Managing assets on floor maps

BMC Digital Workplace provides an intuitive experience for users to search for locations and assets such as conference rooms, offices, printers, and other resources that they need. BMC Digital Workplace is context- and location-aware, enabling users to find nearby resources, follow resource status updates, and update resource status to help other users.

Before you begin

• Read the use case for finding places and assets.
• Because assets are located on floor maps, first add a location to BMC Digital Workplace, and then add floor maps to the location.
• Add new asset types or modify existing types, as needed.

Adding assets

When you create floor maps, you can add assets that users can act on. For example, you might add a Printer/Copier asset so that a user can tap the icon and submit a request for toner.  

You can add assets individually to a floor map when you create or edit it. Changes to assets on maps are automatically saved. When you save a new asset, its icon appears on the floor map, and it is visible in the BMC Digital Workplace end user console.

You can also add multiple assets by using a CSV file or by performing a CMDB import. For more information, see these procedures below.

To add assets from a floor map

1. In the BMC Digital Workplace Admin console, click Location Management.
2. Click Floor Maps.
3. Select a floor map, and click Edit Floor Map.
4. Click Edit Floor Map Info, and scroll down to view the Assets table.
5. Click Add Asset.

6. Scroll down the page, and complete the fields:

   Field	Description
   Name	Name of the asset.
   Type	Asset type. From asset types, each asset inherits actions, status values, and the asset's icon on the map. This icon appears in the asset's profile. Asset types are defined in the Types Library. For more information, see Managing asset types.
   Status	The initial status for the asset. This status appears in the asset's profile. Status labels are defined with the type in the Types Library. For more information, see Managing asset types.
   Email	A valid email address that is assigned to an asset. To enable reservations, enter a Microsoft Exchange email address.
   QR Code Data	The asset's QR code. If an asset has a QR code, users can scan the asset to find its profile in BMC Digital Workplace. With asset actions, you can create buttons on the profile that link to self-help resources or to enable users to report that the asset has a problem. BMC Digital Workplace can use any type of code that mobile devices recognize. For example, iOS devices can detect the following codes: UPC-A, UPC-E, Code 39, Code 39 mod 43, Code 93, Code 128, EAN-8, EAN-13, Aztec, PDF417, QR. The following video (4:42) demonstrates: How administrators configure locations and assets by using BMC Digital Workplace. How self-service users can scan an asset having a QR code, find its profile in BMC Digital Workplace, and report an issue.  https://youtu.be/LvE9uZN_gZc
   Tag	Additional metadata for an asset. Using tags, you can select specific assets that have particular actions. For example, if an action has the tag 5635 and is associated with the Printer/Copier type, only assets with the 5638 tag have that action.
   Parent Asset	The asset to which a new asset is related or subordinated. For example, a conference room can be a parent asset of a specific printer or video device.
   Source	The source for the asset. The options are: Official if an administrator creates the asset by using the BMC Digital Workplace Admin console. User-created if a business user adds the asset in BMC Digital Workplace. Business users can create assets if Crowd source assets feature is enabled in the BMC Digital Workplace Admin console. For more information, see To enable crowd-sourced assets below.
   Owner	The user who owns the asset.
   Profile Image	An image to use in the asset's profile. Images must be 320x200 pixels, 640x400 pixels, or another size with the same aspect ratio. The profile image supports .gif, .jpg, .png, and .bmp file types.

7. Click Save Asset.
8. If you want to add extra properties to an asset:
   1. Select the asset from the Assets table.
   2. Under Extra Properties in the Edit asset "Asset Name" area, click New Property, and complete the fields.
      
      For example, you might want to add extra properties if an asset is associated with a URL through an action. Then, you can add parameters to the URL with extra properties. In the example below, an asset of the Printer/Copier type has an action associated with the URL http://files.support.epson.com/pdf/{model}/{language}.pdf, and model and language are defined as Extra Properties.
      

      

9. Click Save Asset.

To add multiple assets by importing CSV files

1. Prepare a comma-separated values (CSV) file in the following format:

   CSV file example

   #ExternalId,name,xPos,yPos,assetTypeId,assetStatus,desc,desc2,desc3,phone,tag,metaData,qrCodeData,locationDesc,metaDataJson A1,A1,110,577,Office room (compact icon),1,,,,,,,,,, A1,A1,110,577,Office room (compact icon),1,,,,,,,,, A2,A2,201,583,Office room (compact icon),1,,,,,,,,, A3,A3,252,583,Office room (compact icon),1,,,,,,,,,

   The assets CSV file must meet the following requirements:

   • The file must be in MS-DOS, comma-delimited format.
   • Fields with asterisks (for example, ExternalId* and name*) must contain an entry. (The ExternalId field is used for API integration updates.)
   • The field names in the file must match the field names in BMC Digital Workplace.
   • If an entry in a field contains spaces, the entry must be enclosed in quotation marks.

   •  The assetTypeId value must match a corresponding asset type in BMC Digital Workplace.
     Here is an example of a CSV file in Microsoft Excel:
     
     

2. In the BMC Digital Workplace Admin console, click Location Management.
3. Under Assets, click CSV Import.
4. Select a location into which to import the assets.
5. Click Choose File, and select the CSV file.
6. Click Import.
   After the import, your assets are available in the Assets > View All window.

To add BMC.ASSET dataset assets from BMC Atrium CMDB

1. Make sure that the person who imports the assets meets the following conditions:
   • Has the Asset User permission in Remedy ITSM
   • Is a member of the same company as the assets being imported
2. Configure the CMDB pluggable provider settings:
   1. In the BMC Digital Workplace Admin console, click Configuration.

   2. From the Providers table (at the bottom of the window), select the CMDB pluggable provider check box.

   3. Click the CMDB pluggable provider row, and scroll down to view the fields.
      
      

   4. Complete the fields.
      
      The cmdb.url, cmdb.port, and cmdb.auth.pswd fields are connection settings to the BMC Atrium CMDB server. The cmdb.query.dataset field is the production (or master) dataset with asset data that has been normalized and reconciled. By default, this should be BMC.ASSET. For more information about the fields, see List of providers.
      
      To ensure that the assets are imported successfully, verify that BMC Digital Workplace asset fields are mapped to Atrium CMDB attributes. If you use attributes other than the defaults, you must change the mappings.

3. If you modify the provider settings, click the Reload providers button.

   

4. In BMC Remedy AR System, ensure that the configuration settings specify the application service password, host name, and port number.

5. In BMC Atrium Core, create a shared query that includes the attributes used in the BMC Digital Workplace mappings. Your query must include ReconciliationIdentity. For more information, see  How queries work  in the Atrium Core online documentation.

6.  Select the query to import the assets from Atrium CMDB into BMC Digital Workplace:

   1. In the BMC Digital Workplace Admin console, click Location Management.
   2. Under Assets, click CMDB Import.
   3. From the Query Name list, select the query in BMC Atrium CMDB.
   4. In the External ID field, enter the ID.
   5. (Optional) Modify the Name value to restrict or broaden the query results.
      
      For example, Allen Allbrook created a query with the % wildcard for a default Name value. To import all the Bell computer equipment, Allen would enter Bell% in the Name field.

To enable crowd-sourced assets

As a BMC Digital Workplace administrator, you can allow users to create assets based on asset type, as follows:

1. From Configuration > Application Features, select Crowd Sourced Assets.
2. From Location Management > Assets > Types Library, select the asset type and select User can create.

As a BMC Digital Workplace administrator, you can also allow users to update asset status, as follows:

1. From Configuration > Application Features, select Crowd Sourced Assets.
2. From Location Management > Assets > Types Library, select the asset type and select User can update status. Then, specify the status labels that users can select.
3. Create the Report equipment outage action, and add the action to the asset type.

Related videos