Anybody provided web access to package approvals and can share?

[John Dueckman]

One of the nicer things about CMEW was its ability to provide non-mainframe oriented managers with the ability to actively participate in the approval of packages without the need to sully their hands with going to a 3270 emulator .

 

With CMEW being stabilized, the need for providing that functionality still exists. My PREFERRED option would be for CA to provide it as part of base Endevor (As an approver of changes on enterprise systems, I need the ability to approve packages in Endevor from my web browser so that I can maintain a common set of interfaces through my intranet and maintain approval procedures without the introduction of a proprietary terminal emulation.).... but barring that, has anyone created a simple, single-use approval interface that can run in a web browser?

 

I don't need "Enterprise packages" or "interface to Harvest" or the ability to upload/download files to Endevor... I just want a simple browser interface for approving packages.....

[Eoin OCleirigh]

Yes CMEW is being stabilised, but it's still being supported so no need to panic yet! - check out the latest Patch 5 at the Downloads section CA Change Manager Enterprise Workbench r12 Updates ...

...and yes CA is working on replacement(s) there is Application LifeCycle Conductor (ALC) and coming soon Package Support in the Eclipse interface.

Francois Danseraux (of Itegrations) can provide both web and smart phone approvals via NXBridge (see prior discussion at Re: Is there a way to approve a package via an email?)

...and of course (since Endevor v17) there is a REST API that makes it fairly easy to build it yourself, this is of course the tool that CA is using internally to build the future solutions (although perhaps a simple approval WebApp would be a great item to include as a sample...)

The solution you pick will depend on many factors (urgency/cost/support), but there are many options to pick from and I suspect that there will be more shortly.

[John Dueckman]

Unfortunately, there's little point in purchasing and migrating to a software offering that is stabilized and being supported "for now". ALC is way overkill for the need and an Eclipse interface is not a realistic option compared to a web interface for a management persona (as opposed to a developer persona).

 

Neither is developing a customized solution using the API for the sole purpose of providing an interface (the customer is trying to get away from customizations, not develop more). NXBridge "might" be an option but I'm personally not comfortable relying on 3rd party vendor interfaces (anyone else remember Fastlist and Fastedit?). It's arguably just another form of "customization" and tends to introduce upgrade and support challenges... and wasted investment if/when CA decides to deliver the functionality themselves.

 

What I might suggest and support is CA reconsider/modernize providing "Endevor Workbench" (the pieces of CMEW without the Harvest hooks) and just ship that as part of the Endevor base product. Now THAT would suit my persona perfectly... Even just stripped down for Package views....

 

I guess I'm going to have to wait for the "there will be more shortly"....