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We need a solution for Mandatory Comments field in Workflow when approver chooses alternate rework to send back CR to Submitter

We need a solution for Mandatory Comments field in Workflow when approver chooses alternate rework to send back CR to Submitter

Status: Archived Submitted by 1-Newbie on ‎Aug 29, 2013 01:38 PM
15 Comments (15 New)

We are looking for a solution for Mandatory Comments field in Workflow when approver chooses alternate rework to send back CR to Submitter.

When approver chooses rework option..system needs to force approver to enter comments so that submitter knows why its send back to him for rework.

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15 Comments
ayadav-5
1-Newbie
1-Newbie
‎Aug 30, 2013 06:14 AM
‎Aug 30, 2013 06:14 AM

Its a nice idea, though I would recommend rewording it to "Option to make comments required in workflow" this would make it more generic (not just rework, can be used in other places) and get better visibility.

klozier
8-Gravel
8-Gravel
‎May 05, 2015 08:13 AM
‎May 05, 2015 08:13 AM

I agree that there should be a "comment required rule" OOTB.  One can write code on the transition link to check that there is a comment but this uses exception errors that show up in the method server logs.  I would be great if the UI handled this OOTB and did not let the user complete the task until the comment was provided.  It might also be nice to have some sort of character minimum as well to catch the nearly useless comments.

STEVEG
21-Topaz I
21-Topaz I
‎May 12, 2015 04:39 PM
‎May 12, 2015 04:39 PM

I'm not sure I understand.  If the person that sends the task back for rework expects something to be done then it only makes sense that they would enter comments.  Anytime it gets sent back here they user knows to add a comment.  Otherwise they won't get the expected results.  If they DON'T enter a comment as to why it was sent back then a lot of time is wasted.

When we had our workflows set up there were certain fields we asked that should be required.  This is on either the ECR pages, ECN pages or the Tasks pages.  They are marked by a star.  I don't know if that can be done for the Complete Task page for the Comments box.

Even if you can make the Comments required the problem you will run into is they will might put in some nonsense text like "Rework".  To me it just seems like a matter of training.  If you want something to be done then put in some meaningful comment.

LawrenceS
18-Opal
18-Opal
‎May 12, 2015 05:45 PM
‎May 12, 2015 05:45 PM

I know that with change management I have hit rework or approve accidently before I put a comment in the field.  It is unfortunate that once hit, there seems to be no good way to add a comment (outside of email/person/voice).

Yes, I agree that Rework really should (have the option for the company to) require a comment though since you cannot rework without instructions...even if it is per conversation, or see email, etc.

BrianToussaint
19-Tanzanite
19-Tanzanite
‎May 14, 2015 07:15 AM
‎May 14, 2015 07:15 AM

It would be nice for an easier way to see the comments other than having to dig for them under the process page.  Even though some do put comments on the page, the other approvers or assignees do not look at them because they do not want to take the time.  If there was an easy way to get comments in the email that is sent to you when a task is assigned to you would be really helpful also.  My users are tired of the myriad of tabs and windows to open with Windchill.  Which is almost as bad as our ERP system.

STEVEG
21-Topaz I
21-Topaz I
‎May 14, 2015 07:33 AM
‎May 14, 2015 07:33 AM

I have asked our partner company that wrote our workflows to see if they can get the description of the CR or CN in to the email.  Some of my users put in a short description for the Task Name and some put in a longer description.

They were able to get the Task name in the Subject line of the email and limit it to so many characters and they also got the whole description in the body of the email.  We are still testing it but it can be done so I assume the comments could be added to the emails as well.

DonSenchuk
6-Contributor
6-Contributor
‎May 14, 2015 10:23 AM
‎May 14, 2015 10:23 AM

Brian Toussaint wrote:

It would be nice for an easier way to see the comments other than having to dig for them under the process page.  Even though some do put comments on the page, the other approvers or assignees do not look at them because they do not want to take the time.  If there was an easy way to get comments in the email that is sent to you when a task is assigned to you would be really helpful also.  My users are tired of the myriad of tabs and windows to open with Windchill.  Which is almost as bad as our ERP system.

I got the Special Instructions into the email notification -- the automatic email generated when the task is sent for rework -- using CS184118.

I've been trying to make CS185827 work for comments, but it keeps failing. I haven't opened a ticket with Tech Support because right now it's pretty low priority compared to other workflow modifications I've been focusing on.

BrianToussaint
19-Tanzanite
19-Tanzanite
‎May 14, 2015 10:26 AM
‎May 14, 2015 10:26 AM

Thanks for the links Don!  I'll have to try these out.  If I get it working, I'll let you know.

DonSenchuk
6-Contributor
6-Contributor
‎May 14, 2015 10:47 AM
‎May 14, 2015 10:47 AM

We did this as well for the 'Change Notice Complete Notification' email robot. Tech Support mentioned that it couldn't be put into the automatic task-generated email without customization.

If one simply wants to get the description into the email sent by the 'Notify by email' robot it requires a workflow variable [1], an 'Execute Expression' robot [2] and then the 'Notify by email' robot [3].

[1]

[2]with the expression:

[3]with Message containing:

STEVEG
21-Topaz I
21-Topaz I
‎May 14, 2015 11:11 AM
‎May 14, 2015 11:11 AM

Make sure you are not using any unsupported tags.  We had a problem where the <b> tag caused us some problems.

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS116197

DonSenchuk
6-Contributor
6-Contributor
‎May 14, 2015 01:01 PM
‎May 14, 2015 01:01 PM

I'll have to double check that. It wouldn't be the first time a CS document didn't have all the info or 100% correct info.

vmcdaniel
2-Guest
2-Guest
‎May 15, 2015 10:23 AM
‎May 15, 2015 10:23 AM

I tried this in 10.1 by making the Comments attribute on the Work Item object Required. This did not work. However, in Windchill 10.2 M030 it does work, if there is no Comment a pop up window comes up.

rhermann
4-Participant
4-Participant
‎Feb 14, 2018 03:20 PM
‎Feb 14, 2018 03:20 PM

There is an article that explains how to do this but it is technically a customization.  Refer to CS35488.  I would prefer if this was a preference to administratively set this inside the Windchill user interface, but it would be nice also if there was a way to set this workflow by workflow and then even more granular by giving us a setting to turn this on workflow task by workflow task inside of a workflow template.

PTCModerator
Emeritus
‎Jun 11, 2018 02:07 PM
‎Jun 11, 2018 02:07 PM
Status changed to: Acknowledged
 
olivierlp
Community Manager
Community Manager
‎Jan 05, 2022 09:18 AM
‎Jan 05, 2022 09:18 AM
Status changed to: Archived

Hello,

We are archiving your idea as part of a general review. This action is based on the age of your idea and the total number of votes received, as per this announcement.

You can always post a new idea with all the details required in the form.

Thank you for your participation.