Change Control Workflow Overview

The Change Control workflow allows you to request an approval for changes to a firewall or a NAT policy. Currently, when a policy is published and/or updated, all the changes to the policy are published. You cannot select a subset of changes to publish. For example, suppose two rules, R1 and R2, are added to a policy. When the policy is published, both the rules are published. R1 and R2 rule additions cannot be published separately.

The Change Control workflow represents a set of changes made to a policy to achieve a logical goal (usually a request in an IT ticketing system). For example, a new finance user in a company requests access to the server that hosts the payroll management system. The user files a ticket requesting access. At this point, the requester creates a Change Request (CR). The approver can either approve or deny the CR, individually or as part of a batch. The Change Management workspace allows the requester (in this case, the firewall administrator) to create and update CRs and the approver to approve or deny CRs.

Table 232 describes the roles for the Change Control workflow.

The following sections provide more information about the change control workflow:

Benefits of a Change Control Workflow

• Provides a direct correlation to a change ticket ID and the details of the change to a firewall or NAT policy.
• The policies that are modified within an activity (or configuration session) are locked from being modified within other activities. This prevents conflicting changes that could make a policy unstable. Additionally, the changes you make within an activity are visible only within the activity.
• All activities are tracked within the workflow. You can use this information to determine what changes were made and by whom.
• Allows you to approve and update the change requests to the network irrespective of the order in which they are created.

High-level Workflow of Change Control Workflow

Procedure

1. Opens a new session to modify the security and/or network environment using Security Director.
2. Configures security policy and application settings in Security Director.
3. Submits the completed session for approval.
4. A manager reviews the proposed modifications and either approves, denies the session, or returns it to the administrator with a request to make the proposed changes.
5. The administrator makes the requested changes and resubmits the session for approval, if the manager has denied the request initially and requested modifications.
6. The manager approves the request.
7. The administrator installs the policy for all approved sessions.

Setting Up Change Control Workflow

Procedure

1. Select Network Management Platform > Administration > Applications.

   A page appears listing the available Network Management Platform applications.

2. Right-click Security Director and select Modify Application Settings.
3. Click Change-Control-Workflow and provide the information, as described in Table 233.

   Table 233: Fields on the Change Control Workflow Setting Page

   Option	Description
   Enable Change Control Workflow	Enable this option to approve all firewall and NAT policy changes before updateing the policy changes. All Security Director users will be logged out after this option is selected.
   Default approval days	Enter the number of days within which the request must be approved or denied. The default number of days is 7.
   Default ticket field name	Enter the ticket field name for creating the change request. The default field name is Ticket Number.
   Enable e-mail notifications	Enable this option to receive e-mail notifications when the CR is created, approved, or denied. The notification is sent to both the requester and the approver.
   Maximum requests per policy	Enter the maximum number of outstanding CRs per policy. The default value is 10.

Related Documentation

• Creating a Firewall or NAT Policy Change Request
• Approving and Updating Changes Submitted
• Editing, Denying, and Deleting Change Requests
• About the Changes Submitted Page
• About the Changes Not Submitted Page
• Discarding Policy Changes
• Viewing Submitted and Unsubmitted Policy Changes
• About the Change Request History Page