Automatic work order status updates from activity status

Automatic work order status updates help keep work orders aligned with the progress of their activities. When users create, dispatch, complete, move, or update activities, Shoreline automatically reviews the related work order and moves it forward when the activity status shows that planning or execution has started.

This reduces manual status updates and helps planners, coordinators, and customer admins keep work order boards accurate.

In this article

• Where to find activity status
• How activity status affects work order status
• Update an activity status
• Move an activity to another work order
• How date roll-up works
• Prerequisites and permissions
• Limitations
• Troubleshooting

Where to find activity status

You can work with activity status from places where activities are created or edited, such as:

• The work order activity list
• The activity planning view
• Activity details or activity edit forms
• Bulk activity update tools, where available

The exact navigation may vary by account setup. If you cannot find activities, contact your Shoreline administrator.

How activity status affects work order status

Activities have three status states:

When activities are linked to a work order, Shoreline checks the activity statuses and automatically moves the work order forward when appropriate.

Shoreline uses the most advanced activity status on the work order. For example, if one activity is Completed and three activities are still None, the work order can move to Being worked on.

Update an activity status

To update a work order through activity status:

1. Open the activity.
2. Change the activity status to None, Dispatched, or Completed.
3. Save the activity.
4. Shoreline checks the related work order.
5. If the work order is eligible, Shoreline automatically moves it forward to the correct status.

The work order only moves forward. It does not move backward automatically if an activity is changed back to an earlier status.

Automatic work order transitions

Shoreline can automatically move a work order through these statuses:

Move an activity to another work order

When an activity is moved from one work order to another:

1. Open the activity.
2. Change the linked work order.
3. Save the activity.
4. Shoreline checks the new work order and moves it forward if the activity status requires it.
5. Shoreline also checks the previous work order based on its remaining activities.

Because work order statuses do not automatically move backward, the previous work order may stay in its current status even if the moved activity was the most advanced activity.

How date roll-up works

Activity status also affects the dates shown on the work order.

Use this to keep planned dates separate from actual execution dates. Activities that are not completed help define the plan. Completed activities help define what actually happened.

Prerequisites and permissions

To use this feature:

• Your account must use work orders and activities.
• The activity must be linked to a work order.
• You must have permission to view the work order.
• You must have permission to create or edit activities to trigger automatic updates.
• Bulk updates are only available to users who have access to bulk activity actions.

If you can view a work order but cannot edit activities, you may see the resulting status changes but not be able to trigger them yourself.

Limitations

• Shoreline only moves work orders forward automatically.
• Shoreline does not automatically move work orders to Finished, Closed, or Canceled.
• Shoreline does not automatically move a work order backward if an activity is uncompleted, undispatched, deleted, or moved away.
• Locked work orders are not updated automatically.
• Work orders already in Finished, Closed, or Canceled are not updated automatically by activity status.
• A work order must have activities before activity status can affect its status.
• If multiple company-specific statuses exist for the same status type, Shoreline uses the first available configured status for that type.

Statuses that are not changed automatically

The following work order statuses are considered final or manual statuses:

• Finished
• Closed
• Canceled

Users must move work orders to these statuses manually, according to the customer’s process.

When a work order reaches Finished, any dependency release behavior is handled separately from activity status updates.

Troubleshooting

The work order did not move after I updated an activity

Check whether:

• The activity is linked to the correct work order.
• The work order is locked.
• The work order is already Finished, Closed, or Canceled.
• The work order is already at or beyond the expected status.
• You saved the activity after changing the status.

I changed an activity from Completed back to Dispatched, but the work order stayed Being worked on

This is expected. Shoreline does not automatically downgrade work order status. Change the work order status manually if your process requires it.

I removed or moved an activity, but the work order did not move back

This is expected. Shoreline rechecks the work order, but automatic status changes only move forward.

The activity dates updated the wrong work order dates

Check the activity status:

• None and Dispatched activities update planned dates.
• Completed activities update actual dates.

I cannot change the activity status

You may not have permission to edit activities, or the activity or work order may be in a state where editing is restricted. Contact your Shoreline administrator.