> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kayanos.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cases: stages, a clock that stops, and one timeline

> Turn a followed record type into a case: stages with standard durations, a clock that stops while you wait for another party, returns and sub-cases, intake rules for incoming letters, working calendars, and one timeline per case.

Turn a followed record type into a case: stages with standard durations, a clock that stops while you wait for another party, returns and sub-cases, intake rules for incoming letters, working calendars, and one timeline per case.

## Find your next step

* [Make a record type a case](#details-make-a-case-type)
* [Stages and the clock](#details-stages-and-clock)
* [Stop and resume the clock](#details-pause)
* [Opening, title and closing](#details-opening-closing)
* [Confidentiality, permissions and the authority matrix](#details-access)
* [Intake rules in the registry](#details-intake)
* [Working calendars](#details-calendars)
* [Work a case](#details-work-a-case)
* [My Work, desks and the manager view](#details-work-surfaces)
* [Procedure cards, committees and official issue](#details-integrations)

> [!NOTE]
>
> Cases are a Beta feature. Turn on **Cases** in **Builder › Apps and navigation › Optional features**. Configuring case types needs **Configure cases**; opening, pausing and returning a case follow the record type's permissions. See [Permissions and availability](https://docs.kayanos.com/reference/permissions-and-availability.md).

> **See the screen**
>
> ![KayanOS case page for a budget transfer: the stage bar with a second visit to Study, the net time against the card's standard, a stopped clock that moved the due date three working days, and the merged timeline of moves, letters, returns and sub-cases.](https://kayanos.app/docs-images/en/build/cases.png)

## Steps, examples, and reference

> **Background and example context**
>
> A case («معاملة») is an ordinary record of a record type that has a case layer. Its stage is the record's followed status field and its clock is the stage clock from **Follow-up & stages**. The case layer adds the rest: a case number, the procedure card it serves, how it opens and closes, when its clock stops, returns and sub-cases, and one timeline that merges moves, letters, approvals, review points, blockers and notes.
>
> Example used throughout: a ministry of finance receives letter 2026/1832 from the Ministry of Health asking to transfer 4,200,000,000 from budget line 2/1/4 to 2/3/1. The registry clerk registers it and an intake rule opens case 2026/0418 under card 3.4 «Transfers and additions» (standard: 2 working days). In Study the analyst asks Health for salary approvals by an outgoing letter; the clock stops when the letter is issued and resumes when Health's reply is registered, so the waiting days do not count against the ministry.

> **Make a record type a case**
>
> ## Make a record type a case
>
> 1. Open **Builder › Case types**. The list shows every case type with its linked cards, stages, how its cases open, how many are open now (and how many have a stopped clock), and the share closed within the standard over the last 30 days.
> 2. Choose **Blank type** to start from scratch, or open an existing record type and go to its **Case** section.
> 3. The type needs a followed status field. The stages come from its status template; the final statuses (done category) close the case.
> 4. Work through the tabs: **Stages & clock**, **Pause & resume**, **Opening & title**, **Closing & escalation**, **Confidentiality & permissions** and **Try**. Every setting has a help button with an explanation, when to use it and an example.
> 5. **Try** simulates a case through the stages with a pause and a return, shows the net time against each standard, and lists the problems that block publishing.
>
> **Bound cards and their standard times** link the type to procedure cards. Each binding names its card (search the Procedure library by code or title), the standard duration in working days and a label. A type can serve several cards; the case picks its profile when it opens.

> **Stages and the clock**
>
> ## Stages and the clock
>
> For each stage set the standard duration and its unit: **working days**, or **working hours** for stages that finish the same day (a registry referral within 4 working hours). A stage can advance automatically when a letter is issued or a reply is registered, can be returned to an earlier stage, and can name what happens on return (keep the clock or start a new visit).
>
> * **Net time** is working time minus the time the clock was stopped. It is what the case is measured by.
> * **Visits**: a returned case enters a stage again; each visit is counted and timed on its own, and the stage bar shows «Visit 2».
> * **Due date**: when the clock stops, the due date moves by the working days the stop covered (or by the paused minutes for hour stages).
>
> Example: Study's standard is 1 working day. The analyst stops the clock for 2.9 working days while Health answers; the due date moves by 3 working days and the case still closes «on time» at 1.9 net days.

> **Stop and resume the clock**
>
> ## Stop and resume the clock
>
> The reasons are the stuck reasons in **Settings › Follow-up › Stuck reasons**; turn on **Stops the clock** for the ones that wait for another party. In the case type's **Pause & resume** tab, each stage lists the reasons its clock may stop. A reason says:
>
> * whether it **stops the clock** (an internal wait, for example legal review, does not);
> * what **resumes** it: a reply letter registered, a committee decision, or manual resume;
> * the **longest pause** in working days before it is flagged, and when the case is **withdrawn** if the other party never answers;
> * whether it **needs a letter** (the clock stops when the outgoing letter is issued, not before);
> * the **wording the other party sees** in the portal instead of the stage.
>
> On the case page, **Stop the clock** asks for the reason, a note and the start (backdating is limited to a few working days). With **Prepare the letter**, the pause waits and the official issue dialog opens; issuing the letter starts the pause. When the reply is registered and linked to the case, the clock resumes by itself.

> **Opening, title and closing**
>
> ## Opening, title and closing
>
> * **Opening**: cases open from an incoming letter (intake rules), from the portal, from a schedule, by hand, from a parent case (sub-case) or from a procedure card's **Start**. Manual starts may be backdated within a limit and must name the trigger.
> * **Title**: a pattern such as «Transfer - {party}» and the case number series.
> * **Closing**: the case closes when it reaches a final status, optionally only when all sub-cases are closed and the last outgoing letter is issued. The closure summary shows the net time against the standard, stops, returns, visits per stage and the outgoing letters.
> * **Escalation**: levels over the standard, who is told, and when an unexplained delay is shown on the board.

> **Confidentiality, permissions and the authority matrix**
>
> ## Confidentiality, permissions and the authority matrix
>
> Set the default and highest confidentiality level, whether the case takes the highest level of its letters, and from which level titles are hidden in notifications. A reader sees a case if they can view the record type in its unit scope, own its stage, were referred to one of its letters, or are a party of a sub-case. Timeline entries they may not read keep only their date, kind and number.
>
> With **Initials and signature from the authority matrix**, choose the authority action and the amount field: the initials and signature stages take their owners from the matrix, and the case page names the delegation decree when a delegate acts. See [Authority matrix and delegation](https://docs.kayanos.com/build/authority-matrix.md).

> **Intake rules in the registry**
>
> ## Intake rules in the registry
>
> In **Official correspondence › Settings › Case opening rules**, intake rules decide what happens when the registry registers an incoming letter: open a new case of a type (with its card profile and first owner), or attach the letter to an existing case when it is a reply. Rules match by sender, letter type, subject words and the referenced number. The registration dialog shows the suggested case; the clerk can change it. A reply attached to a case with a stopped clock resumes it.

> **Working calendars**
>
> ## Working calendars
>
> **Settings › Follow-up › SLA calendars** holds the working calendars: weekend days, the working day's start and length, and holidays. Each case type uses one calendar; the clock, due dates, pauses and hour stages all count in it.

> **Work a case**
>
> ## Work a case
>
> The case page shows the header (number, card, confidentiality, actions), the facts, the stage bar, the figures (current stage and due, net time against the standard, the clock, returns, the owner now and the calendar) and the timeline.
>
> * **Return** sends the case to an earlier stage with a review point; the case counts the return and a new visit.
> * **Sub-case** opens a case of another type (for example a legal opinion) for a question, shares chosen items, and can block the parent's next move and stop its clock until the sub-case closes.
> * **Link** attaches letters, records and other cases.
> * **Close** or **Cancel** finishes the case early; **Reopen** is available to the configured role within the allowed time.

> **My Work, desks and the manager view**
>
> ## My Work, desks and the manager view
>
> **My Work** lists the cases whose current stage you own, with the due date and whether the clock is stopped. A desk can show case blocks (stopped, returned, late) and the **Case team** block with each person's open cases. The stage board shows net time, visits and the stop reason, so a manager sees which delays are explained. Notifications tell owners when a case reaches them, when a stop is about to overrun and when a sub-case closes.

> **Procedure cards, committees and official issue**
>
> ## Procedure cards, committees and official issue
>
> * **Procedure library**: **Start** on a card opens a case of the type bound to it; procedure automations can start cases too (each start is kept once). The card's insights count its cases' visits per step, and the card's automations can react to **A case of the card started**, **A case reached a step** and **A case closed**. See [Procedure library](https://docs.kayanos.com/build/procedure-library.md).
> * **Committees**: a case put on a committee's agenda stops its clock with the reason «Awaiting the committee» and resumes when the decision is ratified. See [Committees](https://docs.kayanos.com/build/committees.md).
> * **Official issue**: issuing an outgoing letter from the case starts a pause that waits for that letter, and links the letter to the case.


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