This documentation supports the 22.1 version of BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Troubleshooting Change Management approvals

Change Management approval issues can be related to incorrect configuration settings. Issues such as approvals getting skipped or change requests getting stuck are a few of the common issues.

Before you begin

  • Make sure that you have performed the correct configuration settings at the application level. For more information, see Configuring-approval-processes.
  • Make sure that no issues exist at the approval server level and that the Approval Server is correctly configured and running because the Change Management application uses the Approval Server to achieve approval functionality. For Approval Server issues, see Troubleshooting Approval Server .

  • You have access to the following forms:

    Important

    Make sure that you have the Approval Administrator or the AR System Administrator permissions to access the AP forms and the application-specific Administrator, Master, Config, or Contract permissions to access the configuration forms.

    Form type

    Form name

    Backend AP forms

    • AP:Detail
    • AP:Signature
    • AP:Detail-Signature (join of above two forms)
    • AP:Role
    • AP:PreviewInfo (Vendor form)

    For more information about Approval forms, see:

    Configuration forms

    • APR:Approver Lookup (Approval Mappings form)
    • APR:SYS-Approval Definition (Approval Process Configuration form)

  • Gather the following log and configuration files to troubleshoot the Change Management Approval issues:

    Files

    Description

    Server-side Filter+API+SQL combined log file

    To enable the log file:

    1. Navigate to AR System Administration Console > System > General > Server Information > Log Files tab.
    2. Select the check box to enable the API log, Filter log, and SQL log and give a common name and location to all three log files to generate a single, combined log file.

    Approval Debug log file

    Configuration files

    • ar.cfg or the ar.conf file
    • armonitor.cfg or the armonitor.conf file
    • pluginsvr_config.xml file

  • Gather the following additional files:

    Files

    Description

    arjavaplugin*.log or approvalplugin*.log

    Use to troubleshoot plug-in issues. For more information, see the How to enable Debug Java Plugin server log article on BMC Communities.

    Dispatcher log

    For information about enabling the log file, see the How to enable the AR System Dispatcher log (All versions) article on BMC Communities.

    arerror.log and the ardebug.log

    Use to troubleshoot any JMX related issues. These log files are located in the Action Request System DB directory.

    Client-side Active Link+Filter+API+DB log

    Use to troubleshoot Approval Central or any other issues related to the User Interface (UI). For more information, see How to enable client side logging article on BMC Communities.

Diagnosing and reporting an issue

The following table explains the symptoms, scope, and action for the issues.

Symptom

Scope

Action

Change request approvals are skipped

There are issues with the approval process configuration or approval mappings.

  • Verify whether the Approval Server is up and running.
  • Verify whether the issue occurs for any particular approval phase (for example, the Implementation phase) or if it exists for all phases.
  • Verify the approval process configuration by using the APR:SYS-Approval Definition form:
    • Review the company-specific records or the global company records on this form to make sure that the details on all the tabs are correct. Compare the records with the out-of-the-box or working environment.
    • On the Status Flow tab, verify whether the Change Process Flow is default (Standard Process) or custom. If you have used a customized status flow, make sure that you create an end-to-end flow across all the approval phases. Additionally, make sure that the change request is created by using a change template that has the same custom process flow attached to it. For more information, see Configuring-process-flows-and-approvals.
    • Make sure that the information on the Additional Qualifications tab is the same as that on the change request.
    • If any specific approval phase is affected, review all the records of that specific phase.
  • Verify the approval mappings by using the APR:Approver Lookup form:
    • If you are using a non-individual mapping, make sure that at least one user of that support group has the respective functional role added in the People profile with the value of Assignment Availability set to Yes. For example, for support group mapping, the functional role is Infrastructure Change Approver. If the value of Assignment Availability on the mapping is No, contact BMC Support.
  • Verify whether the change request meets the criteria defined in the configured approval mapping.
  • Create a new mapping with minimum criteria and verify that the approvals get attached to the change request. If yes, verify the affected mapping to make sure that it is correctly configured.
    Tip: Remove as much criteria as possible from the affected mapping and then add the criteria back individually to find out which criteria has an issue.
  • From the result list in the Approval Process Configuration form, note the Approval Definition IDs for the affected approval phase. Review the approval mappings for these respective Approval Definition IDs.
    Tip: Sort the approval mapping result list on the Approval Definition ID column and verify the respective approval phase records.
  • To identify whether there is a data issue, create an identical mapping and verify that it is working.
  • Monitor the Application Pending form, to make sure records are not accumulating. To process the records that are stuck, restart the Action Request System to re-initiate the dispatcher process. If the records keep accumulating and are not being processed, seeTroubleshooting when Approval Server fails to process records from Application Pending form .

Duplicate approval signatures are created for a change request

The approval configurations are enabled on more than one Action Request System

For a standalone server, make sure that the Approval-Server-Suspended parameter located in the ar.cfg or the ar.conf file is set to False.

In a server group environment, note the details of the server, which is designated as rank 1 for the Approval Server operation in the AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form (for example, server A). Make sure that the Approval-Server-Suspended parameter located in the ar.cfg or the ar.conf file for that server (server A) is set to False.

Make sure that the Approval Server is enabled only on one admin server, for example, the primary server, which is designated as rank 1. For the other admin or secondary servers, make sure that the approval operation is suspended in the configuration files and set the value of the Approval-Server-Suspended parameter to True.

Important: Set the value of the Approval-Server-Suspended parameter to either True or False on every Action Request System.

The change request gets stuck after being approved or rejected or even when no approvals exist

No process on the Approval Administration Console is active or the approval records are stuck on the Application Pending form.

  • On the Approval Administration Console (AP:Administration), from the Process tab, verify all the CI-IA level processes to make sure that their status is Active.
  • If the approval records are stuck due to unprocessed records of the Application Pending form, seeTroubleshooting when Approval Server fails to process records from Application Pending form .
  • If this is a one-time data issue, see the Reset the active approval flag utility article on BMC Communities.
  • If the issue is randomly reproducible, verify that you can replicate the issue by creating a Copy Change of the affected change request.
  • If you can reproduce the issue, capture the log files, and contact BMC Support.

The Approval Preview functionality for Future Approvers and All Approvers in the Show menu of the Approval table never displays any result

Some issues exist with the plug-in server or the workflow.

  • For all the Action Request Systems (default port 9999), in the ar.cfg or the ar.conf file, make sure that the ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW plug-in exists and that it is not commented. If the plug-in does not exist, manually add the plug-in and restart the Action Request System.

  • Make sure that the ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW preview plug-in entry exists in the pluginsvr_config.xml file.
    Important: If the Approval Server runs on the default plug-in server (port 9999), the file location is <ARSystemInstallDir>/pluginsvr /pluginsvr_config.xml. If the 

    Approval Server

     runs on a separate plug-in server (port 9800), the file location is <ARSystemInstallDir>/Approval/bin/pluginsvr_config.xml.
    For more information, seeConfiguring Approval Server with a separate plug-in server instance.

  • Locate the ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW plug-in entry in the pluginsvr_config.xml file. Make sure that all the included JAR files exist on your Action Request System environment in the same directory location where the pluginsvr_config.xml file points to.
  • Run a test on the AP:PreviewInfo form to find out whether the issue is at the application or workflow level or on the Approval Server side. Open the form and search with the Request ID (Field # 1) field of the change request for multiple processes (separated with a semicolon) and verify that the search results are displayed:
    image2020-1-21_16-3-52.png

    If the test returns the results, review the errors from the workflow side and verify why the workflow is not passing these values properly. If no results are returned or if any error is displayed when you are searching, review the errors on the Approval Server end.
  • Capture the arjavaplugin.log plug-in log and the approval debug log file along with the Filter, API, and SQL transactions log files.

Resolutions for common issues

Symptom

Action

Reference

When you select either Future Approvers or All Approvers from the Show menu of the Approval table of a change request, the following error message is displayed:

Error in plugin : ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW null (ARERR 8753)

Additionally, the following NullPointerException with preview plug-in file is displayed in the log files:

at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) 
2015-02-06 14:56:32,857 ERROR [pool-4-thread-1] com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.a (?:?) - getListEntryWithFields() FAILs in plugin: ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW 
java.lang.NullPointerException 
(...)

From the ar.cfg file, change the Server-Plugin-Alias parameter value from:

Server-Plugin-Alias: ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW ServerName.ext.ext:9999

to

Server-Plugin-Alias: ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW ServerName:9999

For more information, see the KA000087340 knowledge base article.

The Approval Preview functionality for Future Approvers and All Approvers does not work.

Important: This issue is random.

This issue can occur when the approval server is not configured correctly on all the Action Request Systems in a server group environment.

  1. Set the value of the Approval-Server-Suspended parameter to either True or False in the ar.cfg file of every Action Request System in the server group environment.
    Although the approval feature is enabled on a single admin server, the approval preview requests can get routed to any of the servers.
  2. Make sure that the ARSYS.ARDBC.PREVIEW plug-in exists, and that the related entry is not commented in the ar.cfg file.

The configured approvals are not getting attached to the change request that uses a custom process flow.

  1. On the Approval Process Configuration form (APR:SYS-Approval Definition), open the company or global company records of the related approval process.
  2. On the Status Flow tab, verify the value of the Change Process Flow menu. If the value is Standard Process flow, this approval configuration record is not used for the change request that uses a custom process flow.
  3. Create a new record for the same approval process and select the custom process flow by using the Change Process Flow menu. Make sure that the status of the created new record is set to Enabled.
    Important: This configuration will take effect on newly created change requests that use the selected custom process flow.

For more information, see Configuring custom process flows.

Not all approvers of the support group receive the approval requests even though the approver is a part of the support group with the required functional role.

If the configuration is correct, this issue can occur due to data issues with the AP:Role and the APR:Approver Lookup records.

Delete the relevant functional roles for the user (approver) from the CTM:People record, save the changes, and then add the same functional roles back in and save.

To correct the AP:Role and the APR:Approver Lookup records, see Approval role and mapping records utility.

This utility is effective when a large number of records are affected.

All the approvers of the support group receive the approval requests. However, the change request progresses even though only one approver either approves or rejects the request.

Set the value of the If Multiple Approvers field of AP:Role form to All Must Sign for the respective support group record that is related to the relevant functional role.

For example, if the support group is Back office Support (Support Group ID SGP000000000009) and the functional role to authorize the approval is Change Approver (CAB-Member), the relevant record is with the Role Name SGP000000000009 | CAB-Member.

Important: This action requires a response from every approver for the change request to progress.

For more information, see Form to create role definitions for approval processes .

For more information about how to configure the If Multiple Approvers field, see the Working with "If Multiple Approvers" article on BMC Communities.

You cannot view and approve change requests that are submitted for approval in Smart IT.

As a change request approver, you must have permission to view and approve change requests in Smart IT. You will not be able to view and approve change requests in the following scenarios:

  • You belong to Company A, but have received a change request for approval from Company B. You do not have permissions to approve for Company B.
  • You do not have permissions of a change agent, but you were added as an ad hoc approver for a change request.

Depending on the reason for not being able to view and approve change requests, ensure that the administrator provides you with the following access:

  • Other company (Company B) and the specific support group of that company.
  • Hierarchical group permission to the specific support group of your company (Company A). 
  • Permissions of a change agent.

Irrespective of the permissions required to approve change requests, you can still approve them through Approval Central in BMC Helix ITSM.


 

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