Environment Requests enable you to govern the process around Environment allocation and Environment change control within your organization. Plutora uses three distinct entities to achieve this:
- Test Environment Change Requests (TECRs)
- Test Environment Booking Requests (TEBRs)
- My Environment Bookings.
Pre-requisite
Navigation
Environment > Requests
Environment Requests Grid Layout and Features
Test Environment Change Requests (TECRs)
TECRs are used to govern changes to Environments such as:
- Code deployments
- Database Data refresh
- Infrastructure Updates
- Environment Configuration updates
- Network updates
- Server and firmware patches.
TECRs enable you to document exactly what is changing when it’s going to happen, and whether or not there will be planned outages. TECRs can be configured to have custom workflows with approvals and SLAs per TECR Type so you can enforce the right process and governance required.
Using TECRs enables you to get control of non-production sites and gives everyone in your organization visibility of planned changes as well as an audit of prior changes.
To view the TECRs in Plutora, click on the TECR tab on the Environment Requests page. You can filter the requests using the various search and filter options available. You must have ‘View TECR grid’ user permission.
Test Environment Booking Requests (TEBRs)
TEBRs are used to govern the process of allocating Environments to the various projects or Agile delivery teams within your organization. TEBRs enable you to request multiple Environment Bookings for a period of time and manage each request through a process of review, conflict resolution, and confirmation.
TEBRs can also be configured to have:
- Custom fields, so you can capture detailed information.
- Workflows with approvals and SLA, so you can enforce the right process and governance for allocating Environments.
Using TEBRs enables you to plan and manage your Environment allocation process and gives visibility to requests. TEBRs are the recommended approach if your Environment allocation process is managed by a central team independent of your project and Agile delivery teams.
If your Environment allocation is less complicated and your primary goal is to show the approved allocation of Environments for reporting purposes, then alternatively you can raise Environment Bookings directly from the Release. Refer to Manage Release Environments for more details.
To view the TEBRs in Plutora, click on the TEBR tab on the Environment Requests page. You can filter the requests using the various search and filter options available. You must have ‘View TEBR grid’ user permission.
My Environment Bookings
Environment Bookings are used to indicate exactly which Environments have been requested and approved. For each Environment selected within a TEBR or Release, there will be an Environment Booking that enables you to review the availability of each Environment individually. Each Environment Booking has a default status of ‘Pending’ and can be set to either ‘Approved’ or ‘Rejected’ depending on the outcome of your request. If the Environment Booking request is ‘Pending’ and there is already an ‘Approved’ or ‘Pending’ Environment Booking for the same period then the booking will be flagged as having a ‘Conflict’. This indicates that you need to agree to share the Environment with another project or team, modify the dates of your own request, or request a new Environment Booking.
For more information on how conflicts are calculated refer to Environment Booking Conflicts.
Using Environment Bookings gives you visibility of the Environment utilization throughout your entire organization, highlighting both under and over-utilization and enabling you to effectively manage the cost of non-production. Environment Bookings also enable better communication to the relevant Project and Agile delivery teams for any planned or unplanned impacts on the Environments
To view the Environment Bookings, click on the My Environment Booking tab on the Environment Requests page. You can filter the requests using the various search and filter options available. You must have ‘View Release Bookings grid’ user permission.
Search and Filter Options
You have the following search and filter options on this page:
Live Search
Live Search searches for the TECR, TEBR, or My Environment Booking Tabs.
To use Live Search, click the TECR, TEBR, or My Environment Booking tab and enter your search query into the Live Search field. Your search results will appear as you type. Press Enter to perform the search.
Grid Column Filter
Filter Requests with Custom Fields Columns
drop-down menu.
On the ‘Select Additional Columns’ dialog drag and drop custom fields into Selected Columns.
If any fields in this dialog contains 
, it means that field is locked by the administrators using the Environment Custom Fields Customization. Fields can also be made uneditable or hidden by administrators using these customizations.
Click 
. The selected custom fields will appear as new columns to the right of the ‘Status’ column.
Filter by Query Builder
Query Builder allows you to create and save your own private searches and use public searches.
You must have the ‘Create/Delete Release Public Query Builder’ user permissions to create, edit or delete public queries.
To use Query Builder, click 
. See Query Builder for more information. Clicking
opens the quick access menu, which lists private and public queries.
View Environment Requests
To view an Environment Request, click on the ‘Number’ or ‘Title’ of the request on the TECR or TEBR tab. The respective request pop-up displays. On ‘My environment Bookings’ tab click on the ‘Release ID’ or ‘Release Name’ to open the booking request pop-up.
Show/Hide Columns
The grids have a number of default columns, you can show or hide these columns using the grid column selector. Hover your mouse cursor over the column header to see 
.
Click the button and select Columns. The list of columns available on the TECR/TEBR/My Environment Bookings grid will be displayed. Select or deselect the checkboxes to show or hide columns.
Export Environment Requests to XLS
Export your Environment Requests to XLS (Microsoft Excel) to back them up or use the data in another application.
To export your Environment Requests to XLS, click the TECR, TEBR, or My Environment Booking tab. Then click and select Export to XLS. Your Excel file should start downloading immediately. If it doesn’t, check your pop-up blocker settings. Save the file to your hard drive if prompted.
Only currently displayed requests will be exported. Using the Filter options you can alter the data to export.
More Information
Environment Booking Conflicts – Interpretation
Environment booking conflicts are caused by two or more bookings being created for the same Environment or Environment Group during the same time period. Only bookings with a status of ‘Pending’ will be considered as having a conflict and you can resolve this conflict by either:
- Approving or rejecting the bookings or
- Modifying the booking dates.
The following bullet points show which status combinations will result in a conflict and which will not:
- Approved and Approved: No conflict.
- Approved and Rejected: No conflict.
- Rejected and Pending: No conflict.
- Approved and Pending: Only the Pending Environment shows a conflict.
- Pending and Pending: Both Environments show a conflict.
The following colors represent the combination of status and conflict:
- Green: Approved.
- Orange: Pending without conflicts.
- Red: Pending with one or more conflicts.
- Red: Rejected.
Restrict Sit-Wide View of Environments
Administrators can prevent you from viewing and booking Environments and Environment Groups outside your Portfolio Association by selecting the My Portfolio Association checkbox for the ‘Restrict Site-Wide View of Environments’ user permission.