We’re rolling out a number of new features to SAP Cloud ALM Tasks and Requirements. One important feature you should know about is that we have made deleting items (Tasks, Sub-Tasks, User Stories, Requirements) into a two step approach.

• You must first set a Task/Requirement/User Story to obsolete before you may delete it.

You’ll see information on this, and the other new feature we’ve released, in the “What’s New” section of the Web Assistant help in your SAP Cloud ALM tenant.

Set an Item to Obsolete in Preparation for Deletion

You’ll now notice that when you select items in the task or requirement list, the Delete button will be greyed out. Also, if you look at the details of an item, you’ll again notice that there is no delete option: instead you’ll see “Set to Obsolete”.

• To delete items, first set them to obsolete.

Delete is greyed out in the task list for active items

There are two ways to set items to obsolete:

• From the item details – for a single item
• From the Mass Edit dialog in the list – for multiple items

Set to Obsolete instead of Delete is in the item details

Set State to Obsolete in Mass Edit

Delete Obsolete Items

For most users, setting items to obsolete is enough. Obsolete items are removed from lists by default. They won’t bother you any more; you won’t see them. To actually see obsolete items, you have to set the State filter to “Obsolete”.

If you really want to permanently delete items, you have to do the following:

1. Display the State filter by using “Adapt Filters”.
2. Set the State filter to “Obsolete”.
3. Delete the obsolete items

Select Adapt Filters then check State to activate it

Set the State filter to display Obsolete items

Delete is enabled when you select obsolete items

Note: you still cannot delete template tasks. The system will inform you if you select a template task along with other items which may be deleted. You’ll still be able to delete the other items.

The system informs you if not all items may be deleted

Why Did We do This?

You may be asking yourselves why did we make deleting Tasks, Requirements, User Stories, and Sub-tasks so hard? We did this because some users accidentally deleted items which they did not want to.

Deletion is permanent. You can’t recover tasks or other items which you delete. Making items obsolete on the other hand, is completely reversible: you just have to set the task’s state back to Active. Think of the obsolete state as the trash can/recycle bin for your tasks and requirements. Setting these items to obsolete removes them from your working lists and puts them out of your way, while still allowing you to recover these items if you discover you really need them.

Therefore think twice before deleting items. Perhaps leave them in the obsolete state for some time just to make sure you don’t need them. Consider asking another colleague to double-check and perform the deletion as part of a dual-control process.

In the future we might even enhance this more, and only allow Project Leads or Administrators to delete items. All users will be allowed to make items obsolete, but deletion requires additional authorization. Please give us feedback if you’d like to see this feature.

You can always check the “What’s New” section of the Web Assistant online help to see what changes we’ve recently made.

We included a heads-up on this in the Whats New topics