Documenting operator-initiated changes for servers

Step 1: Create a new BMC Server Automation job with Change Management approval

BMC Server Automation

When you create a job with a job type that requires BMC Remedy ITSM approval, you are prompted to select the approval type and enter the approval parameters when you configure the schedule. You can specify an approval type when you execute a job or schedule a job for execution.

See Executing a job with BMC Remedy ITSM approval in the BMC Server Automation documentation.

Step 2: Set the approval type

BMC Server Automation

The Approval Information tab enables you to select an Approval type and enter the BMC Remedy ITSM parameters needed to create a new change ticket or use an existing one. On the Enter approval information dialog or the Approval Information tab, do the following:

1. Choose the Approval type from the list of pre-defined options.
2. Enter the additional information that is used in the change request, for example Change type, Impact, and Risk Level.
3. Either select Create new Change Ticket or select Use existing Change Ticket. 

See Executing a job with BMC Remedy ITSM approval in the BMC Server Automation documentation.

Step 3: Verify the job

BMC Server Automation

After the job definition is completed, BMC Server Automation schedules the job and requests that a new change request be created in BMC Remedy ITSM. The new change request is created using a specific change template and includes one task, even if multiple servers are used as targets. The change request ID and task ID are sent to the BMC Server Automation system and the values are attached to the job schedule. The servers that have been specified as targets are associated to the change and task requests as CIs

You can check to see if the interaction with the change management system was successful by reviewing the job schedule log, which is displayed under the job until the job starts running. For information, see Viewing job schedules in the BMC Server Automation documentation.

The job schedule log makes it easy to see when the job has been approved and is waiting to run and if the attempt to schedule the job has failed (for example, failed to create or update the change ticket). After the job starts executing after approval the information in the job schedule log is rolled into job log.

Step 4: Review the status of the job

BMC Server Automation

When you select one of the execute options (Execute now, Execute against, and Execute against failed targets) for a job that requires BMC Remedy ITSM approval, the job is blocked until approval notification is received from BMC Remedy ITSM. The job displays a status of Waiting for Approval until the approval notification is received. When the approval is received, the job is executed automatically (for Execute now) or at the scheduled time (for scheduled jobs).

When you display job results, an approved schedule is shown with the yellow Completed with Warnings icon. Failed schedules are displayed with the red Completed with Errors icon. The status types that apply to jobs configured for BMC Remedy ITSM approval are:

• Waiting for approval - The job is submitted for approval in BMC Remedy ITSM, and execution is blocked pending approval notification.
• Request approved, Waiting for schedule - The change request is approved in BMC Remedy ITSM, and job execution is pending according to the job schedule.
• Request approved, Executed (success or failure) - Shows the job run instance with a status of success or failed.

Possible reasons that a red failure icon appears for jobs submitted for BMC Remedy ITSM approval include:

• The schedule is rejected by BMC Remedy ITSM
• The job fails to create the BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket when the schedule was created and saved
• The job is canceled while in Waiting for approval state

After the job execution is complete, the BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket is closed and the Work Info note is updated with the job completion status (success, failed, canceled, or aborted).

Note: If the text exceeds 100 characters in length, the summary text of the work log for Task, Incident, and Change is truncated.

Step 5: Review the status of the change request

BMC Remedy ITSM

After the BMC Server Automation job execution completes successfully, the BMC Remedy ITSM user opens the change ticket to review the following items:

• Status of task (Completed)
• Status of change record - determined by Remedy business logic
• The actual start and end Date of the Change
• Review which servers were updated 
  By reviewing the Dates tab of the task ticket, the operator can review the details of when the job was executed. The Remedy user can also perform the following tasks:
• From the General tab of the task ticket, the Remedy Service Desk user can click Launch to display the BMC Server Automation Console, where the user can review the job details to verify the change actions.
• If there were failures in all or some of the targets, the user can review the status of the change and task records to review the status of the task (which would display as failed), the status of the change request, and which servers were updated and which were not updated, resulting in the failure (in the WorkInfo note).  
• For more information about using the change management console, see Using the Change Management Console and the Change form in the BMC Change Management online technical documentation.