Working with the Configuration Items Explorer

The CI Explorer is the BMC Remedyforce configuration item (CI) data visualization tool that enables you to view CIs and their relationships in an easy-to-understand graphical manner. In the CI Explorer, each CI is represented by an image. When a CI is related to other CIs, arrows connect the image of that CI to the images of the related CIs.

In a new installation or an upgraded version of BMC Remedyforce 20.15.02 or later, by default, the CI Explorer uses HTML5 and JavaScript technology, instead of the deprecated Microsoft Silverlight technology.

The following topics are provided for the default version of the CI Explorer that uses HTML5 and JavaScript technology:

To view CIs and their relationships

1. Click the Remedyforce CMDB tab.

2. In the left pane of the CMDB Manager, select the CMDB class corresponding to the CI for which you want to open the CI Explorer.

3. In the right pane of the CMDB Manager, perform either of the following actions:
   • Select a CI.

   • If the CI you want is not listed, search for it by typing the initial characters of the instance name or the full instance name in the Search box and clicking .
     For example, to search for “Email Service CI”, type Email or Email Service in the Search text box and click . You can also search using data in the Instance Name, Description, Class Name, Asset #, Token ID, and Serial # fields. 

     Note

     If you select a CMDB class in the left pane, only the CIs for that class are searched. To search all classes, select the Base Element class in the left pane.

4. To open the CI Explorer for the selected CI, click .

In the CI Explorer window, the number of levels of CI relationships displayed is based on the configured CI Explorer settings. Double-click a CI to view that CI's related CIs. You can also double-click on a related CI to display its related CIs. You can move consecutively from one CI to another and view relationships at all the available CI levels. If a CI is linked to an open incident or problem, that CI becomes an impacted CI. The CI Explorer displays impacted CIs as follows:

• If the class of the impacted CI uses the default class and class impacted icons, the impacted CI is displayed with the default class impacted icon.
  Typically, the default class impacted icon is same as the class icon with  on it.
• If the system administrator has customized the class and class impacted icons, the impacted CI is displayed with the customized class Impacted icon.

When the incident or problem is closed, or the CI is unlinked from the incident or problem, the class impacted icon is replaced with the class icon. Each CI represents a node. When you move the mouse over a CI, details about the CI and whether it is impacted are displayed. If you mark a CI as deleted by selecting the Mark As Deleted check box, that CI is not displayed.

CI Explorer toolbar

The following table lists and describes the CI Explorer toolbar options:

Toolbar option	Description
Refresh	Updates the CI Explorer with the latest information.
Settings	Opens the CI Explorer Settings window, where you can configure the line and field settings of the CI Explorer. For more information, see To configure the Configuration Items Explorer.
Layout	Displays the CI image in the layout style selected from the Layout list. By default, the Layered layout is displayed. The available layouts are Layered, Bordered Tree, Fractal, Spring, and Tree.
Reposition Nodes	Rearranges the nodes in the CI Explorer for the current layout. You can continue clicking this toolbar button until the current layout suits your requirements.
Relationships Displayed	From the list, select the relationships that you want the CI Explorer to display. By default, all the relationships are selected.
Analyze Impact	For a selected source CI, when you click the Analyze Impact button, the CI Explorer displays the list of all the CIs that will be impacted when a change occurs on the selected source CI. Note: To enable display of impacted CIs, ensure that the following selections have been made on the relationship editor of the CI: The relationship type is Source-Destination. The HasImpact field is set to Yes. To view the impact of a change on the source CI: On the CI Explorer window, click the source CI. Click Analyze Impact.  A new Impact Analysis window opens and, by default, displays all the CIs that will be impacted by change to the selected source CI. If you want to display only the impacted business service CIs, select the Business Services Only radio button.
Zoom bar	Resizes the nodes in the CI Explorer for easier viewing. You can resize the nodes by dragging the slider between the icon and the icon on the zoom bar or by clicking the zoom bar.
	Click the required direction to navigate on the CI Explorer window.
Show/Hide Linked Records	Displays and hides the records linked to a selected CI. To display the records linked to a CI: On the CI Explorer window, click the CI. The blue bar at the bottom of the window displays the instance name and links to the corresponding Instance Editor of the CI. Click on the Show Linked Records bar. The available record types are displayed on the left pane. The record types that are linked to the CI are displayed with the icon. When you click a linked record type, a list view of the linked records is displayed on the right pane. The following menus are available: View: Click and select the required view of the record: Note The View menu is unavailable for Clients, Accounts, Knowledge Articles, Documentation, and Auditing. For Incidents, Service Requests, Change Requests, Problems, Releases, or Tasks, you can select to display all, opened, or closed records. For History, you can select to display user entries, system entries, and all entries. Actions: Click and select the required action for the record: Note The Actions menu is unavailable for Auditing. History – Add and edit the CI history. Clients – Link or unlink clients to the CI. Accounts – Link or unlink accounts to the CI. Incidents, Service Requests, Change Requests, Problems, Releases, or Tasks – Link or unlink records to the CI. Knowledge Articles – Link or unlink knowledge articles to the CI. Documentation – Add, open, and delete documentation for the CI. The pagination options are available for the displayed records. You can hide the records linked to a CI by clicking the Hide Linked Records bar.

To configure the CI Explorer

You can configure the type and color of connecting lines and the number of levels to which you want to expand relationships in the CI Explorer.

1. Open the CI Explorer.
2. Click .
3. On the Line Settings tab of the CI Explorer Settings window, you can perform the following actions:
   • From the Expand CI Relationships to <n> levels list, select the number of levels to which you want to expand relationships between CIs.

   • In the Relationship section, click the type of relationship that you want, and then configure its properties.

     Note

     For Line Color, you can enter the hexadecimal color code, if you prefer.

4. In the Field Settings tab of the CI Explorer Settings window, perform the following actions:
   1. From the Fields for list, select one of the following CI Explorer components:
      • Tool Tip – The selected fields and their values appear as a tool tip when you move your mouse over a node in the CI Explorer. There is no limit to the number of fields that you can select for the tool tip.
      • Label – The selected fields display their values in the label of the node in the CI Explorer. You can select up to three fields for the label of the node.
        
   2. From the Available Fields list, select the fields you want to display, and click the right arrow to move them to the Selected Fields list.
      In CMDB 2.0, the Available Fields list displays the out-of-the-box and custom fields of the Base Element field set. 
   3. To move the selected fields to the Available Fields list, click the left arrow.
   4. Click Save.
5. Click Close.