what is predecessor change requests

hi friends

what is the predecessor requests icon in stms. i had couple of request to import in my quality system but when i start the import i get a message that the request has a predecessor and that should be imported else there will be conflicts. but after discussing with my hcm consultant i initially ignored this message and continued with my import. once import was complete we found that our import was not successful then i imported the predecessor requests and ran the re-import and it was successful.

so i need to know what exactly is the implications of this predecessor request if we do not import them and import only the successor request. will this lead to any serious damage to our db. also, if you could tell me as to whether is it safe to import the predecessor requests in production system or not?

thanks in advance.

regards