Integrations
Subscription Services Included
BMC Helix Client Gateway is a prerequisite to ITSM customers, including BMC Helix ITSM, BMC Helix Digital Workplace, BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround, BMC Helix Innovation Suite Apps (Business Workflows, Virtual Agent, Communication Service Providers, Multi-Cloud Broker, etc.). If you have a subscription with BMC Helix Operations Management, BMC Helix Discovery, BMC Helix Continuous Optimization and other ITOM services, these integrations do not apply to your subscription.
BMC provides a flexible model for data integrations to and from its Helix services. Integrations may be configured using any approved communication method or adapter.
This topic contains the following information:
Approved integration methods
Any integrated system that communicates using one of the following methods is pre-approved.
| Method or Adapter | Services | Description | BMC Helix Client Gateway Prerequisite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Services | BMC Helix ITSM BMC Helix Custom Applications BMC Helix Business Workflows | This integration technology (XML, WSDL, UDDI, REST and SOAP) allows you to build distributed applications without programming and is the preferred method for integrating with BMC Helix services.
| No |
| C API | BMC Helix ITSM | The AR System API on the server is the most technically complex method. It requires knowledge of C programming and building executables. However, it provides access to all AR System server functionality for a tightly linked and high-performance integration. | Yes |
| Java API | BMC Helix ITSM | The AR System Java API is a collection of Java classes that provide AR System C API functionality in a Java development environment. Developers can use this abstraction layer to quickly build enhanced applications for the web. | Yes |
| AR System Plug-ins | BMC Helix ITSM | AR System clients perform data operations on external systems through the AR System server, plug-in service, and plug-in related APIs. The plug-in service extends the AR System server to integrate with external data sources. The AR System server connects to the plug-in service, which activates the proper plug-in when a transaction is made. | Yes |
| BMC Atrium Integrator (AI) adapter | BMC Helix ITSM Helix Custom Applications Helix Business Workflows | The BMC Atrium Integrator adapter provides a single method of importing and exporting data to and from AR System and the BMC Helix ITSM suite. It supports the ability to import and export data from multiple types of data sources. These data sources include text files, Excel files, data in relational databases, data in other AR Server systems, AR data export files (.arx files), and more. | Yes |
| File transfer process | BMC Helix ITSM BMC Helix Custom Applications BMC Helix Business Workflows | Flat files may be pushed to a folder on the Mid Tier or AR server (depending on requirements) using the MFT process. Both encrypted and unencrypted connections and transfers are supported, however, encryption is recommended. The MFT process moves data to a point where it can be consumed by other mechanisms (such as AI or the Data Management utility) for importing data into BMC Helix ITSM applications. See Lifecycle Requests for information about how to request FTP directory configuration. See
Data Management
| No |
| Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) | BMC Helix ITSM BMC Helix Custom Applications BMC Helix Business Workflows | SAML is a standards-based authentication protocol that allows federated authentication between your environment and the Helix applications. It is the preferred method for authentication. See Federated authentication for more information about SAML. | No |
| Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) transactions | BMC Helix ITSM BMC Helix Custom Applications BMC Helix Business Workflows BMC Helix Client Management | The inbound and outbound email integration service enables customers to open tickets in their BMC Helix environment using email and to receive notification emails for events such as ticket creation, updates, and so on. See Planning email integration with BMC Helix services and Inbound and outbound email integration for additional information. | No |
| Computer telephony integration (CTI) | BMC Helix ITSM | Computer telephony systems such as Avaya and Cisco can integrate directly into the Smart Recorder feature of Smart IT. If the phone system software also has IVR capabilities, it can pass a verbal description of the issue to Smart Recorder as text. See
Integrating Smart Recorder with phone systems
| No |
Important
- BMC imposes a 10MB limit on all attachments.
Web services, FTP, SAML, SMTP and CTI integrations are not allowed via BMC Helix Client Gateway and have to be consumed via other routes (e.g. internet-facing endpoints).
For any integration not using a pre-approved method above, the customer (or their designated onboarding partner) must submit a request to BMC’s CRB in advance of development. See the BMC Helix ITSM Customization Policy for additional information.
Non-standard integration methods
BMC supports the use of Java filters and AR Server Database Connectivity (ARDBC) plug-ins under certain conditions. See Customizations as part of integrations for a detailed summary of what types of customizations are allowed in BMC's cloud, and how to get approval to implement them.
Integration development and maintenance
BMC Helix customers are responsible for:
- Procurement, installation, and maintenance of any on-premises integrated system
- Implementation and configuration of the integration (this typically requires a statement of work from an onboarding partner)
- Ongoing maintenance of all integrated systems throughout the service term (this includes upgrades required to any on-premises integrated system to ensure version compatibility with the Helix service)
- Obtaining approval from BMC’s CRB in advance of the implementation of any integration not communicating using an approved method
- Requesting assistance from BMC SaaS Operations for port configurations
- Configuring the BMC Helix Client Gateway on-premises component for an integration requiring low-level security (see BMC Helix Client Gateway connectivity for additional information)
BMC Helix integration service offerings
BMC also offers out-of-the-box integration connectors via its BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker service for incident brokering, ticket consolidation, DevOps platform integrations, and other use cases, as well as its BMC Helix iPaaS service for pre-built third-party application connectors and a robust API Multi-Cloud Broker.
Comments
I'm not sure why you would need BMC Helix Client Gateway for the Computer Telephony Integration (CTI). The telephone system is simply popping up a URL to Smart IT and passing parameters. Is that a typo in the doc?
link "BMC Helix Client Gateway connectivity" address to BMC Helix Client Activation instead of Gateway.
BMC note as part of their sales message that BMC Helix iPaaS platform is the future forward, why still promoting BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker
Hi Francois, a point of clarification - BMC Helix iPaaS allows users to create integrations while BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker (MCB) is an application for BMC Helix ITSM ticket brokering. Helix MCB uses Helix iPaaS as an underlying technology, and other use cases include SIAM, Security Incident Management, Ticket Consolidation, Cloud Monitoring, and DevOps.
Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have more questions!
Hi Betty, thanks for clarifying.
Can we use REST to integrate from Business Workflows (cloud ) to 3rd party interfaces ? do we need client gateway for such an integration ? 3rd party interface may be on-premise.
Hello Sudeep,
Thank you for the query.
If the third-party APIs are not exposed over the Internet and are accessible from the customer-end infrastructure or through the Client Gateway, then BMC Helix would be able to consume it via Client Gateway.
If possible, please give us more details about the use case and we will do our best to help.
Thanks,
Dhanya
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