Contents
About this Release
Welcome to Serena Orchestrated Ops 4.0.1. Refer to the What's New? tab for a complete list of new features in this release.
Please note the following important information:
- On-premise customers: Before you install Serena Orchestrated Ops, you must install and configure SBM 10.1.1.4 or later as described in the SBM Installation and Configuration Guide.
- Serena Orchestrated Ops 4.0.1 is available in English only.
- This readme pertains to both the on-demand and on-premise versions of Serena Orchestrated Ops 4.0.1.
- Internet Explorer 7.0 is no longer supported with Serena Orchestrated Ops.
Packaging Changes
Serena Orchestrated Ops is now used to refer to the collection of solutions that manage your IT services. (Previously, Serena Service Manager was used.) The following solutions, which can be used independently or in combination, are included in Serena Orchestrated Ops:
- Serena Request Center
- Serena Demand Manager
- Serena Service Manager
New Installations of Serena Orchestrated Ops
If this is a new on-premise installation, download Serena Business Manager 10.1.1.4 or later from http://www.serena.com/support and then follow the instructions in the SBM Installation and Configuration Guide to install and configure Serena Business Manager. After you have verified that Serena Business Manager is installed successfully, download Serena Orchestrated Ops 4.0.1 from http://www.serena.com/support and follow the instructions in the Serena Orchestrated Ops Installation and Configuration Guide.
For on-demand customers, see the Serena Orchestrated Ops On-Demand Installation and Configuration Guide for information on setting up Serena Orchestrated Ops in your current environment.
Upgrades from Previous Versions
- Installation Upgrade
In the installation upgrade phase, you install and configure the latest versions of the framework files for Serena Request Center, Serena Demand Center, and features such as service level agreements (SLA). The solutions that you have implemented from previous releases are supported with the upgraded framework files.
- Solutions Upgrade
In the solutions upgrade phase, you import new solution files and merge changes into your current solutions. Before attempting this upgrade, review the list of changes to determine the benefit of upgrading your solutions.
For upgrade instructions, refer to the Serena Orchestrated Ops Upgrade Guide.
Serena Orchestrated Ops Installer Components
The Serena Orchestrated Ops installer delivers three components:
- Solution Files – Solution files are process app snapshots
and blueprints that contain the latest changes and updates for the
Serena Orchestrated Ops
process workflows and data models.
The following solutions are delivered by the Serena Orchestrated Ops installer:
- Serena Demand Center:
- SDM - Demand Plan
- Serena Request Center:
- SRC - Starter Pack Forms - IT
- SRC - Knowledge Management
- SRC - Service Request
- Serena Service Manager:
- SSM - Change Management
- SSM - Configuration Management System
- SSM - Problem Management
- SSM - Incident Management
- Serena Demand Center:
- Framework Files – The SOO framework files augment your underlying SBM installation and enable certain features in the SOO process apps. The framework files include new templates, images, and code that are backward compatible with your existing installation.
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) Files – SLAs define the level of service that an organization commits to its customers. SLAs contain performance metrics that correspond to these commitments.
What's New?
The following features and changes are new in Serena Orchestrated Ops.
Serena Demand Manager
The following improvements have been made to Serena Demand Manager.
- The Plans tab now contains a Pending Plans view. Users who are current plan owners, submitters, concept approvers, analysts, reviewers, and stakeholders can now view pending plans, which are those that have not yet been approved.
- The Demand tab now provides an overview of the status of all items in a demand view. In addition, demand views can be filtered by status: New, Analyzing, Planning, Executing, Backlog, or Rejected.
- The Demand Summary now shows the status of all demand items visible to a user.
- Plans that are completed or are in the final review state can be moved to a different portfolio from within Demand Center. The Change Portfolio option is available from the actions list for plans in the appropriate states.
- Plans automatically move to a new "Waiting/Error" state after they are approved during the concept phase. Plans remain in this state until the orchestration that creates the plan in Demand Center completes successfully. Users receive errors if the orchestration fails, and administrators can use these errors to troubleshoot problems with the orchestration. For details, refer to the Troubleshooting Serena Demand Manager section of the Serena Orchestrated Ops Implementation Guide.
- To accommodate changing business priorities, plans
can now be put on hold when they are "in-flight" or in review. Demand items
assigned to the plan are paused, and the capacity for teams assigned to the
plan is adjusted to remove the allocations for the demand items assigned to the
plan.
You can later reactivate the plan and return it to the Planning state. Demand items are also returned to the planning state and remain paused until planning is complete. Resource estimates are recalculated and added to the plan's capacity.
- Plan owners or Demand Plan administrators can now override concept approval or final sign-off.
- Demand Plan roles have been renamed and modified to
enable easier access to
Serena Demand Center.
New roles are:
- Demand Plan Administrator
- Demand Plan Owner
- Demand Plan Sponsor
- Serena Demand Center User
For details on the purpose, field assignments, and enabled transitions for each role, refer to the Serena Demand Manager chapter of the Serena Orchestrated Ops Implementation Guide.
- Demand Center users now receive a warning if they attempt to finalize a plan before planning is complete for at least one item in the plan.
Customizing the Demand Plan Process App
Each of the states and transitions in the Demand Plan workflow coordinate with plan life-cycle actions in Demand Center. Customizing the workflow is possible, but use caution when doing so. Before beginning this advanced customization, read the instructions in S139262 in the Knowledgebase at serena.com.
Serena Request Center
-
The new
Yes, resolve this issue button on
Knowledge Center
articles viewed from submit forms allows users to automatically create and then
immediately resolve requests and incidents. These issues are created with a
"low" urgency, a "single user" impact, and a "5" priority. This increases the
accuracy of service desk metrics, because issues with self-service resolution
are accounted for properly.
Note:
- This feature is not available on Starter Pack forms.
- To implement this feature as part of an upgrade from a previous version of SOO, you must follow the steps described in the Serena Orchestrated Ops On-Premise Upgrade Guide to upgrade the SRC -Service Request process app.
- A new
Request Cost field allows the fulfiller of a service request
to record the actual cost of the request when resolving it.
Note: To implement this change as part of an upgrade from a previous version of SOO, you must follow the steps described in the Serena Orchestrated Ops On-Premise Upgrade Guide to upgrade the following process app:
- SRC - Service Request
- When you delete a service request from Request Center, it is hidden from users, but is still visible to administrators. The icon for such service requests now has a blue circle overlaid on it to make them visually distinct from other service requests.
Serena Service Manager
The following changes were made in applications in the Serena Service Manager solution.
- Configuration Management System changes:
- For CI items with software attributes, the new DML Link field allows you to include a link to your Definitive Media Library, where your software components are stored and protected.
- Service CIs now have a SERVICE ATTRIBUTES section containing the fields that are required for ITIL certification.
- The Configuration Items with Non-Active States dashboard report was renamed to Configuration Items with non-Baseline States and shows a breakdown of all active CIs (that is, CIs that are not in the Baseline Pending, Active Baseline, or Inactive Baseline states).
Note: To implement these changes as part of an upgrade from a previous version of SOO, you must follow the steps described in the Serena Orchestrated Ops On-Premise Upgrade Guide to upgrade the following process app:- SSM - Configuration Management System
- Incident Management changes:
- The new Details tab on a child item displays child item details in addition to its parent item details, and a new Unlink from Parent link allows you to remove the link directly from the child item.
Note: To implement this change as part of an upgrade from a previous version of SOO, you must follow the steps described in the Serena Orchestrated Ops On-Premise Upgrade Guide to upgrade the following process app:- SSM - Incident Management
- Change Management changes:
- The
Reassign transition is now available on
some state forms. This transition allows you to reassign an item you own to
another team member or to a group queue.
Note: To implement this change as part of an upgrade from a previous version of SOO, you must follow the steps described in the Serena Orchestrated Ops On-Premise Upgrade Guide to upgrade the following process app:
- SSM - Change Management
- The
Reassign transition is now available on
some state forms. This transition allows you to reassign an item you own to
another team member or to a group queue.
- Problem Management changes:
- The
Reassign transition is now available on
some state forms. This transition allows you to reassign an item you own to
another team member or to a group queue.
Note: To implement this change as part of an upgrade from a previous version of SOO, you must follow the steps described in the Serena Orchestrated Ops On-Premise Upgrade Guide to upgrade the following process app:
- SSM - Problem Management
- The
Reassign transition is now available on
some state forms. This transition allows you to reassign an item you own to
another team member or to a group queue.
Solution Improvements
The following changes apply to applications in all Serena Orchestrated Ops solutions.
- Custom print forms were created for all applications, and a Print link was added to the top right corner of state forms. When users click this link, a form that is optimized for printing opens.
- The new "format and compare two date fields" condition for custom form actions formats two "Date only" Date/Time fields and then compares their values. You can check whether one is later than the other, or whether one is the same as or later than the other. If one of the fields is empty, the condition will evaluate to true.
Known Issues
Serena Request Center
- You could get an error when you submit a Knowledge Center article with the Send to Publisher option if the Time Capture feature is enabled in SBM. To prevent this problem, set a default value for the Publisher field at the Knowledge Management project level.
Serena Demand Manager
- When users move a plan to a different portfolio
using the Change Portfolio transition, the updated portfolio is not shown on
the Plans tab in
Demand Center.
To fix this problem, change the process app as follows:
- Open the process app in SBM Composer.
- Check out the Demand Plan workflow.
- Select the Change Portofolio transition, which is found on the Any state on the lower left.
- In the property editor, add the following action for change
portfolio:
- Invoke an orchestration workflow and continue executing (asynchronous) using the local event.
- Affect this item
- unconditionally
- DemandManagerOrchestrations > CreateDemandPlan
- Deploy the process app.
-
DP - Move plan to review when review date is reached
notification in the SDM – Demand Plan process app that automatically
transitions your demand plan to the review state once the review date is
reached may not work after you promote the app for the first time.
If you have SBM 10.1.1.4 installed and the notification's definition is empty, follow the steps described in solution S139246 to restore the notification.
If the notification is defined or you have SBM 10.1.2 installed, deploy the Demand Plan process app from SBM Composer or SBM Application Repository after you promote the SDM - Demand Plan snapshot.