Integrating BMC Helix Business Workflows with other applications

BMC Helix Integration Service enables an administrator to integrate two applications by using connectors. Using  Connectors  administrators can create a  flow  to establish a connection between the two applications. Connectors help you perform tasks without having to switch between applications.The Business Workflows connector provided with BMC Helix Integration Service, enables the integration between BMC Helix Business Workflows and an external application or service, such as JIRA. Business Workflows connector acts as a communicator between your application and the external application or service. 

For example, consider a scenario where a user creates an issue for completing an assignment in JIRA. In BMC Helix Business Workflows, a corresponding case is created by using connectors. A case agent processes and works on the case. In the case, a case agent can perform different tasks related to completing the assignment.

Another scenario is of creating a case for requesting a new laptop for an employee by using BMC Helix Business Workflows. For this case, by using connector, a service request is created in Remedy IT Service Management (ITSM). The service request is associated with the defined workflow and required actions are performed.

Functionalities of the Business Workflows connector

• The integration flow can be from your application to an external application or vice versa. A case business analyst designs a flow for performing actions via connectors in the BMC Helix Integration Service.

• To integrate any other BMC Helix Platform based application with BMC Helix Business Workflows, use the Call Activity action in the Process designer and call one of the interface processes instead of using a connector.
  To create and update cases or tasks from your BMC Helix Platform application to BMC Helix Business Workflows, use the following processes for interaction: 

  Process	Description
  Case Interface – Create	To create a case
  Case Interface – Update	To update a case
  Case Task – Interface – Create	To create an external task in a case
  Case Task – Interface – Update	To update an external task

• You can add attachments from an external application to a case or task by using the Business Workflows connector. You can attach files of the maximum size of 5 MB by using the Business Workflows connector. To add multiple attachments at a time, you must add multiple actions for a single trigger while creating a flow. You can view these attachments in the Description  section and the Attachments section on the case details page.

Before you begin

As a case business analyst, before integrating your BMC Helix Business Workflows application with any other external application, ensure that the following pre-requisite tasks are complete:

• You can access BMC Helix Integration Service. For more information, see  Accessing BMC Helix Integration Service .
• You create a site in BMC Helix Integration Service to install and configure sites to run on-premises connectors. For more information, see  Installing and configuring sites to run on-premises connectors .
• Connectors for external applications are available out-of-the-box. If the connectors are not available in BMC Helix Integration Service, you can configure a connector for the external application. For more information, see  Developing connectors . 
• You have created a connector account for the source and the target application. For more information, see  Adding accounts .
• You have correct roles and permissions to access BMC Helix Business Workflows and to control actions that can be performed on cases. For more information, see Setting up roles and permissions.

Process for integrating BMC Helix Business Workflows by using a connector

To integrate BMC Helix Business Workflows with an external application, perform the following tasks:

To configure the Business Workflows connector by using BMC Helix Integration Service

1. Log in to BMC Helix Integration Service and navigate to Catalog.
   The catalog has a list of all the connectors that are present in BMC Helix Integration Service.
2. From the list of connectors, select Business Workflows connector.
3. Click the connector pane at the bottom of the page to expand it, and select Permissions.
   It has the list of triggers and actions that are mapped to one another.

4. Select Configurations and fill the details like Name, Description, Site, Number of instances, Protocol, Host, and Port.

5. Click Save Configuration.

6. Select Throttling Controls. Enter the details for the required fields and fill out the other details as explained in the following table: like Connector Configurations, Check triggers every, Maximum number of records to process, and so on. 
   

   Field	Details
   Check triggers every	Select the interval after which the connector checks for any new action in BMC Helix Business Workflows. The action in BMC Helix Business Workflows is synchronized and mapped to the external application periodically after the selected time interval.
   Maximum number of records to process	Choose the total number of records that should be mapped by using the connector.

7. Select Accounts and the same connection as that of Configurations gets selected. 

8. Click Add Another Account to enter a new user account. Enter the credentials for new account and click LOGIN.

   Note

   To access case data, the user must have the functional role of either a Case Business Analyst, a Case Manager, or a Case Agent.

   For more information about adding connector configurations, see  Configuring connectors .

To design a flow by using the Business Workflows connector

You can design a flow after you configure the Business Workflows connector by using BMC Helix Integration Service. The following procedure describes how you can design a flow and define the events to trigger the required actions in the target application.

1. Navigate to My Flows > Flow Designer. 
2. From the list of steps, the Choose Source option is selected as first step.
3. From the list of connectors, select the external application's connector as a source connector.
4. On the Choose Trigger page, select the required trigger. Fill out all the details on the page and click Next.
   The details for the required trigger are specific to the application and may vary based on the application.
   
   • Create or update a case
   • Create or update an external task
5. On the Choose Target page, select the Business Workflows connector as a target connector.
6. On the Choose Action page, from the list of actions, select the required action to be mapped to the selected trigger.
   
   • Create a case
   • Update a case
   • Add activity to a case
   • Create an external task
   • Update an external task
   • Add activity to an external task
7. On the Map Fields page, enter the required details. The details on this page are different for different applications.
8. On the Summary page, the entire process of designing a connector flow is summarized. Check for the details and select Done.
   You have completed designing a flow for a connector action.

You can click the flow to see the information about the flow. The screen shows basic information about the flow like source, trigger, action, and so on. It also displays the information regarding Usage including Runtime, Processed items, and so on. The Timeline option represents information about when was the flow run previously, if the flow was run successfully, the error messages if the flow was not run successfully, and so on. The screen also has a Details option that specifies the conditions and qualifications defined for the flow and Map Fields. By editing these parameters, you can modify the flow as per your choice.

For more information about designing a flow between two applications, see  Designing and maintaining flows .

Related topic

Troubleshooting