BMC initiates the activations for the following systems and services required for your migrations after your ordering process is complete:

• Systems
  BMC activates the following environments with the updated versions of BMC Helix ITSM and the BMC Helix applications purchased by the customer.
  • Development (with Admin access)
  • QA
  • Production
• Email services
  BMC configures one inbound and one outbound email server for each environment.
• Permanent FTP
  • BMC configures and sets up a permanent FTP setup to transfer data related to integrations.

After the activation is complete, BMC sends you an email with the environment and access details for the products you purchased.  Typically, the SLA for the activation request is seven to ten days.

To view a sample of the email sent after activation of the environments, save and view the Activation Email. The email you receive includes the system details for your activated environments.

Important:

• Partners must review the complete list of the BMC Helix products purchased by the customer and validate that these applications are available in the activated systems.
• If you have not already done so, any resource who will be submitting and managing support tickets with BMC needs to register for access to BMC Support Central. For this, you will need to know your new Support Contract ID (SCID) and PIN, provided to you via email when an order is placed with BMC. If you are already registered with BMC Support Central, you must add the new SCID to your existing login ID.
  For more information, see Registering for Support Central.
• Request for an onbmc domain account for remote access to the staging server. An access request form must be filled out and reviewed by the BMC SaaS Information Security team prior to approval.

Install BMC Helix Data Manager, Developer Studio, and other client tools on the on-premises system.

While your BMC Helix environments are being activated, download and install the following tools on your on-premises staging server:

• BMC Helix Data Manager
  Important:
  BMC Helix Data Manager is currently available only to customers in the Controlled Availability (CA) program. Create a support ticket for BMC to send you the required password to download the BMC Helix Data Manager installation files.
  
  Download and install the BMC Helix Data Manager tool and the master template pack for your source and target versions. 
  
  • For more information about planning and installing the BMC Helix Data Manager installation, see Planning and Installing .
  • For more information about available migration packs, and downloading them, see Licensing BMC Helix Data Manager .
• Developer studio
• AR Import
• BMC Helix Digital Workplace (DWP) OnPrem Data Migration Tool (Data Migration utility)
  Download the BMC Helix Digital Workplace OnPrem Data Migration Tool Version 21.3.06 file from EPD. Access to the EPD website by providing your BMC Support credentials and complete the Export Compliance Form, if prompted.
  Always download the latest version of the DWP Data Migration utility.
• Atrium Integrator Spoon Client
  For more information, see  Atrium Integrator Spoon .

Important:

• Use the BMC Helix Data Manager tool to get accustomed to the migration process. You can perform all the data migration steps on your on-premises system, except the actual import of data, which requires transferring the exported data through your FTP server.
• For more details about the migration process, review the following resources:
  • BMC Helix Data Manager 21.x: Fundamentals Migrating
  • BMC Helix Data Manager 21.x: Fundamentals Migrating Data - Part 1 (WBT)

Configuring SAML:

We recommend that you create a realm for SAML authentication, and configure the general details for the realm. Obtain the necessary information from the IdP administrator and then configure SAML authentication.

For more information, see  Importing configuration from an identity provider and configuring SAML .

Configuring Active Directory:

After you configure BMC Helix SSO as a service provider and Active Data Federation Services (AD FS) as the remote identity provider (IdP) in BMC Helix SSO Admin Console, you can configure SAML for AD FS.

For more information, see  Configuring Active Directory Federation Services as a SAML identity provider .

Create a lifecycle request and support tickets to configure the client gateway required for the following scenarios:

• Initial client gateway setup
  Create a BMC Client Management Gateway Connectivity lifecycle request and attach  the completed BMC Helix Client Gateway request form to the request.
  This includes:

  • The BMC team configuring the Client Gateway server by using details provided in the client gateway request form provided with the request.
  • You installing the client gateway software on your on-premises systems. 
    For more information about installing the client gateway software, download the BMC Helix Client Gateway Installation Guide available at BMC Helix Client Gateway connectivity .
    
• Client tool connectivity configuration
  The BMC team configures the connectivity between client tools on-premises and your BMC Helix SaaS systems. You should be able to verify your connectivity by using the client tools.

For more information, see the following topics:

• BMC Helix Client Gateway connectivity
• Creating a lifecycle request for requesting services

The BMC OSS team provides a staging server template document to gather the details required to activate the staging servers; see the BMC Helix Data Manager Staging Server Request Form.

After they receive the completed document, the BMC team works on the activation of the following items:

• Windows staging server for BMC Helix Data Manager
  The following tools are installed on the staging server:
  • PG Admin—PostgreSQL client used to connect to the staging development database server.
  • DWP Utility—Used to import BMC Helix Digital Workplace data after data files exported from the on-premises system are uploaded to the development staging server.
  • BMC Helix Data Manager—Used to import data from files exported from the on-premises system after they are uploaded to the staging server.
• Linux database server with PostgreSQL
  The development database with out-of-the-box data of the fresh BMC Helix ITSM installation.
•   FTP location for copying BMC Helix Data Manager files
  The FTP location to copy BMC Helix Data Manager and other files for transfers between your on-premises environment and your BMC Helix environments. This location is accessible only for the duration of the migration project. 
• Access to the staging server
  The BMC team configures the remote desktop connection to the staging server. These details are provided during the activation of the development staging servers.
  A domain account is required for remote access to the staging server. An access request form must be filled out and reviewed by the BMC SaaS Information Security team prior to approval.

After the configuration is complete, the BMC team provides the required system and connectivity details via email. Important: 

• Review your environment to ensure that the server has at least four times the space of your database size provided in the request form, so you have enough space to save the database backup required during your migration process.
• To access the staging server, the client gateway configuration must be completed, and a copy of the kwic-config.xml file must be provided to the BMC OSS team.

1. Enable freeze restrictions on your current production environment.
   For more information about freeze and restrictions, see the Change freeze requirements section in Preparing the system before migration .
   
   
2. Migrate the customizations and overlays of Action Request System and BMC Helix CMDB objects from the current production environment to the new development environment.
   To migrate your Action Request System form and workflow customizations, see Moving your AR object customizations to a new target system .
   To migrate your BMC Helix CMDB customizations, see  Moving your CMDB customizations to a new target system .

Important:

• Track all workflow changes made on your current production system. You must import these changes to the new development environment during the final emulated cutover activities.
• Deploy all configuration or environment changes that are applied to the new development environment during any stage of the migration to all your environments.
  Perform this activity after unit testing, UAT, and your final UAT.

1. Reconcile customizations and overlays by using the Auto-reconciliation utility.
   See Analyzing the manual reconciliation effort by using the reconciliation report  in Action Request System documentation.
2. Complete the three-way reconciliation to reconcile customizations and overlays that you imported to the new development environment. 
   See Comparing and reconciling objects  and Reconciling overlaid objects by using the Recon application  in Action Request System documentation.
3. Create a deployment package with all the customizations that you imported.
4. Validate the customizations after the three-way reconciliation.

Perform all custom development work done for:

• BMC Helix Digital Workplace
• BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog
• BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT (Smart IT)
• BMC Helix ITSM: Smart Reporting (Smart Reporting).

You can integrate the BMC Helix ITSM system with your existing on-premises integrations that are supported in BMC Helix version 21.3. These integrations can include BMC TrueSight Operations Management, BMC Helix Discovery, and so on.

• For integrations that require client gateway (Support tickets)
  Create a support ticket to configure the ports for your integrations. You can create single or multiple tickets depending on the integration information available. The BMC team configures the ports for your integrations.
• To configure the BMC Change and Configuration Management (CCM) integration, use Atrium integrated jobs. 
• Integrate BMC Helix Discovery with BMC Helix by using the BMC gateway, or purchase BMC Helix Discovery and integrate it with BMC Helix.
  For more information about integrating BMC Helix Discovery, see BMC Helix Discovery activation .
• Other BMC Helix applications
  • BMC Helix products are available for customers to purchase. These services can be integrated with BMC Helix Innovation Suite.
    For more information see:
    • BMC Virtual Chat
    • Installing BMC Service Resolution for TrueSight Infrastructure Management or ProactiveNet
    • Installing BMC Atrium Core Web Services components
    • BMC Atrium CMDB extensions overview
      Make sure that you are logged in to view this content.
    • Integrating BMC Helix CMDB with Microsoft SCCM by using an adapter
    • BMC Helix Client Management service
    • For more information about the available products, see Integrations .

Important:

You need to re-design third-party integrations that use integrations methods that are not supported. The supported integration methods include:

• AR API
• Rest API
• Web Services

Create a self-service lifecycle request to take a database backup with all the customizations and integrations.
When creating the request, under Choose Backup , select Golden Backup 1:Customizations/Fixes No Data.

This backup is your Golden Backup #1 with the base data and customizations and integration information.

For more information about creating self-service lifecycle requests, see Creating a lifecycle request for requesting services .

Best Practice:

We recommend that you create a package with all your customizations and fixes.
For more information about using Developer Studio to create a package, see Defining and deploying data and object packages .

Configure BMC Helix Data Manager and prepare for migration

Complete the following tasks to configure your BMC Helix Data Manager on-premises and development staging server to prepare for migration:

1. Create a copy of the latest on-premises production database on your on-premises system for the BMC Helix Data Manager export.
   This action is necessary because the BMC Helix Data Manager data export requires that all AR services are shut down. Since the services on the on-premises production environment cannot be shut down, perform the export of the latest database copy from the on-premises system. 

2. Register the source and target systems and create a BMC Helix Data Manager user.
   For more information see,  To register your source and target systems and create a BMC Helix Data Manager user .
3. Discover the data dictionary and copy the discovered files across the systems. 
   For more information, see  To discover the data dictionary
4. Download the template migration packs and create a custom migration pack.
   For more information, see Download the migration packs and Creating a migration pack for your systems .
5. Configure a file system connection on the on-premises and development staging server BMC Helix Data Manager.
   For more information about configuring the files system connection, see Configuring a file system connection .
6. Review the data mappings.
   For more information, see Identifying data mapping issues .
7. Create approval definition and process mappings for data enrichment .
   

Execute the initial BMC Helix Data Manager data migration

Complete your initial data migration for the following applications by using BMC Helix Data Manager: 

1. BMC Helix ITSM
   To migrate BMC Helix ITSM data, see the following topics:
   1. To export BMC Helix ITSM data
      Important:
      Before running the import, create a self-service lifecycle request to stop all AR services in the target development staging server.
      For more information about creating self-service lifecycle requests, see Creating a lifecycle request for requesting services .
   2. To import BMC Helix ITSM data
   3. Completing postmigration steps
2. BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog
   For more information about migrating BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog data, see Migrating BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog data .
3. Smart Reporting
   For more information about migrating Smart Reporting data, see Migrating Smart Reporting data .

4. Smart IT
   For more information about migrating Smart IT data, see Migrating Smart IT data . 

5. BMC Helix Digital Workplace
   Perform the BMC Helix Digital Workplace data migration by using the procedure described in Migrating data by using the import-export utility .
   BMC Helix Data Manager is not required for the import and export.

Important:

• Create a self service lifecycle request to create Golden Backup #2 after the successful migration of the initial BMC Helix ITSM data. Then, replace this backup after the successful migration of each application. 
  For more information about creating self-service lifecycle requests, see Creating a lifecycle request for requesting services .
• After you have migrated all your data, create a self-service lifecycle request to restore Golden Backup #2 to your BMC Helix QA and production environments.

You are now ready to unit test your migration.

Download and run the License Compliance Utility to convert the People profile data licenses. 

Important: 

Make sure you include this activity in your project plan. 

See Moving to the bundled license model by using the Bundled License Conversion Utility in Action Request System documentation.

Perform delta data migration
(Emulated cutover 1)

Complete the following steps to perform a delta migration and apply unit test fixes:

1. Get the latest on-premises production database copy on your on-premise staging environment for the BMC Helix Data Manager export.
2. Create a self-service lifecycle request to stop all AR Server services.
   For more information about creating self-service lifecycle requests, see Creating a lifecycle request for requesting services .
3. Create a BMC Helix Data Manager job for an incremental run to specify the delta data range.
   For more information about delta data migration, see Running a delta data (incremental) migration job .
4. Resolve any issues that occur during the migration.
5. Complete a form count analysis.
   For more information about form counts, see form count analysis .
6. Complete the post-migration steps.
   For more information, see Completing postmigration steps .
7. Create a self-service lifecycle request to create Golden Backup #3, which contains the data for BMC Helix ITSM (including delta data), BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, Smart Reporting, and Smart IT. 
8. Complete the delta data migration for BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog.
   For more information about delta data migration for BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, see BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog .
9. (Delta data migrations not available) Perform the migration steps for BMC Helix Digital Workplace, Smart IT, and Smart Reporting as described in the Execute initial BMC Helix Data Manager data migration to complete the data migration for these products.
10. Create self-service lifecycle requests to:
    1. Replace the existing Golden Backup #3 after each application migration.
       This is the backup that you restore for UAT.
    2. Start all AR Server services in Quiet mode.

Important:

• Create the self-service lifecycle requests in the defined sequence. You can create only one lifecycle request at a time. The existing request must be completed before you create the next one in the sequence.
• Keep the development staging server in Quiet mode until your UAT is completed, so you can fix any issues that occur during the UAT cycles.

Contact the BMC OSS team to create a support ticket to run the License Compliance Utility to perform an assessment and convert the new People profile data licenses. 

Important:
Make sure you include this activity in your project plan. 

The utility is run for all available data, and only People profile data that has not yet been converted is updated.

Perform UAT

Complete UAT cycles, fixes, and sign-off

Fixing issues

Use one of the following options to fix the issues that you find during your UAT cycles:

• For a manageable number of issues
  Fix the issues on the development staging server and create packages of the fixes by using the Deployment Management Console. Then, import the packages to the BMC Helix QA and production environments to validate the fixes.
  For more information about using the Deployment Management Console to create a package, see Importing and exporting a package .
  You might need to add multiple cycles to your project plan to complete all the testing, fix all blocker issues, and get a sign-off for exiting Stage 7: User Acceptance Tests (UAT).

• For a large number of issues, complete the procedure for a complete emulated cutover :
  1. Create a self-service lifecycle request to restore Golden Backup #1 on your development staging server.
  2. Fix the issues on the development staging server.
  3. Create a self-service lifecycle request to replace Golden Backup #1. 
  4. Do a full data migration by using BMC Helix Data Manager as described in Execute initial BMC Helix Data Manager data migration.
  5. (Optional) Complete a unit testing cycle on the development staging server.
     For details of unit testing, see Stage 5: Perform unit testing and fixes.
     
  6. Create self-service lifecycle requests to:
     1. Replace the existing Golden Backup #2 .
     2. Enable Quiet mode on the development staging server.
        Important:
        Create the lifecycle requests in the defined sequence. You can create only one lifecycle request at a time. The existing request must be completed before you create the next one in the sequence.
  7. Create a self-service lifecycle request to restore the backup ( Golden Backup #2) to your BMC Helix QA and production environments.
  8. After a successful initial UAT cycle, perform an emulated cutover cycle:
     1. Create a self-service lifecycle request to restore Golden Backup #2 on your development staging server.
     2. Fix the issues on the development staging server.
     3. Perform a delta data migration (Emulated cutover 1) on the development staging server, as described in Running a delta data (incremental) migration job .
     4. Create a self-service lifecycle request to replace the existing Golden Backup #3  on your development staging server.
     5. Create a support ticket to restore the backup on your BMC Helix QA and production environments, and complete a UAT cycle.
        Important :
        Perform multiple emulated cutover cycles if you find a large number of issues during your UAT cycle. 

UAT sign-off

Perform the required number of UAT cycles for the scenarios that apply to you, and make sure all blocker issues are resolved to get a successful UAT sign-off.

Important:

• Include the required number of UAT cycles in the project plan to complete testing and fixing all issues. Customers or partners must sign off on the UAT phase before moving to go-live preparation activities. 
• We recommend that you start Stage 8: Perform prefinal data migration and validation activities only after a sign-off with an understanding that pending open issues will only be worked on after go-live.
• Create packages and deploy all application or environment changes found or fixes applied during any phase of the migration on all your environments.
  If you do not apply these changes to all environments, requests need to be created to reapply these changes after every database restore. We recommend that you track these tasks so that data from existing requests can be used as a reference for the changes to be applied.
• Create packages for all fixes developed by you or BMC.

Apply freeze restrictions

After the UAT sign-off, prepare for the final data migration and delta data migration (Emulated cutover).

At this stage, enable freeze restrictions on your on-premises production system, if you were not able to freeze the activities in Step 7 of Stage 3: Development activities.

For more information about freeze and restrictions, see the Change freeze requirements section in Planning your environment migration to SaaS .

Perform prefinal data migration and validation

1. Restore Golden Backup #1 on the development staging server.

2. Apply all the fixes included in the final code packages developed during User Acceptance Test cycles on the development staging server. 
3. Export any delta workflows or customizations from your on-premises production system and then import them to your development staging server
   This action includes the changes done on the on-premises production system that have not been reconciled earlier.
4. Perform a three-way reconciliation for the delta workflows. 
5. Create a self-service lifecycle request to replace the existing Golden Backup #3.
6. Perform a full data migration for:
   1. BMC Helix products by using BMC Helix Data Manager
      Perform the migration steps for BMC Helix ITSM, BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, Smart IT, and Smart Reporting as described in the Execute initial BMC Helix Data Manager data migration.
   2. BMC Helix Digital Workplace
      Perform the BMC Helix Digital Workplace data migration by using the procedure described in Migrating data by using the import-export utility .
      BMC Helix Data Manager is not required for the import and export.
7. Create self-service lifecycle requests to:
   1. Replace the existing Golden Backup #3.
   2. Enable Quiet mode on the development staging server.
      Important:
      Create the lifecycle requests in the defined sequence. You can create only one lifecycle request at a time. The existing request must be completed before you create the next one in the sequence.
8. Create a self-service lifecycle request to restore Golden Backup #3 to the BMC Helix QA (optional) and production environments.
   • When creating the support ticket, add references to all previous support tickets that were created for applying application configuration and environment fixes packaged during development.
   • If these changes were not applied to all environments after they were fixed in the development staging server, create a separate support ticket to reapply these changes before you create a support ticket to restore the database.
9. Before you start your final testing, verify that the configuration and environment fixes have been applied to your environments.
10. Perform final testing for two to three days in the BMC Helix production environment.

Perform a final Emulated cutover 2

1. Apply the fixes for any issues found during the final testing on the development staging server.
2. Perform a delta data migration including running a BMC Helix Data Manager job for an incremental run to specify the delta data range, delta data migration for BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, and the migration steps for BMC Helix Digital Workplace, Smart IT, and Smart Reporting.
   For more information about performing a delta data migration, see Stage 6: Delta Data Migration (Emulated cutover 1).
3. Create packages by performing a data export of global and environment data from your on-premises BMC Helix Data Manager.
   For more information about running an export job, see data export . 
4. SFTP of the exported files to your FTP location for file transfers, and then download them to the development staging server.
   Important:
   Copy the files from the FTP location within seven days of the transfer because they will be deleted from the server after seven days.
5. Create a self-service lifecycle request to stop all AR services in the development staging server.
   Important:
   Make sure you include this activity in your project plan.
6. Scan the file system to view the exported global and environment data packages and then import the data package exported from the on-premises system.
   For more information about scanning the files and importing the data package, see Scan the file system .

Postmigration 

1. Run the following postmigration scripts:
   1. Server References - Default Set.cmt—To update server references
   2. Data Update Template - ITSM <sourceVersion> to <targetVersion> . cmt—To complete NextID conversions
      For more information about the post-migration tasks, see Completing postmigration steps .
2. Create self-service lifecycle requests to:
   1. Start all AR Server services in Quiet mode.
   2. Replace the existing Golden Backup #3.

The development staging server must remain in Quite mode during this go-live week and the database restore to the production environment should be done on go-live day, after the final data migration. We recommend that you do not have any further validations or testing in the BMC Helix production environment during this time.