This documentation supports the 23.3 version of BMC Helix Change Management.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Registering time segments in Change Management

In Mid Tier, registering time segments in BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management works like a reservation system in calendar. If you schedule a meeting in a certain conference room, nobody else can reserve the conference room at the same time. Similarly, you can block out time segments around business events (such as company holidays), categorizations (Operational Category 1, 2, or 3, and location of the change), or CIs. Time segments enable you to define windows of time that you can designate as available or unavailable when working on a change request. An available time segment can specify that a CI is available for use, while an unavailable time segment can be used to schedule planned maintenance.

When you create a change request that modifies a CI, for example, if you must replace a mission-critical server, you can schedule a time segment for the CI that shows it is unavailable to the rest of the support staff. If another member of the support staff wants that CI to be available, they should schedule their own change in a different time segment.

Time segments enable you to perform the following tasks:

  • Search available time segments to schedule the change request.
  • Connect the selected time segments to the change request's operational categorization or to a business event based on location.
  • Create time segments or use time segments around the associated CIs.
  • Select unavailable time segments from the associated CIs to help you plan the Scheduled Start or End Date and time for the change request.
  • Select from available time segments from the associated CIs to help schedule work to be done.

For more information about business time and time segments, see Defining business schedules using Business Time  in the Action Request System documentation.

For more information about registering time segments in Change Management , see the following topics:


Understanding server time, time zones, and time segments

When adding time segments, if the client and the server are in different time zones, all the dates and times for the Business Time Segments are displayed in the adjusted server time zone; that is, the Start Date, Start Time, End Date, and End Time on the Business Time Segment form, and the time segment related date and times that are displayed in the table, appear in the adjusted server time zone. The other dates and times on the remainder of the form are in the client's time zone.

For example:

  • If your server is located in the EST time zone and your client is located in the PST time zone, the adjusted server time zone is determined by converting the time zone of the place at which the Business Time Segment was created to the time zone that is at the physical location of the server.
  • If your server is located in the CST time zone and your client is located in the PST time zone, the time displayed on the server is increased by two hours (to include both, the MST and PST time zones). However, if your client is located in the EST time zone, the time displayed on the server is decreased by one hour.

Because all the time segments must be adjusted into the time zone of the client, if the ticket was created in the PST time zone, the details must be adjusted to the PST time zone and if a Time Segment for a server was defined in the CST time zone, you must adjust it to the PST time zone when creating the time segment for the client.

For more information about adjusting the time zone differences between the client and the server, see Using time zones  in the Action Request System documentation.

 

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