Adding and configuring banner items

This topic describes the process of adding and configuring a banner item (a set of banner images and promotional preferences for these images), which can be executed by a catalog administrator. An individual banner item contains all image files and display settings for a single promotion. After you have created the banner images, and determined where and how the banners will be displayed, you can create a banner item.

Before you begin

Before you create promotional banners, plan the purpose and the target devices. Some common purposes to use banners include, but are not limited to, the following purposes:

• Advertising a new or updated service offering in your catalog
• Directing users to an event registration website
• Reminding users to adjust their clocks over the weekend to account for Daylight Saving Time
• Notifying all Apple users that a security update is available
  
  

To upload banner images

1. Go to Services > Banners to open the Banner Management page.
   
   
   
   
2. Click New Banner.
3. Enter a unique name, and click Create Banner.
   The name will not be visible in the BMC Digital Workplace end user console. You will use it only to identify the banner item in BMC Digital Workplace Catalog.

4. Follow the on-screen guide to add your images to the designated banner containers.
   Pay special attention to the artwork safe zones. When multiple banners are displayed, the controls to scroll banners left and right cover these areas of the image.

   The following illustration shows available banner formats.

   

   
   

5. Configure the Default Banner Settings.

To configure default banner settings

1. Under the Default Banner Settings section, select one or more Targeted OS options to specify all operating systems where the uploaded banner should be visible.
   
   
   
   

2. From the Click action list, select one of the following options.

   Option	Purpose
   External URL	Specify a website address (including the full http/https context).
   Link to service	Select a service item in Published status from your catalog.
   Link to category	Select a category. The banner will direct to the page of the selected category in the BMC Helix Digital Workplace catalog.
   No action	Define this banner as an information-only announcement.

3. If you selected External URL in step 2, from the Open in list, select one of the following options:
   
   • New window/tab
   • Same window/tab
4. If users of certain devices require click actions that are different from the default choice, complete the steps in the next section; otherwise, click Save.

To define alternative click actions

For different operating systems, you can assign different actions to be performed after a user clicks the banner.

1. Next to Exceptions, click Add Exception.

2. Select one of the Targeted OS options from the selected items.

3. From the Click action list, select an option to use for this exception.

4. Repeat these steps for any other exceptions.
5. Click Save.

To release a banner item for use in BMC Digital Workplace

1. On the Banner Management page, select a banner item to publish.
2. Click the menu button (), and select Publish.

3. Go to Services > Entitlements.

   Note

   You must assign a selected banner to a virtual marketplace entitlement group. The settings in Entitlements do not apply to banners automatically.

4. Open or create a virtual marketplace with the designated users who are entitled to have access.
   For instructions about entitling users, see Managing virtual marketplaces by different users.
5. In the Banners row on the Edit Virtual Marketplace panel, click Add.
   
   
   
   
6. Select one or more banners and then click Add to include these banners in the virtual marketplace.

7. Click Close.

   Note

   Published banners are shown only to the users entitled to the banner item, and on the devices assigned under Targeted OS.

Where to go from here

Managing banner items