Manage Transitions

Transitions between statuses in a Business Object lifecycle can be used to carry out simple or complex actions.

Use the Lifecycle Editor (accessed from within a Blueprint in CSM Administrator) to add or edit transitions. Default transitions are automatically added when you connect a status to another status on the designer board. If you define a transition from one status to multiple statuses, you are asking users to make a choice at that point in a business process (example: Accept or reject a Change Request).

To add/edit a transition:

Open an existing lifecycle in the Business Object Lifecycle Editor.
Select the status for which you want to edit the transition.
Select the transition in the Transitions area and then select Edit.
On the Properties tab, change the name of the transition (example: Send for Approval).
Think of statuses as being adjectives that describe the current state of a record (example: Closed, In Progress, Awaiting Approval) and transitions as verbs that act on the record resulting in the state being changed (example: Close, Begin Work, Approve).

Tip: The transition name is the text that is displayed to the user on the Transition Status control so make it as clear as possible.
On the Rules tab, select to add a new transition rule using expressions. Select to edit an existing transition rule.
Enter a name for your transition rule (example: ECAB Approval is required).

Important: How you name your transition rule is very important for users. This is because the name of the transition rule is shown in the Transition Status Control on the form if a transition is invalid. When a user hovers over an unavailable transition, the name of the rule can give them information on what they need to update so the transition can succeed (“Risk Assessment Incomplete” or “Planning Fields Incomplete").
Select the ellipsis to choose an existing expression from the Expressions Manager or select to create a custom expression. See Create an Expression.
Any logical expression can be used as a valid transition rule but you cannot use stored expressions which don't have a logical return type.
Select Hide transition on failure if necessary.
Select this option to hide the transition from the user if it fails. Use this option when the rule detects a record that is not targeted for that branch of the lifecycle and so it will always fail.

For example, use this option in the following situation: You are creating a lifecycle for users to create change request tickets. The ticket has paths or "routes", one for each priority level (example: Emergency, Normal, Standard). If the transition relies on a ticket of a certain priority to pass, all tickets that don't fulfill this rule will always fail; and, therefore you wouldn't want to display that transition.
Select OK twice.
Select Save on the toolbar (or select Ctrl+S) to save your lifecycle while working. Select OK at the end when editing is complete and you want to save your lifecycle and close the Lifecycle Editor.
If not valid, you are not allowed to save and are asked to fix the issues. See Validate a Lifecycle.
Publish the Blueprint (File > Publish Blueprint) to commit the changes, or save the Blueprint (File > Save Blueprint) to continue making other changes.