Configuring Change Management

To configure change management you define the change manager group. Next you configure access to the Service Catalog items and to the change request process view. Then you set up email templates. Finally, you configure automation rules.
The process skips CAB approval for Standard changes; however, the OnCabApproval ruleset executes in this case. If this action is not desirable, you can add a ruleset the top of your ruleset that aborts execution if the change type is Standard.
Process for configuring Change Management
Step
Action
Description
Step 1
Define your Change manager group or groups
Your organization may have several different groups responsible for managing incoming change requests. Which group manages the incoming change may depend on the category, location, or other attributes of the request. You must create these groups in the portal and add people to them as needed.
Step 2
Configure Access to the Service Catalog Items
ServiceDesk Installation adds three service catalog items: Request Change, Manage CABs, and Manage Change Templates. By default, the Request Change item is accessible to anyone in the All Users group. However, this form is contained in the ServiceDesk category, which is not accessible to all users. If this access level is not desirable, you should change it in
Admin > Service Catalog Settings
. Select to edit categories or forms and then add permissions as desired. Manage CABs and Manage Change Templates are only accessible to Administrators by default. You may want to grant access to these items to your change manager group or groups.
Step 3
Configure Access to the Change Request Process View
The process view page for Change Management is very robust. The page contains a full description of the request. It also contains the current implementation plan, history of the ticket, current assignments, etc. You can grant access to other users or groups to the full view in the
Admin > Portal > Manage Pages
screen. The page is located under the Process View Pages category and is called
SD Change View
. Select
Edit Page
, and then open the
Permissions
tab.
Step 4
Set up Email Templates
In Change Management, you have complete control over who receives notifications and what those notifications look like. You have control over when the notifications are sent, without ever needing to open the process in the Workflow Designer. You can customize the templates by determining what your notification rules should be and what the notifications should contain.
For example, you may want to notify the requestor as soon as the system receives the ticket. You may want to notify the requestor after the ticket has been approved at each level.
Email templates for this process can be configured in
Admin > Automation Rules
.
Step 5
Configure Automation Rules
This step requires time for testing and configuration. To set up automation rules properly, it’s important to understand the underlying process. The actions available in the rule builder give you the ability to change information about the ticket while the ticket executes.
For example, when a ticket is received, you might check if the requestor is a VIP and automatically set the ticket owner and send email.
Typically, the first ruleset you want to configure is the
OnChangeReceived
ruleset. This ruleset is enacted upon the receipt of a change request.