done). Alert settings can be configured for each transition such that these settings will be applied to any record processed with the transition. It is also possible to allow users to be prompted to configure the Alert settings during the Task operation.

To configure default alert settings for a transition:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon in the top button bar
3. Click on the Managing Workflows button
4. Select the desired workflow in the Workflows pulldown at the top. The page will be refreshed with the properties of the selected workflow.
5. Click on the "+" icon to the left of the state which contains the desired transition
6. Click on the Manage link to the right of Transitions
7. Click on the Alerts button for the desired transition
8. Make selections for the fields described below, then click OK save the changes
   
   • Set Alert
     Selecting "Yes" indicates an alert should be generated for a record that has been tasked using this transition and using the alerts settings below. By selecting this option, the user will not be prompted to Set the Alert Settings when selecting this transition. Selecting "No" indicates that no alert should be sent when this transition is selected for a record. Selecting "Leave Current Values" indicates that an alert should be generated for a record that has been tasked using this transition, but the existing alert settings in the record should be used instead of the settings for this transition. The existing alert settings are those that were set during the Add operation or by the transition selected the last time a task operation was performed on the record.
   • Show Alert settings during the Task operation
     Selecting Yes indicates that the user should be prompted to select alert settings when this transition is selected during the Task operation. If a transition is configured for "fast-tasking" (the transition has no task fields and history comment is set to "do not display"), then the alert settings will not be displayed during the Task operation.
   • Groups / Users that can edit alert settings during the Task operation
     Click on the groups and / or users that should be allowed to edit the alert settings during the Task operation when selecting this transition. To select multiple users and / or groups, hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard while clicking on each user and group you would like to select.
   • Send Alert
     The period of time that should pass before the alert is sent. You can enter a number from 1 - 99, select the interval (hour, day, week, or month), select "before" or "after" as the point of reference for the alert, and a starting point for the time period. The starting point can be "<Now>", or can be based on any of the date fields in the record. Example 1: By entering "1 day after <Now>", the alert will be sent 1 day after the record is added. Example 2: By entering "1 day before <Date Field>", the alert will be sent 1 day before the date entered in the date field selected.

     If a date field is selected as the date to generate an alert and this date field has no value in a record, an alert will not be generated. If a date field is selected as the date to generate an alert and this date field is later removed from the record (deleted in the Managing Fields section, then <Task Date> will be set as the date to generate an alert (to replace the date field that was removed).

   • Repeat options
     Check the box to allow the alert to be sent multiple times after the initial time period (in Send Alert field above) has passed. Select the repeat period by entering a number from 1 - 99 and the interval (hour, day, week, month). Then, select how many times the alert should be repeated. Select either Stop after X alerts where X is a number from 1 - 10 or Repeat forever. Repeat forever will continue to repeat the alert periodically until the state of the record is changed.
   • Send Alerts To
     Click on the groups and / or users who should receive the alert message if the record's state has not changed when the configured time period has passed. To select multiple users and / or groups, hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard while clicking on each user and group you would like to select.
9. After clicking OK to save the changes, click on the Alerts button for another transition to configure the default alerts settings.

Viewing and Editing Alert Settings during the Task Operation

When the task operation is performed on a record, the user may be prompted to configure alert settings depending on the default alert settings for the transition selected (setting the default alert settings for a transition are defined in the Configure Default Alert Settings per Transition section above.

In order for the user to view the alert settings when performing the task operation for a record, the transition selected must have Show Alert Settings during Task Operation set to "Yes" and the user must be a member of a group with the View Alerts Settings user group privilege. After selecting a transition during the task operation, the user meeting the criteria mentioned above will be able to see the alert settings section, but cannot modify the values. The Additional Information field can be modified to add a note or other information to be included in the alert notification message. Click OK to complete the Task operation.

For a user to edit the alert settings during the Task operation, the transition selected must have Show Alert Settings during Task Operation set to "Yes" and the user (or a group of which the user is a member) must be specified in Groups / Users that can edit Alert Settings during the Task Operation. After selecting a transition, the user meeting the criteria mentioned above will see the alert settings section. The user can modify the following alert settings. By default, the values displayed here will be the values selected in the default Alert settings for the transition selected.