Synchronizing incidents with Azure DevOps work items via BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by MuleSoft

As an administrator, you can integrate BMC Helix ITSM with Microsoft Azure DevOps to synchronize BMC Helix ITSM incidents with Azure DevOps work items. With this integration, your agents can consolidate the Azure DevOps work items into BMC Helix ITSM, and also broker BMC Helix ITSM incidents to Azure DevOps.

BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker, along with BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by MuleSoft, provides an out-of-the-box integration template that you use to integrate BMC Helix ITSM with Azure DevOps. You configure the integration in BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker and deploy the integration template to the BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by MuleSoft 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 you have the following items:

• Access to  MuleSoft Anypoint Platform .
• Administrator access to BMC Helix Innovation Studio, BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker, and BMC Helix ITSM to run this integration.
• Administrator access to the Azure DevOps account and the Azure DevOps Personal Access token.
• Process setting for the project is set to Agile.
• Access to the Azure DevOps organization.
• Basic Access to the Azure DevOps project.
• The  Sync BMC Helix ITSM incident and Azure Devops workitem 2022-03-01 project file downloaded to your system from the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker page on the Electronic Product Distribution site.

• The Microsoft Azure DevOps webhooks created one at a time.
• All the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker webhooks created at once or one webhook created at a time.

BMC Helix ITSM to Azure DevOps flow

Azure DevOps to BMC Helix ITSM flow

Task 1: To configure the integration

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

   1. From the Choose configuration list, select Helix iPaaS (powered by MuleSoft).   

   2. Under DevOps Integration, select Between ITSM Incident and Microsoft Azure DevOps.
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 Azure DevOps as the vendor organization, if you have not already done so.
   3. To add vendor metadata for Azure DevOps, 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 Azure DevOps vendor metadata configuration.
         Ticketing Technology Provider	From the list, select Azure DevOps.
         (Optional) Instance Name	If you are using multiple instances of Azure DevOps, enter the instance name that you are using to identify it.
         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 Display Field Mapping section.
         InstanceURL	If you have clicked Add Mapping, this field is auto-populated.  Update the URL and replace the Azure DevOps server with the correct host name.
         Vendor Field Mapping	Do not update the default mappings.
         Display Field Mapping	By default, the basic Azure DevOps fields are mapped in this section. If you want to map additional fields to be displayed 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.
         Resolve Incident Ticket When Vendor Closes It	By default, this toggle key is enabled so that when a Azure DevOps work item is closed, the corresponding BMC Helix ITSM incident is also closed. You can disable the toggle key, if required.
         Integration Platform	From the list, select MuleSoft.

      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 a filter criteria for the operation you selected, as describer in the following table:

         Trigger event	Filter criteria
         Created	Select any value from the Advanced filter list.; for example, as shown in the following image:
         Updated	Enter Broker Vendor Name: Azure DevOps. Important: If you have selected multiple integration features in step 6b, you can add multiple values in the filter criteria for the update event; for example, Broker Vendor Name: Azure DevOps, JIRA.

      3. Click Save.
         When an incident matches the operation and filter that you have selected, the system fetches that incident and sends it to BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.

   5. In the Configure Azure DevOps integration section, refer the configuration steps that are listed and select the check boxes as you complete each step.

   6. Click Save.

Task 2: To deploy the integration template project

1. Log in to MuleSoft Anypoint Platform and select Runtime Manager. 

2. On the Applications tab, click Deploy application and select the .jar file that you downloaded.

3. On the Deploy Application page, on the Runtime tab, select the following values in the fields displayed: 

   Field name	Value
   Application Name	Unique name for your application
   Deployment Target	Deployment space
   Application File	Integration template .jar file
   Runtime tab
   Runtime version	Latest runtime version
   Work size	Available core sizes for your application
   Workers	Number of dedicated instances of Mule for the application

   

4. On the Deploy Application page, on the Properties tab, add the following values in the keys displayed:
   
   

   Key	Action
   Anypoint Studio properties
   anypoint.platform.config.analytics.agent.enabled	By default, the value of this key is false. It is used to enable or disable Anypoint Platform analytics data.
   Kafka properties
   kafka.use	By default, the value of this key is false. It is used to enable or disable the Kafka messaging system to handle the incoming webhook payload.
   MuleSoft API webhook properties
   api.integrations.name	Enter the name of the API that is created in BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by MuleSoft to receive BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker webhook requests. Use the following syntax to enter the API name: BHIP_<APIName> For example, BHIP_CreateIncident.
   api.integrations.profile.username	Enter the user name for the Basic type of authentication to configure the webhook.
   api.integrations.profile.password	Enter the password for the user name that you provided earlier.
   Microsoft Azure DevOps properties
   vendor.connector.url	Enter the Azure DevOps instance URL in the following format: [http/https]://[host name and port]/services/Soap/u/[version number].
   vendor.connector.api.version	Enter the Azure DevOps API version. The template supports Azure DevOps API versions 5.0 and later.
   vendor.connector.project	Enter the name of the Azure DevOps project, where the work items should be created.
   vendor.connector.personal.access.token	Enter the personal access token for Azure DevOps if the user requires it.
   vendor.connector.protocol	Enter HTTPS
   vendor.property.project.key	Enter the project key of the Azure DevOps project, where the work items should be created.
   vendor.property.webhook.name	Enter the name to be used for the Azure DevOps webhook being created; for example, 'Escalated'.
   BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker properties
   mcb.connector.protocol	Enter HTTP or HTTPS.
   mcb.connector.url	Enter the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker URL to which the Azure DevOps work items should be synchronized.
   mcb.connector.username	Enter the user name that enables users to interact with BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
   mcb.connector.password	Enter the password for the provided user name.
   mcb.property.vendor	Enter the AzureDevOps. This is the vendor name configured in the Map Vendor section in BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
   BMC Helix ITSM properties
   itsm.property.company.name	Enter the company name for which the integration template needs to be run; for example, Calbro Services.
   itsm.property.first.name	Enter the first name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer.
   itsm.property.last.name	Enter the last name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer.
   itsm.property.incident.type	Enter any of the following incident types that you want to create for the corresponding work item: User Service Restoration User Service Request Infrastructure Restoration Infrastructure Event Security Incident
   Email properties
   email.property.smtp	Enter the SMTP server details in the following format: [SMTP Server>[:<SMTP Port>]
   email.property.sender	Enter the email address from which you want to send the emails.
   email.property.recepients	Enter the email address of the user to whom you want to send the emails. You can add multiple email addresses by using comma separated values, for example, allen@calbro.com, mary@abc.com.

5. Click Deploy Application. 
   While the application is being deployed, the log updates are displayed. After the application is successfully deployed, a green circle is displayed next to the template name.

Task 4: To enable the integration

To enable the integrations, you need to run the webhook creation scripts from your MuleSoft Anypoint Platform. These scripts automatically create the required webhooks for the integration.

1. On the application details page, click Schedules. 

2. From the following list, select an appropriate schedule and click Run Now:

   Schedule	Description
   Schedules for create operations from BMC Helix ITSM to Azure DevOps
   MCB-Create-Integration-Create-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Create the required webhooks to enable creation of work items in Azure DevOps for incidents created in BMC Helix ITSM.
   MCB-Create-Integration-Tag-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Create the required webhooks to enable tagging the Azure DevOps work item with the BMC Helix ITSM incident details.
   MCB-Create-Integration-Create-VendorWorklog_Manual Trigger	Create the required webhooks to enable creation of Azure DevOps work items for incidents created in BMC Helix ITSM.
   MCB-Create-Integration-Update-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Create required webhooks to enable updating the fields in Azure DevOps work items with changes made in BMC Helix ITSM incident.
   Schedules for pause operations from BMC Helix ITSM to Azure DevOps
   MCB-Pause-Integration-Create-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Pause the webhooks defined to enable creation of Azure DevOps work items for incidents created in BMC Helix ITSM.
   MCB-Pause-Integration-Create-VendorWorklog_Manual Trigger	Pause the webhooks defined to enable creation of worklogs in Azure DevOps for comments added in the BMC Helix ITSM incident.
   MCB-Pause-Integration-Tag-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Pause the webhooks defined to enable tagging the Azure DevOps work item with the BMC Helix ITSM incident details.
   MCB-Pause-Integration-Update-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Purge the existing webhooks defined to enable updating Azure DevOps work items with changes made in BMC Helix ITSM incident.
   Schedules for resume operations from BMC Helix ITSM to Azure DevOps
   MCB-Resume-Integration-Create-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Resume the webhooks defined to enable creation of Azure DevOps work items for incidents created in BMC Helix ITSM.
   MCB-Resume-Integration-Create-VendorWorklog_Manual Trigger	Resume the webhooks defined to enable creation of worklogs in Azure DevOps for comments added in the BMC Helix ITSM incident.
   MCB-Resume-Integration-Tag-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Resume the webhooks defined to enable tagging the Azure DevOps work item with the BMC Helix ITSM incident details.
   MCB-Resume-Integration-Update-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Resume the webhooks defined to enable updating the fields in Azure DevOps work item with changes made to the incidents in BMC Helix ITSM.
   Schedules for purge operations from BMC Helix ITSM to Azure DevOps
   MCB-Purge-Integration-Create-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Purge the existing webhooks defined to enable creation of Azure DevOps work items for incidents created in BMC Helix ITSM.
   MCB-Purge-Integration-Create-VendorWorklog_Manual Trigger	Purge the existing webhooks defined to enable creation of worklogs in Azure DevOps for comments added in the BMC Helix ITSM incident.
   MCB-Purge-Integration-Update-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Purge the existing webhooks defined to enable updating the fields in Azure DevOps work items with changes made in BMC Helix ITSM incident.
   MCB-Purge-Integration-Tag-VendorTicket_Manual Trigger	Purge the existing webhooks defined to enable tagging the Azure DevOps work item with the BMC Helix ITSM incident details.
   Schedules for create operations from Azure DevOps to BMC Helix ITSM
   AzureDevops-Create-Integration-Update-WorkItem_Manual Trigger	Create the required webhooks to enable creation of incidents in BMC Helix ITSM for work items created in Azure DevOps.
   Schedules for purge operations from Azure DevOps to BMC Helix ITSM
   AzureDevops-Purge-Integration-Create-Issue-WorkItem_Manual Trigger	Purge existing webhooks defined to enable creation of incidents in BMC Helix ITSM for work items created in Azure DevOps.
   AzureDevops-Purge-Integration-Update-Issue-And-Comment-Create-sample_Manual Trigger	Purge existing webhooks defined to enable updating the fields in BMC Helix ITSM with changes made to the work item fields in Azure DevOps.

Synchronization between BMC Helix ITSM inidents and Azure DevOps work items is enabled for the selected schedules.

Related topics

Orientation

Leveraging integration technologies to integrate BMC Helix ITSM and third-party applications