Configuring drift correlation to a change request relationship

A change request can be related to several different objects. Because Drift Management works only with CMDB data, when the Drift Management correlation service correlates a drift to a change request, only the change request relationship with a CI is considered.

Use this configuration option when you want a more accurate and detailed view of the correlation of change requests to a drift.
For example, you create a change request to add a new printer to your network. Under the Relationships tab on the change request, you select the new Printer CI and a relationship type indicating that this CI is a new installation. 

You can refine the correlation service to correlate drifts to a change request by using the following categories:

• By using the CI relationship type such as Related To, Upgrades, and Repairs.
• Specifying a time window for defining the duration that a completed change request is eligible for correlating to a drift.

The following table lists the out-of-the-box configurations for relationships for different drift types:

A change request can also have associated tasks that define the relationship with certain types of objects in the parent change request such as Configuration Item, LDAP Object, and Software Library Item. The type of relationship is limited to Related To. However, you can specify more attributes for the relationship, such as Attribute Type which can be a Source, Target, or an Action Attribute such as Install or Uninstall. This information is used in the change request correlation service.

Use the following guidelines when correlating relationships at the task level:

• Relationships at the Task Level are considered only for Added and Removed drifts.
• Added CIs that have a relationship at the Task Level, must have an Attribute Type of Target and an Attribute Action of Install to qualify for the correlation list.
• Removed CIs that have a relationship at the Task Level, must have an Attribute Type of Source and an Attribute Action of Uninstall to qualify for the correlation list.

To configure drift correlations to a change request relationship

1. Select Preferences > Change Correlation Filter.
2. Select the change request relation.
   For example, Installs.
3. Click the appropriate CI relationship button.
   For example, CI Added.
4. To remove a relationship, select the relationship and click Remove.

Your changes are saved when you select from the following options:

• CI Added
• CI Modified
• CI Removed
• Remove

To define a time window

In the Time Window field, enter the number of days. The number of days is the duration for which a Completed change request should be considered as a possible source for drift.