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Concepts Guide
January 2009
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Preface 7
AR System documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Chapter 3 Workflow 35
Workflow in general and in AR System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
How workflow components differ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Events versus time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Client versus server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Contents 5
Collections of workflow components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Workflow actions and execution options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Workflow actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Workflow execution options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Workflow qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Keywords in qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Glossary 71
Index 85
6 Concepts Guide
Preface
BMC Remedy Action Request System (AR System) is the foundation for a wide
range of business solutions, from service desk call tracking to inventory
management to integrated systems management.
This guide discusses core concepts of AR System. It is primarily for new
administrators who will use AR System to create or modify applications. Other
audiences, including business managers and persons evaluating and prototyping
applications based on AR System, might also find this guide helpful. Procedures,
performance, and other topics are documented in the books listed in the following
section.
AR System documents
The following table lists documentation available for AR System products.
Unless otherwise noted, online documentation in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format is
available on AR System product installation DVDs, on the Customer Support
website (http://www.bmc.com/support_home), or both.
You can access product help through each product’s Help menu or by clicking
Help links.
Preface 7
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
8 Concepts Guide
AR System documents
1
The full title of each guide includes BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00 (for
example, BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00 Concepts Guide).
2
Application developers who use BMC Remedy Developer Studio.
3
C and Java programmers who write plug-ins and clients for AR System.
Preface 9
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
10 Concepts Guide
Chapter
1 About AR System
What is AR System?
AR System is a professional development environment that
Leverages the best practices of the IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®)
Provides a foundation for Business Service Management (BSM) solutions
Using AR System, nonprogrammers can build powerful business workflow
applications and deploy them simultaneously in web, Windows, UNIX®, and
Linux® environments.
Applications built with AR System can automatically track anything that is
important to the processes in your enterprise. Companies use AR System
applications to track such diverse items as stock trades, benefits data, inventory
assets, spare parts, and order fulfillment. One of the most common uses of
AR System is to automate internal service desks. The following example illustrates
a service desk solution in which AR System solves an employee’s problem.
12 Concepts Guide
What is AR System?
AR System adaptability
AR System strikes a balance between hard-coded applications, which are typically
inflexible, and development toolkits, which often require extensive technical
knowledge and time to use. Instead, AR System provides a platform from which
even nonprogrammers can modify ready-to-use BMC applications or create
custom applications to fit their unique enterprise.
AR System
Adaptable applications
AR System architecture
AR System is based on a multitiered client/server architecture:
Client tier—Contains AR System clients. Most clients present information to
application users and receive input from them, but the tools for migration and
application development are also clients.
Mid tier—Contains components and add-in services that run on a web server,
enabling users to view applications on the web.
Server tier—Contains the AR System server, which controls workflow
processes and access to databases and other data sources in the data tier. This
tier also contains server-side applications (such as Approval Server,
Email Engine, and the Flashboards server) and the C and Sun Java plug-in
servers with plug-ins.
Data tier—Contains database servers and other data sources that can be
accessed by the AR System server. The database server acts as the data storage
and retrieval engine.
Browser Desktop
applications
The AR System
Server server runs
Tier applications
AR System server and workflow.
It also enforces
business logic.
14 Concepts Guide
AR System architecture
AR System clients
AR System clients can be broadly divided into user clients and developer clients.
User clients
The user clients use standard interfaces for their respective environments:
Developer clients
The developer clients are used to create, modify, and extend AR System
applications:
Integration clients
BMC and its partners also offer the following tools for expanding the capabilities
of core AR System. These tools act as clients of AR System.
BMC Atrium Integration Engine (AIE)
BMC Remedy Knowledge Management
Network management platform integration accessories
Systems management integration utilities
See Chapter 5, “Extending AR System.”
16 Concepts Guide
AR System architecture
AR System server
The AR System server processes all data entered through a client. As the workflow
engine between client and database, the server writes data to the database when a
request is created and retrieves data from the database when a client requests it.
The server verifies that a user has permission to perform each transaction, thereby
enforcing any access control defined in an application. The server also
continuously evaluates the data in the database and each transaction to determine
whether the server should perform workflow. The server might also perform
workflow on a timed basis. See Chapter 3, “Workflow.”
The AR System server communicates with the mid tier, AR System clients, and
external applications by means of a well-defined API. The server is available for
each of these operating systems:
Hewlett Packard HP-UX
IBM® AIX®
Linux (Red Hat and Novell SuSE)
Microsoft Windows Server
Sun Microsystems Solaris™
NOTE
For the most accurate information about supported platforms and software, always
see the BMC Remedy compatibility matrixes on the Customer Support website
(http://www.bmc.com/support_home).
Server groups
To provide scalability and increase reliability, you can connect a group of servers
to the same database and manage them as a unit. Servers in a group act as a single
server to support the applications that they run. They can be configured to spread
the load of shared services, and they can provide backup to each other to ensure
that those services are always available.
Database servers
AR System uses standard relational databases to store and retrieve data.
Architecturally, the database server processes are completely separate from the
AR System server processes. Physically, the database server processes can run on
the same computer as the AR System server or on a different computer.
Because the AR System server manages all workflow, applications are
independent of the database. Therefore, applications created on an AR System
server running one type of database can easily be moved to a server running a
different type of database. BMC provides a simple export/import utility for this
purpose.
AR System can use any of these database platforms:
IBM DB2®
IBM Informix Dynamic Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle®
Sybase ASE
NOTE
For the most accurate information about supported platforms and software, always
see the BMC Remedy compatibility matrixes on the Customer Support website
(http://www.bmc.com/support_home).
18 Concepts Guide
AR System architecture
AR System AR System
Clients Clients
Transfer
Update
Application components
Applications developed with BMC Remedy Developer Studio are fully
customizable and extensible. You can add your own fields, objects, and templates
to any application, whether it was created by you, purchased from BMC, or
acquired from a third party. AR System provides extensive authoring capabilities
for applications built for web and Windows environments.
This section introduces the main components of an AR System application.
Form—The main AR System application component that users interact with is a
form. Each form is composed of fields. A field can be a unit of information, such
as an employee’s last name, or it can be a visual element, such as a line or a box.
You can design different field arrangements, or views, of forms for different user
functions. When a user fills in the fields and saves the data, the system creates a
request to track. In database terms, each request is a record.
You can bundle related forms into an application. For example, a human
resources application might include forms for basic employee data, health
benefits, and salary information. You can deploy the application to multiple
servers to make it accessible to employees in different locations. You can also
display your application on the web to allow access from a browser on any
platform, as shown in Figure 1-4. See Chapter 2, “Forms and applications.”
20 Concepts Guide
Application components
Menu—Menus are lists that you create to guide the user in entering information
in fields on forms. A menu can contain all possible values for a field, or it can
contain some possible values, enabling users to enter text that is not on the
menu. You can design dynamic menus, which change their contents based on
the data already entered in the form. See “Attaching menus to fields” on
page 32.
Workflow—While forms provide the mechanism to structure data capture and
menus offer options for specific field data, additional components—active links,
filters, and escalations—act on the data to automate business processes, or
workflow. These components trigger actions in response to execution options that
you define. In AR System, workflow generally refers to the operations triggered
by these components, but AR System also addresses the broader meaning of
workflow, which consists of the processes that your organization uses to run
itself. See Chapter 3, “Workflow.”
Active link—An active link is an action or group of actions performed on the
client. Active links are triggered by user actions in a form. They can be used
to perform a variety of tasks, such as giving quick responses during data entry
and auto-filling fields. For example, an active link can verify a value entered
in the Employee ID field of a request and then pull information from a
supporting People form to fill in other fields on the request, such as Requestor
Name, Department, and Phone Number, dramatically reducing the time
required for support staff to fill out a request.
An active link guide is a group of active links. Because active link guides run
on a client, they can augment training by leading users through the steps
necessary to fill in one or more forms to accomplish a specific task. For
example, when an employee clicks a Request Business Cards button on a
human resources form, an active link guide might open a business cards form
and then display input instructions, field by field, until the card request is
complete and ready to submit. Active link guides can also be used as
subroutines to accomplish common tasks.
Filter—A filter is an action or group of actions performed on the AR System
server. Filters are used to enforce business rules and to ensure system and
data integrity. As the server processes a request, the filters associated with
that form and action evaluate the data in the request. For example, you can
verify the values in a completed form by using a filter to compare them
against your business rules and return an error if the request violates any of
those rules.
A filter guide is a group of filters that can be used as a subroutine in workflow.
Because filter guides run on the server, they cannot be used like active link
guides to lead users through a form.
Escalation—An escalation is an action or group of actions performed on the
server at specified times or time intervals. Basically, an escalation is an
automated, time-based process that searches for requests that match certain
criteria at specified times and takes actions based on the results of the search.
For example, an escalation can trigger AR System to notify the next level of
management if a problem is not assigned to a technician within one hour of
submission.
Problems Form
1
Active link
Telephone # 555-1212
Employee Form
Name
Name Ramona
Configuration
Configuration PC
Location
Location B2
Status
3 Problem solved
If the situation had been flagged as an emergency and no one was assigned to the
request within an hour, an escalation would have paged all required support
personnel, and a filter would have sent Ramona an email message informing her
of the status of her request.
22 Concepts Guide
Administrator responsibilities
Administrator responsibilities
Typically, AR System administrators are responsible for some or all of these tasks:
Installing AR System software
Defining their organization’s work processes and business rules
Determining how to allocate server and database resources
Managing AR System access control by assigning permissions for AR System
applications and their components
Maintaining AR System by adding and deleting users, groups, and roles;
backing up AR System servers; importing data from other systems; and so on
Developer responsibilities
Typically, AR System developers are responsible for some or all of these tasks:
Creating an AR System application that reflects a set of work processes and
business rules, or working with a consultant to create an application
Localizing an AR System application for use in other languages or countries
Modifying an AR System application to reflect changes in the organization’s
work processes
Programmer responsibilities
Typically, AR System programmers are responsible for some or all of these tasks:
Writing plug-ins and custom clients that use the AR System C API, Java API, or
Java plug-in API
Integrating external applications with AR System
24 Concepts Guide
Chapter
Forms are the foundation of AR System. Forms can be grouped into applications.
This chapter describes forms and how forms are used in applications. It also
describes localization features for applications.
The following topics are provided:
About AR System forms (page 26)
Using fields in forms (page 29)
Attaching menus to fields (page 32)
Bundling forms into applications (page 33)
Localizing applications (page 33)
Each form in an application is like a template. When a user opens a form to perform
a task, the template is presented to help the user complete the task. When the form
is filled in and submitted to AR System, the system creates a request, also known as
a record in database terms.
26 Concepts Guide
About AR System forms
Users can create, modify, or search for requests if they have appropriate access
permissions (see Chapter 4, “Access control”). Users can also create reports based
on requests that match their search criteria. They can use the AR System native
reporting capability or Crystal Reports, a reporting package that you can integrate
with AR System.
Forms are stored as tables in the database. Each data field on the form corresponds
to a column in the table. A request corresponds to a row (or record) in the table.
Types of forms
You can create the following types of forms, as illustrated in Figure 2-3:
AR System database
Display-only forms are used to create dialog
boxes, control panels, and consoles. They have
no database table associated with them.
View Form
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
Vendor Form
Field 1
Database external to AR System
Field 2
Field 3
ARDBC plug-in
28 Concepts Guide
Using fields in forms
Form views
A view is a visual representation of a form. To reuse a form for diverse groups
while accommodating each group’s unique needs, you can create a different view
of the form for each group. This enables you to customize the interface of an
AR System application so that each group sees the system as its own.
You can create as many views of a form as you need. For example, you can provide
views customized according to the following criteria:
Users’ roles (requesters, managers, and so forth)
Size of the screen (for example, laptop or desktop)
Language or locale (for example, Brazilian Portuguese)
When creating form views, you can
Change the layout of the form
Use different fields in different views
Tailor views to provide the best result in the target display environment, such
as browsers
Use terminology or language specific to the group using the view
You can add as many fields as you need to a form (within the limits of your
database) to capture and display the information required by your application.
You can use workflow to manipulate the attributes of fields. For example, you can
set permissions for a group of trim fields or active link control fields so that they
are inaccessible to certain groups of users, or you can add tabs in a panel field that
are visible to some users (such as managers or support staff) but not to others.
30 Concepts Guide
Using fields in forms
The following table shows the meaning of the field label styles:
Style Description
Bold Field requires a value—default, user-entered, or from workflow—
when a user submits a request.
Italic Field is automatically populated by AR System.
Plain Field is optional. Users can enter information in it or leave it empty.
32 Concepts Guide
Bundling forms into applications
Localizing applications
Localization is the process of customizing an application for use in various
languages, countries, and cultures. AR System provides an internationalized
environment for building, testing, and localizing applications.
A locale describes the language, country setting, and other characteristics of the
local system’s user interface. You can create an AR System application to run in a
particular locale, or you can make your application simultaneously available in
multiple locales.
The development environment enables you to localize all aspects of the user
interface:
Language used for labels, messages, help text, reports, menus, and any other
words that are part of a form’s user interface
Separator symbol for decimal numbers that include a fraction
Separator symbol for numbers greater than 999
Format for dates and times
Layout, colors, and images
You can store each localized version of a form as a view. Therefore, the same
application can provide separate user interfaces (views) for British English,
Australian English, Mexican Spanish, and Peruvian Spanish.
NOTE
Although the user interface is tailored to each user’s locale, the data and workflow are
the same for all users. Therefore, you need to agree on the language for the data
before the application is made available.
The localization features are automatic for the user and easy to implement for the
application builder. To localize an application for a given locale, an administrator
need create views only for that locale and add corresponding messages to the
message catalog. Utilities are available to assist with this work. See the Form and
Application Objects Guide.
34 Concepts Guide
Chapter
3 Workflow
Forms, with the help of menus, capture the crucial data needed to run your
business. Processing that data in accordance with your business needs is the
function of workflow. You use workflow components—active links, filters, and
escalations—to enforce business rules in a variety of ways, including notifying
people of events, escalating problems to a higher level, automatically routing
information, and checking whether key data is correctly entered.
This chapter describes the workflow components.
The following topics are provided:
Workflow in general and in AR System (page 36)
How workflow components differ (page 36)
Collections of workflow components (page 38)
Workflow actions and execution options (page 38)
Workflow qualifications (page 44)
For detailed information about workflow, see the Workflow Objects Guide.
Chapter 3 Workflow 35
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
36 Concepts Guide
How workflow components differ
NOTE
API calls to the server trigger filters but not active links. If a business rule must be
fired on any input (including user input and input from an integrated process
using an API), the business logic must be in both an active link and a filter.
Chapter 3 Workflow 37
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
You can refine execution options by specifying a qualification that must be met
before an action is taken. Qualifications are often required to ensure that workflow
actions apply only to certain requests. In addition, carefully designed
qualifications make workflow components more efficient and powerful. See
“Workflow qualifications” on page 44.
You can specify a primary action and an alternative action. If an operation meets
the qualification, the primary (“if”) action is performed; if not, the alternative
(“else”) action is performed, as shown in Figure 3-2.
Primary action:
Execution option Qualification: Met First Name, Extension,
occurs Last Name field and Email Address
is filled in. fields are filled in from
a supporting form.
User presses Enter
in Last Name field.
Not met
Alternative action:
Message displays
“Fill in last name.”
38 Concepts Guide
Workflow actions and execution options
Workflow actions
The following table lists some of the actions that active links, filters, and escalations
can perform. For a complete list, see the Workflow Objects Guide.
Chapter 3 Workflow 39
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
40 Concepts Guide
Workflow actions and execution options
Chapter 3 Workflow 41
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
42 Concepts Guide
Workflow actions and execution options
Business rule: If a high-priority request is not assigned within 3 hours, notify a manager.
Escalation execution option: Run the escalation every hour on the hour.
Escalation qualification: Priority = High
Assigned = No
Current Time – Create Time >= 3 hours
Escalation primary (“if”) action: Notify manager about problem request.
1 p.m.
Request A Status
Priority = High Request B Status
Escalation runs. Primary action
Assigned = No Priority = High
Submitted 2.5 hrs ago Assigned = No occurs?
Submitted 1.5 hrs ago No
2 p.m.
Request A Status
Priority = High Request B Status
Escalation runs. Primary action
Assigned = No Priority = High
Submitted 3.5 hrs ago Assigned = No occurs?
Submitted 2.5 hrs ago Yes: Manager is
notified about
Request A status.
2:05 p.m.
Manager assigns
Request A to
Yucheng Wong.
3 p.m.
Request A Status
Priority = High Primary action
Escalation runs. Request B Status
Assigned = Yes occurs?
Priority = High
Submitted 4.5 hrs ago Yes: Manager is
Assigned = No
Submitted 3.5 hrs ago notified about
Request B status.
An alternative (“else”) action for the example in Figure 3-3 might be to notify the
manager that all requests comply with the assignment rule. This action would run
only if no requests meet the escalation qualification.
Chapter 3 Workflow 43
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
Workflow qualifications
Specifying a qualification when you create an active link, filter, or escalation
enables you to define the data condition that causes the workflow component to
take action. You can use qualifications to check values in fields, the amount of time
that has passed since a specified event occurred, and many other factors. For
example, a qualification might check whether the priority of a request is High or
Critical or whether the day is a weekend day.
Qualifications with active links and filters work differently from qualifications
with escalations:
Active link and filter qualifications control which actions, if any, are run for the
current request. For example, an active link can run actions whenever a specific
field is filled in (execution option), or it can run actions whenever the field is
filled in and the value in the field is invalid (qualification).
Escalations are run whenever the scheduled time arrives. The qualification is an
essential part of most escalations, not simply a refinement. It determines the
requests on which the primary (“if”) escalation actions are run. Without a
qualification, the primary actions are run on every request (record) in the form
to which the escalation is attached. For example, if an escalation simply sent a
notification every hour (execution option), the notification would be
meaningless. A meaningful escalation, however, might check every hour
(execution option) whether three or more hours have elapsed since a request
was submitted and the request is unassigned (qualification), and then send a
notification listing the unassigned requests to a manager. If no requests meet the
qualification, the escalation might specify alternative (“else”) actions that are
executed once, such as sending the manager a notice that all requests comply
with the assignment rule. For an illustration of how qualifications are used in
escalations, see Figure 3-3.
For filters, the qualification can check the value of a field in the database, in the
current transaction, or both. This makes it possible to check whether the value of
the field is changing. For example, if you have a business rule that service desk
requests can be closed only if they have been fixed, a filter could check all
transactions that change the status of a request to Closed. If the database value of
the status is Fixed, the request can be modified; otherwise, the change is not
allowed.
44 Concepts Guide
Workflow qualifications
Keywords in qualifications
Keywords are used to build qualifications. A keyword is a variable whose value is
defined by AR System. Keyword names are uppercase and enclosed in dollar
signs. For example, $USER$ represents the name of the user who is currently
logged in, $TIMESTAMP$ represents the current date and time, and $OPERATION$
represents the operation currently in progress.
Keywords can be used almost anywhere a qualification can be defined or a value
specified:
Defining qualifications for search menus and for workflow. For example,
workflow can check the value of the keyword $OS$ to ensure that the operating
system can run a process that you specify in workflow.
Specifying a value in the Set Fields action.
Defining searches and macros.
For a complete list of keywords, see the Workflow Objects Guide.
Chapter 3 Workflow 45
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
46 Concepts Guide
Chapter
4 Access control
48 Concepts Guide
User and group access
Type of access
control group Description Predefined groups1 Custom groups2
Explicit A group to which you must Administrator Any regular and computed groups that
assign users. Sub Administrator you create.
Customize Regular groups are groups to which you
assign a specific list of users.
Computed groups are groups to which
users are assigned based on their
memberships in groups included in an
expression. For example, you can create
a computed group definition such as
(A AND B) OR C AND NOT D. This
computed group includes users who are
members of both groups A and B, or
members of group C, but not members
of group D.
Implicit A group to which a user Public Any dynamic groups that you create.
automatically (or Submitter Dynamic groups use the contents of
implicitly) belongs by Assignee special fields to determine group
virtue of the contents of membership.
Assignee Group
certain fields in a request.
You cannot assign users to
implicit groups.
All users are members of
Public. You use the other
types of implicit groups to
control access to requests
(row-level database
access).
1
AR System provides these access control groups.
2
You must add these access control groups to your system.
For more information, see the Form and Application Objects Guide.
Additive permissions
Access control in AR System is additive. This means that each user in AR System
starts out with no access permissions. Administrators then add users to access
control groups as needed. In this way, AR System implements strict access control:
administrators must make a conscious decision to add users to groups on a case-
by-case basis.
Erin is a member
of three groups.
Permission Permission No
to change to view permission
Role-based access
In deployable applications, access permissions are based on roles. Like groups,
roles have permissions to access forms, fields, active links, and so on. Unlike
groups, however, roles are defined for an application (groups are defined for a
server).
Roles make deployable applications easy to install on a variety of servers. You
assign users to groups and then associate the groups with roles This enables you
to install an application on servers that have different groups without redefining
the application’s object permissions for each server.
NOTE
For simplification, the following sections discuss user access in terms of group
permissions. In deployable applications, which use role permissions, user access is
ultimately determined by which groups are mapped to which roles.
50 Concepts Guide
Multitiered access control model
Authenticate
user
AR System
server
Validate form
permissions
Form
Last Name
Forms First Name
Email Address
Validate form
element permissions
and active
link guides Fields
Validate request
permissions
Requests
52 Concepts Guide
How licensing affects access control
License Description
Read Enables users to search for and display requests within their assigned permissions.
Administrators can configure the AR System server to enable users with Read licenses to
submit requests and to modify requests that they submit.
Restricted Read Enables users to search for and display requests within their assigned permissions.
Administrators can configure the AR System server to enable users with Restricted Read
licenses to submit requests. But users with Restricted Read licenses cannot modify any
requests, including their own.
It does, however, allow the same login account to access AR System from multiple IP
addresses simultaneously, such as when you browse a knowledge base or complete online
surveys.
Fixed Includes all the capabilities of a Read license, and also enables users (based on the
permissions of the groups to which they belong) to modify and save requests that they did
not submit. AR System administrators and subadministrators must have a Fixed license.
Other AR System users who consistently need to modify requests must also have Fixed
licenses.
A fixed write license is associated with a user name and is always “reserved” for that user.
Users who have a fixed write license can access the AR System server at any time.
Floating Includes all the capabilities of a Read license, and also enables users to modify and save
data for requests that they did not submit based on the groups to which they belong.
Multiple users can use the same Floating licenses, one user at a time: they are available on
a first-come, first-served basis. This type of license is designed for users who occasionally
need to modify and save requests.
A user with a Floating license is temporarily logged in to AR System with a Read license.
When a search, modify, or submit is performed, AR System checks for an available
Floating license. If a license is available, the user is granted write access to requests. If no
licenses are available, the user is notified and continues to use the Read license until a
Floating license becomes available.
Generally, Floating licenses are shared by all AR System users. You can, however, define
license pools to reserve a set of Floating licenses for a group of users. This enables you to
prioritize the availability of Floating licenses. For example, you can allocate a number of
licenses to department managers to make sure that they can immediately approve
essential requests. Users who do not belong to this group cannot acquire any of the
reserved licenses.
An AR System server provides three fixed write licenses and unlimited read and
restricted read licenses. You can purchase additional fixed write licenses and
floating write licenses from BMC or from an authorized reseller.
For more information about licensing, see the Configuration Guide.
54 Concepts Guide
Chapter
5 Extending AR System
The core AR System product—clients (BMC Remedy Developer Studio and BMC
Remedy User), mid tier, and AR System server—is the foundation for the BMC
Remedy product line. Beyond the core environment, BMC offers add-on products
that provide additional services and capabilities. This chapter provides brief
overviews of these products.
In addition, third parties have developed a wide range of products for integration
with AR System. Some of the most popular integration areas are discussed in this
chapter.
The following topics are provided:
AR System foundation products (page 56)
BMC Atrium products (page 57)
AR System–based solutions (page 57)
Other BMC products (page 58)
Integration with third-party products (page 58)
NOTE
For limitations on using BMC Remedy Migrator with other BMC applications, see
the BMC Remedy Migrator Release Notes on the Customer Support website (http://
www.bmc.com/support_home).
56 Concepts Guide
BMC Atrium products
AR System–based solutions
The following BMC Remedy solutions for IT service and customer relationship
management are based on AR System:
BMC Remedy IT Service Management (ITSM) Suite—Offers a complete,
integrated solution to technology life cycle management. Its applications
compress business cycles with custom routing of approvals and consistent
enforcement of business rules. The suite includes
BMC Remedy Asset Management
BMC Remedy Change Management
BMC Remedy Service Desk (includes BMC Remedy Incident Management
and BMC Remedy Problem Management)
BMC Service Level Management
BMC Service Request Management—Enables IT to define its services, publish
them in a Service Catalog, and give users self-service options, which reduce the
requests that must be handled by service desk support staff.
BMC Remedy Knowledge Management—Gives call center support staff easy
access to a vast array of information needed to resolve problems.
For more information, see the BMC Software website at http://www.bmc.com.
58 Concepts Guide
Chapter
60 Concepts Guide
Planning and design considerations
All these goals relate to tracking animals throughout their life at the park, as shown
in Figure 6-1.
NOTE
The planning and design process is thoroughly covered in the “BMC Remedy
AR System 7.x: Application Requirements Analysis, Design, and Development”
course offered by BMC. See http://www.bmc.com/education.
Analyzing data
As the park staff members begin to plan their animal management application,
they think about the types of data that they need to capture. They also ask
themselves how this data is stored in their current system (for example, in a legacy
database or in paper forms).
After determining the kind of data that they need to capture and how that data
interrelates, the staff can determine what forms (main and supporting) and fields
need to be created. They also need to decide whether to include menus on the
forms and, if so, which kinds are most appropriate to help staff members fill in
fields.
Analyzing workflow
Next, the staff considers the park’s current organizational processes:
What are the processes?
What are the stages or steps of each process?
Which groups of people participate in the processes?
To manage, access, and track the processes, what information do the groups
need?
62 Concepts Guide
Planning and design decisions
Considering integrations
The staff considers what other software products or databases must initially be
integrated into the application and what future integrations are desirable:
The staff must be able to enter data while they are out in the park, perhaps using
handheld devices.
Future integration with a sister zoo must be possible.
Integration with an international database of endangered species is also
necessary, partly to locate new individual animals that can contribute to the
gene pool at the park.
Eventually, the staff might want to integrate information about the botanical
gardens at the park, although this could be maintained separately.
64 Concepts Guide
Putting the application to work
A tiger is acquired
As shown in Figure 6-3 on page 66, when a Sumatran tiger named Karuna is
obtained, a staffer fills in the Animal form, and then clicks a button called List
Enclosures. An active link opens a dialog box displaying the Enclosure form with
a table field that lists enclosure information, including availability and habitat. The
staffer can double-click any enclosure in the list to get more information.
Next, the staffer selects an appropriate choice—in this case, enclosure 16—and
submits the request. A filter notifies the Animal Handlers group and sends a
message to inform the staffer that the appropriate persons have been notified. In
addition, the Status field changes from New to Move Pending.
During trial runs of the system, the application developer realizes that the animal
handlers are frequently away from their computers and rarely check email. The
developer integrates the application with a paging program and has the filter
notify the handlers about new animals with a page. Handlers can then use their cell
phones to get information about their assigned tasks.
Gary from Animal Handlers receives a page that says a new tiger must be moved
from the temporary cages to enclosure 16.
After he transfers the tiger, Gary changes the Status field from Move Pending to
Permanent. When he saves his changes, workflow components create new
requests in related forms and notify the Veterinarian group and the Animal
Handlers group to begin the care and feeding of the new animal. These requests
and notifications illustrate one way of handling work orders in AR System.
Figure 6-3: Active link and filter in the animal tracking application
1
Dialog Box
Enclosure Form
Animal Form
Number Status Habitat
Name Karuna Active Link 4 Full Waterhole
lists all enclosures
Type Sumatran Tiger and their capacity. 5 Full Steppe
Status New List 16 Available Jungle
Enclosures
Assigned to 16 20 Available Steppe
Enclosure
Cancel Continue
3
User submits 2
request.
User chooses Enclosure 16,
clicks Continue, and "16" is
entered.
Filter
Action 1.
Notify Animal Handlers group via email:
"New Sumatran tiger must be transferred
to Enclosure 16."
Action 2.
Notify Submitter: "Animal handlers have
been informed of tiger’s arrival."
66 Concepts Guide
Putting the application to work
During the prototyping phase, staffers had to open the Medical History form
separately to learn about Karuna’s record with tranquilizers. The veterinary staff
pointed out that they wanted that important information readily available during
an emergency. So the Tranquilizer Notes field was added to the Animal form, and
a filter that executes on Submit was added to post a message to the veterinarians,
reminding them to update the Tranquilizer Notes if necessary.
Main Form
Animal Form
User changes Status
Name Karuna to "Trade Pending"
and submits request.
Type Sumatran Tiger
Action 2.
Notify Submitter: "Animal handlers have
been informed of tiger's transfer."
68 Concepts Guide
Putting the application to work
After Karuna leaves the park, his status is changed to Traded. When the changed
request is submitted, a filter uses a Push Fields action to move all of Karuna’s data
from the Animal form to the Former Resident form, as shown in Figure 6-6.
Figure 6-6: Push Fields action used in the animal tracking application
The Medical History form is not archived or changed because the staff might, at
any point, want information from the medical records. For example, they might
want information about all tiger surgeries performed at the park.
70 Concepts Guide
Glossary
Glossary 71
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
72 Concepts Guide
Glossary
Glossary 73
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
74 Concepts Guide
Glossary
Glossary 75
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
76 Concepts Guide
Glossary
Glossary 77
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
78 Concepts Guide
Glossary
Glossary 79
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
80 Concepts Guide
Glossary
Glossary 81
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
82 Concepts Guide
Glossary
Glossary 83
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.5.00
84 Concepts Guide
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Index
A Apache Tomcat 17
API calls, workflow and 37
access control application list fields 30
about 47 application programming interfaces. See API
groups, about 48 applications
groups, membership 50 about 20, 33
groups, types 49 animal tracking example 59
hierarchical 51 components 20
licensing and 53 deployable 33
multitiered 51 entry points 30
permissions, additive 49 forms and 33
role-based 50 local 33
users and 48 localizing 33
actions AR System database connectivity (ARDBC)
about workflow 38, 39 database servers and 18
Change Field 39 architecture, AR System 14
Close Window 39 ARDBC. See AR System database connectivity
if/else 38, 43, 44 asset management products 57
Message 39 Assigned To field 31
Notify 39 Assignee access control group 49
Open Window 40 Assignee Group access control group 49
Push Fields 40 attachment fields 30
Run Process 40
Service 40
Set Fields 40 B
active links BMC Analytics for BSM 57
about 21 BMC Atrium applications 57
API calls and 37 BMC Atrium CMDB 57
execution options 41 BMC Atrium Core 57
execution order 42 BMC Atrium Integration Engine 16, 57
guides 38 BMC Atrium Orchestrator 58
user-controlled execution options 42 BMC Dashboards for BSM 57
adaptability, AR System 13 BMC Discovery Solution 57
additive permissions 49 BMC Performance Manager 58
Administrator access control group 49 BMC Product Catalog 57
administrators, responsibilities 23 BMC Remedy Alert 15
AIE 16 BMC Remedy Asset Management 57
Alert List form 15 BMC Remedy Change Management 57
alert list tables 29 BMC Remedy Data Import 16
alerts 15 BMC Remedy Developer Studio 16
analytics 57 BMC Remedy Distributed Server Option 19, 56
animal tracking example application 59
Index 85
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
86 Concepts Guide
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Index 87
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
G L
Gain Focus execution option 41 label styles, field 31
groups Last Modified By field 31
access control 48 licenses
computed 49 access control and 53
dynamic 49 Fixed 53
explicit 49 Floating 53
implicit 49 pools 53
local applications and 33 Read 53
membership in access control 50 Restricted Read 53
regular 49 list view tables 29
server 17 local applications 33
guides locale 33
active link 38 localizing applications 33
filter 38 Lose Focus execution option 41
H M
help desk products 57 main forms 33
heterogeneous computing environments 19 membership, access control group 50
hierarchical access control 51 Menu Choice execution option 41
home pages 30 menu item fields 30
horizontal navigation fields 30 menus
Hover execution options 41 about 21, 32
character 32
data dictionary 32
I file 32
if actions 38, 43, 44 search 32
implicit access control groups 49 SQL 32
importing data 16 Message action 39
incident management products 57 mid tier
Information Technology Infrastructure Library 12 about 17
integrating with other products 16, 55 AR System architecture and 14
ITIL 12 Migrator 16
ITSM 57 mixed computing environments 19
Modified Date field 31
Modify execution option 41
J multitiered access control 51
JavaServer Pages engines 17
join forms 27
JSP engines 17
N
navigation fields 30
navigation, consoles and 33
K Notify action 39
keywords 45
knowledge management products 16, 57 O
Open Window action 40
OpenSSL Project 56
operating systems, AR System server 17
88 Concepts Guide
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
P servers (continued)
groups 17
panel fields 30 operating systems for AR System 17
performance encryption 56 Service action 40
permissions. See access control service desks
pools, license 53 example solution 12
predefined access control groups 49 products 57
premium encryption 56 Service execution option 41
primary forms 33 service level management products 57
problem management products 57 service request management products 57
Product Catalog 57 servlet engines 17
product support 3 Set Fields action 40
Public access control group 49 Short Description field 31
Push Fields action 40 SLM 57
solutions 57
SQL menus 32
Q SRM 57
qualifications 44 Standard BMC Remedy Encryption 56
query-by-example (QBE) searches 18 Status field 31
Status History field 31
Sub Administrator access control group 49
R Submit execution option 41
Submitter access control group 49
Read licenses 53
Submitter field 31
records 20, 26
support, customer 3
regular forms 27
supporting forms 33
regular groups 49
Request ID field 31
requests
about 20
T
creating 26 table fields 29
database table rows and 27 Table Refresh execution option 41
Restricted Read licenses 53 tables, database 27
results list tables 29 technical support 3
roles third-party products and AR System 58
access control and 50 tiers, AR System architecture 14
deployable applications and 33 time, triggering workflow by 37
Run Process action 40 toolbar button fields 30
tree view tables 29
trim fields 30
S
search menus 32
searches
U
about 18 user clients 15
FTS 56 user interfaces, AR System
query-by-example (QBE) 18 browser 15
server tier 14 Windows 15
server-based workflow 37 users
servers controlling execution options 42
AR System 17 users, access control and 48
database 18
database platforms 18
Index 89
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
V
variables, keyword 45
vendor forms 27
vertical navigation fields 30
view fields 30
view forms 18, 27
views, form 20, 29
W
Window Open execution option 41
Windows, AR System user interface 15
workflow
See also actions, execution options
about 21, 35
actions 38, 39
AR System and 36
client-based 37
components compared 21, 36
event-triggered 37
execution options 36, 38, 41
guides 38
server-based 37
time-triggered 37
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