Hi,
For Changes we are looking into the possibility of using the 'Proposed Change' right click option for 'Affected CIs' to allow the 'Assigned to' of the Change to ensure the CMDB is updated according to the scope of the Change.
We are currently running 'Helsinki' where the 'Proposed Change' functionality is very immature.
So I created a developer instance running 'Jakarta' where I can unfortunately conclude that there are no real improvements in this area.
WHAT I SEE IN JAKARTA AND WHAT I WOULD EXPECT
I create a new 'Normal' change and put a server CI named 'DatabaseServer1' as 'configuration item':
When the change is saved the CI is automatically added under 'Affected CIs' (where I can chose to add more affected CIs):
I now have the option to right click each of the related 'Affected CIs' and chose 'Proposed Change':
Which reveals the form of the CI class:
Here I see the first challenge if the user trying to propose an update to the CI does not have the 'asset' role.
In this example the 'Beth Anglin' sample user has the 'asset' role, but what if we only want a few people to have the 'asset' role allowing the CIs to be directly updated (not from a Change)?
What if we would allow the 'itil' role or a new role to update certain CI classes/fields, but only through 'Proposed Change' and not directly in the CMDB forms?
And what if we through 'Proposed Change' would also allow the change assignee to create a new CI (for instance a new Server CI) how can that be achieved (in a Change it is ootb only possible to propose updates to already existing CIs)?
If I then as the 'Beth Anglin' add a value in the 'OS Domain' field and hit the 'Save Proposed Change' I'm then if browsing to the Server CI able to add the field 'CMDB Scheduled Changes' to the layout which will show the pending update:
But from the Change record there is no way to see pending CI updates related to the Change without opening each of the related 'Affected CIs' which would be nice!
If I then move the Change forward to state 'Implement' a 'Apply Proposed Changes' button will be revealed:
It makes sense this button is not revealed until the 'Implement' state, but I see a problem if the change assignee clicks this button and thus applies all the proposed updates to the 'Affected CIs' and then the Change is afterwards cancelled. Or if the change assignee never clicks the 'Apply Proposed Changes' button and the Change is then Closed, then the proposed updates to the CI will keep pending, but it is no longer possible to apply them (only way to get rid of the proposed updates then seems to be to mess with the task_ci record related to the closed Change and remove the XML.
I think a better solution would be not to have such a button, but instead automatically apply the proposed CI updates when the Change reaches the 'Review' state.
I suppose this could be done by disabling the UI Action for the 'Apply Proposed Changes' and then copying the script from the UI Action record to a script which is triggered when the change reaches the 'Review' state?
But even if doing so I still see a problem if the Change is cancelled after the proposed CI updates have been automatically applied, or if the Change is moved to state 'Closed' as "Unsuccessful".
In the 'Review' state and even in the 'Closed' state there should be a 'Roll Back Proposed Changes' button, or perhaps even better if the Change is cancelled the applied CI updates will be automatically rolled back.
Does anybody know how to make such a button including the required script?
Since I clicked the 'Apply Proposed Changes' button the Server CI is now updated from the Change:
However, looking at the CIs audit history I see the field has been updated by user Beth Anglin, but nowhere I seem to be able to see it logged that it was done authorized in relation to implemented Change CHG0030004:
Anyway to ensure that the Change number is also logged?
Finally if I want to propose CI updates from a change task in Jakarta that throws this error even when the parent change is in state 'New':
That seems like a bug right since I would also expect it possible from a Change Task record to propose updates to CIs which would then be applied when the parent change reaches 'Implement' or 'Review' and the 'Apply Proposed Changes' button it clicked?
Am I the only one who feels that ServiceNow really should focus on improving the functionality of 'Proposed Change'?
