19.08 enhancements

This topic contains information about enhancements in the version 19.08 of BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite.

PostgreSQL support

Remedy 19.08 supports PostgreSQL 10 database to provide a cost-effective alternative to the existing supported database systems that you can use with Remedy. The PostgreSQL support is available for fresh installations of Remedy 19.08 on a few selected Linux-based operating systems. To use PostgreSQL database, you must install Remedy 19.08 by using silent installation. For more information, see Configuring a PostgreSQL database for AR System installation.

Third-party compatibility enhancements

To enhance the compatibility of Remedy with the latest third-party software and platform versions, Remedy 19.08 supports the following software and platforms:

• Tomcat 9 (for installations with external Tomcat)
• Windows Server 2019
  
• OpenJDK 12
  

For the complete list of the supported software, see BMC SOLUTION AND PRODUCT AVAILABILITY AND COMPATIBILITY UTILITY (SPAC) .

Ability to call third-party REST APIs in a Remedy application

As a developer, you can call third-party REST APIs by using Remedy Developer Studio. You can call third-party REST APIs in a Remedy application, provided the third-party application exposes its REST APIs. 

For more information, see Calling third-party REST APIs in a Remedy application.

Support for single sign-on for Remedy Developer Studio

To standardize the authentication method for the users of Remedy Developer Studio, the Remedy System Administrator can enable Remedy Single Sign-On (Remedy SSO).

The following image shows the login dialog box when Remedy SSO is enabled:

If you are the Remedy System Administrator, see Enabling Remedy Single Sign-On for Remedy Developer Studio. If you are a Remedy Developer, see Starting and logging on to Remedy Developer Studio.

Performance improvement by using Subquery algorithm

The new Subquery algorithm enables an administrator to obtain results faster from the RLS-enabled fields.

You can use the Subquery algorithm on a form where you observe a performance issue while fetching data from RLS-enabled fields. For example, in Remedy Smart Reporting, querying the database might take more time for users other than administrators. In this case, using the Subquery algorithm fetches the search results faster.

For more information, see Improve performance by using RLS algorithms.

Support for Exchange Web Service in Remedy Email Engine

Starting with Remedy AR System 19.08, you can choose a new protocol called Exchange Web Service (EWS) as the email server type while configuring your mailbox. On the AR System Email: Mailbox Configuration form, you can select EWS as the Email Server Type. Remedy Email Engine supports integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 and later.

After upgrading to Exchange Server 2016 and integrating Remedy Email Engine with Exchange Server 2016, you can send and receive emails by using this protocol.

For information about configuring mailboxes, see Configuring incoming mailboxes and Configuring outgoing mailboxes.

Improved usability when adding all form fields to the AR System Report

You can select all fields in a form when you are creating an AR report. This usability enhancement is especially helpful if the form has multiple fields and you want to select all fields in one go.

For example, if you are creating an AR report by using CTM:People form data, the Add All button helps you add all fields in the form.

For more information, see Defining custom AR System Reports.

Improved troubleshooting for Mid Tier session timeout (9201 error)

The new functionality in Remedy Mid Tier facilitates you to differentiate between all possible causes of the 9201 error. You can use the unique mid tier instance ID (MTID) to quickly determine all possible causes of timeout errors with error code 9201.

The Mid Tier log file tracks the MTID, session ID, and cookie ID. When a session timeout occurs, you can check Mid Tier log files and track the session timeout cause by using the unique MTID.

For more information, see Troubleshooting the ARERR 9201 error.

Ability to modify the permissions of components in Centralized Configuration

An AR System Administrator (-110) and AR System Configuration Administrator (-100) can access the Centralized Configuration components and modify permissions of all components in the Centralized Configuration. An administrator can modify the default permissions by using the AR System Configuration Permission Model Registry form.

For more information, see Modifying the permissions of components by using Centralized Configuration.

Real-time synchronization of Remedy Smart Reporting users

Whenever any user is added, updated, or deleted in Remedy AR System, that user record is automatically synchronized in real-time in Remedy Smart Reporting by the User Sync utility. For example, if a new user is added to Remedy AR System, the User Sync utility immediately creates a new record for that user in Remedy Smart Reporting. The real-time synchronization is applicable to users having Fixed, Floating, or Bundled license type. For more information, see Synchronizing Remedy AR System users to Remedy Smart Reporting.

Ability to automatically share common content across multiple tenants

For multi-company onboarding, a Remedy Smart Reporting administrator can import the out-of-the-box content, and customized public reports and dashboards, across multiple tenants automatically through a scheduled escalation instead of manually importing the content individually for each tenant. For more information, Synchronization of common content across multiple tenants.

New user interface for Class Manager

Class Manager has a new user interface that you can access quickly and easily. You can perform the following tasks related to the data model by using Class Manager:

• Define the properties of the class.
  You can define the type of class, how it stores data, and (for relationship classes) the relationship type.
• Configure instance auditing for the class.
  Auditing enables you to track the changes made to instances of a class.
• Define one or more CI and relationship class attributes.
• Specify permissions.
  If you do not specify permissions for a class, BMC CMDB assigns default permissions.
• Specify indexes.
  Indexing can reduce database query time, so you must index attributes that you expect users to use in queries frequently.
• Propagate attributes in a weak relationship.
  This step is necessary only if you have created a relationship class that has a weak relationship in which the attributes from one class should be propagated to another class.

Similar to the previous releases of BMC CMDB, Class Manager requires you to have AR Administrator (ARADMIN) permissions to create and edit classes. For more information, see Modifying the data model by using Class Manager.

Additional capabilities added to the new user interface of Atrium Integrator

Additional capabilities are now available in the new user interface of Atrium Integrator for end-to-end job creation and Data Store Management.

Atrium Integrator supports the connection to the following type of data stores so that data from an external data source can be imported into CMDB:

• AR System
• File-based data stores (CSV and XML)
• Database (DB2, MSSQL, MySQL, Oracle, and Sybase)

In addition, you can edit, refresh, and delete a data store from Atrium Integrator. You can also test a data store connection.
The following figure shows the data stores interface:

For more information, see Creating a data store connection for the data transfer.

By using Atrium Integrator, you can create a job for importing data into BMC CMDB.

For more information, see Creating an Atrium Integrator job to import data.

New user interface for Federation Manager

Federation Manager is accessible from the new CMDB interface. You can use this interface to create data stores that use Launch in Context links to make external data available in CMDB. For more information, see Making external data available to CMDB by using cross-launch links in the Federation Manager.

Added impact simulation capabilities to the CMDB Explorer

A change manager or asset manager can use BMC CMDB Impact Simulator to simulate the effect of a change in a CI, for example adding or removing a CI, or a CI being unavailable in a service model, so that they can quickly and accurately identify the impact of this change on the business service. 

For more information, see Simulating the impact of changes to CIs. 

Cross launch BMC Discovery from the CMDB Explorer

To view additional information of a CI that originated from Discovery, you can open a CI from the CMDB Explorer and view its properties in BMC Discovery.

In CMDB Explorer, you can also open a CI in the product catalog form or its service context summary. You can configure these settings in Federation Manager.

For more information, see Configuring the access method to view CIs in Discovery by using Federation Manager.

Saving search queries in the CMDB Dashboard UI

Create a search query, save the query as a personal or global query, edit the query, and use the saved queries to search for CIs in BMC CMDB. Saving the search query enables you to reuse the query and also share the queries with other users.

For more information, see Creating, saving, and sharing search queries.

Enhancements to Common Data Model

Common Data Model has the following enhancements:

• Moved the isVirtual attribute to BMC_BaseElement class from BMC_System, BMC_SystemComponent, and BMC_Collection classes. You can use this attribute to enable any device (CI) to be represented logically rather than as a physical entity. 

  
  

• Added the Pillar attribute to BMC_ElementLocation class that helps include granularity while defining the location of a CI. In earlier versions of CMDB, you could add details regarding floor, row, rack, and shelf to the location relationship of a CI. However, because most floor plans often reference the Pillar attribute for locations, there was no way to store this information. You can use the Pillar attribute in the BMC_ElementLocation class to define the location of a CI.  
• Added additional attributes to the Tag class for cloud instances. In earlier releases, you could not add tags to cloud instances and relate them with the cloud services. You can create tags for cloud instances and relate the tags with the cloud services.
  
  
• Added a new generic relationship called RelatedTo to define a relationship between the source and destination CI.
  
  In earlier releases, you could define only specific relationships between a source CI and a destination CI based on the CI types. In this release, you can create relationships between CIs of different classes, which may not have a dependency between those CIs.
  
  
• Added the isDR attribute to the BMC_BaseRelationship class to represent disaster recovery. This attribute enables you to indicate if a source CI provides disaster recovery to a destination CI.
  
  
  

For more information, see Summary of changes to the Common Data Model.

Launchpad enhancements

The launchpad functionality has been updated for end users and Remedy SSO administrators.

End user experience on the Digital Service Management page 

In earlier versions of Remedy SSO, only applications that belonged to the end users' realm were displayed on the Digital Service Management page. With this release, in addition to the previous behavior, launchpad applications associated with tenants can be displayed on this page. Thus, applications from different realms or even external applications can be displayed on the Digital Service Management page. For more information about this feature, see Start page.

Remedy SSO administrator experience on the LaunchPad page

In earlier versions of Remedy SSO, to add applications protected by Remedy SSO, in the Application URL field an administrator needed to enter only those URLs that were allowed from the domain of a realm. Applications that did not belong to end users' realm were not displayed to them, but the administrator could add any URL. Now, the administrator can enter any URL in this field if the tenant is specified. 

The Tenant field is available in the application registration form on the LaunchPad page in Remedy SSO Admin Console. The value that you enter in this field must be mapped to value of the Tenant field available in General settings of a realm. You can associate only one launchpad application with one tenant. For details about how to add applications on the LaunchPad page, see Adding applications to the Digital Service Management page.

In addition to this, The LaunchPad page has been enhanced with the new filtering and search options:

Upgrade behavior

The Tenant field, by default, is empty after upgrade. Hence, all launchpad applications available to the end user on the Digital Service Management page prior to the 19.08 upgrade remain available after upgrade, if the Tenant field was not specified in the associated realm.

If the Tenant field was specified for some of the realms, then you must set this field for all applications associated with the realms. See Configuring the Remedy SSO server after upgrade for more details.

MSP page new look

The MSP page, displayed to end users in cases when Remedy SSO server does not know to which realm an end user belongs to, has been updated to the BMC style look and feel:

OAuth 2 support for native clients

OAuth 2.0 authorization framework for third-party applications has been enhanced to support OAuth 2.0 for Native Apps. Oauth 2.0 for Native Apps provides a unified, modern, and secure way to use Remedy SSO for authenticating all types of native apps.The Remedy SSO toolkit for native apps reuses one of the existing libraries that supports OAuth 2.0 for Native Apps and embeds all the dependencies in one JAR file.

The Remedy SSO toolkit for native apps creates the authorization URL and opens in a default browser that redirects the user to this URL. The Remedy SSO toolkit provides an easy and fast way of obtaining the OAuth token required for authentication flow.

To use OAuth2 for native apps, a Remedy SSO administrator must register a public OAuth2 client by using the new Native (Public) client setting on the OAuth2 tab in Remedy SSO Admin Console. 

For information about how to register a native OAuth2 client, see To register a native OAuth2 client.

Simplification of allowing Remedy SSO to authenticate applications in iframes 

In earlier versions, to configure Remedy SSO to open RSSO login page in an iframe, you had to start Remedy SSO server with the following JAVA option: com.bmc.rsso.show.advanced.option.ui=true. The Allow-From Domain(s) option did not display by default. With version 19.08, the Allow-From Domain(s) option is by default available for all authentication types, and you need not start Remedy SSO server with this option. 

System accessibility

Section 508 has been implemented for the following Remedy SSO end user facing pages:

• Login page
• Digital Service Management page
• Multi-Service Provider page
• Consent page (the page where an end user confirms that the client application can act on behalf of this user)
• Change password page

End users with limited physical opportunities can complete tasks on the Remedy SSO end user facing pages in the following way:

• Complete tasks without using a mouse
• Complete tasks by using a screen reader application
• Complete tasks without using speakers.

System supportability

Remedy SSO has been enhanced to support the following system requirements:

The BMC Helix Cognitive Service Automation feature is enhanced  to get recommendations for Risk Level in Change Management and Problem Root Cause in Problem Management. With usage of machine learning algorithms, implementing change requests or problem investigations is faster and accurate. For the use cases and benefits of BMC Helix Cognitive Service Automation, see Automating service management by using BMC Helix Cognitive Automation.

For the guidelines to configure and train the cognitive service, see the following topics:

• Setting up BMC Helix Cognitive Automation
• Configuring BMC Helix Cognitive Automation
• Training data for BMC Helix Cognitive Automation
• Generating training data for BMC Cognitive Helix Automation

Ability to integrate custom Asset CI classes with the inventory without customization

You can more easily integrate custom classes with the inventory system in ITSM without customizations. Using a configuration setting on a custom Asset CI form automatically enable the Inventory for any CI of that class. For more information, see Displaying the Search Inventory Locations dialog box to set the CI location.

Automating risk level computing by using machine learning

The BMC Helix Cognitive Service Automation feature uses machine learning capabilities to get recommendations for Risk Level in Change Management. For more details, see  Use case - Automating service management by using BMC Helix Cognitive Automation .

Automating root cause computing by using machine learning

The BMC Helix Cognitive Service Automation feature uses machine learning capabilities to get recommendations for Root Cause in Problem Management. For more details, see  Use case - Automating service management by using BMC Helix Cognitive Automation .

Introduction of new ITSM calendar

A calendar is available in the menu to give you an overview of the change and release tickets, business events, and outages.

For more information, see Viewing the calendar. For information about configuring the calendar, see Configuring the calendar.

Enhancement in the Service Level Agreement (SLA) bar

The Service Level Agreement (SLA) bar has been enhanced to show the status of a ticket clearly with significant color. The round icon shows the due date of the service target:

For more information, see SLA progress bar in Smart IT.

Improved barcode scanning for asset search

When you scan a barcode to search for an asset, only the asset that is an exact match of the barcode is displayed. In earlier versions, when you scan an asset, if similar assets are found, only the first asset in the database is displayed. For more information, see Scanning assets in Smart IT using mobile devices.

Introduction of new Live Chat workspace

Support agents can use Live Chat to chat with self-service users to resolve issues, and create incidents and work orders directly from the chat. For more information, see Using Live Chat to interact with users.

Ability to update configurations without restarting the Smart IT server

In earlier versions, an administrator had to restart the Smart IT server in the following cases:

• The status reason or status field is customized
• A work note type is customized, which does not reflect in Smart IT
• Chat configurations are changed

Starting with this version, an administrator can update these configurations without restarting the Smart IT server.

Introduction of self-help

Starting with this version, in-app self-help with guided assistance is available. Guided assistance helps you learn to navigate the product and to actively complete tasks. In the Self-help pane, you can start guided assistance, access links to help topics, and watch videos relevant to where you are in the product and the work you are doing.

The following figure shows the Self-help pane that is available while you are working on the Ticket Console:

For information about how to configure the self-help, see Configuring the embedded self-help.

We welcome your feedback and suggestions for additional guided assistance as you can add comments when you complete the self-help guidance or on docs.bmc.com.

PostgreSQL support

PostgreSQL 10 database provides a cost-effective alternative to the existing supported database systems. The PostgreSQL support is available for fresh installations of Smart IT 19.08 on a few selected Linux-based operating systems. To use PostgreSQL database, you must install Smart IT 19.08 by using silent installation. For more information, see Configuring a PostgreSQL database for Smart IT installation.

Updates to Common Data Model

The Common Data Model has the following enhancement:

Moved the isVirtual attribute to BMC_BaseElement class from BMC_System, BMC_SystemComponent, and BMC_Collection classes. You can use this attribute to enable any device (CI) to be represented logically rather than as a physical entity. 

For more information, see Summary of changes to the Common Data Model .

What else changed in this release

There are changes to the out-of-the-box objects. For a complete list of modified objects, see  List of objects modified in 19.08  in the Remedy Deployment online documentation.

Additionally, the following table lists the changes in the product behavior: