Completing and closing a change request in the Closed stage

In the Closed stage of the change request lifecycle, the change manager reviews all the implemented changes to make sure that each objective is met, validates the results, and closes the change request. A request cannot be closed until all the related tasks are closed. When all the tasks related to a request are closed due to success, cancellation, or failure, the requester and the change manager are notified that the change is resolved.

In this final stage, the process of closing the change request varies based on whether the request requires a Close Down approval:

• If no approval is required, the requester can set the request to Closed after confirming that the request was resolved. If the requester does not close the change request within the allowed response time of it being resolved, the request is closed automatically after a specified period of time. The Status Reason for the request indicates that the request was automatically closed. The allowed response time depends on how the application administrator configured the Change Management application. The default is 10 days. If the requester is not satisfied with the change request, the requester can reopen it. The change manager is notified that the request is reopened, and must respond.
• If the request requires a Close Down approval, the change request moves to the Completed status with the Status Reason as Final Review Pending. The approvers approve the request and move the change to the Final Review Completed status. When moved to the next stage, the change request status is set to Closed, with a status reason as Successful. After IT and the business unit have completed the review, no further activities are performed on this request.

You must update the CI unavailability records as required during the final stage.

To reach the Closed status, you must enter the actual start and end dates. You must also enter a performance rating from 1 (the worst rating) to 5 (the best rating) for the entire change process. You should consider all aspects of the change request's performance including how the change manager performed, how well things went with this operational Category Type and Item (CTI), and any other risk factors. The performance rating stored on the request is then used, in combination with the previous historical ratings, to compute an overall performance for each of the risk factors. The performance history of a change manager becomes more meaningful as more changes are accomplished. The performance rating is an average of the performance of the assigned manager or the chosen operational CTI. This information in turn helps a more accurate risk assessment to be performed on new requests.

When a change request fixes a known error, the owner of the known error is notified, so that its status can be updated.

The following process flow diagram explains the recommended steps and the roles that play a part in the Completion and Close Down stage.

Change task status transitions

When activated, tasks follow the following life cycle.

1. If the tasks are already assigned to an individual only, the task status is Assigned when the tasks are activated. If they are not assigned to a group or individual, the task status is Pending and the task status reason is Assignment. You must assign the task to an individual to move the task status to Assigned. When a task group is activated, its status changes to Work In Progress when the first task is activated.
2. Tasks in Assigned status can be worked on by the Task Implementer or Assignee. When work on the task begins, the Task Implementer sets the status of the task to Work In Progress. When the first task's status changes to Work In Progress from Assigned, the Actual Start Date of the change request is populated with the current date and time from the workflows.
3. When work on the task is completed, the Task Implementer sets the status of the task to Closed. The Actual End Date of the change request is populated with the current date and time from the workflows corresponding to the last task. In the case of task group when all the tasks in the group are closed, the task group is closed.
   • If task phase closure is enforced, all the tasks of a defined phase must be closed before the change request can move forward. If any of the tasks are open when the change manager or the change coordinator tries to move the request to the next status, the following error is displayed:
     This Change Request has at least one open task or task group. Close all children tasks before setting Change Status to Completed or Closed. (ARERR 45075)
   • If the task phase closure is not enforced:
     • All the activated tasks can be closed at any stage prior to the Completed status of the change request as the change request moves forward.
     • New tasks can be added for any phase at any stage of the change request before the change is closed.
     • The first task is activated when the change status is Scheduled.
       The change request moves to Completed status if all tasks are completed.
4. When tasks with the same sequence number are closed, the tasks with the next sequence number are activated.

To close a change request

1. Open the change request.
2. Use the Process Flow Status bar to move the request forward to Completed status.
   The Change Closure dialog box appears.
3. Enter the Actual Start Date and Actual End Date of the request.

4. Add the status reason and work information.

   Important

   When you promote a change request to the Completed status, a status reason is automatically selected based on the approval process configuration. In this case, you cannot set or modify the Status Reason value.

5. Complete the following optional fields:
   • Work Info Type
   • Notes
   • Locked
   • View Access
6. Click Save.

To close a change request and its tasks

Using the task management feature, you can complete tasks during any phase of a change request, not just the Implementation phase as in earlier versions.

For more information, see Task-Phase-Management.

1. Create or open a change request.
2. Enter the required information.
3. Click the Tasks tab.
   If Phase Management has been enabled, the Phase field appears on the Change form above the Tasks and Task Groups table.
4. From the Phase field, choose a phase.
5. Relate an ad hoc task, task template, or task group template to the change request.
6. Assign a task implementer to the task.
   After you select a phase and relate your tasks, the Related Templates table displays only those tasks that are included in that phase.
7. Repeat step 4 through step 6 until you finish all the phases and all the tasks that are included in the change request.
8. Save the change request.
9. Use the Process Flow Status bar to move the change request through the change management lifecycle.
   Tasks remain in Staged status until they are ready to be worked on. When you enter a stage in the lifecycle that includes tasks, the status of those tasks is set to Assigned. The task implementers are then notified about the tasks assigned to them by email.

10. Open the tasks defined for the stage and complete them.

    Important

    If the validation of tasks performed in that phase is enabled, you must close any tasks activated for that phase before you can move the change request to the next stage.

11. Continue to use the Process Flow Status bar to move the change request through its lifecycle until all the tasks are completed and you reach the Closed stage.