Configuring Proactive Service Resolution for TMF-compliant trouble tickets

As an administrator, you must configure Proactive Service Resolution as a solution to enable BMC Helix Intelligent Automation to establish a connection with the supported Trouble Ticket management system. When you configure the solution, Level 1, Level 2,  and Level 3 incidents are created depending on the information available in the event. 

For more information about levels, see Overview-of-Proactive-Service-Resolution. 

Related topics

System-requirements

 

Before you begin

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

  • If using BMC Helix for CSP, it is available for your BMC Helix tenant.
  • You have the credentials such as the URL, username, password, and so on for the Trouble Ticket Management System in which you want to create the ticket.
  • Proactive Service Resolutionwith BMC Helix Integration Service is NOT enabled from BMC Helix Operations Management.
  • You have the administrative permissions for your BMC Helix tenant.

 

Video

The following video (3:55) demonstrates how to configure Proactive Service Resolution for the L1 - Event-based service resolution level from BMC Helix Intelligent Automation and the artifacts that are created post configuration. 

icon_play.pnghttps://youtu.be/5DSN_s2eR_g

To configure Proactive Service Resolution

Perform the following steps: 

 

Step 1: To enable incident noise reduction

The incident noise reduction capability is available only if you are using ML-based situations in BMC Helix AIOps.

  1. Click Solutions > Proactive Service Resolution and click Configure.
  2. Use the Incident Noise Reduction toggle key to enable the capability.

The Associate event to Incident policy is created in this step. 

Inciden noise reduction SNOW TMF_25.2.01.png

Step 2: To set up a connection with the Trouble Ticket Management System

  1. Click Solutions > 

    Proactive Service Resolution

     (TMF-compliant) > Configure.

  2. Click Set Up > select the target trouble ticket system.
    By default, BMC Helix for CSP is selected.
    • For BMC Helix for CSP, enter the application endpoint URL, username, and password to connect with the application.
    • If using Telecommunication Service Management module in ServiceNow cloud application, enter the following details:
      • ServiceNow Endpoint URL
      • Username and password 
        (Username supports # ! $ & * ( ) _ - +, and . special characters.)
      • Grant Type
      • Client ID
      • Client Secret
    • If using on-premises instance of Telecommunication Service Management module in ServiceNow, see Configuring-ServiceNow-connector-for-Proactive-Service-Resolution.
  3. Click Save.  

 

Step 3: To define a trigger condition

By default, the trigger condition is set to Severity = Critical, which indicates that BMC Helix Intelligent Automation creates trouble tickets when the event severity is critical.

If there are more than two conditions, click Click here to view additional details to view them. 

Note

After the solution is configured, the Predefined Policy for Incident is created in BMC Helix Operations Management. If you edit the trigger condition in the notification policy, it gets updated here. You can also add  multiple and complex trigger conditions in BMC Helix Operations Management. The solution works based on the specified conditions. 

Step 4: To provide the event to trouble ticket fields mapping

By default, BMC Helix Intelligent Automation provides mapping of event fields to the trouble ticket fields. Based on these mappings, a trouble ticket of the type 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 and Update Trouble Ticket automation policy is created. The default retention period for these policy runs is 15 days.

Do I need to make any changes in the default mapping?

No. The minimum required fields for creating a trouble ticket are already mapped with default values and transformation is applied on some of the fields. You can choose to update the existing values or add new fields to be used while creating a ticket. A ticket gets created or updated based on these values. By default, an Incident ticket is created. 

BMC recommends that you do not delete any existing field mapping. 

  1. To view the default mappings, click Configure against the Configure mapping : Event → Trouble Ticket field.
    PSR_L2_Field Mappings.png

    Does the solution support multibyte characters?

    Yes. If an incoming event contains multilingual characters (for example, Message contains Chinese characters) an incident is created successfully with no additional configuration required in the solution.

     

  2. (Optional) Click Add Trouble Ticket 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 the connected Trouble Ticket Management System. 

    Note

    If you select Required and make a field mandatory, you cannot change it back to an optional field or delete the required field unless you delete the solution.

  3. When you add a field, you must map it to a field in the incoming event.
    For example, if you add the StatusReason, you can add any reason in the event field. 
    Configure event to ticket mapping_add field.png

    Note

    To be able to mark the trouble ticket as Resolved every time the event is closed in BMC Helix Operations Management, add the StatusReason field, and specify the value available for the Reason for Status Change field in BMC Helix for CSP. Note that this is required only if your target ticket management system is BMC Helix for CSP. 

    1. (Optional) To add a condition to a field, click +Add Condition and add the ticket field and map it to the event field. 

      Note

      If using custom values, you can specify multiple same values in the conditions. 
      PSR improvement same values.png

    2. (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 ticket fields. Transform type_Source to Target.png
      • String: Enables you to concatenate or extract a part of a string.

        1. About CILookUpCriteria field for Level 2

          By default, the CILookUpCriteria field is defined in the solution, based on which the solution retrieves the configuration items (CIs) information from the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) integrated with ServiceNow. The CI information retrieved is passed as a related entity to be associated with the ticket in ServiceNow. 

          If CI information is unavailable in the event, or the CI Lookup criteria is not specified in the solution, a ticket is created without associating any CIs. 

          Note that this behavior is applicable for Level 2: Infrastructure-based service resolution, currently available for Telecommunication Service Management module in ServiceNowonly. 

    3. (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. If the specified character is not found in the input string, the entire string is included.
        • substrBefore: Specify the character and everything before the character gets processed. If the specified character is not found in the input string, the entire string is included.
        • substrByByte: Specify the end index. For example, if you specify 99, all characters from 0-99 are 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 trouble tickets to information event mapping.  
    4. (Optional) To add date and time function, add a new field and click Configure Text and perform the following steps:
      1. Click Add.
      2. Select the transformation type as Date & Time.
      3. To transform date, select the getDate function.
        The time zone format is generated based on your system settings. 
      4. Select an output format: 
        • ISO
        • yyyy-dd-MM hh:mm:ss
        • ddMMyyyy
        • MMddyyyy
      5. To transform time, select the getTime function and select the output format as hhmm.
      6. Save changes. 
  4. Click Save.
    A Policy published successfully message appears.

 

Step 5: To provide the trouble ticket fields to Information Event mapping

By default, BMC Helix Intelligent Automation provides mapping of trouble ticket fields to Information Event mapping. 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 of the trouble ticket fields to the Information Event, click Configure against the Configure mapping : Event → Trouble Ticket field.
    Configure ticket to info event mapping 1.png    ​​​​​2. If required, make changes, and click Save.

Step 6: (Optional) To specify the event slots for updating incidents

By default, every time an event is updated in BMC Helix Operations Management, the corresponding incident in the ITSM system is also updated. To avoid multiple redundant updates, you can specify certain event slots; the incident will then be updated only when information in those specific event slots changes.  

Note: After you specify and save the event slots, you cannot clear this option, although you can add or remove the slots. We recommend that you use this option because it prevents redundant updates in the TMF-compliant ServiceNow. To disable this option, contact BMC support. 

          1. Select the Specify Event slots checkbox.

              By default, the Status slot is added to the list.  

          2. In the Event slots field, type and select the event slots. 

          3. Click 1741342783259-826.png to save the changes. 

Event slots in PSR_25.1.02.png          4. 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. 

 

Step 7: Configure callback notification from Telecommunication Service Management module in ServiceNow

You must configure the callback notification to receive updates every time the trouble ticket is created and updated in Telecommunication Service Management module in ServiceNow. One of the ways to configure callback is by creating a business rule in Telecommunication Service Management module in ServiceNow. For more information, see Business Rules in ServiceNow.

The following information should be provided in the callback notification configuration: 

  • Callback URL: Depending on the Telecommunication Service Management module in ServiceNow deployment, specify the URL. 
    • Cloud: https://<BMC Helix tenant URL>/intelligent-automation/restplugin/api/v1/client/listener
    • On-premises: https://<hostname:port>/intelligent-automation/remote-restplugin/api/v1/client/listener

  • Callback parameters:  

    Sample payload for TMF-621 ServiceNow
    {
       "eventId": "00001",
       "eventTime": "2015-11-16T16:42:25-04:00",
       "eventType": "EVENT_TYPE",
       "event": {
           "troubleTicket": "{-- SEE TroubleTicket RESOURCE SAMPLE --}"
       }
    }
    Example of the callback payload with required fields
    {
       "body": {
           "event": {
               "troubleTicket": {
                   "status": "Pending",
                   "id": "3180",
                   "display_id": "INC0010122",
                   "externalId": "123",
                   "priority": "High",
                   "description": "ServiceNow ticket"
               }
           }
       }
    }

     

 

Artifacts created after configuring Proactive Service Resolution

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

Artifact name

Type

Available in product

BMC Helix for CSP connector or ServiceNow TMF-compliant Plugin

Connector

BMC Helix Intelligent Automation

Create or Update Trouble Ticket 

Automation Policy

BMC Helix Intelligent Automation

Create an Information Event 

Automation Policy

BMC Helix Intelligent Automation

Predefined Policy for Incident

For more information, see Out-of-the-box event policies and templates

Event policy

BMC Helix Operations Management

To view Proactive Service Resolution

  1. On the Solutions page, click View.
    You can view the connection details, such as the trouble ticket management system's name and endpoint URL, and the user name used for the connection. You can also view the trigger condition, the configured mappings as part of the solution.  
  2. Click Go back to return to the Solutions page. 

 

To disable or enable 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. 

Enabling Level 2 (L2): Infrastructure-based service resolution

If you have already configured Proactive Service Resolution, you must disable and configure it again to be able to implement the Level 2 (L2): Infrastructure-based service resolution. This is applicable only forTelecommunication Service Management module in ServiceNow. 

  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. 

 

To modify Proactive Service Resolution

To modify the solution, you first disable it. 

  1. Click Solutions > 

    Proactive Service Resolution

     and click Disable.

  2. Click Modify.
    You can only view the connection details, such as the endpoint URL and the user name (only for cloud deployment) used for connecting with the Trouble Ticket Management System. 
  3. Update the field mappings based on your requirements. 
  4. Click Enable.

To merge new or updated field mappings

If new out-of-the-box field mappings are provided or if the existing mapped values are updated, you can merge them with the existing mappings. The out-of-the-box policies get updated, and the solution automatically creates incidents based on the updated configurations.  

Important

  • After you merge changes, you cannot revert to the previous configuration. BMC recommends that you carefully evaluate the changes and then merge them with the configuration. 
  • If you select only a few fields and skip some fields, they are not displayed after the merger is complete. 
  1. Click Solutions > Proactive Service Resolution and use the toggle key to disable the solution.
  2. Click Modify and then click Modify against the Configure mapping: Event Incident or Configure mapping: Incident Information Event section.
  3. For updated fields, click View Difference to view the updated values.
  4. Click Merge Changes and select the new or updated fields that you want to merge.
  5. Click Merge.
    Changes are merged successfully and the updated field mappings are displayed. 
  6. Click Save and then enable the solution. 

To delete Proactive Service Resolution

To delete the solution, you first disable it. 

  1. Click Solutions > 

    Proactive Service Resolution

     and click Disable.

  2. Click Delete.
    On the warning message that appears, click Yes.

When you delete the solution, the Create or Update Trouble Ticket and Create an Information Event automation policies and the connector are deleted from BMC Helix Intelligent Automation. 

 

Where to go from here

View the status of the automation policies run to create incidents. For more information, see Viewing automation policy runs history. 

 

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