Making sure that scheduled changes to CIs do not impact business services

The Finance department at Calbro Services processes payroll checks every Thursday. Allen Allbrook, the configuration administrator, wants to make sure that neither the payroll server nor the payroll printer are taken down for maintenance on Thursdays. He sets two blackout schedules to accomplish this-these key services are unavailable for maintenance on any Thursday.

The payroll server is having performance issues and needs more memory. When Mary Mann, the change coordinator, schedules the change request, she sees that the payroll server is unavailable on Thursday. To prevent conflicts, she creates another unavailable time segment, on Monday instead of Thursday.

The Calbro business process has predefined that this type of change request requires standard approvals to move the project forward.

BMC Asset Management and BMC Change Management must be installed to follow this user scenario. If you cannot find the correct CIs in the Calbro sample data, you must create a server CI and add it to the inventory to follow this user scenario. For more information about managing CIs, see Managing CIs in the BMC Change Management documentation.

The following table describes the typical steps involved in this user scenario:

Scheduling mandatory unavailability for key services

Role	Actions	Explanation
Configuration administrator	The configuration administrator creates unavailability blackout schedules for the payroll server and payroll printer: On the Asset Management console, the configuration administrator searches for the server CI. On the CI form, the configuration administrator opens the blackout schedule. The configuration administrator adds a business time segment. The configuration administrator specifies the server CI to be Unavailable. The configuration administrator sets up a weekly recurring duration for Thursdays.	Allen specifies that the payroll server and printer server CIs are unavailable every Thursday because of maintenance. During this blackout, these CIs must not be brought down.
Change coordinator	The change coordinator creates a change request, using a change template: On the Change Management console, the change coordinator creates a new change request. On the Change form, the change coordinator selects the Server Hard Drive template. The change coordinator completes the required information to finish creating the change request.	Mary uses a predefined change template that supports the business process and accelerates the change request process. It prepopulates fields on the change request with information.
Change coordinator	The change coordinator views dates for the change request and performs risk assessment: On the Change form, the change coordinator views the calendar. The change coordinator defines the risk level of the change request.	Mary opens the Change Calendar to see if there are any conflicting change requests or business events. Although the Risk Level had a predefined value, she performs Risk Assessment to formalize the Risk Level.
Change coordinator	The change coordinator relates the CI to the change request: On the Change form, the change coordinator creates a relationship to the server CI. She specifies the Relationship Type as Upgrades. The change coordinator creates an unavailability relationship. In the Configuration Item Unavailability dialog box, the change coordinator specifies the unavailability type (for example, Scheduled Full) and the scheduled dates.	Mary creates a server CI unavailability that is related to the change request.
Change coordinator	The change coordinator searches for available times to schedule the change request: On the Change form, the change coordinator uses the Schedule Assist tool to search for available times. The change coordinator views the times when the server CI is unavailable. The change coordinator finds the next available time, based on the duration and available start time. The change coordinator creates a schedule time segment.	Mary finds the next available time to upgrade the payroll server. She schedules the CI unavailability on Monday to avoid conflicts with the Thursday blackout schedule.
Change coordinator	The change coordinator creates an unavailability blackout schedule to fix the payroll server: On the Change Management console, the change coordinator searches for the server CI. From the CI form, the change coordinator accesses blackout schedules. The Change coordinator adds a business time segment. She specifies the server CI to be unavailable on some day other than Thursday (for example, Monday). The change coordinator moves the change request to the Implementation Approval phase.	Mary creates a blackout schedule to upgrade the server CI.
Change approver	The change approver approves the Install Hard Drive change request.	Allen Allbrook must approve the change to move it forward to the Scheduled status.
Task implementer	The task implementer performs the tasks: On the Change Management Support console, the task implementer searches for assigned tasks. The task implementer performs each of the three Upgrade Server Hard Drive tasks and records the work performed.	Task implementers must complete all three tasks successfully before the change request can be closed.
Change coordinator	The change coordinator completes the change request: The change coordinator moves the change request to the Closed stage. The change coordinator enters the performance rating and the actual dates of the change.	Mary completes and closes the change request. She enters the performance rating and start and end dates.

Making sure that scheduled changes to CIs do not impact business services

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