User accounts, groups, and permissions for BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog

BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog server maintains an independent user database, separate from the databases used by other applications, such as BMC Helix Digital Workplace and BMC Helix ITSM. The users are stored in the tenant database and are not shared directly with other applications.

The BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog database contains the accounts for users who can request service catalog items. The user database is also where a system administrator or service catalog administrator can specify the permissions for users who can log in to the catalog administration console to manage the service catalog.

User accounts

You create user accounts manually or by running a script to copy the user database from BMC Helix ITSM. After you create the user account, you can entitle the user to view and request catalog items, or promote the user to an administrative role.

User groups

The user groups are automatically created when you run the script to copy the user database from BMC Helix ITSM. BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog groups are unique, and do not share any relationship with permission groups that other applications use. The group names include the company, organization, and department attributes of the user records.

You can grant permissions to multiple users that belong to a custom user group to view and request service catalog items.

People groups

Create and manage people groups that end users can add as collaborators. Do not create people groups if you want your end users to add only individual users as collaborators to their requests. Your end users will still be able to create one default group for their personal use.

To add individual users

1. In BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, go to People > People Groups.
2. Click New Group and create the group, or select an existing group and select Actions > Open.
3. Next to Users, click Add.

4. Select the users you want to add, and click Add.

   To filter the list of users, enter a string in the Search box at the top of the User Directory panel.

   Important

   Only users with Enabled profile status are available for search.

To add users by attributes

1. In BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, go to People > People Groups.
2. Click New Group and create the group, or select an existing group and select Actions > Open.
3. Next to Attributes, click Add and select one of the following options:
   • Click the ITSM Core tab.
     1. Expand the available categories as needed.

     2. Select the attributes that you want to assign, and click Save.
        

        Important

        ITSM Core attributes with no values are displayed as labels in the attributes tree.

   • Click the Other Fields tab.
     1. Expand the available categories as needed.
     2. Select the attributes that you want to assign, and click Save.

To set the group visibility

1. In BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, go to People > People Groups.
2. Click New Group and create the group, or select an existing group and select Actions > Open.

3. Select one of the values from the Group Visibility section:

   Important

   - BMC Helix ITSM administrators will be able to view all the groups.
   - End users must refresh their browser for group changes to take effect.

   • Everyone—Allows all users to add this group as a collaborator to their service requests.
   • Group Members—Allows users belonging to the group to add this group as a collaborator to their service requests.
   • Custom—Add users (individual or by attribute) who can add this group as a collaborator to their service requests.

Permission levels and groups

When you create a user account, you can specify the capabilities of the account by assigning a permission group. The following table lists the permission levels that you can assign to users accounts.

For more details about the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog permission groups, see Assigning-BMC-Helix-Digital-Workplace-Catalog-roles-to-user-accounts

User account fields

When you create user accounts, you must provide the information in the following table. If you are creating user accounts by using BMC Mid Tier, specify the Field name. If you are passing a JSON text file into a shell script, specify the Key name. 

Example permissions and fields for a system notification user

BMC Helix Digital Workplace requires a service level user that runs background tasks such as pushing notifications to end users when BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog requests are being processed. You must create the user account that will perform these actions, and provide the credentials for this user when you enable the enhanced catalog. These notifications are sent to the BMC Helix Digital Workplace application. To send notifications by email, you must also complete the configuration described in Configuring-email-notifications.

The following table shows an example of the fields used to create the system notification user. You should specify unique login credentials when creating the system notification user in your environment.

Example permissions and fields for an enhanced catalog administrator

The administrator who maintains the sections in the enhanced catalog must also be a service catalog administrator in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog. When you follow the installation process steps to create a tenant, the process creates the first service catalog administrator user account for you.

The following table shows an example of the fields used to create the first service catalog administrator user account. You should disable this account and specify unique login credentials when creating additional users in your environment.