Use a position change when its department, job classification, FTE, schedule, reporting line, or another field should change from a chosen date. Enter the proposed values, review them, and submit the required request. Use a correction when the earlier information was entered incorrectly.

Before you begin

You need the Manage positions permission for every affected department. A proposed change can also require the Submit position requests permission and approval under your organization’s workflow.

Required information on the change date

Approval checks the position’s complete information for the affected dates, including required custom fields. An unchanged approved value carries forward until its next dated change; you do not need to enter every field again for each request.

Your organization must complete current and approved future positions before making a new field required. Earlier approval history stays recorded, and earlier periods do not need the new answer. If missing required information is detected later, complete and approve it for the affected dates. You can still request suspension or elimination when missing information needs follow-up.

Propose a change

  1. Open the position and confirm the effective date.
  2. Choose the field or action you need to change.
  3. Enter the new value and the date it should begin.
  4. Review any effect on assignments or reporting relationships.
  5. Save and submit the request when prompted.

The current approved value remains in effect until the proposed change is approved, applied, and effective. You may request a past effective date within the position’s recorded history. If that date passes during review, the request keeps its submitted date. Approval records when the decision was made separately from when the value applies.

To clear an optional field, leave its value blank and choose the date it should become blank. The blank is saved as part of the proposal. Once the approved change is applied, the field is blank from your chosen effective date.

Saving a value for a date keeps that date, even when the value is unchanged or blank. This protects the chosen date if an earlier change is entered later. Fields you only review are not added as new changes. See effective dates for examples and import guidance.

Choose a later change or a correction

Use a later dated change when the earlier value was true and the organization changes afterward. Use a correction only when the recorded value or date was wrong.

Example: later department move

A position belongs to Outpatient Services through June 30 and moves to Inpatient Services on July 1. Propose Inpatient Services beginning July 1. The June structure remains Outpatient Services.

Example: recorded department was wrong

The position was entered in Outpatient Services on April 1, but approved records show it belonged to Inpatient Services from April 1. Use the available correction process and record why. Do not add a later Inpatient Services value merely to hide the error after another date.

This distinction protects reports and activity history.

Remove an incorrect approved entry

Open Details, show all dates, and use the approved entry’s Actions menu to create a change from it. Choose Remove this dated entry under Requested change, record why, and save the proposal. The entry stays approved until the position change request is approved and applied.

Removal restores the preceding value for the affected dates, up to the next approved entry. The request shows the resulting value for review. If no earlier value exists, the field becomes unset for those dates. You cannot remove an entry if doing so leaves required information missing.

For example, a position has 1 FTE from April 1 and an erroneous 0.5 FTE entry from July 1. Removing the July entry restores 1 FTE from July 1 until the next approved FTE change. The original entry and the decision to remove it remain in activity history.

To deliberately make an optional field blank, enter a dated blank value instead. Removing an entry and recording a blank have different effects on the timeline.

Historical information on an eliminated position can still be corrected within its recorded life. A field change cannot extend the position beyond its permanent elimination; correct an erroneous elimination through the position change status actions first.

Review effects before saving

A position change can affect more than the field you edit. For example, moving departments can change who is allowed to work with the position and which choices it can use.

  • A department change can affect access, approval routing, reporting, job classification availability, and assignment management.
  • A job classification change can affect catalog reporting, pay-grade context, and labor budget rate selection.
  • An FTE change can affect vacancy, overassignment, labor budget, and request impact.
  • A work schedule change can affect schedule-based adjustments.
  • A reporting-line change can move the position in the org chart and cannot create a loop.
  • Suspend, Reactivate, and Eliminate change position status through the position change approval process. Review their dates and effects alongside changes to details.

Review active and future assignments and any open request before proposing the change.

Build a multi-date change

Enter each change with the date it should begin. Review all the changes in date order before submitting the request. A position change request can include a suspension and an approved reactivation together, including changed FTE on return.

For example, a full-time position changes to half-time (0.5 FTE) on July 1 and returns to full-time (1 FTE) on October 1. Review both changes as one planned sequence. Position values have no end date; enter the return to 1 FTE as a separate dated value.

For temporary withdrawal or permanent ending, see Suspend, reactivate, or eliminate a position.

Correct an identifier

Use the external-ID action to fix the number used by another system, if you have permission. To change the position’s FTE, department, or other approved details, use the position request process instead.

Keep each external ID unchanged unless it was entered incorrectly, and use it for only one position. Your organization uses this ID to match the position in another system. Confirm the position number and current external ID before saving a correction. An earlier external ID stays reserved to that position after a correction, clear, or draft discard. You may restore it to the same position; another position cannot take it.

Discard a proposed value

Discard a proposed value only when it should no longer be considered in shared work. A request already prepared for review keeps the values selected for that request. Cancel that request separately if it should no longer proceed.

Discarding a proposal does not undo an approved value. If the request was already approved, use the appropriate later change or correction based on what happened.

Keep financial work separate

Change a labor budget rate or adjustment in Labor budget. Change an employee compensation record or adjustment in Compensation. Those changes do not belong on the position form.

Check the approved result

  1. Review the request outcome and effective date.
  2. Select the day before the change and confirm the earlier approved value.
  3. Select the effective date and confirm the new value.
  4. Review assignments, staffing, and reporting lines affected by the change.
  5. Review labor budget and compensation results after updating completes when the position change affects them.
  6. Open Activity history to confirm who submitted, decided, and recorded the change.

Edit or discard a proposed status action

Open Details on the position and find the proposed suspensions, reactivations, or eliminations. Each row identifies the action, effective date, and reason. With Submit position requests permission for the affected department, use the row’s Actions menu to edit or discard the proposal.

A cancellation keeps the date of the official action it names. Edit its reason or discard the proposal if you no longer want to cancel that action. Proposals already selected for a request keep their earlier dates and details in that request.

Discard draft changes

For an approved or scheduled position with shared proposed edits:

  1. Open the position and review the edits you intend to abandon.
  2. Open Actions and choose Discard draft changes.
  3. Check the number of proposed changes listed in the confirmation.
  4. Confirm the discard.

This action removes the proposed field values and status changes you can discard together. Official values and their effective dates remain unchanged. It does not cancel an official suspension, reactivation, or elimination.

A request already prepared for review keeps its saved selection. Discarding the shared proposals does not cancel that request; open it separately if the selected changes should no longer proceed.

Check the approved information after discarding and confirm the unwanted proposals are gone. Activity history records the action and reason.

Optional practice: try moving a position to another department

For exercises that change records, use a separate practice organization and complete the preparation below.

Practice steps and checks

Keep the original Patient Services Coordinator position unchanged so you can finish the budget and pay walkthrough. Use a separate practice position in Outpatient Services for this lesson. First make sure its job classification is available in Inpatient Services and the required people can work with both departments.

  1. Open its change form.
  2. Choose Inpatient Services and July 1, 2027 as the date the move begins.
  3. Review the old department, new department, and date.
  4. Submit the request and complete the required approvals.
  5. Compare the day before the move with the day it begins.

The position should belong to Outpatient Services on June 30 and Inpatient Services on July 1. Its employee assignments do not change just because you edited the department.

Use a correction only when the earlier information was wrong. Use Discard draft changes when you want to abandon a draft edit that has not been submitted.