Change Management Approvals
RFC's have an Approvals module for Change Management. This allows managers to review RFC's ensuring direct decisions are made, and consistent, appropriate development and implementation is enforced.
The basis for the approval process are the Approval Policies, which are first created and defined so they can be applied to the relevant RFC's. See Manage RFC Policy for details on creating Policies.
Within an RFC is the Approval tab which is where a Policy can be applied to an RFC.
The fields/controls in the Approvals tab are as follows:
| Field/Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Start Approval button | Starts the approval process after the policy has been applied |
| Apply Policy button | Applies a Policy to an RFC based on the fields selected in RFC Details and the corresponding RFC Policy specified in the Manage RFC Policy section |
| Refresh button | Refreshes the Approval details showing the most up to date information |
| Policy Name | The name of the Policy that has been applied to the RFC |
| Decision Due Date | Specifies the Due Date for the Approval decision based on the Policy |
| Policy Type | The type of policy that has been applied |
| Decision Completed | Specifies the date when the when the Approval Decision is completed |
| Approval Status | The status of the Approval |
| Min No. Approvers | Specifies the minimum number of Approvers before the RFC can go ahead |
| Approver Log | Shows the Approver Log which includes the fields: LogID, Approver, Status, Mandatory, Last Updated, Actions |
| Approver History | Shows the Approver History which includes the fields: Date/Time, Action By, Type of Action, Subject, From, To, CC, BCC, Details |
Approval Email Notifications
versaSRSMailOut is responsible for generating and sending Approval notification emails once Start Approval has been selected for an RFC.
An Approval email notification will only be generated if:
- RFC Status = 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 (New, Open, Pending, Stalled, Re-Opened)
- RFC Approval Status = 2, 5 (Pending Approval, Evaluating)
This is determined by looking at the RFC's listed within the database table, tbl_ChangeRequests.
NOTE: Once Start Approval is applied to an RFC, the RFC Approval Status is set to 2 (Pending Approval).
For each RFC that meets the criteria above, a list of Approvers is determined.
This is determined by retrieving the appropriate Approvers for the RFC from the database table, tbl_ChangeRequestApprovalLog.
In the case of a Sequential RFC Approval Policy, this list is returned in the order in which Approvers must approve the RFC.
Using the RFC Approval Policy the system determines if the minimum number of Approvers and mandatory Approvers has been met.
If this condition has been met, the RFC has now been approved and the RFC Approval Status is set to 1 (Approved) and the Decision Completed date is set.
If this condition is not met, the following is performed:
- Check if an Approver has Denied the Approval. If so, set the RFC Approval Status to 3 (Denied) and the Decision Completed date is set.
If this condition is not met, the following is performed:
Determine if the RFC Approval Policy is Simultaneous or Sequential
If Simultaneous:
- Check the Approver Status for each Approver.
- If the Approver Status = 4 (Not Commenced), the Approver is sent an Approval email notification and their Approval Status set to 2 (Pending Approval).
If Sequential:
- Check the Approver Status for each Approver.
- If the Approver Status = 4 (Not Commenced) and the Previous Approver has Approved (if there is one, as may be the first Approver), the Approver is sent an Approval email notification and their Approval Status set to 2 (Pending Approval).
- If there are additional Approvers, they will not be notified until this Approver has Approved or if the requirements of the RFC Policy are met.
The steps above are repeated while the RFC meets the outlined criteria for sending Approval email notifications.
Support Template Tags
The following RFC tags are supported in Approver Notification Template:
| # | System Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | [CHANGEREQUESTID] | RFC ID |
| 2 | [HDUSERFIRSTNAME] | The first name of the user that logged the RFC |
| 3 | [HDUSERLASTNAME] | The last name of the user that logged the RFC |
| 4 | [CHANGEREQUESTTYPE] | RFC Type |
| 5 | [RECEIVEDBY] | How the RFC was logged |
| 6 | [CHANGEREQUESTSTATUS] | RFC Status |
| 7 | [CHANGEREQUESTSTAGE] | RFC Stage |
| 8 | [CHANGEREQUESTAPPROVALSTATUS] | RFC Approval Status |
| 9 | [CHANGEREQUEST] | RFC |
| 10 | [DETAILS] | RFC Details |
| 11 | [QUEUE] | RFC Team |
| 12 | [SKILLGROUP] | RFC Skill Group |
| 13 | [USERFIRSTNAME] | RFC user First name |
| 14 | [USERLASTNAME] | RFC user Last name |
| 15 | [RISK] | RFC Risk |
| 16 | [URGENCY] | RFC Urgency |
| 17 | [PRIORITYID] | RFC Priority |
| 18 | [KEY1] | RFC Primary Key |
| 19 | [KEY2] | RFC Secondary Key |
| 20 | [KEY3] | RFC Tertiary Key |
| 21 | [PRODUCTTYPE] | RFC Product Type |
| 22 | [PRODUCT] | RFC Product |
| 23 | [IMPACT] | RFC Impact |
| 24 | [SERVICEAREA] | RFC Service Area |
| 25 | [SYMPTOMCODE] | RFC Symptom Code |
| 26 | [CAUSECODE] | RFC Cause Code |
| 27 | [DUEDATE] | RFC Due Date |
| 28 | [ESTSOLDATE] | RFC Estimated Solution Date |
| 29 | [PLANSTART] | RFC Plan Start date |
| 30 | [PLANEND] | RFC Plan End date |
| 31 | [ACTUALSTART] | RFC Actual Start date |
| 32 | [ACTUALEND] | RFC Actual End date |
| 33 | [ESTIMATEDTIME] | RFC Estimated time |
| 34 | [ACTUALTIME] | RFC Actual time |
| 35 | [ESTIMATEDCOST] | RFC Estimated cost |
| 36 | [ACTUALCOST] | RFC Actual cost |
| 37 | [PRCOMPANY] | RFC Primary Requestor Company Name |
| 38 | [PRJOBTITLE] | RFC Primary Requestor Job Title |
| 39 | [PRFIRSTNAME] | RFC Primary Requestor First name |
| 40 | [PRLASTNAME] | RFC Primary Requestor Last name |
| 41 | [PRPHONE] | RFC Primary Requestor Phone |
| 42 | [PRDIVISION] | RFC Primary Requestor Division |
| 43 | [PRDEPARTMENT] | RFC Primary Requestor Department |
| 44 | [PRLOCATION] | RFC Primary Requestor Location |
| 45 | [PRCOMPUTER] | RFC Primary Requestor Computer |
| 46 | [PRUSERNAME] | RFC Primary Requestor Username |
| 47 | [PREMAIL] | RFC Primary Requestor Email |
| 48 | [SRCOMPANY] | RFC Secondary Requestor Company |
| 49 | [SRJOBTITLE] | RFC Secondary Requestor Job Title |
| 50 | [SRFIRSTNAME] | RFC Secondary Requestor First name. |
| 51 | [SRLASTNAME] | RFC Secondary Requestor Last name |
| 52 | [SRPHONE] | RFC Secondary Requestor Phone |
| 53 | [SRDIVISION] | RFC Secondary Requestor Division |
| 54 | [SRDEPARTMENT] | RFC Secondary Requestor Department |
| 55 | [SRLOCATION] | RFC Secondary Requestor Location |
| 56 | [SRCOMPUTER] | RFC Secondary Requestor Computer |
| 57 | [SRUSERNAME] | RFC Secondary Requestor Username |
| 58 | [SREMAIL] | RFC Secondary Requestor Email |
| 59 | [QUEUEEMAIL] | RFC Team Email |
| 60 | [QUEUESIGNATURE] | RFC Team Signature |
| 61 | [BILLINGCOMPANY] | RFC Billing Company |
| 62 | [BILLINGSLA] | RFC Billing SLA |
| 63 | [BILLINGNOCHARGE] | RFC Billing No Charge |
| 64 | [BILLINGNUMTRANS] | RFC Billing Number of Transactions |
| 65 | [BILLINGESTIMATE] | RFC Billing Estimate |
| 66 | [BILLINGCUMULATIVE] | RFC Billing Cumulative |
| 67 | [BILLINGAUDITLOGCUMULATIVE] | RFC Billing Audit Log Cumulative |
| 68 | [BILLINGCHARGE] | RFC Billing Charge |
| 69 | [BILLINGQUOTE] | RFC Billing Quote |
| 70 | [BILLINGREFNUM] | RFC Billing Reference Number |
| 71 | [BILLINGNOTES] | RFC Billing Notes |
In addition to these tags, the following Approval and Approver specific tags are supported:
| # | System Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | [DECISIONDUEDATE] | RFC Decision Due Date |
| 2 | [POLICYNAME] | RFC Policy Name |
| 3 | [POLICYTYPE] | RFC Policy Type |
| 4 | [DECISIONCOMPLETED] | RFC Decision Completed |
| 5 | [MINNOAPPROVERS] | RFC Minimum Number of Approvers |
| 6 | [APPROVERFIRSTNAME] | RFC Approver First Name |
| 7 | [APPROVERLASTNAME] | RFC Approver Last Name |
| 8 | [APPROVALLOGID] | RFC Approval Log ID |
| 9 | [SEQNUM] | RFC Sequence Number |
SRSConnect Approval Links
The following examples show how links can be constructed from templates to directly access Approvals within SRSConnect.
Approval Update
https://mySRSConnect/logon1.aspx?requrl=https://mySRSConnect/ApprovalUpdate.aspx?changerequestid=[CHANGEREQUESTID];approvallogid=[APPROVALLOGID]
Approval Printer Friendly View
https://mySRSConnect/logon1.aspx?requrl=https://mySRSConnect/ApprovalReadingPane.aspx?changerequestid=[CHANGEREQUESTID];approvallogid=[APPROVALLOGID]
NOTE: for requrl any URL parameters must be semi colon delimited as shown above.
Examples:
http://localhost/SRSConnect/logon1.aspx?requrl=http://localhost/SRSConnect/ApprovalUpdate.aspx?changerequestid=1101;approvallogid=56
http://localhost/SRSConnect/logon1.aspx?requrl=http://localhost/SRSConnect/ApprovalReadingPane.aspx?changerequestid=1234;approvallogid=56