PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM 9.1 Call Center Applications PeopleBook

Using Change Management

This chapter provides overviews of accessing and managing change requests and discusses how to:

Access change requests.
Manage basic change request information.
Manage tasks.
Manage notes.
Manage related changes.
Manage related actions.
Manage interested parties.
Review change request history.

See Also

Setting Up PeopleSoft Change Management

Understanding Change Request Access

This section discusses the five ways to access change requests:

Through the HelpDesk menu.

Navigate to HelpDesk, Add Change Request or HelpDesk, Search Change Requests.

Note. If you want to create a new change request, the system displays a blank Change Request page. If you want to search for existing change requests, the system displays the configured search page for Change Management.
From the HelpDesk Case page.

From the HelpDesk Case page, the Actions section enables the user to directly create a new change request. Creating the request for change from the case creates a direct link between the change request and the case. You can view the change request from the case and the case from the change request.
From the Quality Management - Defect page.

Using the Related Actions functionality, you can create a new change request directly from the defect. Also, you can identify and link an existing change request to the defect. Linking causes the change request to be viewed from the defect, and the defect to be viewed from the change request.
From the Worker 360-Degree View page.

This page provides the ability to both add a new change request from the employee view, and to view any requests already added by that employee.
From Employee Self Service.

You can add a change request by navigating to Employee Self Service, HelpDesk, Add Change Request.

Understanding Change Request Management

This section discusses:

Main Change Request page.
Notes page.
Tasks page.
History page.
Related Changes page.
Related Actions page.
Interested Parties page.

Main Change Request Page

You can access the main Change Request page by using any of the five available methods. After the page appears, you can see the six distinct sections on the Change Request page:

Requestor Information section.

The user must enter a change request requester. The agent can select a person from any available employee record. The system provides the default values for the requester's department, location, manager’s name, and manager’s telephone fields from the employee record that was selected.
Change Request section.

In this section, you record information about the nature of the change request. The Summary, Business Unit, Request Type, Status, and Priority fields are required to save the change request. The other fields are informational only. You configure values for these fields. You set up these values by navigating to Set Up CRM, Product Related, Change Management.

See Setting Up PeopleSoft Change Management.
Product Information section.

This section enables you to link a particular product to a change request.

Users can link affected product groups or installed products to the change request using the Lookup button. They can refine the affected product further by linking the specific asset tag of the item affected. The View Affected Parties link appears when the selected installed product has specific employees linked to it. Clicking this button results in the appearance of all of the linked employees.
Change Control section.

This section is used to record more specific information about the change request. The Impact, Category, Release #, Resolution, and Requested By Date fields are informational only.

The start dates and start and end times are not only informational; the system uses these fields to calculate duration. The 24/7 check box enables work to be scheduled beyond a normal Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 work week.

The system uses the values entered in the Schedule subsection as a guide for the phase and for the task start and end dates. All phase and task dates, whether built manually in the Phase Summary section on the main Change Request page or populated automatically from the Phase Model setup option, are not allowed to start before the start date indicated in the Schedule subsection in the Change Control section. The system provides the value in the End Date field by default. It is the last date on the last task when the phase model or task model was either built or automatically loaded.
Phase Summary section.

Use this section to manage the phases and tasks that are associated to a change request. Only phases are displayed in this grid. You can view associated tasks and phases on the Tasks page. Each phase in the Phase Summary section consists of a task or set of tasks that need to be completed in order for a change to be successful. Any required approvals should be presented in the form of an approval task.

See Tasks Page.

You can build phases manually in this grid. Alternatively, you can have the system automatically populate phases and tasks by selecting a template and clicking the Load button.

See Setting Up Phase Templates.

You can load any template by choosing the appropriate template name and clicking the Load button.

If users click the Load button without first selecting a phase template, all phase templates whose type, subtype, or priority fields match the type, subtype, and priority fields of the change request appear. Users then select the desired phase template, thus populating the phases in the Phase Summary grid and tasks on the Task page. You can manually build phases by clicking the Add Phase button.
Audit History section.

This section tracks the dates and times that the change request was created and modified.

Note. The Change Control, Phase Summary, and Audit History sections are collapsed by default when you access the Change Request page.

See Accessing Change Requests.

Notes Page

Notes pages follow the standard Notes and Attachments format that is used throughout the PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM application suite. During the course of a change cycle, specific types of documentation may be required, such as backout plans, design documents, or a cost benefit analysis.

To identify these common documents within a specific note, PeopleSoft Change Management provides a Note Type field. Before adding an attachment to the note, you can identify the note type from the drop-down list box. The user configures the values in this field.

See Also

Working with Notes and Attachments

Tasks Page

The Tasks page displays all tasks, process flow steps, and decision points that are associated with a Change Request. PeopleSoft Change Management carries the task ID link to point to the Task Management application for the actual definition of the task.

Task Management tracks each task associated with a change request. Change Management uses Task Management functions for task groups to further define and control the process flow of a change request.

Tasks can be added, deleted, and edited from this page. They can be added automatically using the phase model or added manually.

Note. When an owner is added or changed on a change request, and at least one task is in the status of In Progress, the system displays a message asking if the change request owner should be applied to any uncompleted tasks. If the user clicks No, the system does not apply the owner on the change request to any tasks when the change request is saved. If the user clicks Yes, the system applies the owner on the change request to all uncompleted tasks that are not canceled when the change request is saved. If there are no tasks with the status of In Progress, then the system applies the owner change to all tasks on the change request, and the user does not receive a message. The system automatically makes the change.

See Also

Managing Tasks

History Page

AAF events control the process flow of a change request. Whenever an event is processed on a change request, it is audited and then appears on the History Events page.

Whenever a change is processed on a change request, it is audited and then appears on the History Audit page. The records to be audited are configurable when you set up your PeopleSoft CRM applications. History interactions appear when email is used to notify an assigned worker of a task action or status change.

Related Changes Page

The Related Changes page provides the ability to link similar change requests in either a parent/child or an equal relationship.

A status change is referred to as cascading when a status change on one change request causes the same status change on one or more change requests automatically. Cascading changes occur when a user manually changes the status or when an AAF rule executes unattended.

Several conditions must exist for cascading status changes to occur. First, the change request whose status is being changed must be related to another change request. Two characteristics define each relationship:

Type
Hierarchical indication

When the type is Global and the hierarchy indicator is a parent of the change request whose status is changing, then a cascading status occurs. If the status change is to a final type status (such as Closed, Completed, or Rejected) then the system displays a related change request with the two characteristics. These changes apply to online manual status changes.

For AAF rule execution status changes, the status is cascaded automatically when the Changed To status is marked as a cascading type status (see Status setup for this indicator).

Note. PeopleSoft Change Management does not deliver a definition or AAF rule for rule execution status changes. You can, however create your own rules using the PeopleSoft AAF functionality.

See Working with Active Analytics Framework.

Related Actions Page

PeopleSoft Change Management also provides the ability to link cases and defects to a change. If a change request was initiated by defect identification or from a help desk case, you can link those defects and cases directly to the change request.

Linking a defect or case to a change request enables the user to drill down into these other objects directly from PeopleSoft Change Management. It also causes the change to be linked to the defect or case, and provides the ability to drill down into the Change Request from either PeopleSoft HelpDesk or PeopleSoft Quality Management.

Conversely, you can create and link change requests to defects from PeopleSoft Quality Management and to cases from PeopleSoft HelpDesk. Linking from either of these two applications also creates the linkage in PeopleSoft Change Management.

Linking cases and defects also causes status updates to be forwarded to the help desk agent or the quality analyst. You can determine and configure the type and frequency of the updates using AAF policies.

You will not be able to create either a case or a defect from PeopleSoft Change Management. Similarly, no cascading status functionality exists among cases, defects, and change requests.

Interested Parties Page

Interested parties, such as individuals who are not part of the change process by way of an assigned task or role, can receive notifications and updates about the change status through their inclusion on the Interested Parties page.

Users can designate interested parties to receive updates for only specific phases or for all phases.

Interested parties are limited to employees. You can determine and configure the type and frequency of the updates using AAF policies.

Accessing Change Requests

This section discusses how to add new change requests and access existing change requests.

Page Used to Access Change Requests

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Change Requests search page	RG_CHANGE_SRCH	HelpDesk, Search Change Requests Employee Self-Service, HelpDesk, Manage A Change Request Worker 360 - Degree View, Change Requests, Search Requests	Access existing search requests.

Accessing Existing Change Requests

Access the Change Requests search page (HelpDesk, Search Change Requests).

If the field that you are looking for to search by does not appear on the basic search page, use the advanced search page or click the Personalize Search link and select any unchecked search fields that you wish to use.

The system displays the Personalize Search Settings page if the system administrator has made this page available to you. You can use this page to select additional fields to appear on the search page.

If you still do not see the field that you are looking for, contact your system administrator. Remember that you can enter part of the whole value in most fields, depending on what operators are set for a given search field. Most of these values are also user defined. They are based on the needs of your organization.

See Also

Defining Change Management Preferences

Configuring Search Pages

Personalizing the Search Page

Performing Searches

Managing Basic Change Request Information

This section discusses how to:

Manage basic change request information.
Add change requests from employee self-service.
Manage change requests from employee self-service.

Pages Used to Manage Basic Change Request Information

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Change Request	RG_CHANGE_REQUEST	HelpDesk, Add Change Request HelpDesk, Add Case Select Change Request from the Related Actions drop-down list box in the Actions section.	Add new change requests.
Add Change Request	RG_CHANGE_REQ_SS	Employee Self-Service, HelpDesk, Add Change Request	Add new change requests in HelpDesk Self-Service.
Manage Change Requests	RG_CHANGE_SS_SRCH	Employee Self-Service, HelpDesk, Manage A Change Request	Search for and access change requests in HelpDesk Self-Service.
Collect Attributes for Change Request	RG_ATTR_PROD_SEC	HelpDesk, Add Change Request Click the Collect Attributes icon on the Manage Product grid of the main Change Request page.	Add or edit attributes to be associated for each installed product on a change request.

Managing Basic Change Request Information

Access the Change Request page (HelpDesk, Add Change Request).

Use the fields on this page to define the nature of the change you are proposing.

Use the Change Request section to record basic information associated to a change request, such as a summary, type, reason and priority.

Description	Manually enter a description of the change request, or enter a value by selecting a Text Tray value.
Status	Enter the status of the change request. Once a change request is associated with a status whose category is Closed or Canceled, the Audit History section of the page is updated with the date and time of that status change, as well as the userID and name of the person who made that change.
Duration	If the change request necessitates a service outage, specify the length of time for that outage in this field.
Units	Select the unit of time that applies to the number entered in the Duration field.

Use the Product Information section to manage the products and installed products that are associated to a change request.

Product Group	Select the desired product group.
Product	Select the desired product. This is a required field. The choices available for product are limited to the appropriate setID, which is derived from the business unit of the change request. If a product group has already been specified, the available options for selecting a product are further limited to those within that product group. The installed product entry (Asset Tag value) will be defaulted onto the page if one and only one installed product exists for the specified product for the person listed as the Change Requestor. If you select a product and there are installed product entries associated with the product for multiple people, the system displays a link on far right side of the grid entitled Affected Parties to provide you with a way to display who has that product installed. This tells you who may be affected by the change request.
Asset Tag	Enter the desired asset tag number. You may prompt for valid installed product (asset) entries by using the lookup (magnifying glass) icon to the right of this field.
	Click the Collect Attributes icon to display the Collect Attributes for Change Request page. The actual format and number of attributes will depend on what attributes (and their associated conditions) have been configured for a change request.
	The disabled Collect Attributes icon is displayed if attributes are not enabled for change requests for that installed product. No attribute collection is possible for that row in the grid.
From Owner (located on the Ownership tab of the Product Information grid)	This field will display the current owner of the selected installed product.
To Owner (located on the Ownership tab of the Product Information grid)	Select the person to whom ownership of the installed product should be transferred. This value will default to the change request Requester unless the current owner identified for the installed product is already the Requester. When a change request is saved with a Status set to a Category of Closed, the corresponding installed product entry will be updated with this person's name as the new owner.

Use the Change Control section to record important data associated to a change request, such as the impact, category and change requestor.

Requested By Date

Enter the requested completion date for the change request.

Use the Phase Summary section to manage the phases and tasks that are associated to a change request. Only phases appear in this grid. You can also view tasks and the phases that are associated to them from the Tasks page.

Each phase in the Phase Summary section consists of a task or set of tasks that needs to be completed for a change to be successful. Any required approvals should also be presented in the form of an approval task.

Note. The Text Tray option available on the change request Toolbar enables the user to quickly populate text tray entries into the Description on the main Change Request page.

See Understanding Change Request Management.

Capturing Change Request Attributes

Access the Change Request - Collect Attributes for Change Request page (HelpDesk, Add Change Request, click the Collect Attributes icon on the Manage Product grid of the main Change Request page).

Enter the desired attribute values for each installed product (asset) entry listed on the Change Request page. When a change request is saved with a Status set to a Category of Closed, any non-blank attribute values from the change request will be copied to the identically named attributes of the corresponding installed product entry.

Attributes are user-defined and are associated independently to each permitted component. Only attributes that are associated to both the Change Request and Installed Product components (with similar conditions, if any) will be considered when updating the installed product attributes upon saving a closed change request.

See , Configuring Attributes.

Adding Change Requests from Employee Self-Service

Access the Add Change Request page (Employee Self-Service, HelpDesk, Add Change Request).

Use the fields on this page to define the nature of the change you are proposing. Many of the fields in the Change Request section are dependent on each other in that the values change based on your previous selection. Click Submit when you are finished.

Managing Change Requests from Employee Self-Service

Access the Manage Change Requests page (Employee Self-Service, HelpDesk, Manage A Change Request).

Select one of the predefined searches from the Predefined Search drop-down list box. Click Search. The system displays the change requests that match the search criteria you selected. Click the link under the Change Request column to access the change request you submitted.

Managing Notes

This section discusses how to:

Manage notes.
View notes and attachments.

Pages Used to Manage Notes

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Change Request - Notes	RG_CHANGE_NOTE	HelpDesk, Add Change Request Click the Notes tab. HelpDesk, Add Case Select Change Request from the Related Actions drop-down list box in the Actions section, and then select the Notes page.	Add notes and attachments to change requests.
View Note	RB_VIEW_NOTE_SEC	Select the notes you want to view and then click the View button on the Change Request - Notes page.	View the content of notes and attachments related to the change request.

Managing Notes

Access the Change Request - Notes page (HelpDesk, Add Change Request, click the Notes tab).

When adding a new note to the change request, the note Description field may be populated using a Text Tray entry.

Notes functionality is similar across all PeopleSoft CRM applications. For instructions on using the Notes page, refer to the following PeopleBook:

See Also

Working with Notes and Attachments

Viewing Notes and Attachments

Access the View Note page (select a note and click the View button on the Change Request - Notes page).

Note. Use this page to view notes and attachments related to the change request. Click Return to go back to the Notes page.

Managing Tasks

This section discusses how to manage tasks.

Page Used to Manage Tasks

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Change Request - Tasks	RG_CHG_TASKS	HelpDesk, Add Change Request Click the Tasks tab. HelpDesk, Add Case Select Change Request from the Related Actions drop-down list box in the Actions section, and then select the Tasks tab.	Manage tasks in PeopleSoft Change Management.

Managing Tasks

Access the Change Request - Tasks page (HelpDesk, Add Change Request, click the Tasks tab).

Adding tasks in PeopleSoft Change Management is similar to the process that is used in PeopleSoft Support and HelpDesk. For instructions on using the Tasks page refer to these PeopleBook sections:

See Adding Tasks to a Case.

See Managing Tasks.

Reviewing Change Request History

This section provides an overview of change request history and discusses how to:

View the event history of a change request.
View the audit trail of a change request.

Understanding Change Request History

The Change Request History page includes an Events subpage and an Audit subpage:

Change request history provides a summary of the major events in the life cycle of a change request.
Change request auditing complements change request history processing by providing an automated mechanism for keeping a detailed change history without cluttering the Change Request History page.

Some overlap is acceptable in the data that these pages capture.

Change Request History Page

This page displays information about major events in the life of the change request, including a description of the event and details of any field changes that are associated with the event. The following mechanisms insert data into the change request history table:

Change Request History AAF policy.

At save time, the system evaluates record- and field-level conditions that you define. When the condition is true, the system adds a row of change request history data.
Workflow AAF policy (including service-level workflow).

The system triggers a workflow action under conditions that you define. The event processing definition includes a check box that you select if you want to create change request history when the workflow is triggered.
Manual notifications.

The system adds change request history whenever a user sends a manual notification from the change request.

See Sending Manual Notifications.

Audit History Page

This page displays record-level changes to change request data. Your organization chooses which fields in the record to audit and the types of changes to capture (adding, updating, displaying, or deleting). However, there is no conditional logic to evaluate the before and after values of the field. The system captures all audited actions regardless of the field value.

Working with Active Analytics Framework

Working with Interactions

Prerequisite

Your organization must define event sets that tell the system which events to capture on the Change Request - History page.

Configuring Case History Actions

Pages Used to Review Change Request History

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Change Request History - Events	RG_CHG_HISTORY	HelpDesk, Add Change Request Select the Show more tabs button and then click the History page. HelpDesk, Add Case Select Change Request from the Related Actions drop-down list box in the Actions section. Select the Show more tabs button. Select the History page.	View a summary of important events in the life cycle of a change request.
Change Request History - Audit	RG_CHG_HISTORY	Click the Audit link on the Change Request History page.	View detailed information about changes to specific fields in the change request.

Viewing the Event History of a Change Request

Access the Change Request History - Events page (HelpDesk, Add Change Request, select the Show more tabs button and then click the History page).

Audit

Click to display the Audit History page.

Events

Describes the event.

These fields are either populated through AAF processing or whenever a user sends a manual notification from the change request.

Viewing the Audit Trail of a Change Request

Access the Change Request History - Audit page (click the Audit link on the Change Request History page).

Your organization chooses which fields in the record to audit and the types of changes to capture (adding, updating, displaying, or deleting).

Managing Related Changes

This section discusses how to manage related changes.

Page Used to Manage Related Changes

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Change Request - Related Changes	RG_REL_CHANGES	HelpDesk, Add Change Request Click the Related Changes tab. HelpDesk, Add Case Select Change Request from the Related Actions drop-down list box in the Actions section, and then select the Related Changes page.	Relate your change request to another change request.

Managing Related Changes

Access the Change Request - Related Changes page (HelpDesk, Add Change Request, click the Related Changes tab).

Managing related changes in PeopleSoft Change Management is similar to the process that is used to manage related cases, which is described the documentation for PeopleSoft Support and HelpDesk. For instructions on using the Related Changes page, refer to this PeopleBook:

See Also

Managing Related Cases

Managing Related Actions

This section discusses how to manage related actions.

Page Used to Manage Related Actions

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Change Request - Related Actions	RG_REL_OBJECTS	HelpDesk, Add Change Request Click the Related Actions tab. HelpDesk, Add Case Select Change Request from the Related Actions drop-down list box in the Actions section, and then select the Related Actions page.	Relate actions to the change request.

Managing Related Actions

Access the Change Request - Related Actions page (HelpDesk, Add Change Request, click the Related Actions tab).

Managing related actions in PeopleSoft Change Management is similar to the process that is used to manage related actions in PeopleSoft Support and HelpDesk. For instructions on using the Related Actions page, refer this PeopleBook:

See Also

Managing Related Actions

Managing Interested Parties

This section discusses how to manage interested parties for a change request.

Pages Used to Manage Interested Parties

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Change Request - Interested Parties	RG_CHG_INT_PARTY	HelpDesk, Add Change Request Click the Interested Parties tab. HelpDesk, Add Case Select Change Request from the Related Actions drop-down list box in the Actions section, and then select the Interested Parties page.	Manage interested parties in a change request.

Managing Interested Parties in Change Management

Access the Change Request - Interested Parties page (HelpDesk, Add Change Request, click the Interested Parties tab).

Managing interested parties in PeopleSoft Change Management is similar to the process that is used to manage interested parties in PeopleSoft Support and HelpDesk. For instructions on using the Interested Parties page, refer to this PeopleBook.

See Also

Identifying Interested Parties