Custom Sections
Freeze and Revise
A tender goes out. A job is closed. A bill of materials is issued. From that moment nobody should be quietly changing the numbers, and nobody should have to remember not to.
Freeze and revise does it for you. Pick the stages where a record locks. A locked record can still be opened and read, but not changed, and neither can its lines. If it really has to change, you issue a revision: a copy, with the next letter, and the original stays as it was.
It works per section, and only on sections that have a board (a picklist the records move through, set as Group Records in the section's settings). Any account can use it.
Setting It Up
Open Settings > Sections, edit the section, and find Freeze, revise and sign-offs. Click Set up freezing (or Freezes at ..., Change if it's already on). You need Settings access.
The page is called Freeze and revise, with the section's name. If the section has no board it says so and offers nothing until you set one.
Freeze at
Tick the stages where records lock. Tick none and click Save to stop freezing. Freezing applies to records already at those stages, not only to new arrivals.
Revisions and unfreezing go back to
The stage a revision starts at, and the stage an unfrozen record moves to. It can't be one of the frozen stages. Leave it as The first stage that isn't frozen and ORCA uses the earliest unfrozen stage on the board.
Issue revisions
Tick it if frozen records should get an Issue revision button. Two fields keep track of revisions:
- Revision field: a text or number field that holds the revision. Pick one you already have, or leave Make a Revision field and ORCA adds a text field called Revision, shown in the list view.
- Revision of: a link back to the record this one came from. It must be a link to the same section. Pick one, or leave Make a Revision Of link and ORCA adds a field called Revision Of.
Click Save. Leave revisions off for sections where a closed record simply stays closed, such as jobs.
What a Frozen Record Looks Like
Open a frozen record and the Edit button has gone. A blue Frozen at panel sits at the top:
Frozen at Submitted It can be opened but not changed, and nor can its lines.
with Issue revision and Unfreeze buttons if you're allowed them (below).
Everything that would change the record is refused, wherever you try it: the edit form, deleting or archiving, dragging a card on the board, the tracker, a cell in the lines grid, a ticklist tick. You get a message that says why, not a "page not found":
P0146 is frozen at Submitted, so it can't be changed. Issue a revision to change it.
(The last sentence appears when the section issues revisions.)
Lines on a frozen record are frozen with it. Open one and the panel says it's on a frozen record, and the message names the record:
This is on P0146, which is frozen at Submitted, so it can't be changed.
That covers every link you've shown as lines under Line Items, such as estimate lines, invoices and timesheets. Lines locked at a stage in the lines settings behave the same way for that stage.
Figures that are worked out for you, such as roll-ups, still keep themselves up to date.
Issue Revision
On a frozen record, click Issue revision. You need to be able to create records in the section. ORCA asks to confirm ("It copies this and its lines, and this one stays frozen"), then:
- Makes a new record with every value of the original copied across, and a copy of every line, each line pointing at the new record.
- Leaves the stage, the Revision field and the Revision Of link out of the copy, and sets them itself. The copy lands at the stage you chose to go back to, so it's open for changes.
- Keeps the reference. If your number is P0146, the revision is still P0146, so it doesn't use a new number. The Revision field tells them apart.
- Works out the Revision. A text field goes A to B, B to C. A number field goes 1 to 2. A first revision from an empty field is B (the original counts as A) for text, or 1 for numbers.
- Never repeats a revision. Revise A twice and the second is C, not a second B, and revising A after B has become C gives D.
- Fills in Revision Of with a link to the record it came from.
- Adds a note to both records saying who issued it and when, and how many lines came with it.
You land on the new record. The original is still frozen, exactly as it was when you sent it.
Starting lines from a library don't get added twice. A revision copies its own lines, not the library again (see Creating Sections).
Unfreeze
Sometimes it's just a mistake, and a revision is overkill. Anyone with Settings access sees an Unfreeze button on a frozen record. It asks you to confirm, then moves the record to the stage you chose to go back to, with a note on the record saying who moved it from where.
It's moving back a stage to put something right, not arriving there for the first time, so automations triggered by arriving at that stage don't run.
People without Settings access don't see the button, and can't unfreeze by any other route.
The API
Freezing applies to API keys too. A PATCH or DELETE on a frozen record, or on a line of one, comes back as 409 with the error code frozen and the same message you'd see in ORCA. Nothing changes. Creating a revision is something you do in ORCA, not the API. See API.
Freeze, Sign-offs and Stages
Freezing decides what happens to a record once it's at a stage. Sign-offs decide who is allowed to move a record to that stage in the first place. They sit side by side in the section's settings, and they work well together: only the Executive role can move a tender to Submitted, and once it's there it's frozen.