Record states and state transitions

Change requests move through a life cycle from submission through resolution. Each stage in this life cycle is called a state, and each movement from one state to another is called a state transition.

Each state has specific actions associated with it. As you move a change request from one state to another, fields associated with that state are required and certain business rules apply. For example, when a change request is moved to the Resolved state, you might be required to select a value from the Documentation Impact list.

The schema developer can customize states and the actions associated with them. For example, your schema may be set up to notify users when change requests are assigned to them, provided they have e-mail notification enabled.

Rational® ClearQuest® software also includes stateless record types. Stateless records do not change states. They are often used to hold reference information. For example, your schema might include Defect records (state-based) that reference Project records (stateless). You can create a number of projects and then assign defects to the appropriate project.