Troubleshooting and safe recovery

Workflow ID: HELP-REC-001
Approval: Approved baseline

Access

These recovery steps are available to all audiences. They do not grant extra permission. Never bypass a denial, edit production data directly, or expose credentials/customer information while collecting evidence.

Workflow

1. Read the validation or status message and keep the current record URL.
2. Check whether the expected record already exists before retrying a timed-out submission.
3. Confirm the active company, account type, enabled module, date/closed period, and current role.
4. For OTP, use only the newest code and respect expiry/throttling.
5. For uploads, keep the original file, use a supported type/size, and retry once after correcting the displayed issue.
6. Record workflow ID, route, actor role, company, expected result, actual result, time, browser/device, and safe screenshot.
7. Escalate security exposure, duplicate financial/stock effects, or cross-company access immediately and stop processing that flow.

Errors and recovery

• 401/login redirect: authenticate with the correct staff, provider, or party entry point.
• 403: the account or module does not permit the action; contact the responsible admin.
• 404: verify company ownership and record existence without guessing IDs.
• 419: refresh the form and re-enter data; do not reuse an expired CSRF page.
• 422: correct the named fields; the server should preserve safe input.
• 429: wait for the throttle window; repeated retries extend operational confusion.
• 500: capture the reference/time, stop duplicate-prone actions, and have an administrator inspect logs.

Result and next step

Safe recovery either completes the intended action once or produces enough non-sensitive evidence for triage. A fix must add a regression test and update the relevant manual/flow catalog when behavior changes.