**Downloadable Document also available to download
Actions have a status (called “Status”) which has three values:
0 = To Do
1 = In Progress
2 = Completed
For Process Support Actions the Process also has a status (called “Process Status”) which has four values:
-1 = Cancelled
1 = Live
2 = Step Completed
3 = Finished
Standard Action Types:
When filtering in “Standard” action types, you just have two flags (“To Do” and “Completed”) and you have to use combinations of these to return “standard” actions of the status you want (in Progress is implied by both of the above being = No).
Process Support Action Types:
When filtering in a “process support” action type, the system will only return actions with a “Process Status” of “Live”. If you want to look for actions with a different Process Status you must add the Process Status to the filter and specify the value(s) you want (“Process Status” is a listed option in the drop down list of filter items).
N.B. This is different to most other parts of the system because normally if you don’t include an item in the filter it returns all values of that item (i.e. you add the filter item to narrow the search whereas here you have to add it to widen the search!).
N.B.
To further confuse, when you select the grid columns to display in “Process Support” action types the Process Status is called “Status” and the “Step Completed” is displayed as “Completed” so this really looks like the Action Status but it isn't.
When you create an action the Process Status will be “Live” (1)
If you cancel the process at any point the status changes to “Cancelled” (-1)
When a step is completed the status changes to “Step Completed” (2)
When the last step is complete (the whole process is finished), the status changes to “Finished” (3).
The difference between Process Finished and Step Completed:
“Step Completed” applies to all steps except the last one, bearing in mind there is a new action (of a different action type) for each step. “Process Finished” only applies to the action which is the last step (i.e. all steps are now completed).
Step summary Example for a new Project Request.
There are two “Process Support” action types involved in this.
- New Project Request and
- New Project Categorization
Request initially entered and saved but not submitted (to next step) – Process Status = Live (1) and the Action Status is as per the defined default in the action type.
Despite the Action Status being set up to be visible and NOT read only: 
It is not visible, but the “Process Status” is and this is read only:
So the Action Status remains as per the default (In Progress) and can never be viewed or changed – as is proven by the search filter below:
At this point we now have one action of type “New Project Request” that has a Process Status of Live and an action “Status” of In Progress (as per the default setting that can’t be changed).
Request now submitted to next step (approval).
The “New Project Request Action” has its Process Status changed to “Step Completed” and the action “Status” remains as “In Progress”
AND a NEW Action is created of the type used in the Second Step (New Project Categorization) – This Process Status is “Live” (1) and again the action “Status” is “In Progress” (as per the default setting that cannot be changed):
So now we have two Actions a New Project Request Action with a Process Status of “Step Completed” (2) and a New Project Categorization Action with a Process Status of Live (1)
Making Changes to the “New Project Categorization” Action and saving it doesn’t impact the Statuses until you complete the stage (in this case by Creating a Project).
Once the Project is created (The Step is completed), the Process Status is changed to “Process Finished” (3).
So now we still have to Actions but the New Project Categorization Action has had its Process Status changed.
At any point in the process the user can press the “Cancel Process” button to terminate the process in which case that Action receives a Process Status of “Cancelled” (-1).
There is now a level of complexity and possible confusion when the user decides to use the “Previous” option to return to the Previous step. You can see the two actions below where the request was submitted to Categorisation:
But now when the “Previous” option is used, the Process Status on the “New Project Categorization” Action is set to Step Completed (2), and a new “New Project Request” action is created using all the same details as the original one (including the Reference), but the Process Status is set to Live (1).
Also, when the Action is submitted again, a new “New Project Categorization” Action is created using all the same details as before (including the Reference) but the Process Status will be Live (1) as opposed to “Completed)” (2). So now we are starting to build up quite a list of Actions:
This is something to look out for when building reports & Filters.
Finally, once a process has been completed, the user can choose to use the “Restore to Live” option. This will have the effect of just returning the Process Status of the last Action to “Live” (1) – whilst this can be useful, it is also rather dangerous in this situation but it just allows the user to create another project so you could end up with duplication. However under certain (controlled) circumstances, it might be useful to be able to delete the project that was just created, restore the action to live and then create the project again.