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Navigating the Release Management console and the Release form

You can use the Release Management console for managing release requests.


The Release Management console provides a dedicated workspace for managing release requests. This console provides quick access to the information you need and to the procedures that you perform most often. This console optimizes your visual work space so that you can track releases quickly and efficiently. The following figure illustrates the functional areas of the Release Management console.

The Release Management console displays important details associated with release requests (for example, change requests and activities linked to releases, tasks allocated to release requests, work information, and important broadcasts). It is designed to give you quick access to the information and procedures that you need daily, so that you do not have to open other BMC Helix ITSM applications. Finally, if you point your cursor over the Release ID, tooltip information is displayed. 

The following table describes what you can do in each of the functional areas.

Functional area

Purpose

Console tab

Displays releases and related changes and activities.

Release Management Console header

Refresh icon

Updates the console with the latest information.

Search

Enables searching across multiple forms for records that match a key term by using the Global search option.

Show Filter By

Magnifying glass icon

More filters

Filters the release records in the Releases table by using the Show, Filter By, and Search fields. The Show field has a menu from which you can select the basic criteria by which you want to filter the contents of the Releases table.

The options are:

  • Submitted by me—All the release requests created by you.
  • AllAll the release requests, regardless of who created them.
  • Assigned to me—All the release requests assigned to you.
  • Assigned to my group—All the release requests assigned to a specific support group of which you are a member. If you select this option, you are prompted to select the support group. 
  • Assigned to all my groups—All the release requests assigned to all of the support groups of which you are a member.
    The Filter By field places conditions on the basic criteria that you select in the Show field. These conditions help you manage the number of records returned by the Show field. If you select Assigned to me in the Show field and All Open > All Priorities from the Filter By field, the Releases table contains all open release records that are assigned to you, regardless of their priority.

The Magnifying glass icon opens a dialog box from which you can edit, save, and delete custom searches. Saved custom searches appear in the My Searches node of the Defined Searches list.

More filters provides a way for you to further filter the contents of the Releases table. If you still have a large number of records after using the Filter By field, click Advanced to open a dialog box that contains fields in which you can indicate even more precise information, such as product or operational categories. For example, using the Advanced field, you can add the product category Hardware to the filter. When added to the Show and Filter by fields, the Releases table now contains all open hardware releases, regardless of their priority, that are assigned to you. A check box appears in the More filters label to indicate when a filter from this area is active.

Navigation pane

View Broadcast, or New Broadcast

Opens the broadcast dialog box, from where you can view, create, modify, and delete broadcasts.

When there are unread broadcasts, the icon is displayed followed by the number of new messages and the New Broadcast message. When there are new broadcasts, they are displayed in red color. For more information about broadcasting messages, see Broadcasting messages Open link .

Important: If you open the Release Management console with no new broadcasts, but the View Broadcast link is in red color, open the Application Preferences dialog box and make sure that a Console View preference has been selected.

Milestones

Displays Plan, Build, Test, and Deploy milestone metrics that are calculated when the console opens.

Contains a count of release request records. The application updates this number dynamically to reflect the way that you are filtering the contents of the Release table.

For example, if the Show field contains Assigned to me and the Filter By field contains By Status > All Open, the numbers that appear in the Milestones panel represent the number of open Plan, Build, Test, and Deploy requests that are currently assigned to you.

Functions

Provides links to perform the required functions:

  • New Release—Opens the Release form in a New mode. For more information, see Initiating a release.
  • Search Release—Opens the Release form in a Search mode. For more information, see Searching for records in the application consoles Open link .
  • My Profile—Sets your personal profile.
  • Application Preferences—Sets your program preferences and options. This function is also available from the Release Management console. For more information, see Setting application preferences and options.
  • Reminders—Opens the Reminders dialog box. For information, see Defining and sending reminders.
  • Reports—Opens the Reporting Console. For information, see Using reports, flashboards, and dashboards.
  • KPIs—Displays the available KPI flashboards. When you select a flashboard, it is displayed in a graphical format:
    • Process KPIs—View KPI flashboards.
    • Total Open Releases—Filters by Service or Priority.
    • Total Pending Approval—Filters by Service, Impact, or Business Justification.
    • Total By Risk—Filters by Service, Impact, or Milestone.
  • View Calendar—Opens the calendar. For information, see Scheduling changes by using the Calendar.
  • Time Segments—Create, modify, or search the following time segments:
    • Business Event
    • Operational Category Location
    • Configuration Item (CI)

For information, see Registering time segments in Change Management.

Applications

Contains links to other BMC applications, consoles, and modules. The contents of this area depend on what other applications are installed. Click the double greater than sign to open or close this panel.

Releases table

Displays high-level details about the release records that match the criteria specified in the Company and Assigned To fields, or that were found by the most recently completed search. The RLM prefix identifies the release requests. You can filter the requests in the table by using the Show and Filter By fields.

Create

Opens the New Release form, which you can use to create a new release request record.

View

Opens the release request record selected in the Releases table.

Print

Prints the details of the release request record selected in the Releases table.

Process Overview

Opens a high-level diagram of the release management process.

Service Context

Opens the Service Context summary view for the record selected in the Releases table.

Show Details/Hide Details

When selected, displays the work information table with the details about the record selected in the Releases table. It also displays the Create and View links to create or view release activities from the Release Management Console.

For more information, see Building a controlled environment for the release.

Changes and Activities

Create

Opens the New Change or Activity form so you can create a new record.

View

Opens the record selected in the Releases table.

Print

Displays details of the release request record selected in the Releases table as a report.

Show Details/Hide Details

Displays the work information and tasks table with records selected in the Changes and Activities table. You can create or view release work information on the Work Info tab. You can view tasks on the Tasks tab.


The Release form is used to request a release and track the progress from initiation to completion. This form also displays the impact that the release has to the organization. The Release form is used to assign tasks to different support groups, and you can associate the release to configuration items that are being modified.

Before you begin searching, creating, or modifying information in the Release form, you must understand the information relationships involved in the different areas of this form. First, you must create assignment mappings to assign a release to a Release Management support group, to an individual, or to both. An individual in the Release Management group must assume the role of release coordinator. For information about functional roles and assignment mappings, see  Functional roles and extended application access Open link  and  Mapping assignments Open link .

The Release form provides an excellent example of the level of integration that can occur between the various modules available among the BMC Helix ITSM. A release request can occur due to an incident, a change to a configuration item, or a known error correction as a result of problem investigation.

You might see additional links appear in the navigation pane for applications that are installed in addition to Change Management.

The Release form has the following functional areas:

Form area

Function

Release form header

Breadcrumb bar

Contains links to the related records that you opened from the current release record.

Breadcrumb navigation controls

  • Back button—Takes you one link back in the breadcrumb trail.
  • Forward button—Takes you one link forward in the breadcrumb trail. The Forward button is only visible if you have returned to a record on the breadcrumb trail that you previously viewed.
  • Menu—Contains links to all the records that you viewed from the current release record, including records that are not currently visible in the breadcrumb trail.
  • Home icon—Takes you to the IT Home page.

Process Flow Status bar

Takes you through the milestones in the Process Flow Status bar to go through the release request lifecycle from the Initiate milestone to the Close Down milestone.

View Broadcasts

Opens the View Broadcasts dialog box. For information, see Broadcasting messages Open link .

Navigation pane

Functions

Performs the following actions:


Release Management provides basic facilities for assignment, status, work information, and task management. The Activity form is used to manage a release and track its progress from initiation to completion. The Activity form is also used to assign tasks to different support groups.

You use the Activity form to add a set of activities to a release request. You can track release states and requester information, relate and assign tasks, and enter work log information. For more information, see Working with release activities.

Important

Any other links that are displayed in the navigation pane are determined by the applications that are installed in addition to Release Management.

The Activity form has the following functional areas:

Form area

Function

Navigation pane

Quick Links

Performs the following actions:

  • View Broadcasts—Opens the View Broadcasts dialog box. For more information, see Broadcasting messages Open link .
  • Select Template—Selects any templates made available for your support group. For information, see Creating and closing release activities.

Functions

Performs the following actions:

Consoles

Opens other installed BMC Helix ITSM consoles.

  • Release Console—Opens the Release Management console
  • Reports—Opens the Reporting console. For information, see Using reports and flashboards Open link .

Other functionality

Save

Saves the form content.

Print

Displays a report of the form content that can be printed.

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