Cancel a service request when you want to stop processing it but keep its information. Delete a request only when its information can also be permanently removed. These instructions cover cancellation and deletion in the browser.

Choose the right action

  • Cancelled keeps the request and its information. Its status cannot be changed back to Open or In progress.
  • Completed means that the request has been processed and triggers the processing of hours, costs and inventory associated with completion. See completing a service request.
  • Deletion permanently removes the request. It is not a status change, and the request cannot be restored through the user interface.

Cancelling requires permission to edit the request. Permission only to mark the request as completed or to add comments and attachments is not enough. Deletion requires separate permission to delete requests. If the action is missing, ask an administrator to check your permissions.

Open the service request in the browser

Open Manage tasks → Service requests → Service requests. In the more limited menu, the path is Manage tasks → Service requests. On the page, select Table views → Default view and find the correct request. Check its identifier, title and any associated Spot before making changes.

Cancel the request

  1. Open the request's editing window using the pencil icon in its table row.
  2. Check the request's tasks on the Tasks tab. Agree separately on what to do with unfinished tasks: cancelling the request does not complete or cancel them.
  3. On the Basic info tab, select Cancelled in the Status field.
  4. Click Save or Save and close at the bottom of the window. Correct any errors concerning required information before saving again.

The Status field is locked for requests with the status Completed, Cancelled or Forwarded. Requests in these statuses cannot be changed to Cancelled or reopened.

Cancellation does not require the conditions for completion to be met, such as completing all tasks or providing required signatures. It also does not trigger the creation of completion costs, the processing of inventory products or the automatic stopping of ongoing time entries. Check time tracking separately and save the correct end time for the entries. See correcting a time entry.

Email notifications may be sent when a request is cancelled, depending on the service request notification settings. The request's public response page can no longer be opened again. However, a response can still be submitted from a response page that was already open when the request was cancelled, so cancellation should not be relied on to prevent all responses.

Verify the result by finding the request in the table again: remove the previous status filter if necessary, or filter the Status column to show cancelled requests. Open the request and check its saved status, the statuses of its related tasks and the end times of its time entries.

Prepare for permanent deletion

These deletion instructions apply only to requests with no related tasks. First open the Tasks tab in the request's editing window and make sure there are no tasks. If the view warns that you lack task permissions, ask an administrator to verify this. An empty list alone is not enough in that case. The protection against deleting requests that contain tasks cannot be relied on.

Before deleting, check the information, attachments, discussions, signatures and entries you need. Save any material you need separately. Deletion removes the request's additional field values, attachments, comments, discussions with their responses and response attachments, and the request's own signature requests and signatures. Links between purchase orders and the request are also removed. This action does not delete the associated Spot, product or purchase order.

Delete the request and choose what happens to its costs

Click the trash icon in the request's table row. The icon is shown only if you have permission to delete requests.

If the request is Completed, the confirmation window offers two deletion options:

  • Permanently delete the service request and all related work costs removes the request and its work cost rows. Deleting a work cost row also removes the corresponding time entry, request product row or travel expense entry. A personal travel expense entry is retained even if its corresponding work cost row is deleted.
  • Do not delete related work costs, only permanently delete the service request removes the request but keeps its work cost rows and the entries linked through them. The retained work costs will remain visible to an administrator on the Work costs page. The deleted request can no longer be opened through them.

Cancel stops the deletion of a completed request. This button does not change the request's status to Cancelled.

For requests with a status other than Completed, the confirmation uses Yes and No buttons. Yes confirms permanent deletion; No stops it. In this case, the request's time entries, product rows and travel expense entries other than personal travel expenses are deleted. Any ongoing time entry is also deleted. The option to retain costs for a completed request does not protect entries for requests in other statuses.

Deletion can therefore remove time entries even if deleting them individually would otherwise be prevented, for example because they have been approved or processed. Make sure you have the hours and cost information you need before confirming.

Deleting the request or its product rows does not return used products to inventory. Check and correct any inventory transactions separately. Deletion also does not mean that all earlier history events are removed.

Check the consequences of deletion

Refresh the service request list and make sure the request can no longer be found by its identifier. Check for any error message: accepting the deletion confirmation alone does not prove that deletion succeeded.

If you retained the completed request's work costs, ask an administrator to check them under Manage tasks → Work costs. Select a date range that includes when the cost rows were created, and remove unnecessary filters. Rows related to the deleted request do not appear in other users' cost searches.

Check deleted or retained time entries and personal travel expenses separately. Run the reports again when assessing how deletion affects their information. See also viewing hours and costs.

Cancelled requests on mobile

In Android's Service requests view, cancelled requests are viewed on the Cancelled tab. The corresponding view on iOS is titled Cancelled. Visibility still depends on the user's permissions.

On Android, the details of a cancelled request hide actions including completion, editing, adding comments, adding tasks, and adding products, hours and travel expenses. On iOS, the sections for active processing are also omitted from the cancelled request view. Missing actions do not mean that the request has been deleted.