Defining Approval Blackout and Whiteout Windows

Automatic Rejection or Approval

To define approval blackout and whiteout windows:

1. In Work Center, click the user icon in the upper right of the page, and select Manage Data.
2. In the Table field, select RLC Environment Events.
3. Click Submit.
   Tip: To check if an event already exists, select filters to limit the results and click Search.
4. Enter a title for the blackout or whiteout window.
5. Select a Type:
   • Blackout: Automatically reject any approvals during the specified window, subject to any environment event rules that you define. See Rule-based Rejection or Approval.
   • Whiteout: Automatically approve any approvals during the specified window, subject to any environment event rules that you define. See Rule-based Rejection or Approval.
6. To define a time period, enter or select dates in From Date and To Date.
7. For release types, applications, and environments select events that will trigger this rule:
   • Select All to apply to all current and new events.
   • Select Specific and search for specific events.
8. Click Submit.

Rule-based Rejection or Approval

You can set environment event rules if you do not want to reject or approve all blackout and whiteout windows by default. Use this table to set multiple rules across many environments.

To set an environment event rule:

1. In Work Center, click the user icon in the upper right of the page, and then select Manage Data.
2. In the Table field, select RLC Environment Events Rules.
3. Click Submit.
   Tip: To check if an event already exists, select filters to limit the results and click Search.
4. Enter a title for the blackout or whiteout window.
5. Select a Type:
   • Blackout: Automatically reject any approvals during the specified window, subject to any environment event rules that you define.
   • Whiteout: Automatically approve any approvals during the specified window, subject to any environment event rules that you define.
6. To define a time period, enter or select dates in From Date and To Date.
7. In the Rule field enter a combination of recurrence and/or duration rules in iCalendar format. The form includes examples of rule templates that you can copy. Select a template and click Copy to Rule. In the Rule field modify the rule as required. For more information expand Rule Help or see the following web pages:
   • Recurrence rule: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545#section-3.3.10
   • Duration rule: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545#section-3.3.6
   Tip:

   • You can create the first event before the Start Date if the recurrence rule starts prior to the specified period, but overlaps with it. If the event duration covers more than one calendar day, the first event will be created on the Start Date+duration, so the Start Date will be the last day of the first created event (this is iCalendar specific). Events created before 00:00 on the End Day are omitted because the last event covers several dates including the End Date.
   • Timezone is only handled correctly for these frequencies: DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, and YEARLY

   Example

   BEGIN:VCALENDAR 
   BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Kiev:20180511T080000
   DURATION:PT10H RRULE:FREQ=DAILY;BYDAY=MO,TU,WE,TH,FR;BYHOUR=8 END:VEVENT 
   BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Kiev:20180511T080000
   DURATION:P1DT RRULE:FREQ=DAILY;BYDAY=SA,SU;BYHOUR=0 END:VEVENT 
   END:VCALENDAR

8. For release types, applications, and environments select events that will trigger this rule:
   • Select All to apply to all current and new events.
   • Select Specific and search for specific events.
9. Click Submit.
10. Continue with Generating Events from Rules.

Generating Events from Rules

After you have defined the rules in the RLC Environment Events table you must explicitly generate the events. On the RLC Environment Event Rules form click Generate Events. The Environment Events field updates and displays all the events for each specified environment.