Setting up service context to share business service CI information with other applications

Within companies, different departments maintain and track different aspects of the business. For example, one department might be responsible for incident management, and another might handle service requests for providing access to all business applications within the company. However, people working in the IT service request department might not have access to incident management information. Without correct information about services and service owners, the different departments might find it challenging to determine the health of a particular business service or the negative impact on the overall business if the service is out of order.

Related topics

Service Context configuration settings

Service Context plug-in

Troubleshooting the Service Context plug-in

Configuring authentication for BMC Atrium Service Context Open link

User roles and features

Key concepts: Service Context

BMC Atrium Service Context enables you to easily view critical information about a business service and its performance. This information, such as related incidents, changes, and configuration items, is displayed in a summarized format that employees across your organization can access.

https://youtu.be/dtlbEfiqMuo

BMC Atrium Service Context architecture

BMC Atrium Service Context is installed as an adapter (or plug-in) with BMC CMDB, as shown in the following figure. This adapter collects attributes and data from compatible BMC applications by using web services published by these applications in a web services registry.

Attributes are collected from various BMC applications appear in the Service Context Administration window. In this window, the attributes can be configured for display in the Service Context Summary window. The Service Context adapter contains its own cache that helps to manage the flow of attributes and data to the user interface.

The Service Context adapter cache accesses attributes and related data as an internal Service Context user. This user can be any Remedy Action Request System user with administrator permissions and a fixed license.

When you install a BMC application or suite, you can provide information needed by BMC Atrium Service Context. In this case, the installer program registers the web service and configures the BMC Atrium Service Context user for you. You can also perform these steps after installation. For more information, see Configuring BMC Atrium Service Context for BMC Remedy ITSM applications or the online documentation for your BMC application, located at http://docs.bmc.com.

Diagram showing the Service Context architecture

BMC Atrium Service Context components

The following components are required for BMC Atrium Service Context to function. Service context architecture shows the relationships among these components.

Note

To start using the BMC Atrium Service Context in CMDB Explorer you must first configure the Remedy Mid Tier and Remedy AR System server configuration steps. Also, for BMC Atrium Service Context to behave as expected in BMC applications, you must complete the setup process required for these applications.

Component	Purpose
Remedy Mid Tier (required to install BMC CMDB)	Provides web-based user interface.
BMC CMDB contains the following sub-components: CMDB Portal BMC Atrium Service Context adapter BMC Atrium Service Context cache Service Context Administration window Service Context Summary window	Provides BMC CMDB, which stores business services, related CIs, and their attributes. Provides the BMC Atrium Service Context adapter, cache, and user interface.
UDDI (installed with CMDB Web Services Registry) (Available with BMC CMDB installation program)	Provides the location of web services used by BMC Atrium Service Context to access attributes and data from BMC applications. BMC applications must register their web services to interact with BMC Atrium Service Context.
BMC Atrium Service Context user(s) (Not shown in BMC Atrium Service Context architecture)	Not the end user, but a special internal user that is set up for each BMC application. Works behind the scenes to load attributes and data from BMC applications into cache.
BMC applications (Must be compatible with BMC Atrium Service Context) For information about compatible versions, see the BMC Atrium Core Compatibility Matrix. For information about attributes provided by each application, see Attributes that are displayed in BMC Atrium Service Context. For information about launching BMC Atrium Service Context within BMC applications, see the online documentation for your BMC applications at http://docs.bmc.com.	Supplies application-specific attributes and data to BMC Atrium Service Context. Provides various launch points for the Service Context Summary window.

Process for service context

The following table lists the required process, in the order they must be completed:

BMC Atrium Service Context setup steps	For more information
In Remedy AR System: Add the server name in the Mid Tier configuration. Define the default web path in Remedy Action Request System server settings.	Configuring other BMC applications to support Atrium Service Context Installing Remedy Single Sign-On if you want to integrate Remedy Single Sign-On in your environment
In each BMC application: Register the web service. Configure the BMC Atrium Service Context user.	Configuring BMC Atrium Service Context for BMC Remedy ITSM applications Online documentation for other compatible BMC applications at http://docs.bmc.com
Configure BMC Atrium Service Context permissions for administrators and users.	Service Context permissions Online documentation for your BMC application at http://docs.bmc.com
Enable attributes in the Service Context Administration window.	Additional configuration steps for BMC Atrium Service Context Configuring attributes in the Service Context Administration window

Process to enable BMC Atrium Service Context in Remedy ITSM suite applications

Perform the following tasks to enable BMC Atrium Service Context in the Remedy ITSM suite applications, BMC Service Level Management applications, and BMC Service Request Management applications:

Task	For more information, see...
Set up BMC CMDB components required by BMC Atrium Service Context. Note: You can ignore this step if the Remedy AR System server is already configured in the Remedy Mid Tier.	Configuring BMC Remedy AR System to support BMC Atrium Service Context Installing Remedy Single Sign-On
Register web services.	Registering the Service Context web service for BMC applications
Set up a user with administrative permissions identified with BMC Atrium Service Context.	Configuring authentication for Atrium Service Context
Set up users who access the Service Context Summary window in Remedy IT Service Management suite and have the correct permissions.	In the context of BRemedy IT Service Management suite, the BMC Atrium Service Context permissions are rolled up in the Remedy Asset Management permissions. For information on Remedy IT Service Management suite permissions, see ITSM User Permissions For more information on BMC Atrium Service Context permissions, see Service context permissions.
Configure the BMC Atrium Service Context to display the information you want.	Configuring attributes by using the Service Context Administration window Configuring BMC Atrium Service Context cache and data retrieval settings
Troubleshooting the BMC Atrium Service Context plug-ins.	If you have problems configuring BMC Atrium Service Context, see Troubleshooting the Service Context plug-in

BMC Atrium Service Context permissions

To configure and use BMC Atrium Service Context, you must have the appropriate assigned permission roles.

For more information about assigning BMC CMDB permissions, see BMC Atrium Core permission roles within applications.

BMC Atrium Service Context permission roles

Name	Applications	Users with this role can
CMDB SC Admin	BMC Atrium Service Context	Configure attributes and other settings in the Service Context Administration window. Use the Service Context Summary window to view CIs, attributes, and related data.
CMDB SC User	BMC Atrium Service Context	Use the Service Context Summary window to view CIs, attributes, and related data.

Applications that interact with BMC Atrium Service Context

BMC applications provide data to BMC Atrium Service Context, and also enable users to launch the Service Context Summary window. These applications include:

Remedy IT Service Management suite (Remedy ITSM suite), including:
- Remedy Asset Management
- Remedy Change Management
- Remedy Service Desk
- BMC Service Request Management
- BMC Service Level Management
BMC Server Automation
BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management

Important

To use BMC Atrium Service Context with BMC applications, the most recent versions of these applications must be installed. For more information about versions, see the Compatibility Matrix, which is available in the "BMC Remedy Product Compatibility" section of the Product Availability and Compatibility site, located at http://www.bmc.com/support/product-availability-compatibility.

For more information about the data provided by each application or suite, see Attributes that are displayed in BMC Atrium Service Context.