Configuring Proactive Service Resolution for incidents

Currently, BMC Helix Intelligent Automation connects with BMC Helix ITSM and supports the following levels:

Before you begin

Before configuring the solution, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• BMC Helix ITSM is configured and available for your BMC Helix tenant.
• BMC Helix Configuration Management Database and BMC Helix Discovery are available. 
• You have the credentials such as the URL, username, password to connect to BMC Helix ITSM.
• Proactive Service Resolution with BMC Helix Integration Service is NOT enabled from BMC Helix Operations Management.
• You have the required BMC Helix Intelligent Automation permissions to configure the solution.
  For more information, see Roles-and-permissions.

To configure Proactive Service Resolution

To configure the solution, you must set up a connection to ITSM, map event fields to incident fields, and map incident fields to the information event fields. This automatically creates artifacts such as the event policy, automation policies to create incidents, and create an information event. 

The following graphic illustrates the steps involved in configuring Proactive Service Resolution.

Step 1: To set up a connection with the IT Service Management System

1. Click Solutions > Proactive Service Resolution and click Configure.
2. Click Set Up.
   By default, BMC Helix ITSM is selected.
   1. Enter the BMC Helix ITSM REST API URL, username, and password to connect with the application.
   2. Sample URL: https://helixtrial-restapi.onbmc.com.
      OR
   3. If you are connecting to an on-premises deployment of BMC Helix ITSM, download and install the connector before performing the next steps. 
      For more information, see Configuring-BMC-Helix-ITSM-connector-for-Proactive-Service-Resolution.  
3. Click Save.

Step 2: To define a trigger condition

By default, the trigger condition is set to Severity = Critical, which indicates that BMC Helix Intelligent Automation creates an incident when the event severity is critical. If there are more than two conditions, click Click here to view additional details to view them. 

Step 3: To provide the event to incident fields mapping

By default, BMC Helix Intelligent Automation provides mapping of event fields to the incident fields. Based on these mappings, an incident gets created. You can choose to specify custom values for the default fields, add more fields, or apply transformation based on your requirements.

As part of this step, the Create or Update Incident Ticket automation policy is created. 

1. To view the default mappings, click Configure against the Configure mapping : Event → Incident field.
2. (Optional) Click Add Incident Field to add more fields to be updated while creating a trouble ticket.
   The field names in the list appear based on the fields supported by BMC Helix ITSM. 
   

1. When you add a field, you must map it to a field in the incoming event, or add value based on the selected field.
   For example, if you add the StatusReason, you can add any reason in the event field. 

   Fields for associating CIs and service details

   • By default, the ADDMIntegrationId field looks for the node_service_key_mapping in the event, if not found, the ComponentAliases field looks for the component aliases in BMC Helix ITSM, and if found, creates an incident with component alias information.
   • If there is no such information available in the event, the solution uses the CILookupProperties field to retrieve the configuration items (CIs) information from the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). The CI information is passed as a related entity to be associated with the incident. 
   • If any of these fields are unavailable in the event, or the CI Lookup criteria is not specified in the solution, an incident is created without associating any CIs or service details. 
2. In the ADDMIntegrationId field, click +Add Condition and add the following condition:
   1. In Condition field, enter $.event.status=CLOSED.
   2. In the Map with field, leave the value field blank. 
      
3. (Optional) To add a condition to a field, click +Add Condition and add the ticket field and map it to the event field. 
4. (Optional) Against any field, click Transform fields and select the transformation type:
   • Source value to target value: Enables you to map the event source fields to the target incident fields. 
   • String: Enables you to concatenate or extract a part of a string.

5. (Optional) To add multiple functions to process the strings for a field, go to a field and specify the conditions based on your requirement:
   For example, in the following MP4, you can add another function to process the value available in the Summary field in the event:
   

    

   Important

   • The following functions are supported to transform the string data:
     • concat
     • substr: Specify values for Start and Length of the string to process
     • substrAfter: Specify the character and everything after the character gets processed
     • substrBefore: Specify the character and everything before the character gets processed
     • toLowerCase: Transforms the entire string to lower case
     • toUpperCase: Transforms the entire string to upper case
   • When you add more than one function to transform data, conditions are applied in the order in which they are displayed.
   • You can use more than one function while mapping any field, for event to incident mapping or for incident to information event mapping.
6. Click Save.
   A Policy published successfully message appears.  

Step 4: To provide the incident fields to Information Event mapping

By default, BMC Helix Intelligent Automation maps trouble ticket fields to Information Event fields. Based on these mappings, an information event is created in BMC Helix Operations Management. Every time the ticket is updated, the information event is updated too.

As part of this step, the Create an Information Event automation policy is created.

1. To view the default mapping, click Configure against the Configure mapping : Incident → Information Event field.
   
   
   
2. If required, make changes, and click Save.
3. Click Enable to enable the solution. 
   The Proactive Service Resolution enabled successfully message appears. If you skip any of the steps, the status on the Solutions page shows the pending step. To make any changes to the field mappings after the solution is enabled, disable the solution first and then continue with the updates. 

Artifacts created after configuring Proactive Service Resolution

Consult the following table to learn more about the artifacts created after configuring the solution: 

Proactive Service Resolution

If there is a downtime for any of the integrated products, you can disable the solution temporarily. This ensures that the artifacts and the customizations are not deleted when you enable the solution again. You must also disable the solution before you make any changes to the field mappings. 

1. Click Solutions > Proactive Service Resolution.

2. Use the toggle key to disable the solution.
   The message Proactive Service Resolution disabled successfully appears. Use the toggle key to enable the solution as required. 
   After the solution is enabled again, if there are any events for which you need to create an incident, you can manually create them by using the Create Incident option in BMC Helix Operations Management or BMC Helix AIOps. For more information, see Performing event operations.

To modify Proactive Service Resolution

To modify the solution, you first disable it. 

1. Click Solutions > Proactive Service Resolution and use the toggle key to disable the solution.
2. Click Modify.
   You cannot update the connection details to the Trouble Ticket Management System. You can only update the field mappings. 
3. Click Enable.

To delete Proactive Service Resolution

To delete the solution, you must perform the following steps:

1. Disable the solution in BMC Helix Intelligent Automation:
   1. Click Solutions > Proactive Service Resolution and use the toggle key disable the solution.
   2. Click Delete.
      On the warning message that appears, click Yes.

2. (For on-premises 

   BMC Helix ITSM

    connector only) Delete the webhooks created in BMC Remedy AR System:

   1. Log on to BMC Remedy AR System as an AR administrator and go to the AR System Webhook form:  
      https://<midtier>/arsys/forms/onbmc-s/AR+System+Webhook
   2. Search for the webhook by using the following criteria and then delete the webhook:
      1. Form Name : HPD:IncidentOutboundEvent
      2. Tenant ID  : <tenantid>
      3. Callback URL: https://<ingress_hostname>/intelligent-automation/restplugin/api/v1/tmf/callback?helix_itsm=true

When you delete the solution, the Create or Update Incident Ticket and Create an Information Event automation policies, the BMC Helix ITSM connector, and any custom mappings get deleted. If you configure the solution again, you have to provide the custom values for field mappings again. 

Where to go from here

You can directly view the status of the policies run by BMC Helix Intelligent Automation for creating incidents. For more information, see Viewing-automation-policy-runs-history.