Configuring approval mappings for change and release management

The form has two sections. The top section is used to select the application that you want to configure approval mappings for, the process and phases you want the mapping to be associated with, and who the approvers will be. The lower section is used to define the mapping data. The application matches the corresponding data from the change request to the mapping data in this form to find the best match. The best matched records are used to determine the approvers.

When a change request moves from one status to another, the default workflow on the change request queries the Approval Process Configuration form to find out which approval process to use, and then executes it. For example, when a change request moves to the Review phase, the Approval Server checks the Review phase (Change Level CI-IA - Review) approval process, one of the approval processes enabled by default to work with Change Management.

You can use the following approval processes to configure approval mappings based on configuration item (CI), impacted areas (IA), and other available change attributes (for example, Impact, Priority):

• Change Level CI-IA - Review
• Change Level CI-IA - Business
• Change Level CI-IA - Implementation
• Change Level CI-IA - Close Down

These approval processes are applied when you move a change request to the Review, Business, Implementation, or Close Down phase. The approvers are selected based on an exact match to the configured approval mappings. A blank field implies any match.

The Change Management application does not ship the approval mapping data, because this data is specific to your implementation and use cases. The application uses the approval mapping data to determine the approvers for a change request for a given change approval phase or stage. The application performs a best match algorithm to determine the approvers. If the mapping data is more detailed, the use case for selecting the approvers is also more specific.

Because the separate CI and IA approval processes are consolidated, if you had configured an IA approval process (for example, IA-Review) and included a CI in the approval mapping configuration for that process, the CI qualification was not applied during approval. Both, the IA and CI qualifications are considered for approvals after an upgrade.

The Default Process Name field is now removed for Change Management. The approval process selected in this field was applied when the change did not have a CI or IA defined. All approvers, even if they were approvers specific to IA or CI, received an approval notification if other Change attributes qualified. Now, after an upgrade, the default process is no longer valid. Notifications are sent only to the approvers who qualify according to the defined configurations (CI, IA or other change attributes).

Approval mappings are applicable for level-type approval processes. For the mapping to be applied to the selected phase, the values of the fields on the request must be the same as the values of the fields defined in the approval mapping. The approvers are selected based on an exact match to the configured approval mappings. A blank field in the Approval Mapping form implies any match.

Before you begin

Configure the approval processes. For more information, see Setting-up-approval-process-configuration-records-for-your-company.

To configure approval mappings

1. From the Application Administration console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
2. From the Application Settings list, select Change Management > Approval > Approval Mappings for the application for which you want to configure approvals.
3. Click Open.

4. On the Approver Mappings form, select the appropriate value from Approval Indicator.
   This field is used to identify the application that the approval mapping record is associated to. For the Change Management application, the value must always be set to Change.
   The form refreshes, and the appropriate tabs and fields for the selected approval indicator are displayed.

   Important

   Select the criteria that should be met to map an approver to the approval phase. The approver is mapped to the selected phase only when all the defined criteria are met.

5. For Phase Name, select which approval phase needs an approval mapping in the application.
   
   When you select a phase name, the Phase Company is automatically populated. This field is used to identify which approval process configuration record the approval mapping record is associated to. The menu that is attached to the Phase Name field shows you all the approval process configuration records for Change by Company and then by Phase Name. Approval phases are used to define when the approval is required during the lifecycle of the application request and maps the Approval Process Name that will be used by the Approval Server. The mapping between the application status, Phase Name, and Approval Process is done in the Approval Process Configuration form. For example, the Review phase of Change Management indicates that the change will be sent for approval when it reaches the Request for Authorization status and will use the Change Level CI-IA - Review process.

   Recommendation

   Select a user who has access to the company selected in Phase Company.

6. Enter information in the other fields as appropriate.

   Field name	Description
   Approval For	This field is used to identify who the approvers are when this mapping is selected. You can select one of the following options: Individual—Select this option when you want to have an individual named an approver. Enter the individual's last name. The Approver ID (or logon name) is automatically populated. Group—Select this option when you want to have a specific support group as the approver. Only members of the named support group with the functional role of Infrastructure Change Approver are selected as approvers. Also, out-of-the-box, only one member of the support group needs to approve for the phase to be considered approved. If you select this option, the First Name, Last Name, and Approver ID fields are replaced by Support Company, Support Organization, and Support Group Name. Select the values for each field. The choices available in the Support Organization menu list depend on the option that you select for Support Company. The choices available in the Support Group menu list depend on the option that you select for Support Organization. Inherent Group/Role—Select this option, when you want to have the application dynamically select the approvers based on the named support group in the Change Coordinator, Change Manager, Change Requester, or the Change Implementer Group field. If you select this option, the Inherent Group and Functional Role fields are displayed. The Functional Role field is used to help narrow down the selection of the individuals who will be selected as the approvers from the dynamically selected support group. For example, if you set the value of the Inherent Group field as Change Manager Group and the value of the Functional Role field as Infrastructure Change Manager, if this mapping is selected, the approvers will be members of the named Changer Manager Group who have the functional role of Infrastructure Change Manager. Important: The Change Coordinator Group is named the Change Assigned Group and the Change Implementer Group is currently hidden on the Change form and is only available if the field is available because of a customization.  Best practice We recommend that you keep the fields related to Change Implementer hidden and use the tasks to determine the change implementers. Individual Based on CI Role—Select this option, when you want the application to dynamically select the approvers based on a CI that is related to the change request. The Role field is used to identify the individual that is related to the CI with the selected role. The CI selection is done from the mapping section, where you can select a CI based either on the CI Type (for example, Application, Computer System, and Business Service) or on the CI Name and CI ID. For example, if you set the value of the Role field to Managed by and the value of the CI Type field to Business Service, if this mapping is selected, the approvers will be individuals related to the Business Service CI with the Managed by relationship. The individuals are related to a CI by the following roles: Approved By Managed By Created By Owned By Supported By Used By Group Based on CI Role—Select this option, when you want the application to dynamically select the approvers based on a CI that is related to the change request. The Role field is used to identify the support group that is related to the CI with the selected role. The approvers are then selected from that support group where the individuals have the functional role as Infrastructure Change Approver. The CI selection is done from the mapping section where you can select a CI based on either the CI Type (for example, Application, Computer System, and Business Service) or on the CI Name and CI ID. For example, if you set the value of the Role field as Managed by and the value of the CI Type field as Business Service, if this mapping is selected, the approvers will be an individuals that have the functional role as Infrastructure Change Approver for the support group that is related to a Business Service CI with the Managed by relationship. The support groups are related to a CI by the following roles: Approved By Managed By Created By Owned By Supported By Used By For more information, see Configuring-approval-mappings-for-people-and-support-groups-based-on-the-CI-being-changed. Important: If you select the Group option, all the users who belong to the support group and have the corresponding approver functional role (for example, Infrastructure Change Approver for Change Management) are set up as approvers. By default, only one approver in the group must sign off on the approval before it can move to the next stage.
   First Name	If you select Approval For Individual, this field is displayed. Enter the first name of the approver.
   Last Name	If you select Approval For Individual, this field is displayed. Use auto-fill to enter the approver's last name.
   Approver ID	If you select Approval For Individual, this read-only field is displayed. The Login ID of the approver is automatically included when you select the approver.
   Assignment Availability	This field is read-only, and is auto-populated, and synchronized automatically. For individuals, the value is displayed based on the Profile status on the People form. If the value on the People form is Enabled, this value is set to Yes to specify that the individual is available for the approval. For Support Group mapping, this value is set to Yes if the support group has at least one valid user with an Approval role (Infrastructure Change Approver for Change Management).
   Submitter	This field is auto-populated with the logon name of the user who is creating this approver mapping.
   Status	This field indicates the current status of the approval mapping record; that is, of the group or individual approving the request. For the approver mapping record to execute, select a status of Enabled. To temporarily disable the approval mapping, set the status to Offline. All other status options are for informational purposes only.
   Level	This field is used to create a level or tiered approvals for the same phase and mapping criteria. Specify the level of approval for the individual or group. The level number defines the routing sequence within the approval hierarchy. Enter a number to determine the order in which the approvers are defined. Approvers who are assigned lower numbers, approve the requests before those who have higher numbers. For example, if you want a user to get the first approval request for the Business Approval Phase and then if that user approves to have the Change Advisory Board group get the second approval request for this phase: Set the first approval mapping entry as: Phase Name—Business Approval Approval For—Individual Level—0 And the second approval mapping entry as: Phase Name—Business Approval Approval For—Group Level—1
   Description	Enter a description for this approver mapping.
   Support Company	If you selected Approval For Group, enter the support company.
   Support Organization	If you selected Approval For Group, enter the support organization.
   Support Group Name	If you selected Approval For Group, enter the support group name.
   Inherent Group	If you selected Approval For Inherent Group/Role, enter the inherent group name (for example, Change Assigned Group).
   Functional Role	If you selected Approval For Inherent Group/Role, enter the functional role (for example, Infrastructure Change Approver).

7. To specify the location, on the Impacted Area/CI tab, specify the Company, Region, Site Group, and Site fields and if required, specify the Organization and Department for the impacted area.
   This step maps the approval process when the location matches the change location specified for the Requester of the change request. For an example about adding IA information to approval mapping, see Approvals-generated-based-on-Impacted-Areas.
8. To specify the CI, on the Impacted Area/CI tab, specify whether the CI is selected by type or by name.
   • If you select On CI Type, select a specific CI type from the menu.
   • If you select On CI Name, enter the name of a specific CI.
9. To map approvers based on additional criteria, complete the fields on the additional tabs that are displayed, which depend on the value that you have selected for the Approval Indicator field. For example, if you select Change, the Categorization, Role, and Advanced Criteria tabs are displayed.

The approval mapping now applies when values specified on a record exactly match the values selected in the approval mapping.