Configuring product catalog information

Product catalog information is used to create and maintain a database of products for a given company. It is optionally configured with either Config Categorization Admin or Config Categorization User permissions.

Related topics

Configuring operational catalogs

Foundation module permission groups

Product categorization structure

The Product Categorization structure is defined as Tier 1 > Tier 2 > Tier 3 > product name and manufacturer > model version, which is used to categorize different products or configuration items (CIs) in the BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (BMC Atrium CMDB).

Product categorization can be associated with different processes for different companies.

For more information about product categorization in BMC CMBD, see Product categorization Open link .

For more information about BMC Helix CMDB, Accessing components of BMC Atrium Core Console Open link and What is a CMDB? .

Understanding product categorization video

Disclaimer

Although the concepts and procedures presented in this video are correct, the user interfaces shown are not current.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32vpZW9-WJc

(Optional) Creating product categories

Before creating or modifying product information, it is important to understand product relationships.

When you are creating product category information:
- The Product Name or Manufacturer field is optional, but both are required if either is specified.
- Do not use any special characters for the Product Name field. For example, ', ", !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, (, ), _, -, +, {, }, :, ;, ", <, >, ?, /, \.
- One tier can be sufficient, depending on the item being created.
- If you create a product that requires less than three tiers, the other tiers must be set to "- None -."
Each product category can have more than one product model/version and more than one product alias.
When you update the product category values, the updates are not reflected to the tickets where earlier product category values are used. The updates values are displayed in the menus for selection, however the existing values that are already used will not be updated.
Products can be associated with one or more companies.
A product is available for selection on other forms after it has been associated with a company or when a product category is created.
After you relate a product to a company and an application, it can be used in forms that contain the product categorization fields.
Each product model/version can have one or more patches.

To add a product category

From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, choose Foundation > Products/Operational Catalogs > Product Catalog, and then click Open.
The Product Catalog Setup form appears as shown in the following figure.
On the Product Category tab, click Create. The Product Category Update form appears.
From the Product Type list, select a product type.
Select the configuration item (CI) type. The CI Type field specifies the type of CI for which you are creating this product catalog.
Select or enter the Product Categorization Tiers. If you are creating a product that requires only one tier, enter None for the other two tiers.
Enter or select a product name.
If you specify a product name, specify a manufacturer. Select a manufacturer, or click New to add a manufacturer. If you click New:
1. In the New Manufacturer dialog box, enter a company.
2. In the Status field, select Enabled.
3. Click Save.
In the Product Category Update dialog box, select Enabled for the status.
Tip

You can set the status to Proposed to temporarily prevent the category from being selected from an application.
In the Origin field, accept the default value of Custom. Third Party is used for products imported from an external source.
Select whether this definition is to be available across all applications in the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite.
Click Save. You can use the search fields in the Product Categorization Search Criteria area at the top of the Product Catalog Setup form to view the added product.
To define the company and module relationships, see Configuring operational catalogs.
Click Close.

To relate a company and application or module to a product

Relationships between companies and applications or modules determine which companies, and BMC Remedy ITSM applications and modules, are enabled to accept product categorization information. A product can be associated with one or more companies.

Important

To make the product accessible to all companies, select Global for the company.

From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, choose Foundation > Products/Operational Catalogs> Product Catalog, and then click Open. The Product Catalog Setup form appears.
Enter search criteria in the fields on the Product Categorization Search Criteria area of the form, and then click Search.
From the results list, select a product. The relationships that appear in the Company/Module Relationships table are directly related to the product selected in the product table.
In the Company and Module Relationships area, click View or Create. The Company/Module Relationship form appears.
In the Company field, select the company name to relate to the product.
Select the product status flags that apply to the product.
Select Yes for each BMC Remedy ITSM application and module that you want to enable for the product.
Tip

Click the check mark to the right of the Service Support Modules header to select all applications and modules.
Select the Status.
A product status must be set to Enabled for it to appear in lists for product fields.
Click Save.

To view or delete categories

From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, choose Foundation > Products/Operational Catalogs > Product Catalog, and then click Open. The Product Catalog Setup form appears.
Search for the product catalog that you want to view or delete by entering criteria in the Product Categorization Search Criteria fields at the top of the form, and clicking Search.
Tip

When the Product Catalog Setup form is first displayed, all of the product categories in the system are listed in the Product Category list. If you do not know enough details to search for the product category that you want to view or delete, you can scroll through the list until you see it.
From the list of product categories displayed in the Product Category list, select the one you want to view or delete.
Click View or Delete. If you clicked Delete, you are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the product category.
Click Close.

To map a catalog

The Catalog Mapping form acts as a utility to manipulate mass data mappings for product catalog mappings. It should not be used as a primary way of mapping a product.

From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, select Foundation > Products/Operational Catalogs > Catalog Mappings, and then click Open. The Catalog Mapping form appears in New mode.
To change to Search mode, click Search on the form in a browser.
In the Company field, select the company to map the catalog to. Optionally, you can select Global to map to all companies.
In the Admin Action field, select the the name of the catalog mapping record that you want to apply to the selected records.
In the Select Application Modules area, select the application and modules that this administrative action is to be configured to use.
Select a status.
Click Save, and then click Close.

Adding product aliases

A product alias is another term or abbreviation that you can use to reference a product. The product alias is used to search for a product in Product Name fields. For example, you might have a product with a long name such as Microsoft Product ABC 2005. You can create an alias such as ABC, and then users can enter this alias in a Product Name field to fill the remainder of the tiers.

A Product entry can have multiple Product Alias entries defined.

To create product aliases, you need either Config Categorization Admin or Config Categorization User permission.

Tip

Each time a product is created, an alias is automatically created. Use this procedure to create additional aliases for a product.

To add a product alias

From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, select Foundation > Products/Operational Catalogs > Product Catalog, and then click Open. The Product Catalog Setup form appears.
Enter search criteria in the fields in the Product Categorization Search Criteria area of the form, and then click Search.
From the results list, select a product.
Click the Product Alias tab, and then click Create. The Update Product Alias dialog box appears.
Enter a Product Alias, and then click Save.
Tip

To modify a product alias, first delete by selecting it on the Product Alias tab and clicking Delete. Then add the product alias that you prefer.

Adding product models and versions

Product models and versions are used to differentiate between the various models or versions that are available for a given product in the product catalog. For each model and version, you can also specify patches.

To create product models and versions, you need either Config Categorization Admin or Config Categorization User permission.

To add a model or version for a product

From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, select Foundation > Products/Operational Catalogs > Product Catalog, and then click Open.
The Product Catalog Setup form appears.
Enter search criteria in the fields on the Product Categorization Search Criteria area of the form, and then click Search to search for the product.
From the results list, select a product.
Click the Model/Version tab, and then click Create.
The Product Model/Version form appears.
In the Product Model/Versionfield, enter the model or version to add.
Tip

If you do not know the product model and version, click Unknown to dim this field.
Select the Product Model/Version State.
In the Requires Contract field, select Yes or No.
Enter any additional information, and then click Save.
The model or version for the selected product appears in the table on the Model/Version tab. You can create multiple models and versions for any product that exists in the product catalog.

To add patch information for a product model or version

On the Model/Version tab of the Product Catalog Setup form, select a product model or version.
Click the Patch tab, and then click Create.
The Patch dialog box appears.
Set the status to enabled.
In the Patch Last Build ID field, enter the patch build ID to add.
Optionally, enter a patch build date and description.
Click Save.

To modify product information

From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, select Foundation> Products/Operational Catalogs> Product Catalog, and then click Open. The Product Catalog Setup form appears.
Enter search criteria in the fields on the Product Categorization Search Criteria area of the form, and then click Search.
Click the appropriate tab, and then click View.
Modify the information, and then click Save.
Tip

To delete product information, select the item to delete, and then click Delete. Only information about the selected tab is deleted.

To set a product category to offline

Click Set Offline on the Product Catalog Setup form.
To set the status back to online, click Set Enabled.

A product status must be set to Enabled for it to appear in lists for product fields. When you set a product category offline, the status turns red. When you set it back online, the status turns green.

To map CI discovery categorization to product categorization

Product catalog alias mapping is used to map incoming CI categorizations from a discovery product to categorizations that you define in the Product Catalog Alias Mapping form. When a CI is saved, it contains the mappings defined in the Product Catalog Alias Mapping form.

For example, if you specify Desktop in the Categorization Tier 1 field in the Discovery Product Categorization area and Hardware in the Categorization Tier 1 field in the Mapped Product Categorization area, any incoming CI that is received as Desktop for tier 1 is saved as Hardware for tier 1.

From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, select Foundation> Products/Operational Catalogs> Product Catalog Alias Mapping, and then click Open. The Product Catalog Alias Mapping form appears.
Select the CI type for the mapping.
In the Discovery Product Categorization and Mapped Product Categorization areas, select the information to be mapped for the selected CI type.
Click Save.