Service Pack 1 for version 8.1.00: 8.1.01

The following enhancements are made to the preconfigured stack installer:

• The preconfigured stack installer is now available at the following locations:
  
  • (Microsoft Windows)BMCRemedyITSMSuitePreconfiguredStack\Disk1\setup.exe
  • (UNIX)BMCRemedyITSMSuitePreconfiguredStack/Disk1/setup.bin
    See, To install version 8.1.01 preconfigured stack.

• You can now install language packs with the preconfigured stack. You can install English Only or All Languages.
  See, Language parameter.

The data wizard now supports BMC Knowledge Management and BMC Service Request Management forms when you modify Foundation data. For information about using the data wizard, see Overview of the data wizard.

The following enhancements to the Data Management feature are available with Service Pack 1 for BMC Remedy IT Service Management 8.1.

• Version 8.1.01 adds support for loading more CI classes by providing you with a way to extend the transactional CI data load. For more information about this enhancement, see Modifying Data Management CI jobs to add customizations.

• You can now designate a default carte server in environments that use server groups. This eliminates the chance of random misdirection to the wrong AR Server when performing data imports. For more information about this enhancement, see Designating a default carte server.

The following enhancements are available with Service Pack 1 for BMC Asset Management 8.1.

Enhanced user interface to view license type details

In previous versions of BMC Asset Management, you had to access multiple screens to view details about the license type that you ran. Service Pack 1 for version 8.1.00 introduces the Job Run Details form that provides a single screen that provides most of the information related to the job. After you create a license job and run it, the Job Run Details form provides details of:

• the certificate
• connected CIs and their processor information
• license type rules that will be run and
• entitlements for the license job.

For more information about viewing the license type details, see Viewing the details of a license job.

Enhanced user interface to view reconciliation details for a CI

When you create and save a CI, you are unaware of the reconciliation status of the CI, or the details of the job during which the CI was reconciled. You have to navigate to the BMC Atrium CMDB console to view the reconciliation status. Service Pack 1 for version 8.1.00 allows you to view these details from within the BMC Asset Management console.

For more information about viewing the reconciliation status of a CI, see Viewing the reconciliation information of a CI.

Simplified process for creating relationships

In the previous versions of BMC Asset Management, the process of relating people, organizations, and groups to a CI was cumbersome, and you had to access multiple screens to create a single relationship. Service Pack 1 for version 8.1.00 provides a single screen from where you can now create a relationship and modify the relationship type with the click of a button.

For more information about relating people, organizations, and groups to a CI, see Relating people, organizations, and groups to CIs in Service Pack 1 or later for version 8.1.

Easy management of license type status

In the previous versions of BMC Asset Management, changing the status of license type required that you verified and updated, if required, the status of related license certificates. Service Pack 1 for version 8.1.00 manages the status of related license certificates when you enable, disable, or make a license type offline.

For more information about managing license type status, see Managing license types and related license certificates.

Enhanced options for receiving bulk inventory

Service Pack 1 for version 8.1.00 introduces the following enhancements for receiving bulk inventory items:

• Option to select the Location at which you want to receive the items
• Naming convention updated to reflect the purchase order number and part number, so you can easily locate the items you receive
• Items with the same Line Item are received as a single CI, and the quantity is updates as per the received quantity, so that duplicate entries are not created for the same line items.
  

For more information about the enhancements introduced for receiving bulk inventory items, see Receiving items.

Additional search criteria for the CI advanced search option

Addition of the Serial Number field to the CI advanced search options for narrower search results.

The following enhancements are available with Service Pack 1 for BMC Change Management 8.1.

Work Information enhancement

The way that the Work Information permissions are implemented across the BMC Remedy ITSM applications has been standardized. For a description of the new Work Information permissions, see Work info permissions for version 8.1.01 and later. 

Counts enhancement

The way that the Counts area of the Change Management console works has been standardized. The applications now update the counts dynamically to reflect the way that you are filtering the contents of the console table. For more information about the Counts field, see Change Management console functional areas.

Task enhancements

• When creating task templates, the system administrator can now categorize them in a hierarchy of up to three tiers. This makes it easier to organize large libraries of task templates and easier for you to locate and select a specific template. For a description of how to located and select a task template in the new hierarchy, see Creating a basic task group template. 
• You can now send an email note directly from the Task form. For information about how to do this, see Managing tasks.

Calendar enhancements

Calendar provides additional capabilities and enhancements to existing features in versiom 8.1.00 for greater functionality and ease of use. For a list of new features in the Calendar, see What's new in the 8.1 SP 1 calendar.

Change request closure enhancements

• When all related tasks are completed, change request moves to the Competedstatus, and a status reason is automatically selected, based on the approval process configuration:
  • If you have configured an approval phase for the Completed status, the status reason that you configured for the approval phase is selected. For example, the default status reason in the Close Down Approval phase is Final Review Required.
  • If you have not configured an approval phase for the Completed status, the status reason is set to Final Review Complete, by default.
• If you enable the Auto-Close feature, the change request is closed automatically based on the Auto-Close Days rule that you can configure.
  

Notification enhancement

Requested For users will receive notifications only when a change request is submitted—that is, the change request is promoted beyond the Draft status. Later status changes will not trigger notifications for these users.

For more information, see Notifications by roles.

Task Phase Management enhancement

If you enable Task Phase Management, you can select the new Clear option in the Phase menu, that is location above the Tasks and Task Groups table in the Tasks tab of change requests, to view a list of tasks and task groups from all task phases.

For more information, see Viewing tasks and task groups.

Collision Detection enhancements

• The Collision Detection dialog box has been redesigned to display more information about collisions and colliding change requests.
• Usability improvements simplify the process of updating the status of collisions. Additionally, you can now  update the status of multiple collisions simultaneously.
• You can track the history of status changes for individual collisions.

For more information about using the enhanced Collision Detection feature, see Using Collision Detection in Service Pack 1.

Creating and updating records by email

Service Pack 1 for version 8.1 provides the ability to use emails to create new requests, and add work information to incident requests, problem investigations, change requests, known errors, tasks, and work order. This section provides details about using email to create records and update work information.

For more information, see Creating and updating records by email.

For configuration information, see Configuring the Email Rule Engine.

The following enhancements are available with Service Pack 1 for BMC Knowledge Management 8.1.

The following enhancements are available with Service Pack 1 for BMC Service Desk 8.1.

Work Information

The following enhancements affect the Work Information feature: 

• The way that the Work Information permissions are implemented across the BMC Remedy ITSM applications has been standardized. For a description of the new Work Information permissions, see Work info sub-component permissions for version 8.1.01 and later. 
• When using the Classic View, user IDs that do not have permission to update an incident request or a problem investigation can now add a Work Information entry to the record using the Add to Work Info History button. See To add work information to a record when using the Classic view for a description of how to do this.

Counts

The following enhancement applies to the record counts on the Incident Management and Problem Management consoles:

• The way that the Counts area of the Incident Management and the Problem Management consoles works has been standardized. The applications now update the counts dynamically to reflect the way that you are filtering the contents of the console table. For more information about the Counts field, see Functional areas of the Incident Management console and Functional areas of the Problem Management console.

Task 

 The following enhancements were made to the Task feature:  

• When creating task templates, the system administrator can now categorize them in a hierarchy of up to three tiers. This makes it easier to organize large libraries of task templates and easier for you to locate and select a specific template. For a description of how to located and select a task template in the new hierarchy, see Adding tasks using task templates. 
• You can now send an email note directly from the Task form. For information about how to do this, see Sending email from a task: version 8.1.01 and later.

Enhanced Incident Routing 

Incident routing rules are now expanded to use more CI attributes so that the tickets are assigned to appropriate groups and the right personnel. Correct routing and assignment speeds up the incident resolution process. 

You can now assign incidents based on the following routing options: 

•  CI Location
• Supported By group for Causal or Service CIs
• Resolution Product Categories
• Product Name
• Operational Categories 

In Incident Management, a new CI Based Routing and Assignment Option section is added on the Incident Rules form. Before you can use the enhanced functionality, you must first enable CI-based routing. For more information, see Enabling CI-based routing.

With this release, BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer 8.3.04 is released.

Common installer for Process Designer Integration and Configuration Tool (PDICT) and Process Designer server

A common installer is introduced, that to installs both the Process Designer Integration and Configuration Tool (PDICT) and Process Designer server. For details about the common installer, see the following topics:

• Installing BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer 8.3.04
• Upgrading to BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer 8.3.04

Additional actions to create and manage new requests

Starting from version 8.3.04, in addition to the Create New Request action, the Create and Manage Request action has been added to the BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer.

The Create and Manage Request action is similar to the Create New Request action. The Create and Manage Request action not only creates a new request, but also waits for the created request to satisfy a pre-configured condition before triggering the next task.

• For details about configuring the Create and Manage Request action, see Configure access points for the Create And Manage Request action.
• For details about the Create and Manage action, see Actions available for tasks.

The following enhancements are available with Service Pack 1 for BMC Service Request Management 8.1.

Merge data import enhancement

When you migrate objects from a development environment to a test or production environment, you can use the new Merge data import option to update objects on the target server. In addition, you can view relationships among service request definitions (SRDs), process definition templates (PDTs), application object templates (AOTs), and application templates, so you can see which objects will be affected by an import. The Import Export Console also provides more detailed information about export and import results, such as a list of objects and the error messages associated with them.

Other import and export enhancements include:

• Improved data export performance
• Support for exporting and importing SRD packages and SRD levels
  

For more information, see Exporting SRDs, PDTS, and supporting data and Import data options.

UI enhancements

The BMC Service Request Management UI includes the following enhancements:

• Resizeable Request Details window — When opened by an IT fulfillment specialist from a work order, change, or incident, the Request Details window is now part of the BMC Remedy ITSM navigation framework. This makes the window larger and resizeable, and allows easier navigation from the breadcrumbs bar. In addition, in the Process View tab, the Properties pane is collapsed by default to produce more window space. See Viewing details of requests in fulfillment applications.
• Approval question/response integration — When an approver asks a question about a request, the request appears in the Requests Needing Attention list in the My Requests pod, and the user can click the Respond link to send an answer. See Viewing and managing your requests.

• Popular request descriptions — In the Popular Requests list in the Request Entry console, you can now view the description of a service request by clicking the Request Description icon that appears when you mouse over the name. In previous versions, the description appeared after you moused over the name and paused for a few seconds. The new method allows users to be more intentional about viewing the description, and the description appears more rapidly. See Submitting requests.

Data Wizard enhancement

The data wizard now supports BMC Knowledge Management and BMC Service Request Management forms when you modify Foundation data. For information about using the data wizard, see Overview of the data wizard.

DVF logging enhancement

BMC Service Request Management data visualization fields (DVFs) are now included in data visualization module (DVM) logging. For information about enabling DVM logging, see Configuring the Log Settings page.

Product Ordering PDT enhancement

The Product Ordering PDT has been simplified to use fewer steps, while keeping the same overall flow. See Overview of the Product Ordering feature.