Considerations for Performing Mass Updates

As you prepare to use the request mass update feature, be aware of the following restrictions:

  • Only one request type is supported for batch update.

  • You can update standard request fields (such as text fields, date fields, and lists), workflow actions, and you can add notes to requests. You cannot perform mass updates on complex components such as attachments, table components, and entity-chooser components (such as staffing profiles).

  • Advanced UI rules that have been set up for requests do not work during mass updates. For example, any UI rules defined to dynamically show or hide a field, change the field styling, or make a field required, are not applied while a user performs a mass update. However, upon saving the requests, any fields that would have been dynamically required based on other edits made by the user are enforced.

  • If all of the requests you select to update are active at the same workflow step, you can take action on that step for all of the requests. However, you can update only one active workflow step at a time.

In addition, consider how the updates might affect automated processes. Any updates you perform may trigger subsequent updates to additional, dependent fields.

Caution: If your PPM instance supports multiple languages, remember that request types can only be modified in the language in which they were initially defined. If you cannot edit a request type because it was defined in a language different from your current session language, log out of PPM and then log on again, this time selecting the request type's definition language as your session language. For more information, see the Multilingual User Interface Guide.

Mass Updates: Error Handling

When you click Save or Done, the system attempts to save all of the requests you have updated. If problems are encountered, it displays a list of the requests that could not be saved and the reasons the saves failed.

Errors can occur if: