Configuring Schedule Blackouts


Overview

Tasks

Included with

Tivoli Change Management administration

Overview

What are schedule blackouts

In Tivoli Change Management, schedule blackouts are designated periods of time when certain categories of changes cannot occur.

For example, your organization may not want to schedule a repair to the network during the normal work day since it could require down time for the affected users. You could set up blackouts for the affected repair category for the days and hours that encompass the normal work schedule of your organization.

You can print a list of the blackout periods or run reports to track changes that are scheduled during a blackout period, but blackouts do not directly affect the change schedule. Blackouts do not stop a user from performing change tasks or completing a change during a blackout period.

You can add, modify, or delete schedule blackouts.

Note: Schedule blackouts do not support Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) based time display.

The Blackouts dialog box

To access the Blackouts dialog box, do one of the following:
  • If you are using the Tivoli Change Management administrator profile, from the Configuration menu, choose Blackouts.
  • If you are using the Tivoli Service Desk administrator profile, from the Change Management menu, choose Blackouts.
  • From the Help menu, choose Your System Profile and follow the instructions under Work with blackouts.

Tasks

Adding a schedule blackout

Each schedule blackout applies to a single time range on a single day of the week. Therefore, if you have a blackout that applies to multiple days of the week or to multiple time blocks within a single day, you must add multiple blackouts.

To add a schedule blackout:

  1. From the Configuration menu, choose Blackout.
    Result: The Blackouts dialog box appears.
  2. Choose the Browse button next to the Category box to select the change category to use for the blackout.
  3. In the box below the Name column, type a unique name for the blackout.
  4. From the list below the Day column, select the day of the week to which the blackout applies.
  5. In the box below the Start Time column, type the start time (based on a 24 hour clock) for the blackout.
  6. In the box below the End Time column, type the end time (based on a 24 hour clock) for the blackout.
  7. Choose Add to add the blackout.
    Result: The blackout appears in the Blackouts list.
  8. Do one of the following:
    • Add another blackout.
    • Choose Close.
      Result: The Tivoli Service Desk window appears.

Modifying a schedule blackout

You can modify schedule blackouts.

To modify a schedule blackout:

  1. From the Configuration menu, choose Blackout.
    Result: The Blackouts dialog box appears.
  2. Choose the Browse button next to the Category box to select the change category for the blackout you want to modify.
  3. Under Blackouts, select the blackout to modify.
  4. In the boxes below the Day, Start Time, and End Time columns, type the modified data.
    Note: You cannot modify the blackout name.
  5. Choose Replace.
  6. Do one of the following:
    • Modify another blackout.
    • Choose Close.
      Result: The Tivoli Service Desk window appears.

Deleting a schedule blackout

You can delete a schedule blackout you no longer need.

To delete a schedule blackout:

  1. From the Configuration menu, choose Blackout.
    Result: The Blackouts dialog box appears.
  2. Choose the Browse button next to the Category box to select the change category for the schedule blackout to delete.
  3. Under Blackouts, select the blackout to delete.
  4. Choose Delete.
    Result: The schedule blackout is deleted.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • Modify another blackout.
    • Choose Close.
      Result: The Tivoli Service Desk window appears.