Creating a blackout period

When you create a blackout period, you specify the start and end times for the blackout period and indicate whether users should avoid scheduling Changes or follow restrictions during the period. You specify approvers or approver groups that are notified when a Change conflicts with the blackout period. You also apply the blackout period to all CIs or to a specified subset of CIs.

1. Click Go To > Change > Blackout Periods to open the Blackout Periods application.
2. Click to create a new blackout period.
3. Type a name in the Blackout Period field.
4. Type a description of the blackout period. Click to provide details. A long description is particularly important for periods during which restrictions apply. Change Owners need additional information to schedule Changes during a restricted period.
5. Click the calendar icon beside the Start Time field, and use the controls to specify the start time for the new blackout period.
6. Click the calendar icon beside the End Time field, and use the controls to specify the end time for the new blackout period.
7. Click beside the Type field, and select one of the following blackout period types:

   Option	Description
   LOCKDOWN	Indicates that no Change should be scheduled during the specified time period. Provide the reason for the lockdown in the Long Description field.
   RESTRICTED	Indicates that scheduled Changes are restricted during this period, and that caution should be applied in scheduling a Change. Provide additional details in the Long Description.

8. Click New Row in the Approvers section, and specify one or more approvers or approver groups that you want notified when a Change conflicts with this blackout period.

   The approvers or approver groups that you specify are people and person groups that you have defined in the People application. When you assign a person group, the workflow sends an assignment record to every member of that group, at the same time. After one member completes the assignment, the assignments to other group members are retracted, and the group is considered to have completed its approval assignment.

9. In the Scope section, do one of the following to specify that all CIs or a subset of CIs are associated with this blackout period:
   • Leave the Applies to all CIs box checked to apply the blackout period to all of your CIs. This is the default option.
   • Deselect Applies to all CIs, and click Select CIs to specify one or more CIs for which you want this blackout period to apply. After you have created a list of CIs, you can select one or more CIs and click Remove Selected CIs to remove the selected CIs from the list; you can also click Remove All CIs to remove all of the CIs from the list.
10. Click to save the new blackout period. The name of the blackout period is now displayed in the list of blackout periods.