Closing an Action off properly

The five statuses

Every Action moves through up to five statuses from raise to close-out:

The first two are working statuses. You can edit anything on the Action and flip between Open and In Progress as often as you need.

The last three are locked statuses. Once an Action reaches Resolved, Closed, or Rejected, it becomes a record of what happened rather than live work. Type, priority, and project become read-only, and the status dropdown is replaced with a Reopen button for if you ever need to unlock it again.

Changing status

The status dropdown sits at the top of the Action detail page.

• Between working statuses (Open ↔ In Progress) — just pick the new status from the dropdown. The change saves straight away
• Into a locked status (any → Resolved, Closed, or Rejected) — the Close Issue dialog opens first and asks you to capture the close-out details before the change is committed
• Out of a locked status — the dropdown is replaced with a Reopen button. See reopening an Action

Why locked statuses are locked

Once an Action is marked Resolved, Closed, or Rejected, the following fields become read-only:

• Type
• Priority
• Project
• Status (replaced by the Reopen button)
• Title and description (typically locked too, depending on your permissions)

This is deliberate. A closed Action is a historical record — it shows what happened, when, and who signed it off. Letting people quietly edit closed Actions would undermine the audit trail. If you do need to change something, reopen the Action first.

The Close Issue dialog

When you move an Action into a locked status, the Close Issue dialog opens before anything is saved. It asks for three things: why you're closing, what happened, and a signature.

Why you're closing

A dropdown at the top asks for the closure resolution — the reason the Action is coming to an end. The full list of options is:

The default selection matches the status you're moving to, but you can override it if a different resolution fits the situation better.

What happened

A closure notes box captures context about how the Action ended up. This is where you write down how the snag was fixed, who was involved, what the outcome was, or why you're rejecting the issue. These notes become part of the permanent record and show up on the Closure Details section of the sidebar after the Action is closed.

Good closure notes make life easier for anyone who looks at the Action later — whether that's a client chasing evidence, an adjudicator during a dispute, or a colleague trying to work out what happened six months ago.

The signature

Every close-out captures a signature so there's a clear record of who signed the Action off. The dialog gives you two ways to sign:

• Draw mode — sign with your finger on a touchscreen, or with your mouse on a desktop
• Type mode — type your name and it appears in a cursive font

Toggle between the two modes with the switch at the top of the signature area. Both leave a clear record of who authorised the close-out.

Finishing the close-out

1. 1

   Pick the new status (Resolved, Closed, or Rejected) from the dropdown.

2. 2

   The Close Issue dialog opens. Choose the resolution from the dropdown.

3. 3

   Type a short note describing how the Action was dealt with.

4. 4

   Sign the close-out using draw or type mode.

5. 5

   Click Close Action to save. The Action moves to the locked status straight away and the dialog closes.

The Closure Details panel

After the Action is closed, a Closure Details section appears on the detail sidebar showing the resolution, the notes you wrote, and the signature you left. This panel is your permanent record of how the Action was finished off.

This section only shows up once an Action is in a locked status and close-out details have been captured. Older Actions that were closed before this feature existed won't show it.

Real-world examples

• Snag fixed on site — the operative marks it Resolved, writes "Replaced damaged coving in the hallway, photo attached to attachments", and signs with their name
• Duplicate snag — the QS spots two Actions about the same issue, picks Duplicate as the resolution, writes "Duplicate of Action #42 — tracked there instead", and closes the newer one
• RFI answered — the design team confirms the query, the project manager marks it Closed with a note explaining the resolution and the drawing reference

Next steps

• Reopening an Action — for unlocking a closed Action if something needs changing.
• Moving Actions through the Kanban board — where dragging a card into a locked column opens the same Close Issue dialog.
• Tracking what's happened on an Action — for the activity feed that logs every close-out and reopen.