Overview of the Remedyforce CMDB tab

The Remedyforce CMDB tab enables you to view the CMDB classes, and manage the CMDB instances. A CMDB instance represents a record in the Remedyforce CMDB, which can be classified as configuration item (CI), asset, or both CI and asset.

The following topics are provided:

The following video (3:37) provides an overview of CMDB in Remedyforce Console. Note that the video does not cover all the features of CMDB. To understand all features, you must go through this topic and other related topics.

https://youtu.be/Nv55Zqks-fE

CI and asset management configurations and permissions

Classes are displayed on the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab based on the CI and asset management configurations set by the system administrator.

On the Remedyforce CMDB tab, the CI, Asset, and All tabs are displayed to you only if the system administrator has assigned you the required CMDB user permissions (Update and Delete, Update, or Read-Only) for both CI Management View and Asset Management View. 

Based on the CI and asset management configurations, you will view the tabs as follows:

• If only CI management is enabled, the left pane displays only the CI classes and All CIs (Base Element) is displayed at the top of the class hierarchy and is not highlighted.
• If only asset management is enabled, the left pane displays only the asset classes and All Assets (Base Element) is displayed at the top of the class hierarchy and is not highlighted.

The following table lists the types of class which displayed on the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab, the related CIs and assets of a class which are displayed on the right pane, and the attributes which are displayed the Instance Editor form, based on the CI and asset management configuration. For more information about the out-of-the-box attributes that are specific to a class, see BMC Helix Remedyforce CMDB Common Data Model. For more information about the enabling CI management and enabling asset management, see Enabling CI management and Enabling asset management.

Navigating the Remedyforce CMDB tab

System administrators can assign the following user-specific CMDB user permissions for CI Management View and Asset Management View to restrict what non-administrator users can view and manage on the Remedyforce CMDB tab:

• Update and Delete
• Update
• Read-Only
• None
• Hidden

If the system administrator has enabled both CI and asset management, and has assigned you Hidden permissions for one of the views (CI Management View or Asset Management View), the top of the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab does not display the CI, Asset, and All tabs. You must be assigned at least Read-Only permission for both CI Management View and Asset Management View for these tabs to be displayed. For more information about, see Managing Remedyforce CMDB user permissions.

Following is an example of the Remedyforce CMDB tab when both CI and asset management are enabled and you have been assigned Update and Delete permissionfor both CI Management View and Asset Management View:

When you click on the All tab, in the Tile and List views, class names are followed by the class type (for example, CI, Asset, and CI and Asset); in the Tree view, the class type is displayed in a tooltip for the Asset and CI and Asset classes.

Irrespective of CI and asset management configuration, the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab does not display any hidden classes in the Tile, List, and Tree views. However, when you search for instances, CIs and assets of hidden classes are displayed in the search results.

Searching for CIs and assets in the list view

The list view on the Remedyforce CMDB tab displays all instances of the class that is selected in the left navigation pane, along with instances of its child classes. You can use the Search box to search for CIs and assets based on specific keywords. Alternatively, you can use the advanced search feature to perform a precise search based on multiple criteria.

How the search feature works in the CMDB list view

You can either perform a keyword-based search or apply filters to CIs and assets in the list view. When you apply a filter, the keywords that you have specified in the Search box are cleared. Similarly, when you specify keywords in the Search box, the applied filter is cleared. To indicate that a filter has been applied to CIs and assets in the list view, the filter icon changes from  to .

The following table describes how search works in the list view:

To create, apply, and save criteria in advanced search

Create criteria to search for CIs or assets based on multiple conditions. You can apply dynamic criteria or choose to save criteria that are frequently used.

Consider the following points when creating a criteria for advanced search:

• A maximum of 20 criteria can be created. Each criterion can contain a maximum of 20 filters.
  The performance of search criteria might be impacted based on the number of defined filters and the data type of fields in the filter.  
• Criteria are defined for the specific class that is selected in the Class Name = selectedClass filter criterion. Note the following points about selecting a class in the Class Name filter criterion:
  • When a class is selected in the left navigation pane, you can create filters for that class only.
  • When All Instances (Base Element), All CIs (Base Element), or All Assets (Base Element) is selected in the left navigation pane, you can define filters for any class in the hierarchy.
• The AND logical operator is used for all filter criteria by default and cannot be modified.
• In the filter criteria, you can select only one value for fields of the Picklist (Multi-Select) data type.
• Filter criteria can be defined on all supported fields of the class that you have selected in the Class Name filter criterion and its parent classes.
  You cannot define filter criteria for fields of the Long Text Area and Text Area (Rich) data type. To search for CIs and assets based on values in any fields of these data types, use the keyword-based search box.

• Operators that are available for a filter criterion are based on the data type of the selected field:

  Data type	Supported operators
  Text	=, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE, STARTS WITH
  Phone, Check box, Lookup, Picklist	=, !=
  Currency, Number, Percent, Date, Date/Time, Picklist	=, !=, >, >=, <,<=
  Email	=, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE
  Text Area	LIKE, NOT LIKE, STARTS WITH
  Formula	Supported operators are displayed based on the data type of the Formula field. For example, the operators displayed for a field of the Formula (Text) data type are =, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE, STARTS WITH.
  Geolocation	=, !=, >, >=, <,<=

Column filtering

You can use the Column Filtering feature to filter the CMDB records by adding filters dynamically and further narrow down the search result. A Filter icon   is provided on the column header of fields through which you can add criteria and filter the records quickly. You can also use column filtering over Search and Advanced Filter features to further drill down the search result. Column filtering also works along with the View options such as Include Instances of subclasses and Configuration Items. The features that differentiate column filtering from advanced search are as follows:

• It is quicker than advanced search as with only a few mouse clicks you can filter the current view.
• Column filtering is limited to columns that are displayed in the list view, whereas advanced search can include fields beyond the columns displayed in the list view 
• Unlike column filtering, advanced searches can be saved.

Once you have applied the filters, they persist if you toggle between List, Tile, and Tree views, but are cleared if you change between the CI, Asset, and All tabs, or if you select a different class.

Considerations

• Column filtering is not supported for the following types of fields.

  • Long Text Area and Rich Text Area fields
  • Time type of fields
  • Text Formula fields that have images 
  • Multi-select picklist
• The criteria displayed for each column header is based on the type of column header field. For example, a column header that is of picklist type will show all options in the criteria as a check box and a column header which is of type lookup will show operators such as Equals, Not equal to, Contains, and Does not contain along with a text box to type or select a lookup value.
• For the Date and Date Time type of fields, you can use the selector that shows the date and time based on your locale.
• If you enter contradictory criteria in the advanced filters and column filters, then no records are shown. 
• For picklist types of fields, such as Impact, Urgency, Status, and Priority,  check boxes are rendered.
• Unique Priority values are displayed irrespective of different Urgency and Impact combinations.
• Both typeahead and popup options are available for lookup type of fields.

• For lookup fields, if you select Equals or Not equal to operators and enter a value in the text box, but do not select any typeahead suggestion or a value from the lookup window, when you apply the filters the search changes the operator to Contains or Does not Contains respectively.

• For a Date/Time field, the filter is successfully applied even if you delete the time from the date value, but ensure that the date value is in the valid format.

To apply and clear a filter

Perform the following steps to apply or clear the filter:

• To apply a filter:
  1. Hover the mouse on the required column header and click Filter . 
  2. In the criteria popup box, select the required criteria. Note that based on the column field type, the criteria conditions might vary for each column.
  3. Click Apply.
     The filter icon changes to .
• To clear a filter:
  1. Hover the mouse on the required column header and click Filter . 
  2. On the criteria popup box, click Clear.
• To clear all filters:
  • Click Clear filters.

Supported operators

Operators	Data types
	Text, Text Area(255), Email, Phone, URL	Number, Percent, Currency, Date, Date/Time	Boolean	Lookup
Equals, Not equal to			X
Contains, Does not contain		X	X
Starts with		X	X	X
Greater than, Less than, Greater or equal, Less or equal, Between	X		X	X
All, True, False	X	X		X

Working with CIs and assets

The following table lists the actions that you can perform from the Remedyforce CMDB tab. You can perform only those actions for which your system administrator has granted you access.

Related topics

Coexistence of assets and CIs in Remedyforce CMDB

Tracking CI updates by using the Chatter Feed

Configuring BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0

Creating and updating assets

Creating and updating configuration items