DevOps integration

The development teams and IT operations teams of most organizations use different tools to manage and track their efforts. Using different tools can present a challenge to implementing DevOps practices across an organization. BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker aims at addressing the challenge of integrating the tools used by the IT operations teams with those used by development teams.

You can leverage the DevOps integration functionality for the following third-party applications:

Atlassian Jira Software
Rally Software (formerly known as CA Agile Central)
Microsoft Azure DevOps

DevOps integration with Jira

The integration between BMC Helix ITSM and Jira works in the following manner regardless of the integration platform used:

When a developer creates an issue in Jira, a corresponding incident, change request, known error request, and work order is created in BMC Helix ITSM based on the condition specified while configuring the feature. The BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT agents can view these records in the Smart IT console. The issue ID is also added to the Smart IT ticket and agents can click the ID to directly open the issue in Jira.
When an incident, a change request, a problem request, and a work order item is created in BMC Helix ITSM, a corresponding issue is created in Jira. The data between the two applications is also synchronized.
BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker facilitates integration of BMC Helix ITSM with multiple instances of Jira. BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker supports full functionality for all the instances of Jira in your organization. See Use cases for more information about using multiple instances of Jira.

DevOps integration with Rally Software (formerly known as CA Agile Central)

The integration between BMC Helix ITSM and Rally Software works in the following manner while using BMC Helix Integration Service:

When an incident is created in BMC Helix ITSM, a corresponding issue is created in Rally Software.
The data between the BMC Helix ITSM incident and Rally Software issue is also synchronized. For example, status change and activity notes.

DevOps integration with Microsoft Azure DevOps

When an incident or a change request is created in BMC Helix ITSM, a corresponding work item is created in Azure DevOps and the converse is also true. The data between the BMC Helix ITSM incident or change request, and Azure DevOps work item is also synchronized. For example, status change and work log item.

Benefits of DevOps integration

The following table lists the functionalities or benefits that DevOps integration provides:

Functionality	Reference
Automatic creation of a BMC Helix ITSM incident, change request, known error request, or work order when an issue is created in a tracking tool like Jira.	How BMC Helix ITSM tickets are created from Jira issues by using BMC Helix Integration Service
Ability to associate multiple issues (for example, Jira issues) with a single BMC Helix ITSM change request.	How multiple issues are associated with a change request
Automatic creation of an issue or user story in a tracking tool like Jira when a BMC Helix ITSM incident, change, problem, known error request, or work order record is created.	How Jira issues are created automatically
Automatic creation of an Azure DevOps work item when a BMC Helix ITSM incident is created.	How Azure DevOps work items are created automatically by using BMC Helix iPaaS
Automatic creation of a BMC Helix ITSM incident when an Azure DevOps work item is created.	How BMC Helix ITSM tickets are created automatically by using BMC Helix iPaaS
Updates to activity notes. BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker keeps ticket comments and status updated.	How activity notes and status are updated in BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker

Using BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker with Mid Tier

You can integrate BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker with tracking tools without using BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT. In addition to the Smart IT console, you can use Mid Tier to view change requests and incidents. When working without Smart IT, you cannot view the third-party application ticket details. However, you can view the work logs to verify that tickets are being brokered.

If you are using Mid Tier, you cannot perform the following actions:

Associate multiple issues (for example, Jira issues) with a single BMC Helix ITSM change request.
Send an activity note from BMC Helix ITSM to the tracking system.

DevOps integration for multiple Jira instances

When you integrate BMC Helix ITSM with multiple Jira instances, consider the following guidelines:

There is no limit on the number of Jira instances that a BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker tenant can support.
You must specify a unique name for each Jira instance for easy identification.
You have the flexibility to define different field mappings and trigger conditions for each Jira instance.
You can only combine BMC Helix ITSM tickets from a single Jira instance.

Components used to create third-party application tickets

BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker supports BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit and BMC Helix Integration Service as the underlying integration technologies . These technologies contain different components that you can configure for an integration, as shown in the following image:

When you integrate BMC Helix ITSM with Azure DevOps, it additionally uses Webhooks to create the incident or Azure DevOps work item.

BMC Helix ITSM to Vendor Ticket Management system

Vendor Ticket Management system to BMC Helix ITSM

BMC Helix ITSM to Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps to BMC Helix ITSM

How BMC Helix ITSM tickets are created automatically by using BMC Helix iPaaS

The following image shows an example of how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker creates a BMC Helix ITSM incident from an Azure DevOps work item:

How Azure DevOps work items are created automatically by using BMC Helix iPaaS

The following image shows an example of how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker creates an Azure DevOps work item from a BMC Helix ITSM incident:

How BMC Helix ITSM tickets are created from Jira issues by using BMC Helix Integration Service

The following image illustrates how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker uses connectors, flows, and processes to automatically create a change request, incident, problem, or work order in BMC Helix ITSM:

Important

For a known error request, Step 6 to Step 10 are performed by a webhook flow.

How BMC Helix ITSM tickets are created from Azure DevOps work items by using BMC Helix Integration Service

The following image illustrates how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker uses connectors and flows to automatically create an incident and a change request in BMC Helix ITSM:

How multiple issues are associated with a change request

Service desk users can associate and view multiple issues in a single BMC Helix ITSM change request by copying a BMC Helix ITSM request ID to the corresponding Jira issue as a label. When you integrate with multiple instances of Jira, you can associate change requests only with issues from a single instance.

The following image illustrates how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker uses connectors, flows, rules, and processes when multiple issues are associated with an existing BMC Helix ITSM change request:

How Jira issues are created automatically

When a service desk agent creates an incident, change request, problem, or work order record in BMC Helix ITSM, BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker automatically creates a Jira user story or bug.

Based on the following values in a ticket, either a Jira user story or bug is created:

Record	Values
Incident	Status: Resolved Status reason: Future enhancement Resolution category: Request > Jira > Bug or Story
Change	Operational category: Request > Jira > Story Important: Only supports creation of Jira story and not a Jira bug.
Problem	Operational category: Request > Jira > Bug or Story
Work Order	Operational category: Request > Jira > Bug or Story

The following image illustrates how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker uses connectors, flows, and processes to create a bug or a user story:

Important

For a known error request, Step 6 to Step 10 are performed by a webhook flow.

How Azure DevOps work items are created automatically

The following image illustrates how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker uses connectors, flows, and processes to create an Azure DevOps work item from a BMC Helix ITSM incident:

How activity notes and status are updated in BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker

The following table lists the events that update the status and activity notes:

Event type	Event	Result
Addition of a comment	A service desk agent adds a comment to the ITSM change request or incident (in Smart IT) and clicks Share with Jira/CA Agile Central.	The comment is added to the Jira/CA Agile Central issue.
Addition of a comment	A developer adds a comment to a Jira issue or user story.	The comment is added to the corresponding BMC Helix ITSM change request, incident, problem, known error request, or work order ticket. Important: The comment is displayed in the BMC Helix ITSM ticket only if the Viewable to all users option is selected in Jira.
Addition of an attachment	Attachments are added to the comment, either in Jira or BMC Helix ITSM.	Attachments are shared between the applications.
Updates to a field	A field in the third-party application ticket is updated.	The updates are reflected in the corresponding BMC Helix ITSM incident fields. Important: This behavior applies to the fields that are mapped when specifying technology provider and field mapping during the third-party application data configuration.
Updates to a ticket status	The status of a third-party application ticket is updated.	Status change is added as an activity note in BMC Helix ITSM incident or change request.

Activity notes display the third-party application ticket numbers and the author of the note.

The following table lists the different formats in which an activity note can be displayed:

From where a ticket is created

Format of the activity note

From a third-party application to BMC Helix ITSM

Note added from <vendor> ticket <vendor ticket id as URL> by <vendor user first last names>

Attachment(s) added:

<fileName>

Attachment(s) failed: