Reporting on Standard Change Templates "Change Request values" is not possible OOTB - Support and Troubleshooting

Reporting on Standard Change Templates "Change Request values" is not possible OOTB Issue This article will discuss a common request Customer Support gets from customers regarding the possibility of creating reports to show the Fields and Values for the Standard Change Templates recorded on their instance

Reporting on Standard Change Templates Reporting on Standard Change Templates "Change Request values" is not possible OOTB. The main record for Standard Change Templates sits on the table Standard Change Templates [ std_change_record_producer ], this record holds all the information regarding the change template: Template name, version, description, category, the catalogs it belongs to, etc, except the Change Request values content.

The Change Request values content sits on the table "Standard Change Template Value" [ std_change_template ] and the way this information is saved is via an encoded query, which means that the content may not be easy to read and understand.

Example For example, for this OOTB sample record "Add network switch to datacenter cabinet":

The "Change Request values" [ template ] field is saved as this encoded query in the database:

short_description=Add network switch to cabinet^description=This standard change template describes adding a new network switch to a datacenter cabinet^implementation_plan=-- Physically rack switch in top of cabinet -- Ensure that redundant power supply is connected to the backup power circuit in the cabinet -- Ensure that first GBIC fibre connector (Gi0/1) connects to primary distribution switch -- Ensure that second GBIC fibre connector (Gi1/1) connects to secondary distribution switch -- Connect console port to cabinet management console -- Add switch to network management console -- Add switch to network monitoring console -- Add switch to ServiceNow CMDB ^backout_plan=-- Physically remove switch and all associated cabling -- Remove switch from management, monitoring and ServiceNow CMDB^test_plan=-- Run connectivity tests by connecting laptop to copper interface -- Ensure that switch is showing as healthy in network monitoring console^EQ

This means that the information required to be shown in an report may not be read-friendly for the report users that will consume this data.

Also, OOTB a report cannot be generated against the table "Standard Change Template Value" [ std_change_template ].

Related Links As an alternative, admins can try one of the following suggestions:

Report from Change [ change_request ] table for the records generated using a Standard Change Template

This solution is about generating a new report using the Report Designer. Due to the limited content of the OOTB sample we are using, the report is based on the "Short Description" and the "Description" of the template:

Data: Table - Change Request [change_request] Type: List Group by: Standard Change Template version Columns Selected: Standard Change Template version, Filter: Standard Change Template version "is not empty" This is the result:

Business Rule to keep Field and Value pairs in custom fields

A "after" business rule for saving/updating an "Standard Change Template Value" [ std_change_template ] record, this business rule should write down the value of the template field into a separated table and fields, then the details of the "Standard Change Template" could be reported from this custom table.

For example:

Custom business rule "BR-CHG_Template_values" is an after business rule for insert and update on "Standard Change Template Value" [ std_change_template ] table and will write down the values of the fields on a custom table; Custom table Report STD Change Template Values [ u_report_std_change_template_values ] have the custom fields "Template" [u_template_ref], "Description" [u_description] and "Short Description" [u_short_description]; Design the business rule so that for update and inserts in the referenced Template it writes down the value of the template's Description and Short Description into the correspondent fields of the table Report STD Change Template Values Create a report to query the custom table Report STD Change Template Values [ u_report_std_change_template_values ] and show the value of the template's fields.