Overview of the Change form

The Change form is used to request a change and track the progress from the Initiate stage to the Closed stage. This form also shows the impact that the change has on the organization. The Change form is used to relate tasks to different support groups. You can relate the change to configuration items that are being modified.

Before you begin creating or modifying information in the Change form, you should understand the information relationships in the different areas of this form. The Change form provides an example of the level of integration that can occur between the various modules in BMC Helix ITSM, such as a change request that occurs due to an incident, a change to a configuration item, or a known error correction as a result of problem investigation.

Tip

As you work with the forms and dialog boxes, you might see a plus sign (+) included in a field label. You can type part of the information in these fields and press Enter. If an exact match is found, the field is automatically completed. If a selection list appears, double-click the item to put it in the field. Using auto-fill fields and lists is faster, more consistent, and more accurate than typing the information.

If other applications are installed, you might see additional links in the navigation pane for applications that are installed in addition to Change Management.

The Change form has the following functional areas:

Form area	Function
Change form header
Breadcrumb bar	A navigation aid that contains links to related records that you opened from the current release record.
Breadcrumb navigation controls	Back button—Takes you back one link in the breadcrumb trail. Forward button—Takes you forward one link in the breadcrumb trail. The Forward button is only visible if you have returned to a record on the breadcrumb trail that you previously viewed. Menu—Contains links to all the records that you viewed from the current release record, including records that are not currently visible in breadcrumb trail. Home icon—Takes you to the IT Home page.
Process Flow Status bar	The change stages in the Process Flow Status bar move through the change request lifecycle from the Initiate stage to the Closed stage.
View Broadcasts	Opens the View Broadcasts dialog box. For information, see Broadcasting messages.
Navigation pane
Functions	Allows you to perform the following actions: Copy Change—Copies a change. This option is activated only in Modify mode. For information, see Creating-a-change-request-by-copying-an-existing-change-request. View Risk Report—Opens the Risk Report. For information, see Analyzing-the-risk-and-impact-of-change-requests-in-the-Review-and-Authorize-stage Important: This option is not available when you are creating the change. Impacted Areas—Opens the Impacted Areas Update dialog box. Collision Detection—Determines whether there are other change requests scheduled to work on the same CI during the same blackout schedule. For information, see Detecting-collisions-between-change-requests. Important: This option is not available when you are creating the change. Manage CIs—Allows you to manage CIs. Email System—For information, see Sending-messages-related-to-records.
More	Allows you to perform the following actions: Financials—Opens the Financials dialog box where you can add costing related information. For more information, see Adding-and-modifying-costs. Important: This option is not available when you are creating the change. View Audit Log—For information, see Viewing the audit log. Important: This option is not available when you are creating the change. Reminders—For information, see Defining-and-sending-reminders. Important: This option is not available when you are creating the change. Paging System—For information, see Paging a person or on-call group. Modify Operational Category Location—Searches, selects, modifies, and deletes operational category locations. Time Segments - Business Events—Searches, selects, and creates for business event time segments. For information, see Managing-time-segment-availability-based-on-business-event-or-operational-category.

Process flow and the stages of a change request

The user interface in BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management enables managers, administrators, users, and approvers to perform regular tasks simply and efficiently. The Process Flow Status bar on the Change form takes you through the change process from the Initiate stage to the Closed stage. It provides a visual mechanism to track the stages of a change request, as indicated by best practices that are rooted in ITIL processes. For more information, see Change-management-roles.

You can use the Process Flow Status bar to control the progression of the request through the different stages in the lifecycle. It functions similar to a wizard, guiding you through the stages of the change lifecycle from stage to stage. As the change advances through the stages, the current stage of the change is highlighted on the Process Flow Status bar of the Change form by color and text.

The Status field on the Change form is also updated. The Status and Status Reason field selections are limited to valid status values for the transition.

Best practice
Do not manually set the Status and Status Reason fields in the Change Request form. When you select an action from the Process Flow Status bar menu, the value in the Status field is automatically updated based on the action that you have selected.

Important

The Process Flow Status bar and the status of a change request might not be in sync if, in a single session, the same user updates the status of the change. To synchronize the status bar and the status of the change request, close the change request and reopen it.

If a custom process flow is associated with a change template, when you select the change template, the stages indicated in the Process Flow Status bar change to reflect the process for the type of change. For example, the process for provisioning a new virtual machine might skip the Plan & Schedule stage. If you do not select a change template, or if the change template is not associated with a custom process flow, the standard change process is followed.

When approval is required within any of the stages, the word Approval is displayed on the Process Flow Status bar. The request will not move to the next stage until all required approvals for that stage have been granted. For example, if an approval is required in the Initiate stage, the required users are prompted to approve, cancel, or reject the change request before the change request can move to the Review & Authorize stage. You can approve changes from the Approval table on the change form or Approval Central, if you are a valid approver for the change.

You can perform other functions using the Process Flow Status bar. For more information, see Performing additional functions from the Process Flow Status bar.

When you select an accelerator, you might be prompted to enter the data required to complete the stage. For example, when you are in the Plan & Schedule stage you are prompted to enter the required start and end date of the change request and its tasks.

The following figure is an example of a process flow dialog box:
implement example.png

The current and overall approval status of the change is highlighted by the following colors:

Yellow—Pending
Green—Approved
Red—Rejected
Gray—Transitional (does not require an approval)

You can perform the following functions from the Process Flow Status bar:

Function	Action
Move the Change or Release to next status or milestone	In the Process Flow Status bar, click the arrow on the green status and select Next Stage. The Change or Release moves to the next status or milestone.
Move the Change or Release to Pending status	In the Process Flow Status bar, click the arrow on the green status and select Enter Pending. Select appropriate status reason (for example, Manager Intervention). Select Resume from the Process Flow Status bar when you are ready to continue work on the request.
Return the Change or Release to earlier status or milestone	In the Process Flow Status bar, click the arrow on the green status and select Back. Select the milestone you want to return to, for example, Initiate. Important: If you use the Back option to move the request to a previous stage or milestone, all required approvals defined for any stage that is repeated must be performed again.
Cancel a change or release request	In the Process Flow Status bar, click the arrow on the green status and select Cancel. Select appropriate status reason, for example, Resources Not Available. The Change or Release moves to the Completed or Close Down milestone.
View process flow help	In the Process Flow Status bar, click the arrow on the green status and select Help. The process flow help is displayed (if it is installed).

Overview of the Change form

Process flow and the stages of a change request

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