How to properly link a Problem to the Change Request that resolves it?

[Jon Miller1]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered before or is an obvious one. But these aren't my areas of expertise. I'm attempting to document best-practice for out-of-the-box Quebec. I'm trying to simulate the scenario where a Problem has already been identified and a Normal Change Request has been submitted to resolve the Problem. How should I link the Problem and Change records? If I go into the Problem record, go to the Change Request tab and hit "New" to create a new CR, the CR is created OK but the Problem doesn't show up in the Problems tab on the CR. If I go into the CR record, go to the Problem tab and choose Edit to add the Problem, that puts the Problem on the CR but if I go back to the Problem record, the CR is not on the Change Requests tab. What am I doing wrong? Or this a bug in Quebec?

[Barbara L - Gli · Accepted solution]

Hello,

There are multiple ways to associate a Problem to a Change Request, sounds like the ways are just getting a little mixed up in your instance.

For best practice, when a Change Request is going to resolve a Problem record, typically that Change Request is associated via the "Change request" field on the Problem.

So on the Problem form, you would see the associated change request in the field. Then on the Change Request, you can add the "Problem->Change request" related list (if not already present) to see all the Problems being resolved by the change.

OOB one of the ways to create a Change Request to resolve a Problem is via UI Actions on Problem. Both of these UI Actions would associate the Problem to the Change Request in the way I described, populated the "Change request" field on the Problem record

[Jon Miller1]

Thanks Barbara. This gets me 90% of the way there. There is still something missing which is confusing me but I can work around that.

I forgot to mention that I'm looking at a Quebec PDI with no customization. So everything I'm seeing is out-of-the-box.

When I do the right-click Create Normal Change on the Problem, that creates the CR and populates the Problem in the Problem->Change request related list on the CR form. The Change Request field on the Problem record is also updated. That's where my confusion came from:

1. The Change Request field is not on the Problem form (minor issue... we can add it)

2. There is a Change Request related list on the Problem form. I was expecting to see that populated but it isn't. Looking more closely, it's defined as "Change Request->Parent". What is the purpose of that? If the Change Request field on the Problem record is populated, I can see the "Change Request->Parent" related-list just causing confusion.

Jon

[Barbara L - Gli]

Hey Jon,

All Task tables have the "Parent" field that can mark any task's "Parent" as any other type of task. What this means can depend on the processes you have, but it would be a different type of relationship where that Change Request isn't necessarily what's resolving the Problem. Perhaps a Problem being a Parent to a Change Request could mean a Problem was discovered as a result of a Change Request? I doubt that's a very common example... But that's not really my forte. 

If your organization isn't using that Parent relationship, it definitely makes sense to remove that related list from the form. You can always add it back if it supports a process in the future. Alternatively, maybe you could re-label that related list to avoid the confusion?

Glad I was able to help!