20.15.03 enhancements
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The following topics contain information about enhancements in version 20.15.03 (Summer 15) of the BMC Remedyforce product.
BMC Remedyforce CMDB enhancements
The following video (12:18) explains the enhancements made to BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0.
BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0 has been enhanced with many new capabilities, including the ability to store and manage IT assets along with configuration items (CIs). For information about enhancements related to asset management, see New IT asset management capability in BMC Remedyforce CMDB.
The following table describes the new BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0 enhancements included in BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03. These capabilities are available for both IT asset management and CI management.
Enhancement | Description | ||||||||||
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Enhanced Instance Editor | This release includes the following enhancements to the Instance Editor, which is accessed from the Remedyforce CMDB tab:
For more information, see Creating and updating assets and Creating and updating configuration items. If you are upgrading to BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03 (Summer 15), you must configure the order of new attributes in the Instance Editor and update the default values of a few existing attributes. For more information, see Enabling new features in 20.15.03. | ||||||||||
Enhanced multiple instance editor | Depending on the IT asset and CI management configuration, classes and their corresponding CIs and assets are displayed on the Remedyforce CMDB tab. For more information, see Overview of the Remedyforce CMDB tab. Based on the object permission of the class and the Remedyforce CMDB user permission assigned to you by the system administrator, you can now edit multiple assets and CIs of a class from the Remedyforce CMDB tab. The following table lists the required permissions for editing multiple CIs and assets of a class:
You can edit the editable fields in the General and Specifications tabs of the Instance Editor. For Rule Based Asset classes, fields of the superclass based on which the rules criteria have been set are not editable. For more information, see Editing multiple configuration items and assets. | ||||||||||
Enhanced CMDB Explorer | In this release, the CI Explorer has been renamed to CMDB Explorer. Depending on the IT asset and CI management configuration, the CMDB Explorer now displays the following:
For more information, see Working with the CMDB Explorer. | ||||||||||
Advanced search capability | The existing keyword-based search in the CMDB list view has been enhanced with advanced search filters. Users can now either perform a keyword-based search or apply specific filter criteria to instances in the CMDB list view. Advanced search filters enable users to perform a more precise search that can be based on multiple criteria. For example, users can search for all printers in a specific location with the In Repair status. Users can apply dynamic search filters or save frequently used filters. The ability to save search filters makes it quick and easy to retrieve specific CIs and assets. For more information, see Overview of the Remedyforce CMDB tab. | ||||||||||
Enhanced UI to configure Remedyforce CMDB | A new Configure CMDB 2.0 tile is now available on the Remedyforce Administration tab. From this tile, system administrators can access all forms and pages related to configuring BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0. The new Locations, Models, Normalization Exceptions, Normalization Rules, and Track Attribute History subtiles are available only for BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0. The CMDB General Settings subtile contains options to enable or disable asset management or CI management, enable models, and schedule the normalization process. The following changes have also been implemented in this release:
For more information, see Configuring BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0. | ||||||||||
Enhanced list view customization | In this release, the following five out-of-the-box views are available to system administrators to manage the list view columns displayed in the Remedyforce CMDB tab:
System administrators can now also create custom views for a class. For more information, see Customizing fields shown in the CMDB list view. | ||||||||||
Enhanced linking of CIs and assets to records | You can now link both CIs and assets to a record (such as incidents, service requests, tasks, problems, change requests, and releases) on the Remedyforce Console tab. The records which are linked to CIs and assets are displayed on the Details tab of the corresponding CIs and assets in the Instance Editor (Remedyforce CMDB tab). For more information, see Linking configuration items and assets to a record. | ||||||||||
Improved tracking of attribute history | With the new Track Attribute History tab, system administrators can now track an unlimited number of standard and custom fields in the Tracking changes to specific attributes of an asset or CI enables users to know not only what changes were made but also who made the changes and when. To access the Track Attribute History tab, navigate to Remedyforce Administration > Configure CMDB 2.0 > Track Attribute History. For more information, see Tracking attribute history. | ||||||||||
Location management | The new Location form enables system administrators to manage locations more effectively. The location records are stored as instances of the Also, if the To access the Location form, navigate to Remedyforce Administration > Configure CMDB 2.0 > Locations. For more information, see Managing locations. The new | ||||||||||
Model management | System administrators can now create and manage models to standardize key attribute values, such as model name and manufacturer name, in CIs and assets. When users select a model for a CI or asset, the model name and other attributes that are specified in the selected model are also applied to the CI or asset. Models enable system administrators to achieve data consistency and help users to reduce the time required to create CIs and assets. Consistency in data makes it easier to locate key information, analyze data, and generate relevant reports. To access the Model form, navigate to Remedyforce Administration > Configure CMDB 2.0 > Models. For more information, see Managing models. If you are upgrading to BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03 (Summer 15), you must manually enable models in your organization. For more information, see Enabling models. | ||||||||||
Data normalization | System administrators can now use the normalization process to ensure standardization of values in BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0 and the model repository. The normalization process is especially useful to drive consistency in data that is imported on an ongoing basis from external sources, such as spreadsheets and discovery tools. System administrators can create and apply rules to normalize data, along with managing exceptions to normalization rules. To access the Normalization Rules and Normalization Exceptions forms, navigate to Remedyforce Administration > Configure CMDB 2.0. To schedule and run the normalization process, navigate to Remedyforce Administration > Configure CMDB 2.0 > General CMDB Settings. For more information, see Normalizing data. |
New IT asset management capability in BMC Remedyforce CMDB
The following video (7:40) explains the new IT asset management capability in BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0.
BMC Remedyforce CMDB capabilities have been expanded in BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03 to include IT asset management. IT asset management entails collecting inventory, financial, and contractual data to manage an IT asset through its lifecycle.
In BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03, the existing framework of BMC Remedyforce CMDB has been leveraged to deliver the IT asset management capability. A CMDB instance now represents a record in the BMC Remedyforce CMDB, which can be classified as a CI, asset, or both. Based on your requirements, you can now use BMC Remedyforce CMDB to manage only assets, only CIs, or both. For more information, see BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0 architecture.
In a new installation, IT asset management is enabled by default. If you are upgrading to BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03, you must manually enable asset management.
Note
If you are upgrading to version 20.15.03 (Summer 15) and your CMDB is already populated with CIs, you can leverage the existing data and define rules about what are CIs, assets, or both. Existing integrations with other products are not impacted but are enhanced with the automated asset classification. When data is imported, predefined rules are run and assets are dynamically created.
The following table describes the enhancements in this release to support the new IT asset management capability in BMC Remedyforce CMDB:
Enhancement | Description |
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New and updated classes in the Common Data Model | To store asset-related data in BMC Remedyforce CMDB, the following changes have been implemented in the Common Data Model:
For more information about the new and updated classes, see BMC Remedyforce CMDB Common Data Model. |
New and updated attributes to store asset-related data | The following updates have been made to attributes to store asset-related data in BMC Remedyforce CMDB:
For more information about the new and updated classes, see BMC Remedyforce CMDB Common Data Model. |
Enhanced class management | In this release, system administrators can manage the following types of classes, based on the CI and IT asset management configurations:
To store data about the most common CIs and assets, BMC Remedyforce CMDB now contains a set of out-of-the-box classes for each class type. Depending on the data that you want to store, you can customize the attributes of the out-of-the-box classes, and add new custom classes. For more information, see Managing CMDB classes. |
New CMDB permissions | On the Remedyforce CMDB tab, staff members can view classes and add, edit, or delete CIs and assets of a class based on the assigned permissions to the object of the class. With the introduction of the Remedyforce CMDB permissions, system administrators can now further restrict what the staff members can view and manage on the Remedyforce CMDB tab. The available Remedyforce CMDB user permissionsare as follows:
However, the Remedyforce CMDB permissions are not applied at the level of a specific class; rather these permissions are applied at the CI and asset management level. For example, if staff members have been assigned Read, Create, and Edit object permissions for a CI class, and you want to enable the staff members to only view CIs on the Remedyforce CMDB tab, you can assign the staff member Read-Only Remedyforce CMDB permissions for CI management. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, or performing a new installation of BMC Remedyforce, the following default Remedyforce CMDB permissions are assigned to the corresponding user profiles:
System administrators can assign Remedyforce CMDB permissions from the Client form and from the Salesforce.com User page. For more information, see Managing Remedyforce CMDB user permissions. |
New asset dashboard and reports | The new BMC Remedyforce Asset Management Dashboard is now available on the Dashboards tab. This dashboard enables system administrators and users to view key metrics related to asset management. The following out-of-the-box reports are available in this release:
For more information, see Viewing the asset management dashboard and reports. If BMC automatically upgrades BMC Remedyforce in your organization, you must configure the appropriate user as the Running User of the BMC Remedyforce Asset Management Dashboard. For more information, see Configuring the Running User of dashboards in BMC Remedyforce. |
Knowledge article enhancements
The following video (1:16) explains the general enhancements made to knowledge articles.
The following table lists the enhancements made to the knowledge articles module:
Enhancement | Description |
---|---|
Ability to create custom article types | System administrators can create custom article type, such as Troubleshooting, to categorize knowledge articles. For more information, see Configuring custom article types. |
Ability to configure fields on the Knowledge Article details page in Self Service | System administrators can configure fields shown on the Knowledge Article details page in Self Service for an out-of-the-box article type. For more information, see Configuring the Knowledge Article page fields for an out-of-the-box article type. |
Ability to configure columns in the Knowledge Article tab in the Global Search window | System administrators can configure fields that are shown as columns in the Global Search window for the Knowledge Articles tab. For more information, see Configuring columns in the Global Search window for knowledge articles. |
Increased size of fields of type Text Area (Rich) | The visible area of the fields of type Text Area (Rich) on the New Knowledge Article or Knowledge Article detail pages has been increased to show more information without scrolling. |
Remedyforce Console enhancements
The following video (2:10) explains the enhancements made to the Remedyforce Console.
The following table lists the enhancements made to the Remedyforce Console tab:
Enhancement | Description |
---|---|
Records are saved faster | To save a record faster and with less clicks, the following message is removed from the Remedyforce Console and Remedyforce CMDB tabs: The same message is shown for 5 seconds on the UI, but user does not need to perform any action. Also, during the 5 seconds when the message is shown, if a user saves the record again, the clock to show the message on the screen is reset. |
Additional content in an email message created by using an email template is saved | If staff members create an email message by using an email template, the content of the email message (including content from email with actual field values) is saved in the Action History section. To enable saving content from email template and actual field values, system administrators must add the |
Linked records open in the Remedyforce Console tab | If staff members access a record from a CMDB Explorer, manifest (Incident Manifest, Problem Manifest, Release Manifest, and Change Manifest), Change Schedule, Incident Matching, or Service Request Matching window, the record is displayed as another tab in the Remedyforce Console. |
Configure tooltips in change schedule | In the change schedule, system administrators can configure information shown in the tooltips for change requests, releases, and tasks. For more information, see Adding fields to the change request, release, or task tooltips displayed in a change schedule. |
SmartViews for Remedyforce Console - BETA
SmartViews provide you a graphical representation of linked records. For example, incidents, problems, change requests, and tasks linked to an incident record are shown graphically. For more information, see Configuring SmartViews - BETA.
Note
This is a beta version that is production quality, but has known limitations.
The following figure displays the SmartView of an incident and its linked records:
Self Service mobile application on Salesforce1 - BETA
Starting with BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03, you can configure the Self Service mobile application for clients on the Salesforce1 platform.
Note
This is a beta version that is production quality, but has known limitations.
Clients can perform the following tasks:
- Submit tickets for self and on behalf of others.
- View the tickets for self and others.
- Filter tickets according to the State (All, Open, and Closed).
- Search and view the commonly used ticket templates.
- Search and view the Remedyforce knowledge articles.
- View a list of broadcasts.
For more information, see Configuring Self Service mobile application on the Salesforce1 platform - BETA.
If you are upgrading to BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03 (Summer 15), you must enable the Self Service mobile application on the Salesforce1 platform and perform some additional configurations. For more information, see Enabling new features in 20.15.03.
Self Service for the web - BETA
Starting with BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03, you can assign a faster, smarter, and modern Self Service to your clients. For more information, see Exploring BMC Remedyforce Self Service for the web - BETA.
Note
This is a beta version that is production quality, but has known limitations.
The following features are supported in the beta version:
- Submit a ticket
- Request a service
- View tickets and requests
- View self help articles
- Remedyforce Chat
- View broadcasts
The following figure shows the Home page of the smarter Self Service:
Importing smart practices content
You can import smart practices content to your Salesforce organization from the Remedyforce Administration > Content Management > Import Smart Practices Content page. The smart practices content includes the following data:
- Categories
- Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
- Service Request Definitions (SRDs)
- Services and service offerings
- Templates
This data helps you in implementing and evaluating Service Request Management (SRM) and SLAs in your Salesforce organization. If you have already implemented SRM and SLAs in your organization, you can use these most commonly used SRDs in your Salesforce organization. For more information, see Importing smart practices content.
General enhancements
The following video (1:12) explains the general enhancements made to BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03.
The following table lists the general enhancements made to BMC Remedyforce:
Enhancement | Description |
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More readable saved email messages | In Self Service email conversation, messages are shown are in a more readable format that also support rich text format.
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Ability to entitle queue to accounts, profiles, and roles | System administrators can entitle queues to users based on accounts, profiles, and roles. To assign queues, navigate to the Remedyforce Administration > Manage Users > Manage Queue Availability page. For more information, see Managing queues availability and assignment. |
Ability to share out-of-the-box QuickViews | You can share out-of-the-box QuickViews with users of a profile. For more information, see Sharing an out-of-the-box QuickView. |
Ability to show additional information about a service request in Self Service | You can show additional information about a service request in Self Service after submitting the service request, such as progress or resolution. To show more information about the service request in Self Service, add the fields that you want to show in Self Service to a field set of the Incident object. Select the field set on the Remedyforce Administration > Configure Self Service > Service Requests page. For more information, see Configuring service request settings for Self Service. |
Ability to configure service request category from the incident template | Category of a service request is applied from the category configured in the incident template if the Replace form field values with template field values check box is selected on the Remedyforce Administration > Application Settings > General Application Settings page. For more information, see Determining the category applied to a service request. |
Ability to access Remedyforce Marketplace | System administrators can access marketplace from the Remedyforce Marketplace tab that is a centralized location to search for partners, services, and solutions that compliment BMC Remedyforce. |
Support for the Brazilian Portuguese language
Starting with BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03, the BMC Remedyforce user interface (UI) supports the Brazilian Portuguese language. However, the documentation and Alignability Process Model continue to be displayed in the English language when you select the Brazilian Portuguese language.
For information about the languages in which BMC Remedyforce is available, see Supported languages.
Support for BMC MyIT OnDemand 3.1
With the support of BMC MyIT 3.1, the following enhancements are available with the integration of BMC MyIT and BMC Remedyforce:
Enhancement | Description |
---|---|
Enhanced search | Searching is enhanced. The search results are displayed on separate tabs for Actions (SRDs) and Resources (How-Tos and knowledge articles). All results are combined under the All tab. |
Display of the Quantity field while creating or viewing requests | The Quantity field can now be displayed while creating or viewing requests in BMC MyIT. To display the Quantity field, system administrators must select the Quantity check box on the Display Options tab of the SRD in BMC Remedyforce (Remedyforce Administration > Configure Application > Request Definitions). |
Display only the supported status values in the Filter By list in the Requests timeline and Approvals timeline | The Filter By list in the Requests timeline and Approvals timeline in BMC MyIT displays only the following status values that are supported by BMC Remedyforce:
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In the Requests timeline, the record ID displayed in the request details has changed | In the Requests timeline, the request title no longer includes the record ID from BMC Remedyforce. Instead, the ID field in the request details displays the record ID from BMC Remedyforce |
Documentation enhancements
In BMC Remedyforce 20.15.03, the following enhancements have been made to the Remedyforce documentation.
- A Troubleshooting topic has been added that contains information about what actions you can take to resolve the issues related to Remedyforce.
- A new Getting Started topic has been added that contains a topic on locating the information in the documentation. It also contains the Key concepts, User goals and features, and the Configuring and using the BMC Remedyforce Trial environment topics.
- The following new getting stated topics have been added:
- A new BMC Remedyforce and Single Sign-On section is added for providing a starting point for setting up ADFS or OneLogin with Salesforce/Remedyforce.
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