Command Automation Interface

The Common Automation Interface (CAI) module provides a common infrastructure that can be shared across applications including BMC Helix ITSM applications and the BMC Configuration Automation for Clients application.

CAI plug-in

The primary purpose of the CAI plug-in is to transmit events to back-end applications.

Due to the dynamic nature of the field mappings for each command, and because it is not possible to use workflow to push values to dynamic fields, the CAI plug-in provides a mechanism to dynamically map data to fields. For example, the command to generate a back-end request consists of dynamic field values that can be mapped to any field on the back-end interface forms. Additionally, the CAI plug-in helps address problems that arise with incompatible permission models.

The CAI provides event delivery to the target applications. CAI is a back-end component that does not provide a front-end user interface. Additional user dialogs can be defined for each integrated component to push data into the CAI forms. The functionality of CAI is based on the current implementation for SRMS framework command events and the requirements of the Task Management and Data Management.

Functions of CAI in ITSM applications

The following table lists the functionality that CAI provides for each application or module:

Phases of use with Task Management

This section provides an overview of how the CAI module is used by the Task Management.

Definition phase: Application registration and command definition

Application registration defines the integration attributes to the external applications, such as application name, connection information, and interface form names.

Command definition describes the commands and the command parameters for each integrated component. For example, the Requester console has a set of defined commands for interaction with back-end applications. In Task Management, a set of commands is defined for interaction with BMC Configuration Management. In addition, the CAI can include command parameter mappings to the registered applications.

Construction phase: Instantiation of the command definition as events

Command events are instantiated based on the command definitions. The event is constructed by using the specific command name, and the command parameter values are populated by the integrated components. CAI provides the form structure and generic workflow for command instantiation. Each integrating component must implement the workflow to control its specific commands.

Execution phase: Event delivery

The mechanism that delivers the command events to the target system depends on the protocol used.

• AR protocol — The target is another Action Request System application. This plug-in generates the appropriate records as specified in the target information of the event.
• UR protocol — The workflow sets the URL string to the appropriate view field for the browser.

CAI provides the generic event plug-in and each integrating component must implement the workflow to control the invocation of the plug-in, or use a specific workflow for the delivery.