Synchronizing incidents with ALM Octane entities via BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit

As an administrator, you can integrate BMC Helix ITSM with ALM Octane to synchronize ALM Octane entities with BMC Helix ITSM incidents.

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

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

This integration provides the following capabilities:

The following image is an example of the ALM Octane entity details displayed in the corresponding BMC Helix ITSM incident:

ALM Octane to BMC Helix ITSM data flow

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for creating or updating a BMC Helix ITSM incident from an ALM Octane entity:

BMC Helix ITSM to ALM Octane data flows

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for creating or updating an ALM Octane entity from a BMC Helix ITSM incident:

The following image gives an overview of the data flow for adding a worklog to an ALM Octane entity from a BMC Helix ITSM incident:

Before you begin

You require the following items to successfully set up and use this integration: 

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

   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, under DevOps Integration, select Between ITSM Incident and ALM Octane.

   Important

   In Choose Configuration, Helix iPaaS (powered by Jitterbit) is selected by default. Do not change this value.

   

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 ALM Octane as the vendor organization, if you have not already done so.

   3. To add the vendor metadata, click Manage Vendor Metadata 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 ALM Octane.
         (Optional) Instance Name	If you are using multiple instances of ALM Octane, enter the name of the 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 Display Field Mapping section.
         Instance URL	If you have clicked Add Mapping, this field is auto-populated with a default URL.  Update the instance URL value in the default URL. The default value of this variable is https://{alm octane server name}/ui/?&p={space_id}/{workspace_id}#/release-quality/hierarchy/{type}. For example, update the default value to https://ALM Octane.bmc.com/ui/&p=133020/1002#/release-quality/hierarchy/defects
         Process Name	This variable is set to com.bmc.dsm.ticket-brokering-lib:Connector Process ALM Octane. Do not modify this value.
         Display Field Mapping	By default, the basic ALM Octane 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 .
         Integration Platform	Select Jitterbit.

      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. To select the filter criteria, click Advanced filter.

      2. Select the filters from the available fields, and click Next.
         The query filter expression is displayed. By default, the AND qualifier is applied when you select multiple filter criteria.

      3. To change the qualifier for your filters, update the query, and then click Save. 

         Important

         Make sure that you enter a valid query with available fields and values.

         
         

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

   5. In the Configure ALM Octane integration section, refer to the configuration steps listed and select the check boxes as you complete each step. 

   6. Click Save.

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

1. Download the Sync BMC Helix ITSM incidents and and ALM Octane entity 2022-10-01  file.

   This file contains the BMC Helix iPaaS Cloud Studio project Sync BMC Helix ITSM incident and ALM Octane entity.

   Important

   Your ability to access product pages on the EPD website is determined by the license your company purchased.

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

5. Click Browse and then select the Sync BMC Helix ITSM incidents and and ALM Octane entity.json project file that you downloaded.
   The Project Name and Organization fields are automatically populated. The default project name is displayed. You can change the project name.

6. 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. 
7. 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. Next to the Environment name, click the ellipsis ... and select Project Variables.
   
2. Update the project variables as described in the following tables:

   • BMC Helix iPaaS project variables:

     Project variable	Action
     BHIP_API_Name	Enter a name for API that is created in BMC Helix iPaaS to receive BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker webhook requests.
     BHIP_User_Roles	Enter the organization roles that should have access to the BMC Helix iPaaS API. Use comma separated values for multiple values. If this value is blank, all the organization roles are provided access to the BMC Helix iPaaS API.
     BHIP_MCB_API_Profile_Username	Enter a user name to be used to create the security profile for the BMC Helix iPaaS API 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_MCB_API_Profile_Password	Enter a password that should be used while creating the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker API profile. The integration template creates an API in BMC Helix iPaaS to handle requests from BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_User_Name	Enter the user name for the security profile that you want to use with the vendor API.  Important: Provide a value for this variable only if you select the BASIC option in BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type.
     BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_User_Password	Enter the password for the security profile that you want to use with the vendor API.  Important: Provide a value for this variable only if you select the BASIC option in BHIP_Vendor_API_Profile_Type.
     BHIP_Host	Enter the BMC Helix iPaaS instance URL where you want to run this project. Important: Make sure you do not enter any leading and trailing spaces.
     BHIP_User_Name	Enter the user name for the BMC Helix iPaaS instance.
     BHIP_User_Password	Enter the password for the BMC Helix iPaaS instance.
     Enable_BMC_Helix_To_Vendor_Integration	Enable the updates of ALM Octane entities from BMC Helix ITSM incidents.  By default, this variable is set to true. If you want to disable the updates of ALM Octane entities from BMC Helix ITSM incidents, set the default value to false.
     Enable_Vendor_To_BMC_Helix_Integration	Enable the creation of BMC Helix ITSM incidents from ALM Octane, and synchronization of updates and comments. By default, this variable is set to true. If you want to disable the creation of BMC Helix ITSM incidents from ALM Octane, and synchronization of updates and comments, set the default value to false.

   • ALM Octane variables:

     Project variable	Action
     ALM_Octane_Host	Enter the ALM Octane instance URL where you want to run this project.
     ALM_Octane_Space_Id	Enter the ID of the space associated to the workspace where the entities should be created.
     ALM_Octane_Workspace_Id	Enter the ID of the workspace where the entities should be created.
     ALM_Octane_Client_ID	Enter the Client ID generated for your instance of ALM Octane.  For more information about setting up API access to get the client ID and client secret, see Set up API Access  in the ALM Octane documentation.
     ALM_Octane_Client_Secret	Enter the Client Secret ID generated for the Client ID. For more information about setting up API access to get the client ID and client secret, see Set up API Access  in the ALM Octane documentation.

   • BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker project variables:

     Project variable	Action
     MCB_Host	Enter the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker host URL to which ALM Octane entities should be synchronized.
     MCB_Username	Enter the BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker administrator user name that enables users to interact with BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker.
     MCB_Password	Enter the password for the provided user name.
     MCB_Vendor_Name	This variable is autopopulated. Do not change the default value.

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

     Project variable	Action
     ITSM_Company_Name	Enter the company name for which the integration template needs to be run; for example, Apex Global.
     ITSM_Customer_First_Name	Enter the first name of the BMC Helix ITSM customer. This must be a valid user in BMC Helix ITSM, for whom a ticket can be created.
     ITSM_Customer_Last_Name	Enter the last name of the BMC Helix ITSMcustomer.

Task 4: To deploy and enable the project

After you enable the integration, when an entity is created in ALM Octane, a corresponding incident is created in BMC Helix ITSM. Any comments added to the incident are synced with the ALM Octane entity.

(Optional) Task 5: To set the time for 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, powered by Jitterbit, select API Manager > My APIs.

2. Open the API created for your integration.
   This is the value defined for the BHIP_API_Name project variable defined in Task 3.

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

4. Save and publish the API.

Related topics

Getting started with BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker

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