Statuses, sub-statuses, and the case lifecycle

Every tip carries two linked fields: a primary status for the broad stage of the case, and a sub-status for the specific point within it. This page maps both and what moving between them changes.

The five primary statuses

A tip sits in one of five primary statuses: Draft, Active, Resolved, Unresolved, or Closed. Draft is a submission still in progress on the reporting side. It never reaches an operator queue, so it never appears in your working set.

Active is the normal working state for an open case. Resolved, Unresolved, and Closed are the three outcome categories a case can end in. All three behave as closed for workflow purposes, even though only one of them is named “Closed.”

Sub-status tracks progress within Active

While a tip is Active, its sub-status shows as a step in the case pipeline: Received, Routed, Under review, Actionable. Received covers both a tip with no sub-status yet and the taxonomy’s own label “Pending assignment.” Both show as the same first step.

Setting a sub-status moves the case forward without changing its primary status. The control turns off once the case is closed.

Closing a case

Closing a case asks for three things:

Which outcome category it belongs in: Resolved, Unresolved, or Closed.
Which specific reason within that category, for example Arrest made, Unfounded, or Duplicate.
A written reason.

All three are required before the case actually closes.

Closing also freezes the reporter’s side of the case. Once a tip is closed, the person who sent it cannot send a new message or attachment through the dialog.

Routing and setting sub-status turn off on your side too, once a case is closed.

Closing a case from the workflow actions.

Closing as noise

Closing as noise is a separate, narrower action. It is for intake that was not worth routing at all: out of scope, a duplicate or test submission, insufficient information, or a malicious submission. It skips the outcome picker and always lands on Closed, sub-status Noise.

Closing as noise requires program-admin authority. Program staff use Close with an explicit disposition instead.

Reopening a closed case

Reopening puts a case back to Active, sub-status Pending assignment. It requires program-admin authority and a written reason.

A program admin can reopen only within a reversal window after closure. The default is 72 hours; your program admin can adjust it. Past the window, only a system admin can reopen, and that override is recorded separately from an ordinary reopen. A case revived months later stays visibly different from a routine correction.

Sub-statuses are configurable; primary statuses are not

The five primary statuses are fixed platform taxonomy. No program can add, rename, or remove one. Sub-statuses are different. Your program admin can add, rename, or retire the sub-statuses under each primary status, to match how your program actually talks about outcomes.

If a status does not match what you expect, or you need a reversal outside the window above, your program admin can help. For how every status change shows up in the accountability trail, see Operator accountability.