Change to Workflow

In January 2022, the following record types have been renamed:

• Change to Workflow
• Change Template to Workflow Templates
• Change Types to Workflow Types

Similarly, many attributes that contain the word change have also been renamed.

The sections below describe the adjustments to various parts of 4me in more detail.

The APIs remain backward compatible until February 4, 2023. After February 4, 2023, API endpoints and attributes containing the word ‘change’ will no longer be available. To ensure that your own API integrations continue to work after February 4, 2023, please adjust them to use ‘workflow’ instead of ‘change’.

Please make sure to go through the Breaking changes section, to ensure that you are not affected by any of them.

Contents

• Actions for the account designer of your 4me account
• User Interface
• URLs
• Email templates
• PDF Designs
• Dashboards and Reports
• Automation rules
• UI Extensions
• Status Workflow Pending
• GraphQL API
• REST API
• Bulk API
• Events API
• Mail API
• Webhooks API
• Breaking changes

Actions for the account designer of your 4me account

For the most part, all occurrences of the word “Change” in the 4me Service have been renamed by 4me. However, you may still encounter the word “Change” in user-generated content of your 4me account. In particular:

• Existing dashboards and dashboard reports have not been migrated and may still refer to “Changes”. Consider updating these dashboards and dashboard reports to refer to “Workflows” instead.
• The subject and body attributes of your existing email templates (including translations) have not been migrated and may still refer to “Change”. Consider updating these fields to refer to “Workflow” instead.
• The name and HTML attributes of your existing PDF Designs (including translations) have not been migrated and may still refer to “Change”. Consider updating these fields to refer to “Workflow” instead.

User Interface

The following adjustments have been made to the user interface (4me Self Service and the Specialist interface).

Renamed attributes

• Account Trusts:
  • Renamed ‘Roles from us: Change manager’ to ‘Roles from us: Workflow manager’
  • Renamed ‘<account> can assign change approval tasks to us’ to ‘<account> can assign workflow approval tasks to us’
  • Renamed ‘<account> can assign change tasks to our key contacts and specialists’ to ‘<account> can assign workflow tasks to our key contacts and specialists’
  • Renamed ‘<account> can view our time spent on their change tasks’ to ‘<account> can view our time spent on their workflow tasks’
  • Renamed ‘<account> can view our change notes and attachments’ to ‘<account> can view our workflow notes and attachments’
• Change Templates:
  • Renamed ‘Change type’ to ‘Workflow type’
  • Renamed ‘Recurrence - Change manager’ to ‘Recurrence - Workflow manager’
• Changes:
  • Renamed ‘Change type’ to ‘Workflow type’
• Invoices:
  • Renamed ‘Change’ to ‘Workflow’
• People:
  • Renamed ‘Roles - Change manager’ to ‘Roles - Workflow manager’
• Problems:
  • Renamed ‘Change’ to ‘Workflow’
• Request Templates:
  • Renamed ‘Change template’ to ‘Workflow template’
  • Renamed ‘Change manager’ to ‘Workflow manager’
• Requests:
  • Renamed ‘Change’ to ‘Workflow’
• Task Template
  • Renamed ‘Assign to change manager’ to ‘Assign to workflow manager’
  • Renamed ‘Planned effort change manager’ to ‘Planned effort workflow manager’
  • Renamed ‘Copy notes to change’ to ‘Copy notes to workflow’
• Task
  • Renamed ‘Change’ to ‘Workflow’
  • Renamed ‘Copy note to change’ to ‘Copy note to workflow’
• Timesheet Settings
  • Renamed ‘Default effort class for workflow tasks’ to ‘Default effort class for workflow tasks’

Note: The ‘Change manager’ field of Services has not been renamed.

Other renamings

• Change Templates:
  • Renamed section ‘Changes’ to ‘Workflows’
• Problems:
  • Renamed status ‘Change Pending’ to ‘Workflow Pending’ (see Status Workflow Pending)
• Request Templates:
  • Renamed status ‘Change Pending’ to ‘Workflow Pending’ (see Status Workflow Pending)
• Requests:
  • Renamed status ‘Change Pending’ to ‘Workflow Pending’ (see Status Workflow Pending)
• Releases:
  • Renamed section ‘Changes’ to ‘Workflows’
• Projects:
  • Renamed section ‘Changes’ to ‘Workflows’
• Analytics:
  • Renamed all reports containing ‘… Change …’ to ‘… Workflow …’
  • Renamed all filters (in views and reports) containing ‘… Change …’ to ‘… Workflow …’
• Email Templates:
  • Renamed ‘Change - New Change’ to ‘Workflow - New Workflow’
  • Renamed ‘Change - Change Set to Progress Halted’ to ‘Workflow - Workflow Set to Progress Halted’
  • Renamed ‘Change - Change Manager Changed’ to ‘Workflow - Workflow Manager Changed’
  • Renamed ‘Change - Note Added to Change’ to ‘Workflow - Note Added to Workflow’
  • Renamed ‘Change - Person Mentioned in Note of Change’ to ‘Workflow - Person Mentioned in Note of Workflow’
  • Renamed ‘Release - Change Added to Release’ to ‘Release - Workflow Added to Release’
  • Renamed ‘Release - Change Removed from Release’ to ‘Release - Workflow Removed from Release’
• PDF Designs:
  • Renamed category ‘Change Summary’ to ‘Workflow Summary’
• UI Extensions:
  • Renamed category ‘Change Template’ to ‘Workflow Template’
• Custom Views:
  • Renamed record type ‘Change Template’ to ‘Workflow Template’
• Webhooks:
  • Renamed events:
    • change.create to workflow.create
    • change.update to workflow.update
    • change.note-added to workflow.note-added
    • change.status-changed to workflow.status-changed
    • change.manager-changed to workflow.manager-changed
  • Note The old events can no longer be selected when creating new webhooks, but they continue to work in existing webhooks.
• Exports:
  • Renamed types ‘Changes’, ‘Change Templates’ and ‘Change Template Automation Rules’ to ‘Workflows’, ‘Workflow Templates’ and ‘Workflow Template Automation Rules’
  • Note The old types can no longer be selected when creating new exports, but they continue to work in existing (recurring) exports.

URLs

• The URL /changes redirects to /workflows
• The URL /changes/:id redirects to /workflows/:id
• The URL /change_templates redirects to /workflow_templates
• The URL /change_templates/:id redirects to /workflow_templates/:id
• The URL /change_types redirects to /workflow_types
• The URL /change_types/:id redirects to /workflow_types/:id

Email templates

• The subject, body and translations of your existing email templates have not been migrated and may still refer to “Change”. Consider updating these fields to refer to “Workflow” instead.
• All email template fields starting with change_ are now deprecated. They will continue to work in existing email templates, even after February 4, 2023, but you are encouraged to update your email templates.

PDF Designs

• The name and HTML attributes of your existing PDF Designs have not been migrated and may still refer to “Change”. Consider updating these fields to refer to “Workflow” instead.
• All occurrences of the word change in dynamic content (e.g. :change.id and for change.requests) are now deprecated. They will continue to work in existing PDF Designs, even after February 4, 2023, but you are encouraged to update your PDF designs. Replace such occurrences with workflow (e.g. :workflow.id and for workflow.requests).

Dashboards and reports

• Existing dashboards and dashboard reports have not been migrated and may still refer to “Changes”. Consider updating these dashboards and dashboard reports to refer to “Workflows” instead.

Automation rules

• In automation rule expressions, any references to change are deprecated in favor of workflow. Examples:
  • change.tasks[first] to workflow.tasks[first]
  • find(change, 1674) to find(workflow, 1674)
• In automation rule expressions, any references to changes are deprecated in favor of workflows. Example:
  • change.release.changes[first].subject to workflow.release.workflows[first].subject
• In automation rule expressions, any references to change_pending are deprecated in favor of workflow_pending. Example:
  • change.status = change_pending to workflow.status = workflow_pending
• Existing automation rules that refer to change, changes or change_pending will continue to work, even after the deprecation period. However:
• When editing an automation rule that refers to change, changes or change_pending, all these occurrences will be marked as errors in the user interface. You must rename all these occurrences before you can save the automation rule.

UI Extensions

• In UI Extensions which category is ‘Workflow Template’ (previously ‘Change Template’), it is no longer allowed to add custom fields with an id that starts with workflow_. Existing fields with this prefix will continue to work.

Status Workflow Pending

The status ‘Change Pending’ has been renamed to ‘Workflow Pending’. Similarly, the id of the status has been renamed from change_pending to workflow_pending.

However, because renaming the id could break many integrations, you can adjust this behavior via the Account Settings of your account.

To continue using the id change_pending in the REST API, GraphQL API, Export API and Webhooks API, enable the account setting “Use deprecated change_pending status in API responses”.

By default, this setting is enabled in existing 4me accounts, and disabled in new 4me accounts. This setting is available until the end of the deprecation period. Once the deprecation period expires, workflow_pending will always be used.

GraphQL API

• Queries:
  • Deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Deprecated changeTemplate in favor of workflowTemplate
  • Deprecated changeType in favor of workflowType
• Mutations:
  • Deprecated changeCreate in favor of workflowCreate
  • Deprecated changeUpdate in favor of workflowUpdate
  • Deprecated changeTemplateCreate in favor of workflowTemplateCreate
  • Deprecated changeTemplateUpdate in favor of workflowTemplateUpdate
  • Deprecated changeTypeCreate in favor of workflowTypeCreate
  • Deprecated changeTypeUpdate in favor of workflowTypeUpdate
• Attributes:
  • Invoice: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Problem: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Project: deprecated changes in favor of workflows
  • Release: deprecated changes in favor of workflows
  • Request: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • RequestTemplate: deprecated changeManager in favor of workflowManager
  • RequestTemplate: deprecated changeTemplate in favor of workflowTemplate
  • Task: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • TaskTemplate: deprecated assignToChangeManager in favor of assignToWorkflowManager
  • TaskTemplate: deprecated plannedEffortChangeManager in favor of plannedEffortWorkflowManager
  • TaskTemplate: deprecated changeTemplates in favor of workflowTemplate
  • WorkflowTaskTemplateRelation: deprecated changeTemplate in favor of workflowTemplate
  • WorkflowTemplate: deprecated changeManager in favor of workflowManager
  • WorkflowTemplate: deprecated changeType in favor of workflowType
  • Workflow: deprecated changeId in favor of workflowId
  • Workflow: deprecated changeType in favor of workflowType
• Sort orders:
  • Problem: deprecated changeId in favor of workflowId
  • Request: deprecated changeId in favor of workflowId
  • Workflow: deprecated changeId in favor of workflowId
• Filters:
  • AutomationRule: deprecated changeTemplate in favor of workflowTemplate
  • Invoice: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Request: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Request: deprecated changeStatus in favor of workflowStatus
  • RequestTemplate: deprecated changeManager in favor of workflowManager
  • RequestTemplate: deprecated changeTemplate in favor of workflowTemplate
  • Task: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Task: deprecated changeType in favor of workflowType
  • Task: deprecated changeCategory in favor of workflowCategory
  • Task: deprecated changeJustification in favor of workflowJustification
  • TaskTemplate: deprecated changeJustification in favor of workflowJustification
  • TimeEntry: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Workflow: deprecated changeType in favor of workflowType
  • WorkflowTemplate: deprecated changeType in favor of workflowType
• Other:
  • Problem: the id of the status change_pending has been renamed to workflow_pending (see Status Workflow Pending)
  • Request: the id of the status change_pending has been renamed to workflow_pending (see Status Workflow Pending)
  • RequestTemplate: the id of the status change_pending has been renamed to workflow_pending (see Status Workflow Pending)

REST API

• Endpoints:
  • Deprecated (all endpoints starting with) /changes in favor of Workflows API
  • Deprecated (all endpoints starting with) /change_templates in favor of Workflow Templates API
  • Deprecated (all endpoints starting with) /change_types in favor of Workflow Types API
  • Deprecated services/:id/change_templates in favor of Services - Workflow Templates API
  • Deprecated task_templates/:id/change_templates in favor of Task Templates - Workflow Templates API
  • Deprecated projects/:id/changes in favor of Projects - Workflows API
  • Deprecated releases/:id/changes in favor of Releases - Workflows API
  • Deprecated change_templates/:id/changes in favor of Workflow Templates - Workflows API
• Fields:
  • Problems API: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Requests API: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Request Templates API: deprecated change_manager in favor of workflow_manager
  • Request Templates API: deprecated change_template in favor of workflow_template
  • Tasks API: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Task Templates API: deprecated assign_to_change_manager in favor of assign_to_workflow_manager
  • Task Templates API: deprecated planned_effort_change_manager in favor of planned_effort_workflow_manager
  • Task Templates API: deprecated copy_notes_to_change in favor of copy_notes_to_workflow
  • Workflows API: deprecated change_type in favor of workflow_type
  • Workflow Templates API: deprecated change_manager in favor of workflow_manager
• Filterable fields:
  • Requests API: deprecated change in favor of workflow
  • Request Templates API: deprecated change_template in favor of workflow_template
  • Tasks API: deprecated change in favor of workflow
• Predefined filters:
  • Automation Rules API: deprecated for_change_templates in favor of for_workflow_templates
• Other:
  • Audit Entries API: if one of the renamed attributes is modified, the changes field of the corresponding audit entry contains both the deprecated attribute and the renamed attribute
  • People - Permissions API: the field roles will return both workflow_manager and change_manager for people with the “Workflow Manager” role. The role change_manager is deprecated.
  • Problems API: the id of the status change_pending has been renamed to workflow_pending (see Status Workflow Pending)
  • Requests API: the id of the status change_pending has been renamed to workflow_pending (see Status Workflow Pending)
  • Request Templates API: the id of the status change_pending has been renamed to workflow_pending (see Status Workflow Pending)
  • Audit Entries API: the id of the status change_pending has been renamed to workflow_pending (see Status Workflow Pending)

Bulk API

• Export API: deprecated the export types changes, change_templates and change_template_automation_rules in favor of workflows, workflow_templates and workflow_template_automation_rules.
  • When a deprecated export type is used, the exported file name will refer to the deprecated type. The naming convention for export files is explained at the end of this section.
• Columns in export files and import files:
  • Invoices: deprecated Change in favor of Workflow
  • People Roles: deprecated Change Manager in favor of Workflow Manager
  • Problems: deprecated Change in favor of Workflow
  • Projects: deprecated Change in favor of Workflow
  • Releases: deprecated Change in favor of Workflow
  • Request Templates: deprecated Change Template in favor of Workflow Template
  • Request Templates: deprecated Change Manager in favor of Workflow Manager
  • Requests: deprecated Change in favor of Workflow
  • Task Templates: deprecated Copy notes to change in favor of Copy Notes to Workflow
  • Task Templates: deprecated Assign to Change Manager in favor of Assign to Workflow Manager
  • Task Templates: deprecated Planned Effort Change Manager in favor of Planned Effort Workflow Manager
  • Tasks: deprecated Change in favor of Workflow
  • Time Entries: deprecated Change in favor of Workflow
  • Timesheet Settings: deprecated Default Effort Class for Change Tasks in favor of Default Effort Class for Workflow Tasks
  • Workflow Template Automation Rules: deprecated Change Template in favor of Workflow Template
  • Workflow Templates: deprecated Recurrence - Change Manager in favor of Recurrence - Workflow Manager
  • Workflows: deprecated Change Type in favor of Workflow Type

Events API

• Deprecated the parameter change_id in favor of workflow_id.

Mail API

• Deprecated the parameter change_id in favor of workflow_id.

Webhooks API

• Deprecated events change.<action> in favor of workflow.<action>
  • When existing webhooks use one of the deprecated events, the event parameter of the webhook callback body contains the deprecated event name.
• The status change_pending in the webhook body attribute payload[status] has been renamed to workflow_pending (see Status Workflow Pending)

Breaking changes

• Invoices API: the field invoice_type will now return workflow instead of change for invoices related to a workflow
  • The same is true for Audit Entries that are created when an invoice is related to a workflow
• NodeIDs are used mainly in the GraphQL API. A nodeID uniquely identifies an object across record types and across systems. Technically, nodeIDs in 4me are Base64 strings, encoding the combination environment/record_type/ID. Because the change related record types have been renamed, the nodeID change accordingly. For example, if the nodeID of Change #123456 previously was NG1lLmNvbS9DaGFuZ2UvMTIzNDU2, it now becomes NG1lLmNvbS9Xb3JrZmxvdy8xMjM0NTY. This affects the API responses of all APIs where nodeIDs are included in the response.
  • Referring to a Workflow or Workflow Template record using an old nodeID in an API request is still allowed. For example, when you use the old nodeID NG1lLmNvbS9DaGFuZ2UvMTIzNDU2 in an API request, 4me will resolve this as a reference to Workflow #123456.
• UI Extension Javascript API: if you stick to the officially supported API for interacting with form fields, there are no breaking changes. However, if you used any other (unsupported) method to interact with form fields in UI Extensions which category is ‘Workflow Template’, these UI Extensions may no longer work.