Recently I was testing a process for our techs to prevent an automated action rule from running when the tech selected a particular single-choice value in a Ticket Custom Field. Ultimately I found this process not to be ideal, so I deleted the Ticket Custom Field.
When I went to the Action Rule I had applied the Ticket Custom Field to as criteria to determine whether the rule was triggered or not, I found that another Ticket Custom Field had been inserted into the criteria in its place. This would have resulted in our action rule not ever being met.
I'm not sure how to best address this so that when custom fields are deleted this doesn't happen, but I have the following ideas:
- When attempting to delete a Custom Field, simply inform the admin of the action rules that use this custom field as criteria. This at least lets the admin know where action needs to be taken
- When attempting to delete a Custom Field, prevent the admin from doing so until the custom field is removed from all applicable action rules as criteria.
- Personally, I like this option best because it forces the admin to make a determination on automated action rules and update those processes first before being able remove the custom field and avoiding any rules potentially being triggered undesirably because of this change.
- When attempting to delete a Custom Field, offer to automatically remove the custom field as criteria from action rules and list those applicable action rules.
