Closing, reopening and deleting a dispute

Closing a dispute records that it has been resolved. It retains the stages, notes and documents; it does not delete them.

Close a dispute

1. Review all stages. Each must be Completed, Cancelled or Withdrawn.
2. On the dispute, select Options → Edit.
3. Change Status to Closed.
4. Enter the overall Outcome and Closed date.
5. Save the changes.

A stage marked Pending, Scheduled, In Progress or Adjourned prevents closure. Update any unresolved stages appropriately and record their outcomes first.

The dispute Outcome records the overall result. A stage Outcome records the result of that individual stage.

Reopen a dispute

Select Options → Edit, change Status to Open and save. Reopen the dispute before adding a new stage or returning an existing stage to an unresolved status.

Delete a stage or dispute

Deletion is for records that should be removed, not a substitute for closing a completed dispute.

• A stage cannot be deleted while it has associated notes or documents.
• A dispute cannot be deleted while it has stages, notes or documents.
• Related records are not automatically deleted or reassigned.

If deletion is appropriate and authorised, remove the related items first. Open the stage or dispute, select Options → Delete and confirm. Delete is unavailable while related items remain.

Consider your organisation’s retention procedures before deleting notes or files. Delete actions also depend on your user permissions.