Scenarios for using BMC Remedyforce with BMC Client Management

Use-case scenario 1: Fixing commonly occurring issues

Jackson is a client who uses Self Service to report issues and request services. Emma is a staff member who works on resolving all issues reported in Self Service and completing all requests that are submitted. The following process describe the flow of activities that occur when Jackson is unable to print and he reports an issue in Self Service:

1. Jackson logs on to Self Service and uses the Facing Printing Issues Incident template in Self Service to submit a service request.
2. Emma is assigned to work on the service request. Emma opens the service request in BMC Remedyforce and links Jackson's BMC Client Management device to the service request by clicking Link CI, and double-clicking the device if it is present in the Remedyforce CMDB tab.
   If the required device is not present in the Remedyforce CMDB tab, Emma clicks the BCM tab, searches for the device, and double-clicks the required device to link it to the service request. For more information, see Searching for, importing, and linking a device to incidents or service requests.
3. Emma views the inventory summary of the device by clicking CI Actions, selecting Inventory Summary from the BCM Actions menu, and clicking Go. Emma clicks the Software tab and searches for software that might have caused the issue. For more information, see Viewing the inventory summary of a BMC Client Management device.
4. Emma does not find any issues with the software installed on Jackson's device, so he calls Jackson and sets up a remote session. Emma clicks CI Actions, selects Remote Control from the BCM Actions menu, and clicks Go. For more information, see Accessing the BCM Actions menu.
5. After troubleshooting the printer issue, Emma finds that a recently installed patch conflicts with their older printer drivers. Emma downloads the new drivers and installs them on Jackson's device. Emma tests printing on Jackson's device to ensure that the printer issue is fixed. Emma closes the service request.
6. The next day, Martin, Tina, and Joe, Self Service clients, submit service requests about being unable to print. Emma checks the patches that are being pushed out and finds that Martin, Tina, and Joe are facing the same printer issue as Jackson. Instead of calling each Self Service client and setting up a remote session, Emma navigates to the CMDB Manager in BMC Remedyforce and starts the BMC Client Management console. For more information, see Starting the BMC Client Management console from the CMDB Manager.
7. In the BMC Client Management console, Emma creates a package with the new drivers.
8. In the BMC Client Management console, Emma opens Martin's device and reviews the installed patch inventory to ensure that the conflicting patch is installed on the device. Emma finds the patch and checks the installation date. The installation date is the current date, so the patch must be causing the printer issue.
9. Emma assigns the package to Martin's device in the BMC Client Management console.
10. In BMC Remedyforce, Emma opens Martin's service request and sends an email message to Martin, informing him that the printer issue has been resolved. The email message also tells Martin to try printing and if the printing issue is still present, to reboot and try again.
11. To prevent more Self Service clients from facing the printer issue, Emma updates the package rule in the BMC Client Management console. Now, the package is installed only if the registry key from Windows Update is set to the bad value. With this rule, BMC Client Management does not install the package on a computer that does not have the patch.
12. Create a Task template that deploys the operational rule and link this Task template to the required Incident template. When similar incidents occur, the linked Task template deploys the required operational rule and resolves the incident.
13. To further automate the process of resolving these incidents, Emma creates a workflow that applies the required Incident template when a client submits an incident that contains the required keywords.

Use-case scenario 2: Software installation requests

Jackson is a client who uses Self Service to request software to be installed on his new laptop, a device in BMC Client Management. Emma is a staff member who works on completing software installation service requests that are submitted in Self Service. The following steps describe the flow of activities that occur to complete Jackson's service request to install Microsoft Office and Microsoft Visio in Self Service:

1. In BMC Client Management, Emma creates one operational rule to install Microsoft Office and another operational rule to install Microsoft Visio.
2. In the operational rule to install Microsoft Office, Emma sets the value of the Deployment from External Integration property to Available in integrated solutions. This operational rule is now available in BMC Remedyforce to create a Task template to deploy this operational rule.
3. In the operational rule to install Microsoft Visio, Emma sets the value of the Deployment from External Integration property to Additional workflow needed to ensure that the operational rule deployment occurs only after approval is received for the rule. This operational rule is now available in BMC Remedyforce to create a Task template to deploy the rule.
4. In BMC Remedyforce, Emma creates an approval process for deploying operational rules. For more information, see Creating an approval process for deploying operational rules.
5. In BMC Remedyforce, Emma creates service request definitions for commonly occurring service requests, such as software installation requests for Microsoft Office and Microsoft Visio. In the Install Microsoft Office service request definition, Emma selects the Request Detail template that contains the required Incident template. In the Incident template, Emma links the Task template that deploys the operational rule to install Microsoft Office.
6. In the Install Microsoft Visio service request definition, Emma selects the Request Detail template that contains the required Incident template. In the Incident template, Emma links the Task template that deploys the operational rule to install Microsoft Visio.
7. Jackson logs on to Self Service and submits the Install Microsoft Office service request.
8. Emma is assigned to work on the service request. Emma opens the service request in BMC Remedyforce and links Jackson's BMC Client Management device to the service request by clicking Link CI, and double-clicking the device if it is present in the Remedyforce CMDB tab.
   If the required device is not present in the Remedyforce CMDB tab, Emma clicks the BCM tab, searches for the device, and double-clicks it to link it to the service request. For more information, see Searching for, importing, and linking a device to incidents or service requests.
9. BMC Remedyforce creates a task for the operational rule and links the task to the current service request. You can track the progress of the operational rule deployment in the status of the task. If the operational rule deployment is executed successfully or failed, BMC Remedyforce records the details of the deployment in the Action History tab for the task record and the linked device.
   If the operational rule deployment request was successfully completed, the status of the operational rule updates to Request Successful and the status of the task updates to the status you have assigned to Request Successful, such as COMPLETED. When the status of the task updates to the status you have assigned to Request Successful, Microsoft Office is installed on Jackson's device.
10. Jackson logs on to Self Service and submits the Install Microsoft Visio service request.
11. Emma is assigned to work on the service request. Emma opens the service request in BMC Remedyforce and links Jackson's BMC Client Management device to the service request by clicking Link CI, and double-clicking the device if it is present in the Remedyforce CMDB tab.
    If the required device is not present in the Remedyforce CMDB tab, Emma clicks the BCM tab, searches for the device, and double-clicks it to link it to the service request. For more information, see Searching for, importing, and linking a device to incidents or service requests.
12. BMC Remedyforce creates a task for the operational rule and links the task to the current service request.
13. An approval is required before deploying the operational rule to install Microsoft Visio. The current service request remains locked until the approver approves or rejects the approval. Also, the BCM Approval Status field of the current service request is updated to Pending Approval. When the approval is received, the BCM Approval Status field is updated to Approved.
14. After the approval is received, the service request is unlocked and the task to deploy the operational rule runs.
15. You can track the progress of the operational rule deployment in the status of the task. If the operational rule deployment is executed successfully or failed, BMC Remedyforce records the details of the deployment in the Action History tab for the task record and the linked device. If the operational rule deployment request was successfully completed, the status of the operational rule updates to Request Successful and the status of the task updates to the status you have assigned to Request Successful, such as COMPLETED. When the status of the task updates to the status you have assigned to Request Successful, such as COMPLETED, Microsoft Visio is installed on Jackson's device.

Use-case scenario 3: Software license compliance

Jackson, a Self Service client, requires Adobe Photoshop. He installs Adobe Photoshop from the common shared server that is available to all users. However, Jackson's installation causes the organization to exceed the available licenses. The following steps describe the flow of activities that occur to resolve the software license issue:

1. Emma, a staff member, receives an alert in BMC Client Management. The alert indicates that the number of Adobe Photoshop licenses being used exceeds the number of available licenses. The alert also creates an incident in BMC Remedyforce because the used licenses are exceeding the available licenses.
2. In the software title, Emma views the users who have installed Adobe Photoshop and the users who are authorized to use Adobe Photoshop. Emma finds that Jackson and two more users are unauthorized users of Adobe Photoshop. Emma also checks the actual software usage and sees that there are 15 authorized users who installed the Adobe Photoshop six months back, and they have never used the application.
3. Instead of buying a new license for Jackson, Emma creates an operational rule in BMC Client Management and deploys this operational rule to the 15 users who are not using Adobe Photoshop. This operational rule contains the following pop-up message:
   It appears that you have installed Adobe Photoshop, but you are not using Adobe Photoshop. We would like to re-assign the Adobe Photoshop licenses to other users. Please click Yes to allow us to uninstall Adobe Photoshop or No to keep Adobe Photoshop installed. If you need Adobe Photoshop in the future, you can submit a service request to install Adobe Photoshop in Self Service.
4. If users click Yes, Adobe Photoshop is uninstalled from their devices and those licenses are available for other users.
5. This operational rule deploys immediately or the next time those 15 users log on to their devices. Out of the 15 users, 10 users select Yes to uninstall Adobe Photoshop, freeing up 10 licenses.
6. In BMC Remedyforce, the incident about the available licenses being exceeded is closed, and Emma receives an alert that the license compliance issue is resolved.

Use-case scenario 4: Event management

BMC Client Management can be configured to create an incident in BMC Remedyforce when an alert is generated. The following steps describe the flow of activities that occur to resolve the incidents created from alerts:

1. Emma, a staff member, receives an alert that a web server has failed. The alert also creates an incident in BMC Remedyforce because the web server has failed. In BMC Remedyforce, Emma reviews the incident and finds that the web server failed in the last 15 minutes.
2. Emma navigates to the CMDB Manager in BMC Remedyforce and starts the BMC Client Management console. For more information, see Starting the BMC Client Management console from the CMDB Manager.
3. In the BMC Client Management console, Emma opens the event logs on the failed web server and checks for issues. Emma identifies a logon failure of a service account. The password for the local service account expired after 90 days. This is an issue because service accounts passwords should not expire.
4. Emma corrects the issue on the server by correcting the local security policy.
5. Emma creates a compliance rule to ensure that the local security policy of all servers does not allow local service accounts' passwords to expire.
6. Emma assigns this compliance rule to the servers and is able to see how many servers are compliant.

If a server becomes noncompliant, an alert is generated in BMC Client Management, and an incident is created in BMC Remedyforce.

Related topic

Integrating BMC Remedyforce with BMC Client Management