22.1 enhancements and patches

Date type of questions can be added within a repeatable group of questions.

Date type of questions were not supported.

Date type of questions can be added within a repeatable group of questions, along with text field, dropdown (single-select), and toggle type of questions.

Priorities set for broadcasts created in BMC Helix ITSM and  BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT correspond to broadcast types in BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

All broadcasts created in BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT were shown in BMC Helix Digital Workplace as Information type broadcasts irrespective of their priority.

Priorities set for broadcasts created in BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT correspond to the following broadcast types in BMC Helix Digital Workplace:

• High — Critical
• Medium — Warning
• Low — Information

For more information about how broadcasts that are created in BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT are displayed in BMC Helix Digital Workplace, see Broadcasts.

A shared URL to an immersive catalog section of a studio page always displays the immersive view of that catalog section, even if the enhanced catalog is not enabled.

If the enhanced catalog is not enabled, the shared URL displays a page for unavailable content. By default, this page redirects to the BMC Helix Digital Workplace landing page.

The shared URL always displays the catalog section immersive view.

Additionally, if the enhanced catalog is not enabled, the navigation breadcrumb link now points to the Home page, rather than to an inaccessible catalog page.

For information about making studio pages available to users, including by sharing the URL of a page, see Setting up navigation for your workplace.

Catalog administrators can specify export preferences when exporting services.

All versions and revisions of a service were exported. This would lead to bigger file sizes or timeout errors.

You can configure export preferences to choose what revisions you want to export, to get smaller file sizes and improved performance.

For more information, see Copying services from another system.

The Exchange pluggable provider supports OAuth2 authentication, but does not support deprecated authentication methods such as basic authentication.

The Exchange pluggable provider supported both basic authentication and OAuth2 authentication.

Only OAuth2 authentication is supported. The Enable OAuth2 check box is no longer required and has been removed, along with the User Name and Password fields.

For more information, see List of providers.

In Studio pages that include multiple catalog service banners, the padding between the banners changes depending on whether the page is viewed on a mobile device or on a desktop.

On mobile devices, stacked catalog service banners had the same amount of padding as on a desktop. The padding led to the banners taking up more screen space than necessary.

On mobile devices, the padding between stacked catalog service banners is reduced to use the available screen space more efficiently.

For information about including catalog service banners in Studio pages, see Creating pages in the studio.

When you export a Studio page that contains a catalog section, the catalog section metadata is included in the export package.

Catalog section metadata is not exported.

Catalog section metadata is included in the export package. Additionally, if a catalog section with a matching ID exists in the import environment, you are prompted whether to use the imported catalog section or the destination catalog section.

For more information, see Exporting and importing workplace studio pages.

(BETA) A re-ranking model is used to enhance search results.

When end users ran a search, occasionally even the most relevant results would appear lower in the list, causing irritation and impeding work. 

The re-ranking search setting helps place the most relevant search results at the top of the page. End users spend less time looking for information and resolve the issues faster.

To learn how to leverage the re-ranking feature, see Configuring search results. 

Changes have been made to the Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR), which provides localization data used in DWP.

Currency symbols, date and time formats, and so on might have used older localization data. For example, for the en-IN (English India) locale, the symbol for the US dollars currency (USD) was US$.

Changes might be seen in currency symbols, date and time formats, and so on. For example, for the en-IN (English India) locale, the symbol for the US dollars currency (USD) has changed from US$ to $, affecting the display of the currency in the UI.

Changes in default branding settings after upgrade:

• Buttons do not have borders
• Default secondary state color is #E5E5E5 or RGB color 229,229,229

Buttons had borders and the default secondary state color was #FAFAFA or RGB color 250,250,250.

The primary and secondary buttons do not have borders. The default secondary state color is #E5E5E5 or RGB color 229,229,229. If the secondary state color in your branding is set to #FAFAFA, after upgrading, it changes automatically to #E5E5E5.

The following image shows how the secondary state color and buttons appear after the upgrade: 

This capability is available with the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced license.

Build a query expression that compares a form field of the Date type with the value of a multiple-choice, single-select question. 

Catalog administrators couldn't create query expressions that compared a field of the Date type from a BMC Helix ITSM form (as a left-side operand) with the value of a multiple-choice, single-select question (as a right-side operand). The multiple-choice, single-select questions were not supported for building such expressions.  

Catalog administrators can build query expressions that compare a field of the Date type from a BMC Helix ITSM form with the value of a multiple-choice, single-select question (by using Single-select Dropdown, Lookup, Radio button, Single-select Table question types).

Important: Only specific multiple-choice, single-select questions can be used in such expressions. Multiple-choice, single-select questions must be dynamically mapped to a form and have the Stored value set to the field of the Date type. For more information about configuring multiple-choice, single-select questions, see Creating selection menus for question responses.

Catalog administrators can build such query expressions to create selection menus for question responses or to create a trigger action that populates date-associated questions with default answers.

The following image shows a sample query that is built to create a selection menu for question responses:

The following image shows a sample query for a trigger action that populates a date-associated question with a default answer: 

Enforce view entitlement rules for custom pages from BMC Helix Innovation Studio

When a custom page from BMC Helix Innovation Studiowas added to the navigation menu, all end users would see the page in the menu. On clicking the link to the page, users who were entitled to the BMC Helix Innovation Studio view could view the page, while all other users would see an error message. 

Administrators can choose to apply view entitlement rules to custom pages from BMC Helix Innovation Studio. If this setting is applied, end users who are entitled to the view can see the page in the navigation menu and be able view it. Other end users will not even see the page in the menu.

For more information, see Embedding custom pages from BMC Helix Innovation Studio or external sites.

To start receiving email and bell notifications, the initial login to the application was mandatory.

End users can receive email and bell notifications even if they have never logged in to the application. The examples of how users benefit from this feature are as follows:

• Allen, a new manager, has approval permission. He starts receiving emails with pending approvals though he has not logged in to the application yet. Allen can approve a service request by logging in to the application through the email and clicking Approve.
• Mary, an employee whose account has been corrupted for three days, obtains a new account. She is responsible for tracking feedback survey on service requests, so after she logs in, all the three-day-old bell notifications are available on the My Activity tab. Hence, Mary does not miss any important information.

For more information, see Notifications.

The names of the settings were difficult to understand and required description.

The names of the settings are explicit and self-explanatory. For example, cmdb.query.attr.email has been renamed to Asset email address. For more information, see List of providers.

The process context information about a service request does not specify whether the service request is set to hidden.

The process context information about a service request includes a Boolean variable, hidden, that is set to true if the service request is hidden.

When attachments were submitted in response to service questions, the work notes added to the fulfillment request with attachments, had the following default note value: Attachment from Request Entry.

When attachments are submitted in response to service questions, the work notes added to the fulfillment request with attachments, have the following format for the note value: Attachment from Request Entry - <FILE_NAMES>, where <FILE_NAMES> is a comma-separated list of file names that are added as attachments to the work log.

One work log is created for every 3 attachments. 

To apply the branding changes to the BMC Helix Digital Workplace login page, administrators copied the CSS files to the Tomcat directory. 

Administrators no longer have to copy the CSS files to the Tomcat directory. The custom rebranding is applied directly from the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Administration console. 

For more information, see Rebranding BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

Warning user message for unsupported browsers

An end user was not able to log in to BMC Helix Digital Workplace through an unsupported browser, and a warning message was not shown.

If an end user logs in to BMC Helix Digital Workplace through an unsupported browser, a warning message is shown. The following browsers are unsupported:

• Internet Explorer 10, 11 and earlier
• Legacy Microsoft Edge

For more information about supported browsers for each version, see the product compatibility matrix in System requirements.

Improved usability and reduced scrolling for drop-down or pop-up pickers in BMC Helix Digital Workplace, such as calendar date pickers.

All drop-down or pop-up pickers opened downwards from the input. A user might have needed to scroll the page to view the entire picker.

All drop-down or pop-up pickers open so that they are completely displayed on the current page.

If a user scrolls the page while a picker is opened, the pop-up might shift position on the page.

If a user is using a smaller screen, such as a mobile device, the picker might have scroll bars.

Support for service actions in custom BMC Helix CMDB classes

Service actions were not available for custom CMDB classes (classes created outside the BMC.CORE namespace in BMC Helix CMDB). As a result, end users could not see service actions for such CMDB classes in the My Stuff tab.

Service actions for custom CMDB classes are now available in the My Stuff tab. For more information about service actions, see Managing service actions .

BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced capability

Disabled duplicate emails about service state change (publishing or rejection) sent to BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog administrators in case of email failure for any BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog administrator

Previous scenario:

1. Administrator A publishes or rejects a service. Administrators A, B, and C receive emails about the service state change.
2. The email for administrator A fails. Administrators B and C receive their emails successfully.
3. The system resends the email to administrators A, B, C. As a result, administrators B and C receive duplicate emails until administrator A receives an email successfully.

Updated scenario:

1. Administrator A publishes or rejects a service. Administrators A, B, and C receive emails about the service state change.
2. The email for administrator A fails. Administrators B and C receive their emails successfully.
3. The system resends the email only to administrator A until he or she receives an email successfully. Administrators B and C do not receive duplicate emails.

BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced capability

Rich text formatting for the Create Activity Log For Service Request element in the Questions Designer

Reopen a service request for a BMC Helix Business Workflowscase.

As a BMC Helix Business Workflows administrator, reopen the case from BMC Helix Business Workflows. End users cannot reopen the service request from BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

End users can reopen a service request associated with a BMC Helix Business Workflows case from BMC Helix Digital Workplace. The following types of service requests can be reopened: 

• Cases that are enabled and are not timed-out in BMC Helix Business Workflows.
• Service requests that are in the Completed state in BMC Helix Digital Workplace. (Cases associated with these service requests are in the Resolved state in BMC Helix Business Workflows). 

As a BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog administrator, learn how to enable end users to reopen service requests. 

As a BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog administrator, you can download the log file if importing services fails. A separate log file is created for every import. This log file is not available in the debug logs and can be downloaded from the UI message.