Report - Different next step message before submitting expense and after retracting it.

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.61-2
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #87963
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): ibellicotest+2250@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Motorola MotoG60 / Android 12 (Hybrid app) - Windows 11 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Open the staging.new.expensify.com website.
2. Sign up with a new account.
3. Complete onboarding modal selecting "Track and budget expenses" option.
4. Navigate to workspace chat.
5. Create a manual expense.
6. Open the report of the just created expense.
7. Note that next step on report shows a "Waiting for you to mark this as done" message.
8. Submit the expense.
9. Tap on "More" > "Retract"
10. Note that now, next step shows a "Waiting for you to submit expenses" message.

Expected Result:

Next step message inside report should be consistent. It should display the same message before submitting an expense and after retracting it.

Actual Result:

Next step message inside report, is different before submitting an expense and after retracting it. When expense is created, next step displays a "Waiting for you to mark this as done" message, and after report is retracted, message changes to "Waiting for you to submit expenses".

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7135332_1776823189815.Ref.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @s77rt

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #87963

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[mitarachim]

Issue not reproducible while Use Staging Server is disable

S.Off.mp4

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

What is the root cause of that problem?

On "Track and budget" (submit-and-close) workspaces with instant submit, when a report is first created, the backend sends the "Waiting for you to mark this as done" next step message via the ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.NEXT_STEP Onyx collection. This message does not exist in the App frontend — it is entirely backend-generated.

When the user retracts (or reopens) the report, retractReport sets predictedNextStatus: OPEN and calls buildOptimisticNextStep without any flag indicating the workspace is submit-and-close. The OPEN status path in buildOptimisticNextStep has no awareness of submit-and-close workspaces — it falls through to the generic WAITING_TO_SUBMIT message ("Waiting for you to submit expenses"), which is incorrect for this workspace type.

The initial creation works correctly because:

1. getExpenseReportStateAndStatus sets the report to CLOSED for instant-submit + submit-and-close workspaces
2. buildOptimisticNextStep for CLOSED returns "No further action required!"
3. The backend then overwrites this with the correct "Waiting for you to mark this as done" message

After retract, the frontend optimistic message ("Waiting for you to submit expenses") is shown immediately, and the backend response does not correct it to the submit-and-close-specific message.

Note: PR #87963 (referenced in this issue) only refactored navigation/telemetry orchestration in SubmitExpenseOrchestrator and does not touch next step computation, report status logic, or buildOptimisticNextStep. It is unlikely to be the direct cause.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

In buildOptimisticNextStep (src/libs/NextStepUtils.ts), the OPEN status case needs to account for submit-and-close workspaces. When policy?.approvalMode === CONST.POLICY.APPROVAL_MODE.OPTIONAL (submit-and-close) and the policy has instant submit enabled with payments disabled, the optimistic next step for OPEN should return NO_FURTHER_ACTION (or a new message key matching "Waiting for you to mark this as done") instead of WAITING_TO_SUBMIT.

The same fix should be applied to the deprecated buildNextStepNew function which has the same issue.

Additionally, the retractReport function in ReportWorkflow.ts could pass additional context (e.g., isSubmitAndClose) to buildOptimisticNextStep to help it generate the correct message.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

An alternative is to introduce a new MESSAGE_KEY (e.g., WAITING_TO_MARK_AS_DONE) that matches the backend's "Waiting for you to mark this as done" text, and use that specifically in the submit-and-close code path. This would provide a more accurate optimistic message. However, using the existing NO_FURTHER_ACTION key may be sufficient since the backend will overwrite it with the correct message on success.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis, or explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.

[JakubKorytko]

I agree with Melvin that:

Note: #87963 (referenced in this issue) only refactored navigation/telemetry orchestration in SubmitExpenseOrchestrator and does not touch next step computation, report status logic, or buildOptimisticNextStep. It is unlikely to be the direct cause.

But will check anyway.