Synchronizing BMC Helix ITSM incidents with Jira issues by using BMC Helix iPaaS

Administrators can integrate BMC Helix ITSM with Jira to synchronize BMC Helix ITSM incidents and Jira issues. When an incident is created in BMC Helix ITSM, a corresponding issue is created in Jira, and the converse is also true. You can also synchronize comments and data between the incident 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.

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

• From the Electronic Product Distribution site, download the Sync_BMC_Helix_ITSM_incident_and_Atlassian_Jira_issue.json project file to your system.

• 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 displayed by default. Do not change this value.

   1. Under DevOps integration, select Between ITSM Incident 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 incidents from BMC Helix ITSM, click Define filter criteria to fetch records from ITSM to Helix Multi-Cloud Broker for incident, and perform the following steps:
1. From the Select trigger event for incident list, select the operation for which you want to fetch the incidents.
2. In Advanced filter, define the filter criteria by using the available fields.
3. Click Save.
   When an incident matches the operation and filter that you have selected, the system fetches that incident 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 BMCHelixITSMIncidentAndJiraIssue.
     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 of this variable. 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 incidents, 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 incidents from Jira issues, synchronizes updates, and shares comments.

• • Jira project variables

    Project variable	Value
    Jira_Host_URL	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_Password	Enter the Jira API Token as the password for the user name that you have entered.
    Jira_Project_Name	Enter the default project name that you want to work on for the BMC Helix ITSM and Jira integration. You can keep this variable blank. In this case, the template uses the JQL query.
    Jira_JQL_Query	Enter the JQL query to specify the Jira issues for which BMC Helix ITSM incidents 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 incidents 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 incident. For example, if you specify MCB as the project key, when an incident 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 Incident to Jira Issue workflow, 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 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 user name.
    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 determining the Jira issue type during BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker to Jira operations. The default value of this field is 1000003890 that is mapped with the Resolution Category Tier 3 field in the incident record. If you use any other field from the incident 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.

    The following variables are inputs from BMC Helix ITSM. Either enter values for these variables or map appropriate Jira fields if the data is available:

    Project variable	Value
    ITSM_Company_Name	Enter the company name for which the integration template needs to be run. For example, Calbro Services
    ITSM_Customer_First_name	Enter the first name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer.
    ITSM_Customer_Last_Name	Enter the last name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer.
    ITSM_Incident_Type	Enter any of the following incident types that you want to create: User Service Restoration User Service Request Infrastructure Restoration Infrastructure Event Security Incident

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 ... 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 element 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_Incident_And_Jira_Issue_MCSM_To_Vendor—This API creates a Jira issue from a BMC Helix ITSM incident.
   • BMC_Helix_ITSM_Incident_And_Jira_Issue_Vendor_To_MCSM—This API creates a BMC Helix ITSM incident 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 a custom field between BMC Helix ITSM and Jira

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

FAQs

Related topics

Getting started with BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker

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