Configuring approval processes
Remedy IT Service Management is shipped with recommended approval process configuration records that are predefined and loaded for you with the application. The approval process configuration records for managing change requests are tightly integrated with the Approval Server. The Approval Server is shipped with the Remedy AR System Server and should be installed on the same computer as Remedy IT Service Management. The Approval Server is automatically installed with the Remedy AR System Server and is used to create the needed approval signature records that the approver uses to either approve or reject the request. These records also act as audit records. For more information about the Approval Sever, see Setting up the approval process.
When the approval signature records are created, you can configure the approval authentication, that is, before approving or rejecting an approval, as an approver, you must enter your password. For more information, see Setting up authentication for change request approvers.
Overview
In order to manage your change request approval process, you must understand the following:
- The different state transitions that a change request must pass through at a high-level
- How to map approval processes to approval phases
- How to define approvers for each phase
When you create and save a company-specific approval process configurations (for example, the review approval process), the system automatically creates the remaining approval process configuration records for your company, based on the default global settings. You can edit these approval process configuration records as needed.
In addition, after you have created approval process configuration records for a company, the Global processes are no longer valid for your company.
As a result, if you disable the Review approval process configuration record for your company and a change request reaches the Review phase, the Approval Server skips the company Review approval phase (because it is offline) and ignores the Global Review approval phase (even if it is enabled). The change continues to the next status. To revert to the Global configuration, the status of all company approval process configuration records must be offline.
In a multi-tenancy environment, you can combine approval processes as needed. That is, you might decide Calbro Services needs company-specific approval processes, but DEF Company can use the default global processes.
About configuration data records
Change Management uses the approval process configuration data in conjunction with the process flow configuration data to determine which approval process to use when a change request reaches a given state as defined in the Begin field. Once in the Begin state, the Change Management application looks for approvers that have been configured in the Approval Mapping form. If no approvers are found, the application sets the change status to the value corresponding in the No Approvers field. If there are approvers, then the next state depends upon the approval outcome. If the approver rejects the change request, the request is placed in the state defined in the Rejected field. If the approver approves the change request, it will be placed in the state defined in the Approved field.
To access the out-of-the-box approval process configuration data, log in to Remedy IT Service Management as an administrator and open the Approval Process Configuration form. Perform a search with the value of the Form Name as CHG:Infrastructure Change to view the following out-of-the-box configuration data records:
Configuration data records | Description |
|---|---|
Standard Process – Review stage | The approval configuration record for the Review approval stage. |
Standard Process – Business Approval stage - No Impact change | The approval configuration record for the Business Approval stage when you set the value of the Change Class field to No Impact for the change request. |
Standard Process – Business Approval stage | The approval configuration record for the Business Approval stage. |
Standard Process – Implementation Approval stage | The approval configuration record for the Implementation Approval stage. |
Standard Process – Close Down Approval stage | The approval configuration record for the Close Down Approval stage. |
Standard Process - Automation System – Implementation Approval stage | A modified version of the Standard Process approval configuration record for the Implementation Approval stage when you set the value of the Change Type field to Automation System for the change request. |
The Approval Process tab of the Approval Process Configuration form displays the approval process that is defined in the Process Name field and that is used by the application when the change record is in the process stage defined in the Phase Name field. The approval process is pre-configured using the Approval Server. For example, the approval process that is used with this configuration is the Change Level CI-IA Review and is defined in the Process Name field for the Review stage.
The Status Flow tab of the Approval Process Configuration form displays the state at which the approval process begins and the state in which the record is placed based on the approval results.
The Additional Qualifications tab, displays additional parameters that you can use to select different approval configuration records based on the Type and Class and Timing Reason fields found on the Change form. For example, the Standard Process – Automated System approval configuration record has the value of the Change Type field (visible from the IT Service Management Change Classic view) as Automation System.
For more information about the approval process configuration, see: