Creating a change request

You create change requests by selecting Create New > Change Request. Your administrator might also have configured the system so that you can generate certain kinds of change requests through the Smart Recorder by submitting a service request. See Submitting service requests. If you need to copy an existing change request, use the mid-tier-based UI for the BMC Change Management application in the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite. For more information, see Copying change requests (BMC Change Management documentation).

You can use a change template that the administrator provides, or you can create a new change request. In both cases, a wizard in Smart IT helps you enter the necessary information, as described in the following example.

While searching for a template, the template appears if you type the exact name (including symbol) of the template as it was given in the ITSM while creating the template. For example, if you have given the template name in the ITSM as "Template<", you should search the template with the exact text as "Template<".

Before you begin

Before you work on change requests, the administrator must perform the following tasks:

• The administrator must configure risk factor questions and derived risk factors. For more information, see  Configuring risk assessment  in the BMC Change Management documentation.

• The administrator must also configure change templates, task templates, and task group templates needed to implement change requests. For more information, see Overview of ticket creation.
  
  

Example of creating a change request by using Smart IT

Allen Allbrook is a specialist in the network infrastructure group. His manager, Mary Mann, asks him to reconfigure the routing table of some networking equipment. Because this activity might affect technical or business services in the company environment, Allen must submit a change request according to his company's policy. The change must be properly documented, assessed for risk, and approved.

Allen determines that this reconfiguration will be a normal change that affects the Network business service. Because no change template is available for this type of change, Allen must create the change from scratch:

1. Allen opens Smart IT from his desktop browser and selects Create New > Change Request.

2. He chooses the option to create a change request from scratch, and selects Normal from the available change classes.
   The wizard opens with some information pre-populated and required fields clearly marked.

   To use the change template option, Allen would need to search for a template by entering keywords that are part of the template name. For example, searching for network routing returns a list of change templates with names containing the words "network routing."

3. In the Basics section of the wizard, Allen provides a short summary of the change needed, and he records the impacted site. Type-ahead functionality allows him to correctly populate the Requested For and Affected Service fields. Allen chooses to let the system select the best match for the change assignment.

   If Allen has the functional role of Change Coordinator, by default he is assigned as the change coordinator for change requests that he creates. If he were using a template, the change coordinator specified in the template (if any) would take precedence.

4. In the CI section, Allen performs a few concurrent searches to locate the affected network device and then relates the CI to the change request.

5. Allen decides to enter additional information that is not required to create the initial change request:

   1. In the Dates section, Allen specifies a range of dates approximately 3 weeks from today.

      Allen notices that there are several detected collisions, but he knows he will have the opportunity to run an impact analysis when he saves the change request. He will run the impact analysis first, relate any additional impacted CIs, and then manage collisions.

   2. In the Risks section, Allen answers a few questions that the system uses to calculate risk.

   3. In the Documents section, Allen selects the Requirements and Backout Plan documentation types and records some initial notes for each. Your organization might require specific types of documents depending on the class of change (such as Normal or Standard). For each type of documentation, you can record simple notes or upload files.

6. Allen saves the change request.
   The change request is created in Draft mode. A dialog is displayed that gives Allen the option of running an impact analysis now, or returning to the change request later to run the analysis manually.
7. Allen clicks Submit and Prepare Impact Analysis.

While the impact analysis is running, Allen launches a new Smart IT window to continue working. He will receive a notification when the impact analysis is ready.

Allen is notified about future updates to this change request in his Updates feed. When adding notes to the change request, he can reference additional team members with "@" mentions so that they receive notifications in their Updates feeds.

When you create a change request, the calendar does not show any other existing changes for the same period. In Smart IT only individual change request, and in case of collision, the corresponding change requests that have collision are displayed. When you create multiple change requests and add the same CI to the change requests, it pushes the calendar to show the collisions. In Mid tier, change calendar shows changes happening regardless of collision. In certain scenarios, Smart IT change calendar does not automatically adjust the time for the daylight saving changes even if you select Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes in the Time Zone of Remedy IT Service Management.

To exclude CIs with a Delete status from your search

You can search for CIs that are in Delete status from change requests. If you do not want the system to search for CIs in Delete status, you must select the check boxes for the statuses that you want to search, and clear the Delete check box. By default, in the search result the system displays CIs in all statuses including the delete status.

To restore a CI that is in Delete status, when you create or edit change requests, on the CI tab, perform the advanced search and select the Delete check box to search for CIs in delete status. From the search result, relate the change request with multiple CIs that are in Delete status to track configuration changes made to the CIs.

Options for change location

When creating change requests from scratch without using a change request template, in the Change Location field, you must specify the location where the change needs to be implemented. The change location depends on the following factors:

• The company specified in the Company list.
• The company and location of the customer specified in the Requested For field.
• The company and location of the service desk agent who is creating the change request.

These companies might not be same. The location in the Change Location field is driven by the company specified in the Company list. A company can have multiple locations.

When creating change requests by using change request templates, if the company specified in the template and the company selected in the Company list are similar, the location specified in the template is populated in the Change Location field. If the companies differ, the company location is populated based on the details given in the table in the example.

Comparison of Notes and Type fields in BMC Change Management and Smart IT

In BMC Change Management, you can add work notes to change requests and select the type of work note from the Work Info Type list. By default, the following subtypes are displayed in the Work Info Type list:

Work notes in BMC Change Management are referred to as notes in Smart IT and Work Info Type list is named as Type list. The information in this section is also applicable to release tickets in Smart IT.

Similarly in Smart IT, on the Activity tab of change requests, you can add notes and select a subtype from the Type list. By default, the subtypes under Execution, Closure, Audit, and General are displayed under the Type list.

In Smart IT, the subtypes under Requirements, Analysis, and Build are available as document types in the Documents tab of change requests. Thus, on the Activity tab of change requests they are not listed under the Type list, and in the filters under the Show Note Types list.

You must consider the following points:

• If you add a custom note type in BMC Remedy ITSM under the Requirements, Analysis, and Build types, the custom note type is displayed in the Type list in Smart IT.
• If you add a work note to a change request in BMC Change Management, and specify a work note subtype under Requirements, Analysis, or Build, then in Smart IT, that work note is added to the corresponding document type on the Documents tab.
• You cannot add custom document types on the Documents tab.

How administrators configure Smart IT change management functionality

The administrator must ensure that users have the minimum permissions needed to access change management functionality in Smart IT. For more information, see Smart IT roles and permissions.

For standard changes, the administrator should consider creating a service request definition (SRD) that generates a change request automatically. This way, the change request can be initiated by submitting a service request through the Smart Recorder.

If your organization requires custom fields to capture additional data in change requests, the administrator can add those fields to the change wizard. For more information, see Adding custom fields to your views using Smart IT.

The administrator can configure the attachment criteria, and the supported file extensions in BMC Remedy ITSM, in the Attachment Security tab of the Server Information form.