Tracking and managing changes is essential for maintaining stability and minimizing risk in any IT environment. With Atera’s ticketing system, you can create an efficient change management workflow for handling change requests using customized ticket forms, ticket automation rules, and technician groups. This allows you to maintain a smooth and controlled process for evaluating, approving, and implementing changes.

Create change request Ticket form

The first step in managing change requests is to create a custom ticket form, ensuring that all change requests include the essential custom fields needed for effective change management.

To create a change request Ticket form:

1. Go to Admin > Support and ticketing > Ticket forms. Then click New template.

To learn more about creating a new ticket form template, see Ticket form templates

2. Give your form a name like, Change request. Then click New field to add Ticket custom fields. To learn more about adding custom fields, see Custom fields

Frequently used custom fields for change requests include:

• Change type (dropdown): Specify the level of urgency and process for the change (Emergency, Normal, Standard).
• Category (dropdown): Identify the primary area affected by the change (Hardware, Network, Security, Software, Other).
• Change date (Date): Enter the planned or actual date for implementing the change.
• Risk assessment (text): Describe the potential risks associated with the change and its impact on services, users, or security. 
• Rollback plan (text): Describe the plan to revert the change if it fails.
• Approval status (dropdown): Select the current status of the change request based on the review process (Pending, Approved, Rejected).

3. Click Create.

Once the Change Request form is set up, technicians can use it to submit change request tickets and track their approval status. You can assign these tickets manually to the appropriate approvers, or automatically assign them to specific groups, such as the CAB or Security team, using ticket automation rules.

Automatically assign change request tickets

Change requests usually require a chain of approvals. In Atera, you can create different technician groups who can approve these requests, such as a Change Advisory Board or a Security Team. With ticket automation rules, you can automatically assign tickets with the Change request form to these specific groups.

To create a technician group for CAB:

1. Go to Admin > Users and security > Technician groups. Then click New group.

2. Enter the group name and description, and add technicians. Then click Create.

To learn more about how to create technician groups, see Manage Technician groups

To assign change request tickets to the group automatically:

1. Go to Admin > Support and ticketing > Ticket automation rules. Then click Add new rule.

2. Give your rule a name and description, and select New ticket created as the Trigger. Then click Add.

3. Add the following Condition:

• • Ticket property: Ticket form
  • Operator: Equals
  • Expected value: Select your change request form

4. Add the following Action:

• • Action Type: Set field value
  • Related Field: Technician group
  • Value: Select the technician group created for change request approvals

Note: Add the action 'Set field value - Technician - Auto assignment' for the tickets to be assigned in a round-robin to technicians within the group.

Approval workflow

Once your change management workflow is set up, you’re ready to start managing change request tickets.

When a ticket is created with your custom Change request form, it is submitted for Approval. You can assign it manually to the first approver, or automatically assign it to a specific group with your set ticket automation rule

Each approver can review, add comments stating their approval, and assign the ticket to the next person in line. You can view the record of approvals written from the Conversation tab and the chain of assignments from the Ticket activity tab.

Once each designated approver has reviewed the request, update the Approval status custom field under Ticket properties to Approved. This marks the request as fully authorized and ready for implementation, and the ticket can be closed when the change is completed.