Creating and managing change freeze schedules

The change freeze schedules can be either one-time or recurring and configured to strictly prohibit changes or require additional approvals to proceed with the changes. Here are some examples for when you can define change freeze schedules:

• Create a one-time change freeze during a significant product launch or upgrade to maintain stability.
• Create a one-time change freeze for a product category to prevent any changes while the company plans a replacement.
• Create a one-time change freeze for a specific configuration item to prevent disruption during a significant business event.
• Create recurring change freeze schedules during working hours for a Company at the Site level.
• Create recurring change freeze schedules for critical services or configuration items during end-of-year financial closure activities.
• Create recurring change freeze schedules around major holidays when support staff availability is limited. Configure the change freeze schedule to require additional approvals for minor changes.

The change freeze schedule feature is available only on the Progressive Web App (PWA) screens. The Enforce Global Time Segments setting in the change rules form is only honored when the Enable change freeze setting is false. For more information, see Configuring-change-rules.

Before you begin

• Make sure your administrator has set the value of the enableChangeFreeze CCS parameter to true in the Centralized configuration. For more information, see Setting configuration parameters.
• You must have Infrastructure Change Master or Infrastructure Change Config permission to create, view, and edit change freeze schedules in the calendar.

To create a change freeze schedule

1. From the BMC Helix ITSM Calendar based on BMC Helix Innovation Studio, click Create new > Change freeze.
   
    

2. In the Dates section, select the values for scheduled dates and time.

   Tip

   • To define an all-day event, select 12:00:00 A.M. of the first day for the start time, and select 12:00:00 A.M. of the following day for the end time.
   • For a one-day event, use the same start day and end day and then set the End Time to 11:59:59 P.M. When the calculation is performed, the end of the day is considered the whole day, including the final second.

   Important

   When you create a change freeze, the dates and time displayed are in server time. In the calendar, the change freeze dates and time are displayed in client time. For more information about adjusting the time zone differences between the client and the server, see Using time zones.

   
    

3. In the Duration type field, select One time for a single occurrence of the change freeze, or a recurring type.
   The recurring change freeze must be scheduled within a 24-hour period and cannot span across multiple days. Based on the option you select, the fields change for recurring change freezes as shown in the following table. 

   Duration type	Description
   Specific dates
   Daily
   Weekly
   Monthly
   Yearly

4. In the General section, select the Company.
5. In the Type field, select Change prohibited or Requires approval.
   Select Change prohibited if you want to restrict any change during the change freeze window. Select Requires approval if you want a change to require additional approval to proceed further during the change freeze window. For information about configuring approver mappings for change freeze schedules, see Configuring-approval-mappings-for-change-and-release-management.
6. In the Summary field, add a description for the change freeze.
   
    

7. In the Based on field, select an option based on which the change freeze is to be created.
   Depending on what you selected, the associated fields are displayed as given in the following table:

   Based on	Associated fields
   Business event	Region, Site group, and Site
   Configuration items (CIs)	Add configuration items (CIs)
   Product category	Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Product name, Model/Version, Region, Site group, and Site
   Operational category	Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Region, Site group, and Site

8. Enter the values for the required fields given in the following table to define a change freeze schedule for the business event, CI, or categorizations:

   Based on	Required fields to create change freeze
   Business event	Company
   Configuration items (CIs)	Company, search and add at least one CI
   Product category	Company and Tier 1
   Operational category	Company and Tier 1

9. (Optional) Click + Add configuration items (CIs) to add multiple items to the change freeze when you select Configuration items (CIs) as the Based on option.
10. (Optional) Click + Add to add multiple items to the change freeze when you select Product category as the Based on option.
11. Click Save.
    The change freeze schedules are displayed in the calendar.