3. Create and update custom fields

Most of the custom fields used for change management already exist in Jira so you can reuse them, but we’ll still need to create a few – they’re needed so your team has the right fields to share their plan and approach for tackling the changes.

Review existing custom fields

Here are existing custom fields that you’ll reuse. We’re listing them for reference:

  • Change type

  • Change start date

  • Change completion date

  • Impact

  • Urgency

  • Change risk

  • Change reason

  • Change managers

  • CAB

  • Approvers (optional)

Update existing custom fields

Here are some recommendations on what to do with existing custom fields:

Custom fieldDescription
Change managers

They will be used to get your change requests approved, we’ll do it in the next step. At this point, you can decide whether you want to include a list of approvers or let agents or customers add them manually.

Here are your options:

Manually by agents or customers

Agents can add or edit approvers for these fields when they fill in the details of a change request. To let customers do it, you’ll need to enable and show these fields on the customer portal.

Pre-filled with default values

You can add approvers as default values of these fields. After the change request is created, the approvers can be modified up until the request reaches the approval steps.

Automatically from a pre-defined list

You can pull a list of approvers for these fields automatically only on the customer portal. To do it, enable these field on the customer portal, but keep them Hidden.

For more info, see Configuring Jira Service Management approvals.

CAB
ApproversThis a default field and works just like the fields mentioned above. You can keep it, but we’ve removed it and used the Insight object/s field instead. The Insight field lets you add approvers that are related to the assets you’re changing, and they are the best approvers of your requests. Regardless of what you’ll do with this field, you’ll also create the Insight field in the next step.

Create new custom fields

The best practice of ITIL is to have the implementation, test, and backout plans for your changes. These fields are text fields and will let you enter and store these plans when creating or editing a change.

Create the custom fields

To create the planning custom fields:

  1. Go to Administration > Custom fields.

  2. Select Add custom field.

  3. Create the fields as described in the table below.

  4. Associate each field with the Change issue type and your project.

  5. Associate each field with the Create and Edit/View screens for your Change issue type.

Just to give you some tips – in a default Jira instance, these screens would be called:

  • Project key: Jira Service Management: Change Create Issue Screen

  • Project key: Jira Service Management: Change View/Edit Screen

Custom fieldType
Implementation planText field (multi line)
Test planText field (multi line)
Backout planText field (multi line)

View the new fields

Here’s how these fields should look on your changes:

Enable the fields on the customer portal

By default, all these custom fields are available only in the agent view. If you’d like customers to create change requests through customer portal, you need to enable and show them on the portal.

To enable fields on the customer portal:

  1. Open your project and go to Project settings > Request types.

  2. Create or select a request that will work as a change request for your customers.

  3. Select Edit fields.

  4. Select + Add a field, and add your fields. After saving, they should appear in the Visible fields section.

Next steps

When you’re ready, go to 4. Link your project to Insight asset management.

Last modified on Aug 26, 2021

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