Synchronizing BMC Helix ITSM change requests with Jira issues by using BMC Helix iPaaS

Administrators can integrate BMC Helix ITSM with Jira to synchronize BMC Helix ITSM change requests and Jira issues. When a change request is created in BMC Helix ITSM, a corresponding issue is created in Jira. Similarly, when an issue is created in Jira, a corresponding change request is created in BMC Helix ITSM. You can also synchronize comments and data between the change request and issue.

BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker, along with BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit provides an out-of-the-box integration template that you use to integrate BMC Helix ITSM and Jira. You configure the integration in BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker and deploy the integration template to your BMC Helix iPaaS environment.

This integration provides the following capabilities:

The following image gives an overview of the capabilities that this integration supports:

Before you begin

Make sure that you have the following items:

• A valid  BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit  subscription.
• From the Electronic Product Distribution site, download the Sync_BMC_Helix_ITSM_change_request_and_Atlassian_Jira_issue.json project file to your system.

• Jira users should have the write access to create and update an issue.

• Administrator access to the Jira account and the Jira API token.
• BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker and BMC Helix ITSM users have the administrator permission to run this integration.

BMC Helix ITSM to Jira data flow

Jira to BMC Helix ITSM data flow

Task 1: To perform configurations in Quick Configuration Guide

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
2. On Workspace, click Multi-Cloud Broker.

3. To launch BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker, click Visit Deployed Application.
   

   Tip

   You can access BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker directly by entering the URL https://hostName:portNumber/helix/index.html#/com.bmc.dsm.mcsm/login and logging in as a tenant administrator.

4. Click Settings .
5. Select Start Here > Quick Configuration Guide.
   The Quick Configuration Guide page is displayed.

6. In the Step 1: Choose configuration tab, perform the following steps:

   Important

   In Choose Configuration, Helix iPaaS (powered by Jitterbit) is selected by default. Do not change this value.
   1.  Under DevOps integration, select Between ITSM Change and Jira Issue.
   2. Click Next.
7. In the Step 2: Perform configurations tab, perform the following steps:
1. Add an operating organization, if you have not already done so.
2. Add Atlassian as the vendor organization, if you have not already done so.
3. To add the vendor metadata, click Map vendors and perform the following steps:
1. On the Map Vendors page, click Map Vendor.

2. Complete the fields as described in the following table:

   Field	Action
   Description	Enter a description for the vendor metadata configuration.
   Ticketing Technology Provider	From the list, select JIRA.
   Instance Name	If you are using multiple instances of Jira, enter the name of the Jira instance that you are using for this integration.
   Add Mapping	After you select the ticketing technology provider, click Add Mapping. BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker displays the default values in the Instance URL field, and the Vendor Field Mapping and Display Field Mapping sections.
   (Optional) Instance URL	Update the Jira server name and port in the default URL. The default value of this variable is https://[jira server name]:[port]/browse/{key}.
   Vendor Field Mapping	To perform a direct data synchronization between BMC Helix ITSM and Jira, only update the mappings in the Remedy to Vendor Sync Fields and Vendor to Remedy Sync Fields sections. You must not update any other sections.
   Display Field Mapping	By default, the basic Jira fields are mapped in this section. If you want to map additional fields to display in the BMC Helix ITSM UI, add the relevant mappings by clicking .
   Enable Local ITSM Communication	By default, this toggle key is enabled. If you want to use BMC Helix Integration Service as the underlying integration platform, disable this toggle key.

3. Click Save.
   
   
4. To fetch change requests from BMC Helix ITSM, click Define filter criteria to fetch records from ITSM to Helix Multi-Cloud Broker for change, and perform the following steps:
1. From the Select trigger event for change list, select the operation for which you want to fetch the change requests.
2. In Advanced filter, define the filter criteria by using the available fields.
3. Click Save.
   When a change request matches the operation and filter that you have selected, the system fetches that change request to BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
8. In the Configure JIRA integration section, refer the configuration steps listed and select the check boxes as you complete each step.
9. Click Save.

Task 2: To download and import the integration template project file

1. Log in to BMC Helix iPaaS and navigate to Cloud Studio.
2. Select your organization.
3. On the projects page, click Import.

4. Click Browse to navigate to and select the JSON file that you downloaded from the Electronic Product Distribution site.
   The Project Name and Organization fields are populated automatically. The default project name is displayed. You can change the project name.

5. From the Environment list, select the environment to which you want to import this integration template, and click Import.
   The project opens after the integration template is imported. 
6. To open the project file at a later time, select the environment where the integration templates are available, select the project name, and click View/Edit.

Task 3: To update the project variables for the integration template

1. Click the ellipsis ... next to the project name and select Project Variables.
   
2. Update the project variables as described in the following tables:

   • BMC Helix iPaaS variables
     

     Project variable	Value
     BHIP_API_NAME	If required, change the default name. The default value of this variable is set to BMCHelixITSMChangeAndJiraIssue.
     BHIP_API_User_Roles	Specify the organization roles that should have access to the new API. You can add multiple comma separated values. Important: If you do not specify any value, all the organization roles get access to the new API.
     BHIP_MCSM_API_Profile_Username	Enter the user name for the security profile used with the BMC Helix iPaaSAPI for BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker. The integration template creates an API in BMC Helix iPaaS to handle requests from BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     BHIP_MCSM_API_Profile_Password	Enter the password for the security profile used with the BMC Helix iPaaSAPI for BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker. The integration template creates an API in BMC Helix iPaaS to handle requests from BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type	If required, change the default value by selecting one of the following supported values: BASIC ANONYMOUS The default value is APIKEY.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Username	Enter the user name for the security profile that you want to use with the vendor API.  Important: You need to provide a value for this variable, only if you select the BASIC option in BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Password	Enter the password for the security profile that you want to use with the vendor API.  Important: You need to provide a value for this variable, only if you select the BASIC option in BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_ApiKey_Name	If required, change the default value. The default value is apiKey.
     BHIP_Host	Enter the BMC Helix iPaaS instance URL where you want to run this project.
     BHIP_Username	Enter the user name for the BMC Helix iPaaS instance.
     BHIP_Password	Enter the password for the BMC Helix iPaaS instance.
     Enable_BMC_Helix_To_Vendor_Integration	By default, this variable is set to true and you must not change it. Important: This variable enables the creation of Jira issues from BMC Helix ITSM change requests, synchronizes updates, and shares comments.
     Enable_Vendor_To_BMC_Helix_Integration	By default, this variable is set to true and you must not change it. Important: This variable enables the creation of BMC Helix ITSM change requests from Jira issues, synchronizes updates, and shares comments.

   • Jira project variables

     Project variable	Value
     Jira_Host	Enter the host URL of the Jira instance in the following format: [http/https]://[hostname]:[port]
     Jira_Username	Enter the name of the user accessing Jira.
     Jira_API_Token	Enter the API token for Jira that you created earlier.
     Jira_JQL_Query	Enter the JQL query that decides for which Jira issues, BMC Helix ITSM change requests should be created. For example, if you specify Priority=High, the Jira issues with High priority are brokered to BMC Helix ITSM. Important: Do not enter a value for this variable if you are implementing only the BMC Helix ITSM to Jira use case. Do not include a project condition in this variable.
     Jira_Query_Project_Keys	Enter the Jira project key from which you want to filter Jira issues to broker to BMC Helix ITSM. You can add multiple project keys by specifying comma separated values. For example, JiraProject1, JiraProject2.  Important: While adding a value in this variable, make sure that you include the project key specified in the Jira_Create_Issue_Project_Key variable. This enables the synchronization of change requests that are brokered from BMC Helix ITSM to Jira.
     Jira_Create_Issue_Project_Key	Enter the Jira project key under which you want to create a Jira issue from a BMC Helix ITSM change request. For example, if you specify MCB as the project key, when a change request is created in BMC Helix ITSM, a corresponding Jira issue is created under the Jira project with the specified key. Important: You can also specify the Jira project key by mapping a BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker field that contains the project key with the key field in the target application. To do this action, in the MCSM Workflow, you update a transformation by deleting the existing mapping in the key field and then mapping it with the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker field in the project element. Refer to the following image and perform the steps in the given sequence to map the fields:

   • BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker project variables

     Project variable	Value
     MCSM_Host	Enter the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker host URL to which the Jira issues should be synchronized.
     MCSM_Username	Enter the user name that enables users to interact with BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     MCSM_Password	Enter the password for the provided username.
     MCSM_Vendor_Name	For multiple instances of Jira, enter the value in the following format: JIRA.<Instance name> The instance name in the format is the name that you entered in the Instance Name field while configuring vendor metadata.
     MCSM_Field_ID_For_Jira_Issue_Type	It is the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker field ID that contains the value for defining the Jira issue type during BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker to Jira operations. The default value of this field is 466000053 that is mapped with the Resolution Category Tier 3 field in the change record. If you use any other field from the change record to contain the Jira issue type, enter the ID of that field in this variable. Important: If this variable is blank, by default, a Jira story is created.

Task 4: To deploy and enable the project

1. To deploy the integration after you update the project variables, on the project page, click the ellipsis ... next to the project name and select Deploy Project. 
   
   Deployment is a one-time activity that initializes the integration configurations. The UI displays a message for the deployment status.

2. After successfully deploying the integration, on the Workflows tab, select 2.0 Integrations > Enable Integration.
3. Click the ellipsis ...  next to the Enable Integration workflow and select Deploy > Run.
   
   

(Optional) Task 5: To set the API debug mode

By default, the debug mode is set to 2 hours after you run the integration. Debug logs are updated for the time set for the debug mode. To increase the debug mode for a longer period of time, perform the following steps:

1. In BMC Helix iPaaS, select API Manager > My APIs.

2. Open any of the following APIs:

   • BMC_Helix_ITSM_Change_And_Jira_Issue_MCSM_To_Vendor—This API creates a Jira issue from a BMC Helix ITSM change request.
   • BMC_Helix_ITSM_Change_And_Jira_Issue_Vendor_To_MCSM—This API creates a BMC Helix ITSM change request from a Jira issue.

3. Select Enable Debug Mode Until: and set it for the required date and time.

4. Save and publish the API.

(Optional) Task 6: To map custom fields between BMC Helix ITSM and Jira

You can map custom fields between BMC Helix ITSM and Jira. To learn about the steps to map custom fields, see Mapping custom fields for integrations by using BMC Helix iPaaS.

Related topics

BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker overview

Reference of integration between BMC Helix ITSM change requests and Jira issues by using BMC Helix iPaaS