This documentation supports the 21.05 version of BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

21.05 enhancements

Review BMC Helix Innovation Suite  21.05 enhancements for features that will benefit your organization and to understand changes that might impact your users. 

BMC Helix Innovation Suite enhancements


(Version 21.05.02 and later) Container deployment of BMC Helix Innovation Suite

Perform container deployment of BMC Helix Innovation Suite  and Service Management applications in your on-premises environment. This method of deployment offers:

  • Simplified on-premises deployment process with reduced effort as compared to the deployment by using installers.
  • Less resource consumption, offering better resource scalability.
  • Ability to consume cloud-based applications such as, BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker , BMC Digital Workplace .
  • Improved security that offers ability to isolate applications from the host and other applications.

For more information, see 21.05 Patches Open link in BMC Helix ITSM Deployment documentation.



Integrate BMC Helix Innovation Studio  applications with third-party applications through BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit

Integrate out-of-the-box and custom applications with other external applications by using BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit. Reuse the BMC Helix iPaaS Jitterbit APIs in the business processes of your applications without having to rebuild an integration for each application. For more information, see Integrating BMC Helix Innovation Studio applications with third-party applications by using BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit Open link .



Improve search results in an application by using Elasticsearch

Leverage Elasticsearch for Full-Text Search (FTS) to improve the performance and scalability of search. By offloading Full-Text Search to Elasticsearch, the AR System server  will no longer need to perform the search and improve the overall system performance.

For more information, see Configuring Elasticsearch.



Automate tasks performed in third-party systems

Connect your application with third-party systems and automate routine tasks performed in the third-party systems by using the following capabilities in BMC Helix Innovation Studio :

Automate routine tasks by using Blue Prism RPA processes

Use the Run Blue Prism Process element to seamlessly integrate your application with Blue Prism and use a Blue Prism (Robotic Process Automation) RPA process to automate routine and repetitive tasks.

For more information, see Automating tasks by using Blue Prism processes Open link .

Use data lookups to specify inputs to create a virtual machine in Microsoft Azure

Use data lookups and Azure Resource Graph queries to provide inputs to a BMC Digital Workplace  service request for virtual machine creation in Azure. Data lookups help users to easily select a value from the list of available values.

For more information, see Automating the creation of virtual machines and storage accounts Open link .

Use Automation Anywhere callbacks to receive real-time event notifications

Use webhook callbacks from Automation Anywhere to receive notifications about an RPA bot execution. You can use these notifications in a process with Run Automation Anywhere Bot element to perform the following actions:

  • Trigger specific rules or processes
  • Know the bot execution status
  • Notify users on completion of a task

For more information, see Automating tasks by using the RPA Automation element Open link .



Progressive Web Application enhancements


The following video (1:34) describes some of the enhancements in Developer Studio  for Progressive Web Applications:


 https://youtu.be/lEDKGZs_IQY


Progressive Web App screens for change

To offer a customizable dynamic modern UX that exactly fits your needs, the support for Progressive Web App (PWA) screens has been extended to change requests.

PWA screens are already available for work orders, incidents, assets, broadcasts, problem investigations, and tasks. For more information, see Progressive Web Application screens.

To learn how you can customize these screens in Developer Studio, see Adding custom fields to the Change view.



Properties added in Developer Studio to support progressive views

Developer Studio  provides additional properties to create the following elements in PWA:

  • Tooltips for various fields
  • Surveys
  • Rich text fields with editors
  • Multiple selection lists
  • Enhanced filters for search
  • Table lists with various options

For more information, see Field Properties.



Create a survey questionnaire

Use the Survey Component field in Developer Studio to create a survey questionnaire to ask questions to users and record their responses. For example, such questionnaires are useful to calculate the risks associated with change requests. Use the Component Definition, Qualification Field ID, Parent Entity ID, Display As Text, Question Font, and Answer Font properties to create a survey component.

Learn how to create a survey questionnaire at Creating a survey questionnaire.



What else changed in this release

The following table lists the changes in the product behavior: 

UpdateProduct behavior in versions earlier than 21.05Product behavior in version 21.05
Technology upgrade for generating the cognitive consumption reportsAdministrators can view the cognitive service consumption reports.Administrators cannot view the cognitive service consumption reports temporarily until BMC Helix Virtual Agent version 21.05.01 is released.
Process commands for progressive viewsSome process commands were not available for PWA.The following commands are available for PWA:
  • Application-Command Approval
    Provide variable values for the Parameterized Get Next Approver rule.
  • PERFORM-ACTION-OPEN-ATTACHMENT
    Provide users with previews of attachments.
  • PERFORM-ACTION-TABLE-ROW-SELECTION-MODE
    Switch table selection modes.
  • PERFORM-ACTION-FETCH-SURVEY-DATA
    Fetch survey data from survey questionnaires.

To know more, see Process commands.

Support for two factor authentication


In BMC Helix Single Sign-On environments, support for two factor authentication was not available for custom progressive web.

In BMC Helix Single Sign-On  environments, support for two factor authentication in PWA is available.. To know more, see How double authentication works.

Rich text fields and rich text editors in PWAsYou could not create fields with rich text and also fields which had rich text editors in PWAs.

You can create fields that display and also allow editing of rich text by using Developer Studio . To know more, see Adding RTF fields in Progressive Web Applications.

Selection lists in custom PWAsYou could not create selection lists in custom PWAs.


Create selection lists in PWA by using the character field in Developer Studio . To know more, see Creating drop-down lists in PWA that allow selection of multiple options.

List-based tables that can switch selection modes between check boxes, radio buttons, and view-only in custom PWAYou could not create list-based tables that switched selection modes between check boxes, radio buttons, and view-only.

Create a list-based table in PWA which can switch the selection mode depending on inputs. To learn more, see Creating list tables and setting selection mode by using run processes in Progressive Web Applications.

Customized tooltips in PWAYou could not create customized tooltips in PWA.

Create customized tooltips by using the Tooltip Icon, Tooltip Trigger, and Tooltip Text/Template properties.
For information about using these properties, see Field Properties.

Dynamic lists from JSON dataYou could not use JSON data to create a dynamic list.

Use the JSON data from the application to dynamically create a list. Learn about Creating dynamic selection lists for Progressive Web Applications by using JSON data.

Customization of table column color, column images, hiding of empty columns, and so on, in PWAThese customizations were not available for PWA.

The following additional properties are available in Developer Studio  for PWA:

  • Column Color—set the color for a column in table.

  • Column Images—add an image to a table column.

  • Hide Empty Column, Hide Expand Column if Empty—hide columns in tables when there is no information in them.

  • Field Value To Define Images—set if an image, text, or both image and text are shown in a table column.

  • Bulk Select Label—select all records in a table.

  • Horizontal Button Alignment, Vertical Button Alignment—position the button according to the layout.

  • Show as URL—display any text as a URL.

  • Render Data As Thumbnail, Thumbnail Height, Thumbnail Width, Default Thumbnail Image—specify the default thumbnail image that is displayed in a table column.

For more information, see Field Properties.

Pause interval in a character field for a workflowYou could not specify a pause interval for a workflow in PWA.

You can specify a pause interval for a workflow in PWA by using the Pause Interval property in Developer Studio. For example, if you configure a pause of n milliseconds, PWA triggers a workflow if there is a pause of more than n milliseconds after a key is pressed.

Learn how to add a pause interval in Adding a pause interval in a character field for a workflow in PWA.

Data from the PWA to create dynamic lists and entry fieldsYou could not use data from the application to create a dynamic list that varies based on conditions.

Create a drop-down list or an add information to an entry field with information that is dynamically fetched from the application.

For more information about creating dynamic selection list, see Creating dynamic selection lists for Progressive Web Applications by using JSON data.

Support in Progressive View for BMC Helix Single Sign-On  double authentication


In a BMC Helix Single Sign-On environment, double authentication was not available for Progressive View.

Double authentication is available for Progressive View users.
To know more, see How double authentication works.

Active link configuration for progressive viewsUnder Execution Options, you could use the Run in Parallel and Don't wait for completion check boxes to specify multiple active links.

Under Execution Options, you can use a list to select the following options when defining multiple active links:

  • Run In Parallel
  • Run In Parallel and Don't Wait For Completion
  • Bulk With Entry
  • Bulk With Group 

For more information, see Creating active links.

Active links for filtersThere were no active links for filter changes.You can specify an action when the table column in a PWA is selected by using the On Table/Column Filter Change active link option.
Vertical and horizontal alignment of a button in a columnYou could not specify vertical and horizontal alignment of a button in a column.

You can specify vertical and horizontal alignment of a button in a column.

Learn more about vertical and horizontal alignment in Setting column properties.

Select all records in a tableYou could not select all records in a table.

Use the check box at the top of a list-view table to select all records in the table. You can specify a label for the check box.

For more information, see Field Properties.

Add an image to a column in a list-based tableYou could not add an image to a column in a list-based table.

You can add an image to a column in a list-based table.

For more information, see Adding images to tables.

Hide the column that contains no data in a tableYou could not hide the column in a table that did not contain any data.

You can hide the column in a table that does not contain any data.

For more information, see Setting column properties.

Hide the Expand option for the column that contains no dataYou could not hide the Expand option for the column that contains no data.

You can hide the Expand option for the column that contains no data.

For more information, see Setting column properties.

Set the number of rows of text to be displayed in the character field of a table columnYou could not set the number of rows of text to be displayed in the character field of a table column.

You can set the number of rows of text to be displayed in the character field of a table column.

For more information, see Setting column properties.


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