How to Change a Call's Status
A call's status says where the call stands, for example open, active or closed. Change it on the call screen with the Status button at the top right of the screen, next to Save, then save the call. The list of statuses is your company's own, set up in ABM.
How do I change the status of a call?
Select Status in the header of the call screen, choose the new status from the Call status menu, then select Save. The new status shows on the header's status chip straight away, but it is not written until you save.
- Open the call from the Calls list.
- Select Status at the top right of the call screen. The Call status menu opens, with a tick beside the call's current status.
- Choose the new status. The menu closes and the status chip in the header changes.
- Select Save at the top right of the call screen, or press Ctrl and S together (Ctrl+S).
You can also change the status with the Status field in the Call card of the Details form. The header button and the field are the same value: change one and the other follows. The header button is there so the status is always within reach, whatever part of the form you are looking at.
The statuses in the menu are your company's call statuses. Each is drawn as a chip in its own colour, the same colour it has on the Calls list and the Scheduler, so a status looks the same wherever you meet it. ABM Service has no screen for adding, renaming or removing a call status, or a call type: they are set up in ABM itself, so ask whoever looks after ABM at your company when you need a new one.
Note: When you save a status change, ABM Service records it as an Automatic Action in the call's Actions section: who changed it, from which status, to which status.
How do I close a call or mark a job as finished?
Change the call's status to your company's closing status, for example Closed, with the Status button at the top of the call screen, and select Save. The call screen does not ask anything else before closing a call: engineers' visits, documents and the other fields are left as they are.
Before closing a call, it is worth writing up what was done in the Resolution document, which is the part of the call that goes on the job card, and saving it with the same save.
A closed call stays open for editing on the call screen: its fields, its documents and its status can still be changed and saved.
How do I reopen a closed call?
Open the call, select Status at the top of the call screen, choose an open status such as Open or Active, and select Save. The change is recorded as an Automatic Action in the call's Actions, like any other status change.
Scheduling an engineer on a Closed or Cancelled call also reopens it: ABM moves the call to Active by itself as the visit is booked, and the call screen says so with a message such as "Call reopened — Closed → Active".
Can I delete a call I logged by mistake or logged twice?
No. A call cannot be deleted in ABM Service once it has been saved: the call screen has no delete button. Instead, open the call you do not want, select Status at the top right of the call screen, choose your company's cancelled status, such as Cancelled, and select Save.
- Open the unwanted call from the Calls list.
- Select Status at the top right of the call screen and choose your company's cancelled status.
- Select Save. It is worth saying why in the call's Comment, for example that it is a duplicate, and saving that with the same save.
The change is recorded as an Automatic Action in the call's Actions, so anyone who finds the call later can see who cancelled it and when. The Calls list opens with only Open and Active calls ticked under Call Status, so a cancelled call drops out of the usual view.
A new call that has not been saved yet can simply be thrown away: select Cancel in the header of the new call, beside Save call; nothing is written. An engineer's visit already booked on a saved call cannot be taken off it from the call screen in this version.
Why did my call change to Active on its own?
A call moves to Active by itself when a new engineer's visit is booked on it while it is Web, Open, Closed or Cancelled. That is ABM's own rule for booking a visit, not something the call screen chooses; a call at Matched, Email or one of your company's own statuses keeps its status, and changing the time of a visit already booked never moves it. When it happens on the call screen, the status chip in the header changes in front of you and a message along the bottom says so, for example "Call reopened — Closed → Active". Select Dismiss to close the message; the status is already saved.
The same rule applies when you log a new call and schedule an engineer on it before selecting Save call while its status is still Open (the default), or Web, Closed or Cancelled: the new call is saved as Active, because the engineer's visit is booked as the call is created.
ABM Service saves any unsaved changes to the call first, before it books the visit, so the new Active status is never overwritten by an older status from your screen. If that first save is refused, the visit is not booked, and the message on the screen says what stopped it.