Calculate time period conflicts

Search for	Example	Results
A single word	`cat`	Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats".
A phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase.	`"cat food"` (quotation marks)	Topics that contain the literal phrase "cat food" and all its grammatical variations. Without the quotation marks, the query is equivalent to specifying an OR operator, which finds topics with one of the individual words instead of the phrase.

Search for	Operator	Example
Two or more words in the same topic	`AND` `and` `+` (plus symbol) `&` (ampersand)	`cat AND dog` `"cat food"+milk` `"cat food"&"dog food"`
Either word in a topic	`OR` `or` `\|` (pipe)	`cat OR dog` `cat \| dog`
Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase	`NOT` `not` `!` (exclamation point)	`NOT cat` `! dog`
Topics that contain one string and do not contain another	`^` (caret)	`cat ^ mouse`
A combination of search types	`( )` parentheses	`cat + (dog \| mouse)` `cat \| dog + (! mouse)`

Out-of-the-box, Service Manager only calculates time period conflicts for changes or change tasks of certain categories, including Emergency, Normal and Standard. If the start date and the end date are specified or updated without null, the system will calculate the conflicts between the current record and existing time periods when you trigger the save operation. Time period conflict calculation has the following five results available.

0: The time period conflict calculation is completed without conflicts.

1: The current record conflicts with a Freeze window.

2: The current record misses a Maintenance window.

3: The current record exceeds a Maintenance window.

null: The time period conflict calculation is not performed.

You can type d tpconflict in $file in the RAD Debugger and then press Enter to view the time period conflict result on a change form or a change task form.

Calculate time period conflicts automatically

The Change Management module is used as an example in the sample task. To calculate the conflicts between a change and a time period, follow these steps:

Refer to Enable or disable the calendar to enable the calendar.

Refer to Display records from an application module in the calendar to configure the calendar mapping for a change.

Refer to Create a time period to create a new time period, and then refer to Approve a time period to approve the newly created time period.

Create a change with a category that can be used for time period conflict calculation. Fill in the Scheduled Implementation Start date and Scheduled Implementation End date if the two fields are null. The two date fields are configured in calendar mappings.

Fill in all mandatory fields, and then click Save. If the change conflicts with an existing time period, the system automatically selects the Time Period Conflict check box in the change record and displays the following warning message.

The Change you scheduled conflicts with the existing freeze period or maintenance period.

Note If you do not select the Disable the Pop-up Window to warn time period conflicts, the time period conflict warning message is displayed in a pop-up window. See Configure time period global settings for more information.

Locate and click the calendar to locate the change record, which is displayed with a red or yellow conflict icon. Hover your mouse over the conflict icon of the change record to view the detailed time conflict information.

Calculate time period conflicts manually

Sometimes when you are adding, retiring or updating time periods, or invoking other process, the time period conflicts may be out of synchronization because these updates do not trigger the save operation of a change.

To get the latest conflict status on a change form, click More or the More Actions icon and then select Calculate Time Period Conflicts. After the manual recalculation, the tpconflict flag in $file in the RAD Debugger is updated accordingly.

Note The Calculate Time Period Conflicts option is available only when all the following requirements are met:

The Service Manager Calendar is enabled.
The current change is configured for time period conflict calculation. Refer to Display records from an application module in the calendar for more information.
The current change is in not closed.

Note Manual time period conflict calculation is not applicable to Problem Management, Incident Management and Interaction.

Related concepts

Related tasks