View and Action DFA Requests
DFA Requests (DFA.Rs) record the changes and modifications to Managed VMware VMs managed by the Delegated Financial Authority (DFA) functionality.
For an overview of the DFA and how it operates in CloudCreator, see Overview of DFA Functionality.
Topics
- View All DFA Requests
- Approve or Decline a DFA Request
- Apply a DFA Request
- Cancel a DFA Request
- Examples of a DFA Request in Action
- Run a DFA Request Report
To view a list of DFA Requests (DFA.Rs) from any screen in CloudCreator, follow the steps below.
1. Click the DFA Requests icon in the sidebar.
2. If your company is using multiple virtual clouds, click the cloud name at the top of your screen. Select the required parent or child cloud from the dropdown menu.
3. The DFA Requests screen appears. Here you can view all DFA requests by selecting either Unapproved, Approved, or All. Each of these tabs, and the information they display, are described below.
Note: The number that appears next to the tab name 'Unapproved' is the number of DFA.Rs that a logged on user can action. The screenshot above shows that there are 4 DFA.R's that can be actioned.
4. The table below describes the function of each tab in the DFA Requests screen.
Tab | Description |
Unapproved
|
These are the DFA.Rs waiting to be approved or declined. Click the DFA Request Number, to view and action a DFA.R. See Approve or Decline a DFA Request.
As soon as a DFA.R is approved or declined, it will drop off the list. A DFA.R may also disappear from the list if it is approved or declined by another user. See DFA Request States to find out more about Unapproved status.
|
Approved (unapplied)
|
These are the DFA.Rs that are approved and unapplied. Click on a DFA Request Number to view and apply a DFA.R. See Apply a DFA Request. To find out more about Approved status, see DFA Request States.
|
All |
These are all the DFA.Rs for the virtual cloud, not limited by who created them, or their current state.
Here you can:
|
Approve or Decline a DFA Request
- View the details of the VM being created (or modified).
- View information provided by the requestor to allow the approver to have all the information they need to approve the DFA.R.
- Approve or decline the DFA.R.
6. If a previously approved DFA.R no longer needs to be performed, then the DFA.R must be cancelled. See Cancel a DFA Request.
Once a DFA.R is approved, the requestor (or anyone else with the required roles in CloudCreator) can apply the DFA.R.
Follow these steps to apply a DFA.R:
1. From the DFA Requests screen for your virtual cloud, select the Approved tab. Click on the DFA Request Number.
2. The Manage DFA Request screen appears. Click Perform Create.
Note: If your user role (eg. VM Admin) allows, you can change a DFA.R once it has been approved.
3. Once the DFA.R is applied, the resource is moved from the 'From' state to the 'To' state. There may be other steps or checks during this action that are specific to the technology involved. For example, when applying a change to a VMware VM, you may be asked to reboot the machine.
The Cancel action appears on any DFA.R that has not been completed. You can cancel the proposed changes without them being applied (before or after approval).
Examples of a DFA Request in Action
The examples below use a VMware subscription as the context.
Scenario
The organisation chooses to create two DFA levels; $20 and $500. This means the organisation has the following DFA levels and users assigned to them:
DFA Level Name |
DFA Level Value |
Comment |
Assigned User |
$Zero |
$0 |
|
Bob |
Level 2 |
$20 |
|
Ted |
Level 3 |
$500 |
|
Alice |
$Unlimited |
$Unlimited |
|
Jeff |
Example 1
Gavin attempts to change the tier of a VM to a lesser level of performance. He also adds a very small, additional drive. This causes a slight reduction to the cost of the VM.
As the ‘cost of the change’ (ie: the value of the DFA.R) is less than $0, then:
- The VM modification will not be stopped by the DFA controls.
- The DFA.R that encapsulates the modification will still be auto-created (with auto-populated information of the user as approver).
- The user will still be faced with the question of allowing a reboot of the VM if the modification requires it, otherwise the change can go through immediately.
Example 2
Lara attempts to change the tier of a VM to a higher level of performance. This means the cost of the VM will be more than previously; eg. an increase of $12/month.
As the cost of the change is greater than Lara's ‘DFA Level Zero', Lara has the option of changing the configuration to something that is within her approval level, or to submit the DFA.R for approval.
Lara chooses to submit the DFA.R for approval. The following table describes the approval process:
Stage | Description |
1 |
Lara is shown a list of users who can approve the DFA.R. She sees the names of James, Sarah and Bart. Lara selects Bart but could select more people to request approval for the change. Because Lara is able to choose the people to be notified, this reduces the ‘spam’ effect of notifying too many people about a single modification. |
2 |
The VM is “locked” and no further edits to the configuration are allowed until the DFA.R is either completed, cancelled via CloudCreator, or becomes stale.
The only VM actions available after the change is submitted for approval are 'View VM Details' and 'Power on/off'. All VMs with pending changes are 'locked' in this way. |
3 |
A DFA.R is created in CloudCreator, which auto-selects a DFA.R number (system incrementing) and records:
|
4 |
Bart receives an email notifying him that the change has been requested by Lara. Bart views the DFA Requests screen in CloudCreator and selects the 'Unapproved' tab. This screen shows a list of outstanding DFA.Rs awaiting approval by Bart, and the DFA.Rs he has requested. The ‘history’ option shows all DFA.Rs including those that Bart has previously approved, declined or requested. |
5 |
Bart locates the DFA.R by:
If Bart chooses to:
|
6 |
When the DFA.R is approved or declined:
|
7 | Once the DFA.R is approved, Lara views the DFA.R and 'Applies' the change. |
The DFA Requests report provides the details of all DFA Requests within a specific date range. Follow these steps to run the report:
1. From any screen in CloudCreator, click the reports icon on the side menu.
2. The Reports screen appears. Select the Run List Reports tab. Then click Select Report > DFA Requests.
3. Click Date Range and select the dates you want to view. If required, click the Simple Format checkbox to produce a simple column layout report that can be exported to Excel.
4. Click Run Report. The DFA Requests report will be generated.