---
title: "Manual change reconciliation"
description: "Manual change reconciliation"
product: "Guardian"
edition: "Classic"
type: "reference"
url: "https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/what-s-new/2-previous-release/2025/monthly/manual-change-reconciliation/"
---
# Manual change reconciliation

Applies to: `Guardian Classic`

| Included in Version | Release Date |
| --- | --- |
| V3.59.2 | [September 2025 Monthly Release](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/what-s-new/2-previous-release/2025/monthly/september-2025/index.md) |

The **Change Report** tab (**Reports > Change Report**) has been improved to allow for manual approval of any changes that have occurred within your Guardian instance, giving you greater control over configuration changes. With this enhancement, you can filter changes by type, approval status, or node group, then selectively approve or unapprove them, add comments, and associate them with external change request IDs. Approved changes are tagged and can be exported in a PDF and CSV report. This allows for more deliberate change management, especially in dynamic environments where frequent updates occur. For more information on the **Change Report** tab's functionality, see [Change Report](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/reports/change-report/change-report/index.md).

!!! note

    This is an optional feature that must be enabled. For more information on how to enable it, contact your Cloudhouse Representative.

## Change indicators

The **Change Report** tab now highlights the number of changed attributes, and the details of those changes within your Guardian instance, as demonstrated in the screenshot below.

![Manualchangerec10](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec10.png)

The following table describes each of the change indicators displayed:

**Changes**
:   The total number of changes in the Guardian instance.

**Added**
:   The number of changes that have been added.

**Modified**
:   The number of changes that have been further modified.

**Removed**
:   The number of changes that have been removed.

**Approved**
:   The number of changes that have been approved.

**Unapproved**
:   The number of unapproved changes.

## Change reference tags

Each change is displayed within the **Detailed Change Report** table, with each row representing a change record. For each recorded change, there is a set of reference tags, which represents different elements of the change. There are four change reference tags in total, each corresponding with different values in the **Options** drop-down menu. Click on a tag to filter the change report according to that value. The change reference tags are described as follows, with each being highlighted in the screenshot below:

!!! note

    For more information on additional filtering, see [Report Options](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/reports/change-report/change-report/index.md#report-options).

![Manualchangerec11](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec11.png)

1. **Node** – The node that the attribute is assigned to.
2. **Node Section Scan** – The section of the scan that the change appears in.
3. **Change Type** – The type of change that has occurred (Added, Modified, Removed).

    !!! note

        Refer to [Change Indicators](#change-indicators) for more information.

4. **Approval Status** – The approval status of the change. The status is reflected by the following colors:

    1. **Green** – Approved.

        !!! note

            If the change has been approved, the tag will be updated with the change reference ID or the approval reason. Hover over this tag to display any comments that have been added.

    2. **Red** – Unapproved.

Once you've established how the change report displays your information, you can begin to filter your results or start immediately approving changes. For more information on filtering your results, see [Group and Filter Changes](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/reports/change-report/change-report/index.md#group-and-filter-changes).

## Approving changes

You can manually approve any changes that have occurred within your Guardian instance.

!!! tip

    Only users with appropriate **Administrative** privileges can access sensitive approval actions within the **Change Report** tab. Analysts and Members can view the **Change Report** tab, but cannot perform reconciliation actions. For more information on the permissions attributed to each role type, see [Users](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/account/users/users/index.md).

To approve a change, complete the following steps:

1. In the **Options** drop-down menu, click the **Approval Status** drop-down list and select **Unapproved**. The change report will refresh to only include unapproved changes.

    ![Manualchangerec1](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec1.png)

2. Select the change that you want to approve by clicking on the relevant checkbox(es).
3. Click **Approve Changes**. The **Approve Changes** dialog box is displayed.

    ![Manualchangerec2](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec2.png)

4. Select one of the following radio buttons, depending how you want to approve the change:

    1. **Change Request IDs** – Enter the change request IDs for the selected change(s). You can enter multiple IDs, each separated by a comma.

        ![Manualchangerec3](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec3.png)

        !!! note

            Any change request IDs provided are only used for reference purposes and are not systemically linked to your external appliance.

    2. **Approval Reason** – If a change you are approving is not tied to a ticket and does not have a corresponding change ID, you can provide a reason for the approval in lieu. To do this, select a reason from the drop-down menu, or create your own by clicking **New**.

        !!! note

            For more information on approval reasons, including how to view, modify, and add additional pre-set approval reasons to the drop-down list, see [Approval Reasons](#approval-reasons).

        ![Manualchangerec4](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec4.png)

5. Optionally, add a comment to clarify the reason for the approval.
6. Click **Approve**.

The changes will be reflected with the change request ID or the approval reason tag, as seen below.

![Manualchangerec7](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec7.png)

Approval statuses are also displayed when exporting via **PDF**, **PDF (including text)** or **CSV**.

!!! note

    For more information on how to export a report, see [Export a Report](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/reports/change-report/change-report/index.md#export-a-report).

## Approval Reasons

An approval reason allows you to identify why a change was approved, and can be used as an alternative to using a change reference ID, if one isn't available. You can apply an approval reason both during and after change approval.

### Adding approval reasons

The primary method for adding an approval reason is via the **Approval Reasons** dialog box. This method is most efficient for adding multiple approval reasons at once, before assigning them to changes.

![Manualchangerec13](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec13.png)

To add an approval reason, complete the following steps:

1. Click the **Approve Changes** drop-down list, and select **Reasons**. The **Approval Reasons** dialog box is displayed.

    !!! tip

        Any approval reasons you have previously created will be displayed here.

    ![Manualchangerec13](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec13.png)

2. Complete the following options:

    - **Reason** field – The reason for the change to be approved.

        !!! note

            This is what will appear in the **Approval Reason** drop-down list when manually approving a change.

    - **Description** field – The description of the approval reason.

    ![Manualchangerec21](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec21.png)

3. Click the **Select** (![Select 40x33](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/buttons/select-40x33.png)) button to save your changes.

The approval reason is then stored and available to use when manually approving changes. For more information, see [Approving Changes](#approving-changes).

### Modifying approval reasons

If you have created an approval reason that no longer applies, or needs to be adjusted, you can modify it.

!!! tip

    When an approval reason is modified, all changes that have been approved via the old version are automatically updated to reflect the new approval reason.

To modify an approval reason, complete the following steps:

1. Click the **Approve Changes** drop-down, and select **Reasons**. The **Approval Reasons** dialog box is displayed.

    ![Manualchangerec22](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec22.png)

2. Click on the **Edit** (![Edit2](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/buttons/edit2.png)) button to modify your reason.
3. Complete the following options:

    - **Reason** field – Change the approval reason. This is what will appear in the **Approval Reason** drop-down list when manually approving a change.
    - **Description** field – Change the description for the approval reason.

4. Click the **Select**(![Select 41x34](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/buttons/select-41x34.png)) button to save your changes.

Once complete, the approval reason is modified.

## Unapproving changes

Likewise, you can manually remove any changes that were initially approved. There may be cases where an approval will need to be reversed, for example:

- If a change was approved in error or prematurely.
- The approval is no longer necessary or relevant.

This gives you more granular control over the approval process.

To remove an approved change, complete the following steps:

1. In the **Options** drop-down menu, click the **Approval Status** drop-down list, and select **Approved**. The change report will refresh to only include approved changes.

    ![Manualchangerec5](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec5.png)

2. Select the change(s) that you want to remove approval for by clicking on the relevant checkbox(es).
3. Click the **Approve Changes** drop-down and select **Unapprove Changes**.

    ![Manualchangerec6](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec6.png)

The changes will be reflected with the **Unapproved** tag in the change report, as seen in the screenshot below.

![Manualchangerec9](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec9.png)

## Additional filter options

Within the **Options** drop-down menu, you can now filter changes by change request ID or approval reason, which are created when approving changes. For more information on the full list of options available in this menu, see [Report Options](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/reports/change-report/change-report/index.md#report-options).

![Manualchangerec20](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec20.png)

## View differences in text files

The **Change Report** tab displays changes made within text files, which is useful for identifying configuration changes that occur within one iteration of the same file and the next, or two completely different files. By comparing text files, files, you can quickly pinpoint what has changed and why it matters in your Guardian instance.

To view these changes, complete the following steps:

1. Find the text file you wish to view. You can do this by entering **.txt** into the **Filter Changes** text box. The change report refreshes to only include .txt files.
2. Click on the relevant change.
3. Select **Show**.

    ![Manualchangerec15](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec15.png)

4. A side by side comparison between the previous file and the new file is displayed.

    ![Manualchangerec16](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec16.png)

These changes can also be viewed within an exported PDF.

To view these changes within a PDF, complete the following steps:

1. Find the relevant text file you wish to view. You can narrow these results by entering **.txt** into the **Filter Changes** text box.
2. Click on **Export** and select **PDF (including text)**.

    ![Manualchangerec17](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec17.png)

3. Open the PDF and find the relevant text file.
4. The difference in the text file is then displayed.

    ![Manualchangerec19](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec19.png)

    Each color in the report represents the following:

    1. **Red** – Previous entry
    2. **Green** – Current entry.

## View differences on node

You can now view any differences that have occurred on a node through the **Change Reports** tab. To do this, click the **View Diff on Node** button (**↗**) next to the name of the node on the relevant change.

![Manualchangerec12](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec12.png)

This will take you to the corresponding node in the **Monitored** tab (**Inventory** > **Monitored**). Here, you can view all changes that are associated with this node, including details for these changes, as shown in the screenshot below. For more information on the **Monitored** tab, see [Monitored](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/inventory/monitored/monitored/index.md).

!!! note

    The **View Diff on Node** button can only be viewed when filtering by **No Grouping**.

![Manualchangerec18](https://docs.cloudhouse.com/guardian/classic/assets/images/guardian/whats-new/2025/september/manualchangerec18.png)