Managing Configuration Items › Versioning › CA SDM Change Management

CA SDM Change Management

Versioning data is automatically generated for each CI that is associated with a CA Service Desk change ticket. As the change ticket moves from open to active to resolved to closed, a snapshot is taken for each of the associated CIs. Versioning lets you do the following:

• Compare the state of the CI to its Standard CI at any point in a change management life cycle.
• Help ensure that the CI is in compliance and help identify those attributes which need remediation.
• Perform comparisons between states of the CI at any point in life cycle of the change order, but also at any date or time in-between.
• View progress at each stage of the change, including any milestones.

The integration between CA Service Desk and CA CMDB is illustrated by demonstrating how you can audit changes performed during the service management life cycle of a CI. In this example, a change request is used to upgrade components of a hardware server.

To create a change order and associate it with a CI

1. Create a CA Service Desk change ticket by clicking File, New Change Order.
2. Enter the change request information and order summary, for example: Upgrade hard drive to 500 GB.
3. Click the Configuration Items tab, and then click Update CIs.
4. Specify CI search criteria (for example, the name of the hardware server) and click Search.
5. In the Affected Configuration Items Update form select the CIs associated with the change ticket (for example, the hardware server from Step 4), and add them it to the Affected Configuration Items list. Click OK.
6. Save the change request.

To perform the changes

1. Make the changes for the CI. For example, perform the installation of the hard drive on the physical computer, and then update the Disk Capacity attribute for the hardware server CI.
2. Close the change request.
3. Ensure that the change was completed: View the CI, click the Versioning tab, and compare snapshots of the CI before and after the change.

   A comparison of the state of the CI between the times when the change order was opened and closed shows the hardware server hard drive size was 100 GB before the change, 500 GB after the change was completed, and the date and times that the changes occurred. Any other attributes that were modified between the open and close times also display.