ALM - Request for Change (RFC) Request Type

In its implementation of the ITIL Change Management process, ALM uses the ALM - Request for Change (RFC) request type and sends an RFC request along the ALM - Request For Change workflow (see ALM - Request For Change Workflow).

Figure 3-1 and Figure 3-2 show the top and bottom of the Create New ALM - Request for Change (RFC) page that appears when you create a request and select the ALM - Request for Change (RFC) request type. Table 3-2 describes the fields in the ALM - Request for Change (RFC) request, including some fields that do not appear until the request is created or until other conditions are met.

Figure 3-1. Top of ALM - Request for Change (RFC) request

Figure 3-2. Bottom of ALM - Request for Change (RFC) request

Table 3-2. ALM - Request for Change (RFC) request fields

Field Name (*Required)

Description

RFC Summary section

RFC ID

(Read-only. Added after the RFC is created.) Number of the RFC, linked to the RFC.

Created By

(Read-only) User who created the RFC.

Created On

(Read-only. Added after the RFC is created.) Date the RFC was created.

RFC Status

(Read-only) Status of the RFC.

Contact Name

Name of the person proposing the change.

Contact Phone

(Read-only) Telephone number of the person proposing the change.

RFC Priority

(Read-only) Priority of the change request. Determined by a combination of the Urgency and Impact fields.

Contact Email

(Read-only) Email address of the RFC contact person.

Contact Location

(Read-only) Location of the person proposing the change.

RFC Summary

Summary description of the RFC request.

Expected Start Date

Expected start date for work on the RFC.

Expected Finish Date

Expected end date for work on the RFC.

Assigned Developer

Developer assigned to work on the RFC.

Release ID

Number of the release if the change was released.

RFC Details section

*RFC Source

Source of the RFC request (for example, from a problem or incident).

*Urgency

Urgency of the change request (for example, from problem urgency).

*Impact

Business impact of doing or not doing the change (for example, from problem impact).

*Reason For Change

Reason for the change.

Category

(Required only after the request is created)

Category of the change, based on the scope of the change.

RFC Type

Type of change being requested.

Service

IT service that needs the change.

Change Item

(Looks like a separate section in the interface)

Expand to display a table of change items.

If the RFC has been created, click the Edit icon to switch to editable mode and add a change item. The table consolidates existing change items (CIs), each having an automatically assigned sequence number (Seq), a CI Type (Software, Hardware, or Network),
CI ID, a CI Name, and a CI Description.

Note: These CIs are not the same as the configuration items (CIs) that are retrieved when integration with Micro Focus Universal CMDB is established.

*Effect of no change

Effect of not implementing the change.

RFC Description

Description of the change request.

Authorized By

(Added after the RFC is created and assigned to a developer) Person who authorized the change.

Authorization Date

(Added after the RFC is created and assigned to a developer) Date the developer was assigned.

SOX Information section

*System

System that is impacted by the change.

SOX - In Scope System

(Read-only) SOX requirement: SOX oversight is required for any application that directly or indirectly affects financial reporting.

This field is automatically populated with a value of Yes or No before the RFC is created, based on the option chosen for the System field.

SOX Risk

SOX requirement: Risk is determined as part of SOX oversight.

Note: A change to a non-SOX system could be high-risk based on possible infrastructure/network impact.

System Owner

(Read-only. Added after the RFC is created.) Owner of the system.

This field is automatically populated, based on the option chosen for the System field.

Implementation Details section

Actual Start Date

Actual start date for creation of the change.

Actual Finish Date

Actual finish date for creation of the change.

Actual Duration

Actual duration for creation of the change.

Actual Effort

Actual effort expended during creation of the change.

Assigned Change Builder

Details of the change builder/implementer.

Actual Cost

Actual cost of the change.

Functional Specifications

Allows you to add and view the functional specification document directly on the RFC.

Design Specifications

Allows you to add and view the design specification document directly on the RFC.

Impact & Resource Assessment section

Impact Severity

Specify after evaluating the Impact Analysis Report. This field becomes required by the ALM - Impact & Resource Assessment Sub WF subworkflow after CIs are selected in the Impacted Configuration Items section.

Impact Analysis Report

Allows you to add and view an Impact Analysis Report generated by Universal CMDB directly on the request.

Impact Assessment Summary

Risk assessment of the impact of the change on related components in the configuration management database (CMDB).

Impact Assessment Report

Allows you to add and view a manually generated impact assessment report based on the Impact Analysis Report directly on the RFC.

Expected Duration

Expected duration for creation of the change.

Expected Effort

Expected effort for creation of the change.

Expected Cost

Expected cost of the change.

Backout Plan

Allows you to add and view the backout plan document directly on the RFC.

CAB Recommendations

CAB recommendations, where appropriate.

Users Impacted

Users expected to be impacted by the change.

Impacted Configuration Items section a

Select Configuration Items button

Button to launch the Configuration Items (CIs) selector applet provided by Universal CMDB.

Impacted Configuration Items list

List of CIs added to the request, both manually and by using the CI selector applet from Universal CMDB.

QA Details section

Assigned Tester

Person assigned to test the change.

Test Plan

Allows you to add and view the test plan directly on the RFC.

Detailed Test Results (SOX)

Allows you to add and view the detailed test results directly on the RFC.

QC/ALM Info section b

QC/ALM Instance

URL of the Quality Center/ALM instance with the project used for the integration.

QC/ALM Domain

Domain of the project in Quality Center or ALM.

QC/ALM Project

Quality Center or ALM project that is integrated with this request type.

Assigned To

The Quality Center/ALM Requirement assigned to user.

Requirement No.

(Read-only) Requirement number in Quality Center or ALM.

Requirement Status

(Read-only) Status of the requirement in Quality Center or ALM.

Requirement Integration Message

(Read-only) Quality Center/ALM status message indicating success or error in the most recent operation.

Synchronize to QC/ALM Requirement

Select Yes or No radio button to indicate synchronizing to Quality Center/ALM requirement or not.

Requirement Attachments URL

(Read-only) URL of the list of attachments to the Quality Center/ALM requirement.

QC/ALM Requirement Type

Quality Center/ALM requirement type

QC/ALM Dashboard Subject

Quality Center/ALM Dashboard subject name

QC/ALM Requirement Coverage

(Read-only) The Quality Center/ALM requirement coverage

QC/ALM Open Defects

(Read-only) Number of open defects in Quality Center/ALM.

Service Desk System Info section c

System Name

(Read-only) Name of the service desk application—Service Manager.

Ticket Id

(Read-only) Ticket ID in Service Manager.

Ticket Creation Date

(Read-only) Ticket creation date in Service Manager.

Ticket Info

(Read-only) Ticket info from Service Manager.

Ticket Priority

(Read-only) Ticket priority in Service Manager.

Ticket Last Update

(Read-only) Date the ticket was last updated in Service Manager.

Review Summary section

Review Date

Review date for the change.

Review Summary

Summary of the review for the change.

    a.    The Impacted Configuration Items section is visible only if the Universal CMDB Impact Analysis field group is enabled in the request type. Data is presented for the Impacted Configuration Items list in this section only if PPM is integrated with Universal CMDB.

    b.    Fields in the Quality Center Info section remain visible by default but are not used if PPM is not integrated with Quality Center.

    c.    Fields in the Service Desk System Info section remain visible by default but are not used if PPM is not integrated with Service Manager. However, when this request type (or any other request type) is used for Service Manager, these fields are required.

Note: The administrator can remove the Impacted Configuration Items section or the QC/ALM Info section from the request type by removing the Universal CMDB Impact Analysis field group or the QC/ALM Info field group, respectively, from the ALM - Request for Change (RFC) Header request header type.

See the Demand Management Configuration Guide for details about request header types and field groups.

For information about how to submit a request of a certain request type, see Create requests from the menu bar.

When the RFC is submitted, it is assigned an initial status, such as New. The RFC is then routed along the ALM - Request For Change workflow (see ALM - Request For Change Workflow).