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T-Minus Runbooks

Purpose

T-Minus Runbooks is the Clarity Transform screen for the runbooks that apply a T-Minus template to a migration event, and for the tasks in them that need attention. The on-screen subtitle reads: "Generated runbook instances linked to migration events. Each runbook contains tasks with calculated dates based on the target cutover date. To create one, open a migration event and generate its runbook from a template."

You do not create a runbook on this screen. You generate it from the migration event: see Generate a T-Minus runbook for an event. Generating creates the runbook and all its tasks from the template. This screen is where you then track the runbooks and work on their tasks.

A runbook links a migration event (Event Name) to a template (Template Name). The template's actions come from the T-Minus Runbook Action Library, and each action's offset places its task relative to the cutover date.

Where to find it

Governance → T-Minus Runbook Management → T-Minus Runbooks

What you see

Cards

  • TOTAL RUNBOOKS: "Created". Help: "Total number of T-Minus runbooks created for migration events".
  • ACTIVE: help "Runbooks currently active or in progress".
  • COMPLETED: help "Runbooks that have been fully executed and completed".
  • DRAFT: help "Runbooks in draft status awaiting activation".

ACTIVE, COMPLETED and DRAFT each show their share as "N% of total".

Charts

  • Runbooks by Status: "Distribution of runbooks by their current status (Planning, In Progress, Completed, etc.)"
  • Tasks Needing Attention by Runbook: "Top runbooks with active tasks that are overdue or due in the next 5 days. Overdue tasks are not capped to the last 5 days." The series are Overdue and Due Soon.

Tabs

  • Runbooks: the runbook grid.
  • Tasks Needing Attention: the task grid. The tab label shows the number of tasks.

Runbooks tab

The grid has these columns:

  • Name: the runbook's name, as a link. Selecting it opens the runbook task list, with all its tasks.
  • Event Name
  • Template Name
  • Target Date
  • Cutover Start Time
  • Cutover End Time
  • Status
  • Progress
  • Owner: the runbook's owner.
  • Notes

Each row has a View Details row action.

The edit form (Edit entry) has these fields, filled in.

  • Name
  • Event Name: a list of the migration events.
  • Template Name: a list of the T-Minus templates.
  • Target Date: a date.
  • Cutover Start Time
  • Cutover End Time
  • Status: Draft, Active, In Progress, Completed, Cancelled or On Hold.
  • Progress
  • Owner: a list of the contacts in Project Directory. To choose someone as the owner, add them to Governance → Project Directory first. If the runbook's current owner is not in the Project Directory, the list shows them as "name (not in list)", so saving the form keeps the owner unchanged.
  • Notes

The form footer has Cancel and Save.

Tasks Needing Attention tab

The tab's text reads: "Active T-Minus tasks that are overdue or due in the next 5 days. Completed and cancelled tasks are excluded." In this build the list does include tasks whose Status is Completed, so treat the count as an upper bound.

The grid has these columns:

  • Actions: the task controls.
  • Runbook Name: a link to the runbook task list.
  • Event Name
  • Name: the task's name, with its description and notes underneath.
  • Scheduled Date
  • Assigned To
  • Status
  • T Minus Label: the task's offset from the cutover date, for example T-7 or T+1.

The task controls in the Actions column are:

  • Reset to Not Started: sets the Status to Pending.
  • Start Task: sets the Status to In Progress.
  • Pause Task: sets the Status to Paused.
  • Cancel Task: sets the Status to Cancelled.
  • A complete control (Mark as Complete): sets the Status to Completed. Its tooltip, "Task must be in progress before completing", shows until the task is in progress.

After each change, a message confirms the new status, for example "Task status updated to In Progress". For a task that sends an email, the message also says whether the email is going: "Sending its email to N recipient(s)", or "its email was not sent" followed by the reason.

The create form (Create new entry) for a task has these fields:

  • Name
  • Assigned To: a list of the contacts in Project Directory, as for the runbook Owner.
  • T Minus Label
  • Status: Pending, Ready, In Progress, Blocked, Completed, Cancelled or Skipped.
  • Runbook Name: a list of the T-Minus runbooks.
  • Description
  • Category: Communication, Technical, Testing, Documentation, Governance or Validation.
  • Scheduled Date: a date.
  • Scheduled Time
  • Actual Start: a date.
  • Actual End: a date.
  • Notes

In this build, Edit Governance Tminus Task on the task grid opens no form. Change a task with its task controls, or with Enable spreadsheet editing.

Runbook task list

The runbook task list shows every task in one runbook, whatever its date. Open it by selecting a runbook's Name on the Runbooks tab, or a Runbook Name on the Tasks Needing Attention tab.

The page is titled T-Minus Runbook. Its subtitle reads: "Individual tasks generated for T-Minus runbooks. Each task has a calculated scheduled date based on T-offset."

The page has summary cards, a summary of the runbook, a chart of the tasks by status, a chart of the tasks by T-Minus label, and the task grid.

The task grid:

  • Is sorted by Scheduled Date, earliest first.
  • Hides completed tasks by default. Select Show completed in the toolbar to show them, and Hide completed to hide them again.
  • Starts with an Actions column, which has the same task controls as the Tasks Needing Attention tab and sets the same statuses.
  • Shows a Late label in the Is Late column for a late task. A task that is past its Scheduled Date and not completed, cancelled or skipped has its row highlighted and its date shown in red.
  • Has Assigned To and T Minus Label columns, as on the Tasks Needing Attention tab.

The toolbar is the standard grid toolbar (the add icon, Edit, Remove selected, Clear selection, Reload table data, Enable spreadsheet editing, Export CSV and Import CSV) plus Show completed. A task you create here is added to this runbook, so the form has no Runbook Name field.

After a task control changes a status, the grid, the cards and the runbook summary update. The same confirmation message shows as on the Tasks Needing Attention tab, including whether a task's email is being sent.

Actions

The Runbooks grid toolbar has Edit, Remove selected, Clear selection, Reload table data, Enable spreadsheet editing, Export CSV and Import CSV. It has no Create New, because runbooks are generated from a migration event. Do not use Import CSV to add runbooks: a runbook added that way has no tasks. Generate the runbook from its migration event instead. The tooltips name the grid, for example Edit Governance Tminus Runbook.

Values

These are the values seen in the lab data for this build, not necessarily the full list.

  • Runbook Status: Planning, In Progress, Completed, Scheduled, Draft. Planning and Scheduled are in the data but not in the form's list.
  • Task Status: Completed, In Progress, Not Started, Pending. Not Started is in the data but not in the form's list. Reset to Not Started sets Pending, not Not Started. Pause Task sets Paused, which is also not in the form's list.
  • T Minus Label: T-30, T-21, T-14, T-7, T-3, T-1, T-0, T+1, T+3. Some tasks have no label.

Filters

Each column has a filter row, there is a Search: box, and the page-size selector offers 10, 25, 50 or All entries per page.

The grid remembers its Search: text, column filters, sort order and page size between visits. If the grid shows fewer rows than you expect, clear the Search: box and the filter row.

How to

Create a runbook for a migration event

Runbooks are generated from the event, not created here:

  1. Go to Plan → Events.
  2. In the event's row, select View T-minus Runbook.
  3. Select Generate Runbook from Template and complete the Generate T-Minus Runbook dialog.

The full steps are in Generate a T-Minus runbook for an event. The runbook is then listed on the Runbooks tab. To see all its tasks, select its Name.

See the tasks that are due or overdue

  1. Go to Governance → T-Minus Runbook Management → T-Minus Runbooks.
  2. Select the Tasks Needing Attention tab.
  3. To see one event's tasks, filter Event Name. To see one person's, filter Assigned To.

See all the tasks in a runbook

  1. Go to Governance → T-Minus Runbook Management → T-Minus Runbooks.
  2. On the Runbooks tab, select the runbook's Name. The runbook task list opens.
  3. To include tasks that are already completed, select Show completed.

Work on a task

  1. Find the task. Tasks that are overdue or due in the next 5 days are on the Tasks Needing Attention tab. For any other task, open the runbook task list from the runbook's Name.
  2. In its Actions column, select Start Task when work begins.
  3. When the task is in progress, select the complete control.
  4. To stop for now, select Pause Task. To abandon the task, select Cancel Task. To start again, select Reset to Not Started, which sets the task to Pending.

If the task sends an email, the confirmation message says whether the email is being sent and to how many recipients, or why it was not sent.

Add a task to a runbook

  1. Open the runbook task list from the runbook's Name.
  2. Select the add icon in the grid toolbar. The Create new entry form opens, without a Runbook Name field.
  3. Complete the fields and select Save. The task is added to this runbook.