Last Friday we released an update to BlueFolder which included, among other changes, removing the ability to edit and delete comments from the work order log. The changes were intended to improve the integrity of the work order log by eliminating situations where the log didn't reflect what actually happened to a work order. For example, it was possible to create a comment, notify your customer of the comment via email, then completely modify or even delete the comment from the work order with no record of the original comment.
In the context of viewing the work order log as an audit trail, the ability to completely modify or delete comments seemed like a problem to us. We even had some customers complaining about this limitation as they tried to review changes to their work orders and identify what happened to some of the comments that had been deleted or modified.
So back to Friday's update. After releasing the changes that removed the ability to edit and delete comments, we heard from a number of customers who were dependent on the ability to edit and delete comments. They were a bit confused as to why we made the change when they were so dependent on that functionality. So, we listened to their feedback, swallowed our pride, and went back to the drawing board.
After careful consideration, we've decided to restore the ability to edit and delete comments in the work order log. However, we'd still like to have a better audit trail of changes made to comments, so we're including a couple of enhancements to the way it was before. Starting with today's update, any changes made to a comment will be shown in the comment's log entry as follows:
Initially, we're only going to show the most recent modification on a comment, but we're planning to expand that in the near future to show if multiple modifications were made. Fortunately, multiple modifications on a comment are rare so showing the most recent one should cover the vast majority of cases.
Deleted comments are more complicated. We strongly believe that many of our customers would prefer to know if a comment has been deleted from a work order, rather than having it disappear completely with no evidence. We also believe that the log should be an accurate audit trail of changes made to a work order. So with today's update, we will allow deleted comments, but the original "Comment" log entry will still be shown in the log, but the comment itself will be removed and a note showing that the comment was deleted will be displayed where the comment would have been. It looks like this:
Double-check your user permission settings for editing and deleting comments.
With this update, we have restored the previous permissions as much as possible, but please double-check the permissions related to editing and deleting comments to be sure they are the way you want them to be. You can find the permissions in Settings > Users & Permissions > Permissions.
At BlueFolder, we pride ourselves on being deliberate about our design process, and we're proud to say that in almost 15 years of doing this, we can count on one hand the number of times we've had to "roll back" a feature. But for some of our customers, we missed the mark this time and we're sorry for that. Thanks so much for putting your trust in BlueFolder. We value your business.