Detecting and resolving collisions in change requests

A collision occurs if a CI is linked to multiple change requests whose implementation schedules overlap. If the scheduled start and end dates of multiple change requests overlap and the same CIs are linked to these change requests, a collision occurs.

For example, a change request is created to upgrade the virtual machine, vm-ip-ac-01, from April 1 and April 14. Another change request is raised to change the RAM of all of the virtual machines, including vm-ip-ac-01, from April 1 and April 30. These two change requests collide, because both affect the same virtual machine, vm-ip-ac-01, and the scheduled dates overlap.

If you consider two change requests, A and B, the following schedule-based collision scenarios are possible:

• Identical dates--Both change requests have the same scheduled start and end date values. It is unlikely that the CI will be available for two staff members to work on at the same time.
• Complete schedule overlap--Work on change request B is scheduled to begin after work on change request A, but will be completed before the work on change request A is completed. In this scenario, even though change request B requires a shorter implementation period, the CI will be unavailable to the assigned staff members because of the work being done for change request A.
• Start date and end date overlap--Work on change request B is scheduled to begin before work on change request A is completed. In this scenario, the staff members assigned to work on change request B will not be able to access the CI, because work on change request A is still in progress.

A warning is shown if:

• The system administrator enables the Alert if a collision is detected while linking a CI or service to change requests setting on the Application Settings > General Application Settings page.
• You link a CI to change request A that is also linked to change request B, and the scheduled time of change request B overlaps with that of change request A.
• You update the scheduled start or end date of change request A, and the updated schedule overlaps with change request B, which is implemented on the same CIs.

To resolve a collision between change requests, decide whether you want to change the scheduled dates or unlink the CIs of the colliding change requests.

If you do not want to modify the scheduled dates of the colliding change requests or unlink the CIs linked to them, you can instead assign one of the following states to the colliding change requests:

• Investigating
• Ignored
• Resolved

By default, in the Detected Collision window, the Detected collision state is assigned to each colliding change request. If the status of a colliding change request is Closed, the Ignored collision state is shown for the change request. If you reopen the closed, colliding change request, the collision state is retained as Ignored.

You can receive an email message when a colliding change request is created. To receive the email message, contact your system administrator to configure a workflow. For more information, see To create a workflow to inform a change owner about colliding change requests.

To detect and resolve a collision in change requests

1. Click the Remedyforce Console tab.
2. From the View menu, select Change Requests.
3. From the list of change requests, click the change request for which you want to detect collision.
4. From the Agent Tools menu, select Collision Detection.
   In the Detected Collisions window, the change requests that are colliding with the opened change request are listed.
5. To resolve a collision with a change request, update the scheduled start and end dates of the colliding change request, or unlink the common CIs.
6. To mark a collision as resolved or assign any other status to the colliding change requests, perform the following actions:
   1. Navigate back to the change request for which you detected collision.
   2. From the Agent Tools menu, select Collision Detection.
   3. In the Detected Collisions window, in the Collision State column, click the state of the colliding change request, and select the appropriate state.
   4. Click Save.
      If you change the collision state of a colliding change request, the change request is shown in the Detected Collisions window until you update the scheduled start and end dates of the colliding change request or unlink the CIs.
   5. To view the updated list of colliding change requests, click the Collision Detection button. 

The colliding change requests are also shown in the Change Schedule. The  icon is shown before the colliding change requests. You can click the change request to navigate to the change request details page on the Remedyforce Console tab. The  icon is also shown for colliding change requests in the Collision column of the change request list view on the Remedyforce Console tab.

To get a report of colliding change requests, contact your system administrator, or see Creating a report about colliding change requests.

Related topic

Creating a report about colliding change requests