Changes

Change Lifecycle is used to define and control the lifecycle of a change request based on the Change type. Also, it allows configuration like mandating certain fields, checking for task completion and approval completion for each status transition.

In Freshservice, approval notifications are commonly sent via email, especially regarding Service Requests and Change Requests. However, it is not possible to approve Change Requests using APIs; the CAB members can approve the change by clicking on the approval link sent by email.

Current Process:

Currently, the only way to approve a change request in Freshservice is by sharing a public approval link. The link is sent to the approver via email, and they need to click on it to review the details of the request before approving or rejecting it. However, this adds an extra step of navigating multiple screens and logging in before the approver can take action. Additionally, some approvers may be uncomfortable sharing a public approval link.

New Enhancement:

Freshservice has introduced a new enhancement to address these issues to streamline the approval process. The enhancement allows change and service request approvers to respond to requests directly from their email inboxes. Instead of sharing a public approval link, Freshservice sends an email to the approval recipients, where they can reply with certain keywords to approve or reject the request. This simplifies the approval process and makes it more convenient for approvers.

Benefits of Email Approvals:

One of the significant advantages of email approvals is that it enables stakeholders to approve or reject requests without logging into Freshservice. This feature is particularly useful when the approver is outside the organization or doesn't have access to the system. It also eliminates the need to navigate multiple screens to approve or reject a request, making the process more efficient.

For more details, please refer to Service request and change approval via Email : Freshservice

It is not possible to convert a change request into a Service request, however a Service request can be linked into a Change ticket.

It is not possible to automate the planned start date for the next changes. However, automations can be configured based on the changes to the Planned Start Date, i.e this can be configured as an Event of the Workflow Automator.

The default labels for approval status are Approved, Rejected, Cancelled, Requested and Not Requested. It is not possible to change the labels for these default statuses.

Yes, the same CAB member(Agent) can be part of two CAB approval groups. You can manage this from Admin-->User Management-->CAB

Yes, you can configure multiple levels of approvals using the workflow Automator. When we configure an action to Send an approval mail to a specific CAB group, you can have another action triggered based on the action of the previous block.

Yes it is possible to have Custom statuses added to the Change ticket. However, editing or deleting the default status is not possible.

In Freshservice, you have the ability to customize the fields in the Planning section to suit the needs of your organization better.

Here are the steps to add custom fields for the Planning section in Freshservice:

1. Log in to Freshservice as an administrator.
2. Go to Admin > Service Management > Helpdesk Settings > Field Manager.
3. Click on Change Fields and scroll down to the Planning section.
4. Click on Add new field and provide a name and other relevant details for the new custom field.
   Note that only paragraph-style fields can be added to the Planning section. Other field types, like checkbox, dropdown, number, etc., are not supported in this section.
5. Click Done and Save to add the new custom field.
6. To modify or delete an existing custom field, click on the pencil icon of the respective field and make the necessary changes.
   
   

Your custom fields will now be available in the Planning section of Freshservice.

You can go to Admin → Email Notifications → Changes → Change Created (Under Agent Notification) and when you edit the notification, you will find an option to “Notify Agents”, you can edit this and add the agents who need to be notified on change creation.

Yes, using workflow automator we would be able to send approval/rejection comments to the requester based on approval action by the use of Placeholders. The Placeholder for Approval Comments would be {{approval.comments}}

Yes, using workflow automator we would be able to send approval/rejection comments to the requester based on approval action by the use of Placeholders. The Placeholder for Approval Comments would be {{approval.comments}}

It is not possible to link two changes together, it is only possible to link Changes to problems, Incidents, Service Requests and Release tickets.

If there is a notification that gets triggered to the requester of the change and when they reply to the notification it would be added to the change ticket as a note.

It is not possible for the requesters to view the changes from the support portal. The change requests can be viewed only from the main (agent) portal. However, the requestors can view the list of Incident and Service request tickets from the ''Tickets'' button part of the side menu bar in the support portal page :

If an agent is not able to access Change tickets it must be because of the roles and permissions that have been provided to the agent. The agent should have the necessary permissions to view the change tickets.

Yes, the calendar within Freshservice would display all the changes based on Planned Start Date and Planned End Date. Once you click on the calendar icon, you would be able to change between Tasks view and Changes view to view the Changes.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to trigger an announcement automatically when a change is Deployed/Released, however we can use automators and once the change is set to deployed, we would be able to trigger an email to agent groups or specific agents that the change has been deployed.

No, there isn’t a limit in the number of problem tickets that can be associated with a change ticket.

You can easily export the changes scheduled in Freshservice by following these simple steps:

1. Go to the Changes module in Freshservice.

2. Click on the hamburger icon to select a view, or use the filter section to narrow down your search if necessary.

3. Once you have the desired set of changes, click on Export button at the top right corner of the page.

4. Select the format in which you want to export the data - CSV or Excel.

5. Choose the fields you want to export and click on Export to download the file.
   
   
   

   You can now use this exported file for further analysis, reporting, or sharing with other teams.

When there is a note added into the change ticket, we would be able to notify the agent while the note is created. If we need to automatically notify an agent, we would also be able to configure a workflow rule wherein if “Note is Added” (Event), then “Send Email to Agent” (Action)

Yes, it is possible to clone a change request in Freshservice using marketplace apps. To clone a change request, navigate to Admin > Automation & Productivity > Apps and search for the app Clone Change Request. 
More information about the process can be found in the following in Clone Change Request - Freshservice Marketplace

Individuals from other companies can view and approve change approvals for a single account MSP if they have been added to the CAB group. This allows them to access changes that require their approval. 

However, this is not possible in a Multi account MSP.

You can add members to a CAB group by following the steps below.

1. Navigate to Admin > User Management > CAB.
2. Click on the CAB Group you want to add members to.
3. Click on the Add Members option to search for the CAB members you want to add.
4. Click Update to save the changes.
   

The selected CAB members will now be added to the CAB group and receive notifications for CAB meetings and requests assigned to the group.

Based on the impact of the Change request and procedures followed for the change process, there are different Change Types available within Freshservice, which are Minor,Standard, Major and Emergency.

Freshservice comes with 8 pre-defined options for Change Types. While you can rename them to fit your needs, adding more than 8 options is not supported. You can also turn the type ON/OFF as required. 

Here are the steps to change the name and toggle a Change Type in Freshservice:

1. Log in to Freshservice as an administrator.
2. Go to Admin > Service Management > Service Desk Settings > Field Manager.
3. Select the Change Fields and click on the pencil icon next to Change Type field.
4. Scroll down to the Choices section, where you will find the name of each Change type.
5. You can update the name of the Change Type as per your business requirement.
6. To toggle a Change Type ON/OFF, click on the switch icon beside the respective type.
7. The switch will turn green if the type is ON and gray if it is OFF.
8. Click Done and Save the updates.
   
   

In Freshservice, you can automate the change type based on certain conditions using the workflow automator feature. This can help streamline your change management process and ensure that the appropriate change type is assigned to each change request. 

Here are the steps to set up the automation:

1. Go to Admin > Automation & Productivity > Automation > Workflow Automator.
2. Click the New Rule button and select Event Based Workflow.
3. Name your rule and under the Events section, choose the Change is created trigger from the dropdown menu.
4. Drag and drop a Condition block, and choose conditions like requester or any other change request fields that you may have added.
5. Drag and drop an Action block, and select Perform these actions on Change from the dropdown menu.
6. Select Set Change type as and choose the appropriate change type that you want to assign based on the conditions you set in the previous step.
7. Save and Automate your automation rule.
   
   
   Any new tickets that match the conditions you set will be automatically assigned the change type that you specified in the automation.

It's important to note that automation rules are executed in the order they are listed, from top to bottom. So, if you have multiple automation rules affecting the same ticket, arrange them in the correct order to avoid conflicts.

Once a Change request has been approved, the approval link would have expired and we would not be able to use the same approval link in order to reject the change again. We would have to trigger another approval and then reject the change if needed.

Yes, it is possible to setup Workflow conditions to check for the condition for specific Change Type and then in the action block you would be able to send approval email to specific CAB groups.

Yes, we would be able to associate two changes to a ticket. A ticket can have two types of change associations, the first one being Change Initiating this ticket and the second type being Change Causing this incident. For each type only one change can be associated to the ticket.

Yes, we would be able to configure multiple change templates and agents can apply a particular template during change creation.

To delete a Change permanently from your Freshservice account, please follow these steps:

1. Go to the Changes module in your Freshservice account.

2. Select the Change that you want to delete and click Delete.

3. Alternatively, you can open the change, click the More dropdown, and then click the Delete option.

4. The deleted change will be moved to the Trash folder.

5. Click on the hamburger icon and select the Trash folder.

6. Select the change again and click Delete Forever to delete the Change permanently.
   
   
   
   
   Please note that a Change cannot be recovered once it is deleted. If there are any associated tickets or assets, they will not be deleted along with the Change, but they will no longer be associated with it. If you need to keep a record of the Change or its associated tickets/assets, we recommend exporting them before deleting it.

Yes, depending on the Change lifecycle which is configured, you would be able to create a change ticket without filling in the Rollout Plan and Backout plan.

You can streamline your workflow by using shared fields between incidents and changes. 

The default shared fields like Category, Group, Agent, Department, and Priority are already available in all modules, like tickets, changes, problems, and releases. 

By utilizing the data sourcing option under Dropdown and Multi-select dropdowns, you can fetch entities for data sets such as Locations, Requesters, Agents, Assets, Users, and Departments.


Contact our support team at [email protected] to learn how to set up data sourcing for shared fields and simplify your workflow today.

Under Email Notifications we have a notifications called “Incident Detached from Change” this notification would be triggered to the Change assigned agent when someone detaches an incident from a change ticket.

Yes, you can link a change to a project in Freshservice by following these steps:

1. Navigate the Projects icon and select Projects.
2. Click on the Project and select the Task tab.
3. Click on the Task you wish to associate a change.
4. Scroll down the task properties to the Associations section.
5. Click on the Link option and select the Existing Change option.
6. Select the required change from the list and click Link to complete the process. 
   
   

You can find the associated project of a change request by selecting the Associations tab of that Change. 
Additionally, you can also view the associated changes from the Associations tab within the Project Overview.

By default, it is not possible to hide unused fields in the Change ticket. However, you can hide certain fields using Business rules by following the steps below,

1. Go to Admin > Service Management > Helpdesk Settings > Business Rules and Forms.
2. Click on Create New Rule and select Change from the dropdown.
3. Give a name for the rule and fill in the other property fields.
4. Add the condition for the rule.
5. Under Actions, choose Hide and then select the unused field from the list of options. Let's consider Impact as an example field that needs to be hidden.
6. Save the rule.
   
   
   You can now test it out by creating a new Change request and ensuring the specified field is hidden.

We don’t have Team Huddle for Change tickets, it is only available for Incidents and Service requests.

Yes, using Change Lifecycle it is possible to make Planning Section/Approvals/Tasks mandatory before a change request is transitioned to a particular status.

This can be done form by editing the status transition setting. 

As a user in Freshservice, you may want to freeze certain change properties once a change request has been approved to ensure certain details related to your product or service are not accidentally changed once they are approved. 

You can use Freshservice to set up a business rule that will prevent people from editing certain fields after approval. 


Alternatively, you can configure the change lifecycle using the Lock fields option so that certain fields can only be edited during specific stages. For example, you can freeze required fields (e.g., rollout plan) under a status (e.g. planning) in the lifecycle of a change request. This ensures that users cannot accidentally make changes to crucial fields once the change has progressed to a later stage.

Please refer to our solution article on managing the change lifecycle for detailed information on leveraging the lock field option.

Yes, Freshservice provides the ability to create different templates for changes based on their types under the Change Form Templates page. This can help streamline the change management process and ensure that all necessary information is collected for each type of change.

The default filters for Changes can’t be deleted. However, you can create custom filters and save them for viewing them easily.

If you are looking to default the created date in a filter, we would not be able to do it. However, you would be able to create a filter and save that with Created Date set to Anytime.

It's possible to close associated problems and incidents using workflow automators, but not to close them directly by closing a change.

Yes, using workflow automator you would be able to configure actions on associated problem tickets in the action block.

We would not be able to add custom approval status to a change ticket. However, we would be able to add Custom Change statuses from Admin-->Form Fields-->Changes and when you click on Status field, you would have the option to add additional status.

Changes can be imported through CSV file with the help of our Support team. 

Yes, only if the CAB member,

• Is an agent who has permission to view the relevant change
• Is the requester of the change
• Is an approver of the change (can access public information of the change using the Approval URL)

Yes, reminders to approvals can be triggered manually from the Change request on an adhoc basis from the approvals section at the bottom of the ticket. Also, approval reminders can be triggered automatically from Admin-->Email Notifications-->Changes-->Notify CAB Member which is available under Agent notifications. When you edit the above notification you would be able to set the reminder time for the same.

CAB approvers would be able to delegate approvals by visiting Profile settings and clicking on the Delegate approvals button.