Assigning release activities

Your responsibility as a release coordinator is to properly assign the activity. If an assignment definition has not been created for the activity, you must assign the activity manually. 

The activity assignee is then notified of activity assignments by email. Assigned activities can also be listed in the Assigned Work Orders table in the console. Activity assignment is based on the activity's categorization. The Assignment tab displays information about users assigned to an activity as the Request Manager or Request Assignee.

During configuration, the administrator determines to whom the activities are assigned. This decision is based on criteria such as the activity's categorization. For example, all activities that are categorized as hardware issues might be assigned to the Support-Hardware group. All activities that are categorized as software upgrades and originate from California might be assigned to Sonya Software in Santa Clara. The criteria of the activity together with the application administrator's configuration determines to whom each activity is assigned. The assignee must make sure that the assignment is correct and accept the activity. If the assignment is not correct, the request manager can reassign the request.

These assignments are based on routing information stored in the Assignment Configuration form. This form assigns the groups and then Auto Assign assigns the individual. For more information, see Automatic request assignment in the BMC Helix ITSM documentation.

To assign activities

An activity must be assigned to a Support Group. However, a specific request manager is typically responsible for the overall activity process.

1. Open the activity and click the Assignment tab.

   

   Based on the default configuration and requester information in the activity, certain fields might already be completed.

2. To assign a request manager or assignee, make selections from the Activity Assignee field.
   If required, click Clear to remove information from the Activity Assignee fields.
3. Enter the time spent resolving the activity and save the activity.
4. The activity assignee is automatically notified of the assignment.

To receive notifications of activity assignment

Request assignees are notified of new activities based on their notification method preferences defined in their personal record. In addition, when an activity moves into a new status, for example, Completed, the activity executes workflow that triggers notifications. Based on your group or role, you might receive notifications during various activity states. For more information about notification preferences, see Configuring notifications in the BMC Helix ITSM documentation.

The available notifications are as follows:

• Individual Notification—An individual assignee is notified according to the notification method specified in their personal record.
  For example, if Bob Backline has a notification method of email, he receives an email for each activity that is assigned to him.
• Group Notification—A support group is notified according to the notification method specified by each group member's entry in their personal record.
  For example, if an activity is assigned to the Support-Software group, each group member is notified through the notification method specified in their personal record. If Sarah Software has Email specified as the notification method in her personal record, the notification is sent to her by email.

When a release request moves into a new Milestone and Status, for example, Deployment In Progress, Release Management generates notifications. Based on your assignee group or role (release coordinator or requester), you might receive notifications during various status transitions.

Release notifications are data-driven and easily configured. The following notifications are enabled out of the box. Your administrator might have created additional notification rules.

Activities work the same way, except that no out-of-the-box notifications are enabled. Your administrator can easily configure a rule in which, for example, the activity assignee is notified when the Status of the activity is set to Draft.

For more information, see Assigning-release-requests. For more information about notification rules, see Configuring-notification-rules.

To review activity assignments

An activity must be assigned to a Support Group. However, a specific request assignee is typically responsible for the overall activity process.

1. Open the activity.

2. Click the Assignment tab.

   
   Based on the default configuration and requester information in the activity, certain fields might already be completed.

3. To assign an activity assignee, make selections from the menu options.
   If required, click Clear to remove information from the Activity Assignee fields.
4. Enter the time spent resolving the activity.
5. Save the activity.
   The request assignee are automatically notified of their assignments.

To accept activity assignments

One responsibility for activity assignees is accepting the activities assigned to them. If an assignment definition has not been created for the activity, you must assign the activity manually.

The activity assignee is then notified of activity assignments by email. Assigned activities can also be listed in the Assigned Work Orders table in the Release Management console.

Activity assignment is based on the activity's categorization. The Assignment tab displays information about people assigned to an activity as the request manager. The assignee must make sure that the assignment is correct and accept the activity. If the assignment is not correct, the request manager can reassign the request.

These assignments are based on routing information stored in the Assignment Configuration form. This form assigns the groups, and then Auto Assign assigns the individual. For more information, see Automatic request assignment.

To reassign activity assignments

If you cannot accept or resolve an assigned activity, you can reassign the activity to another assignee, or you can ask your manager to reassign the activity. If the activity was categorized incorrectly, it can also be reassigned.

1. Open the activity so that it is displayed in the Activity form.
2. On the Assignment tab, select the manager or assignee to whom you want to assign the activity.
3. Click Save.
   The manager or assignee is notified of the reassigned activity.