Configuring attributes by using the Service Context Administration window

This topic provides instructions for configuring attributes for services in the Service Context Admnistration window.

To view key attributes for services in the Service Context Summary window, you must first enable them in the Service Context Administration window. The attributes that you can enable depend on the BMC applications and suites that are running in your environment. For example, the Completed Change Requests attribute is available for you to enable if you are running Remedy Change Management. Certain attributes, such as Name and Owner, are required by BMC Atrium Service Context, and you cannot disable them.

In the Service Context Administration window, enable attributes separately for services, applications, and servers, and then define the order in which those attributes should appear. This enables users to see unique details about the services, applications, and servers that are related to the business service they selected when launching the Service Context Summary window.

For some attributes, a time limit is set that determines the results that are displayed in the Service Context Summary window. The time limit is calculated based on the value in the Submit Date field. Each of these attributes (shown in the following table) is set to a default time limit that you can change on the Advanced Settings tab.

All available attributes for which you can set a time limit are displayed in the table, even if they are not enabled on the other tabs. Attributes for which you can set a time limit are listed in the Attributes with configurable time limits table. The attributes that are available depends upon the applications that are running in your environment, as explained in Attributes that are displayed in BMC Atrium Service Context.

Attributes with configurable time limits

For example, for the Completed Change Requests attribute, change requests submitted within the last day appear by default. You can change this setting to show change requests submitted within the last hour, the last 7 days, and so on.

For other ways to manage results, see Configuring BMC Atrium Service Context cache and data retrieval settings.

For a list of all available attributes, their source applications and other details, see Attributes that are displayed in BMC Atrium Service Context.

Before you begin

• For specific attributes to appear in the BMC Atrium Service Context user interface, BMC applications that provide those attributes might require additional setup steps. For example, you might need to register the web service for a BMC application, or enter information by clicking Configure on the Advanced Settings tab in the Service Context Administration window.
  For troubleshooting tips, see Troubleshooting BMC Atrium Service Context.
• Before you start using BMC Atrium Service Context in CMDB Explorer, you must complete required post-installation steps for Remedy Mid Tier and the Remedy AR System server.
  For more information about setting up BMC Atrium Service Context, see Setting up BMC Atrium Service Context, Configuring BMC Atrium Service Context for BMC Remedy ITSM applications, and the online documentation for BMC applications, located at http://docs.bmc.com. 
• Attributes and related data, as well as date and time information, are displayed in BMC Atrium Service Context according to user preference settings. If no preference is set, default locale settings on the server are used.

For more information about user preferences, see MultiExcerpt named Setting_user_preferences was not found -- Please check the page name and MultiExcerpt name used in the MultiExcerpt-Include macro in the Remedy Action Request System online documentation.

To open the Service Context Administration window

1. In a browser, go to the following URL address:
   http://<midTierServer>:<port>/arsys
2. Log on.
3. Select BMC Atrium Core > Service Context Administration. 
   The Service Context Administration window is displayed, as shown in the following figure. 
    Service Context Administration window
   

To enable or remove attributes in the Service Context Administration window

1. Open the Service Context Administration window.
2.  Select the tab for the Common Data Model (CDM) class for which you want to enable attributes. 
   For example, if you want to enable attributes for a BMC_ComputerSystem CI, click Server CIs.
3. Select the attribute name that you want to enable and click Add. 
   For each tab, you can configure up to five attributes to show as header data, and up to six attributes to show in Related Information. For more information about attributes, see Attributes that are displayed in BMC Atrium Service Context.

4.  To remove an attribute, select the attribute name in the list and click Remove.

   Note

   Required attributes (that is, those attributes with Yes in the Reqd column) cannot be removed or moved in the Service Context Administration window.

5. Repeat step 2 to step 4 for each of the CI types for which you want to enable attributes.
6. Click Save.

To change the order in which attributes appear

1. In the Service Context Administration window, select the tab for the CDM class for which you want to change the order of an attribute.
   For example, if you want to change the order of attributes for a BMC_ComputerSystem CI, click Server CIs.
2. Select an attribute that is enabled and click Up or Down.

3. Click Save.

   Note

   Required attributes (that is, those attributes with Yes in the Reqd column) cannot be removed or moved in the Service Context Administration window.

To configure time limits for certain attributes

1. In the Service Context Administration window, select the Advanced Settings tab. 
2. For each attribute, specify a time limit, such as Last 8 hours, or Last 2 days. 
   This determines the amount of history for results shown in the Service Context Summary window. To show more history, select a longer time limit.
3. Click Save.