Configuring task phases

You can use the Phase Management Configuration form to group tasks into phases, based on status and status reason values that you configure for the parent application. Phase management configuration is integrated out-of-the-box with the BMC Change Management application and the Task Management System sample application (TMS Parent Object and TMS Parent Template). Users can complete tasks during any phase of a change request (for example, Review), not just in the Implementation phase as in early versions of BMC Change Management.

Within a given application, you can also enforce validation of tasks performed in each phase. For example, you can configure BMC Change Management so that a change request cannot move to the next status until all tasks activated during the Review phase have been closed. For more information about configuring change rules, see Configuring change rules.

For more information about configuring Task Phase Management, see Configuring Task Management System.

To configure task phase management

1. From the Applications menu choose Application Administration, and click the Custom Configuration tab.
2. From the Application Settings list, choose Task Management System > Integration > Phase Management Configuration, and then click Open. 
3. To view a list of preconfigured entries, click the New Search toolbar button on the Phase Management Configuration form.
4. Enter any search parameters, and then click Search.
5. On the list of preconfigured entries, perform any of the following actions:
   • Select an entry to view it and modify it, if necessary.
   • Click the New Request button on the toolbar, and configure new values.

6. Modify or enter values in the fields described in the following table.

   Field name	Action and description
   Application Name	The parent application name. The menu is data-driven, filled by entries in the SHARE:Application Properties form. Select BMC Change Management.
   Form	The main form from the parent application that is used with TMS
   Template Form	The template form from the parent application that is used with TMS. Select CHG:Template.
   Company	The location of the phase (for example, Calbro Services). Select Global if you want to enable task phases for all companies. To enable task phases for a particular company, select the company. Note: Task phases defined for a company take precedence over global phase data. Existing change requests for the selected company that use global phase data are not available after you define company-specific phase data.
   Locale	Currently this option is not supported. The locale that corresponds to the language in which you want to display the phase data. NULL is used for out-of-the-box data to define default data to use if no localized data is found.
   Phase	Enter the phase in the application life cycle when the task should be enabled (for example, the Review phase). The following phases are available out-of-the-box: Review Phase of Tasks — Activated when the change status is Request for Authorization. This phase corresponds to the Initiate stage of a change request. Business Approval Phase of Tasks — Activated when the change status is Request for Change. This phase corresponds to the Review and Authorize stage of a change request. Implementation Phase of Tasks — Activated when the change status is Implementation in Progress. This phase corresponds to the Implementation stage of a change request.
   Sort Order	Specify the order in which phases appear in the application. If you do not specify a sort order, alphabetical order is used.
   Activation Status	Specify the status in which tasks defined for this phase are activated. Note: Activation status is not applicable for the Task Management System sample application because it requires manual activation of tasks.
   Activation Status Reason	Specify a status reason. The combination of the status and status reason determines when the tasks for the phase are activated. Note: Tasks defined for a phase are enabled only when the change request status and status reason match the task phase activation status and corresponding status reason defined in the configuration. For example, if the Activation Status Reason field is blank on the configuration form, the task is not activated if the status reason of the change request is not blank. Note: Activation status reason is not applicable for the Task Management System sample application because it requires manual activation of tasks.
   Status	Record status (for example, Active or Inactive). Set the phase to Inactive if you do not want to use this phase in the application, or if you want to temporarily disable it.
   Manage Locales	Allows you to define the localized phase values for the record

7. Click Save.

Approval related settings are defined in the Approval Mapping form. For more information about Approval Mappings, see Approval mappings.