BMC Helix ITSM customizations, configurations, and changes

A customization occurs when a developer needs to modify out-of-the-box solution behavior, and this modification can be implemented by using Developer Studio. An example of customization is the addition of a new field on the incident form to capture your specific information. A customization is always created in the development/tailoring environment and is promoted by BMC SaaS Operations to the Quality Assurance (QA) and production environments using the change management process. Implementation of a customization, and its promotion to QA and production, are changes that require a Request for Change (RFC). Alternatively, you may promote your changes on your own using the  Deployment Application. Use of this application does not require an RFC. Regardless of how the customizations got promoted, they are the customer's responsibility to design, develop and maintain. For more information about customization, see the BMC-Helix-ITSM-Customization-policy.

Configuration occurs when an application administrator changes the behavior of existing applications through the addition or modification of configuration data. Some examples of configuration data include incident assignment rules, change templates, and all foundation data such as company, organization, locations, and support groups. You can do much of your own configuration within the applications themselves without an RFC. Some advanced configurations, such as creating service request definitions (SRDs), are performed within the development environment but when they are promoted to production, require an RFC.

A change is any alteration to an environment (development, QA, or production) by the BMC SaaS Operations team, except application configuration. Examples include fixing a defect (which would require a code change) with a hotfix, making a system configuration change, or bringing a new service level agreement into the environment (which would not involve code changes). Changes can include hardware, software, or code changes, or changes required to implement a customization.

For instructions on using the Developer Studio, see Navigating the Developer Studio interface.

Related topics

Application development overviewApplication development with Developer Studio

BMC-Helix-ITSM-Customization-policyBMC Helix IT Service Management Deployment Application product documentation



Accessing Developer Studio

To access and use Developer Studio, you must first download the software to your local machine. You may do so by following the Downloading and installing Developer Studio and Pentaho Spoon Client instructions below. The use of this tool requires that the BMC Helix Client Gateway also be installed at your site. If you do not have the BMC Helix Client Gateway already configured, submit a request to the  BMC SaaS Service Desk.  

By default, your environments are not accessible to Developer Studio unless a port is opened up. BMC SaaS Operations will provide you with a port number that you will use to access your development environment. Submit a request through your support portal to get the port number.

Note

You are only authorized to use Developer Studio in a development environment. You will not be granted access to the QA or production environments. Use the change management process to promote any customization from the development environment to the QA environment and then finally to the production environment.

Downloading and installing Developer Studio and Pentaho Spoon Client

Before you begin, see the tips at Preparing to install Developer Studio.

  1. To download the developer kit (which includes the Developer Studio and Pentaho Spoon client) .zip file to your local machine:

    1. Go to the BMC Product Download Tool.

      1. Enter your username and password, and click Sign In.
      2. On the Export Compliance and Access Terms page, provide the required information, agree to the terms of the agreements, and click Continue.
      3. If this is the first time you are accessing this site, create an EPD profile; otherwise, skip to the next step:
        1. Under Localized Languages, select the required language.
        2. Under Install Platforms, select the platforms to download for the path.
        3. Click Save Profile.
      4. Verify that the correct profile is displayed for your download purposes, and select the Licensed Products tab. Your page should then look similar to this:       
        EPD Search Screen 22Dec2020.PNG
      5. Search for BMC Helix ITSM in the search field and then select your version number, for example, 20.08.00 as highlighted above. You will now be redirected to an electronic product download page.
      6. Select the checkbox adjacent to the AR System Clients: Developer Studio, Data Import Version x.x.x - Windows and BMC Atrium Integrator Client Version x.x.x links.
        Dev Studio Download.png
  2. To download the selected items, click Download. The file will be downloaded to the Downloads directory on the target computer.
  3. Install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) on the computer that will run Developer Studio.
  4. Install the Developer Studio client:
    1. Click the ARSuiteKitDeveloperWindowsx.x.x.zip file and extract all files.
    2. Navigate to the Disk2\files\reporting location, and delete the componentReporting.zip file.
    3. Click on the setup.jar file in the Disk1 directory of the extracted files.

    4. Follow the installer directions. The program will be installed in the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem directory by default.

      Note

      You do not need to install the localization toolkit. Installation should take 1-4 minutes depending on the performance of your computer.

  5. Install the BMC Atrium Integrator client:
    1. Click the atriumintegratorx.x.x.client.win.zip file and extract all files.
    2. Navigate to the AtriumIntegratorClient > Disk 1 folder.
    3. Run setup.exe.
    4. Follow the installer directions. By default, BMC Atrium Integrator is installed in the C:\Program Files (x86)\BMC Software\AtriumIntegratorClient directory.
  6. To customize an application, open the Developer Studio tool and use the port number to log in to the system.

Important

After you upgrade the Developer Studio and Pentaho Spoon Client, navigate to the <Install DIR> directory where you installed the AR System clients, and delete the following folders:

  • BACKUP
  • dataimporttoolbackup
  • DeveloperStudiobackup

For example, if you installed the AR System clients at the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem location, navigate to the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem location, and delete the BACKUP, dataimporttoolbackup, and DeveloperStudiobackup folders.


Using BMC Helix IT Service Management Deployment Application

The Deployment Application enables you to promote changes effectively and reliably across environments on your own. You can promote BMC Helix ITSM objects like forms, workflows, filters, active links, Service Request Definitions and related process definition templates, and data, as well as any customization.

Key tenets of this process include:

  • Using this application eliminates the RFC submission process.  
  • Customizations and object overlays must be created using Developer Studio.
  •  You must have the Administrator permission or BMC Helix IT Service Management Deployment Manager role to execute this function on both the source and target systems. 
  • To access the application, navigate to Applications >> AR System Administration > AR System Deployment Management Console.

  • Follow the BMC Helix IT Service Management Deployment Application product documentation to create, build, validate and deploy your promotion packages. 

  • When deploying your package, be sure to set a status refresh interval using the Preferences tab. The Status field indicates where you are in the deployment process.

Note

The BMC Helix IT Service Management Deployment Application is available for customers on application versions 9.0 and above. Additional features are still in development, so be sure to check the latest product documentation for enhancements if you are on a version beyond 9.0.

Best practices when generating reports against a read-only database
You must restart the AR System server before generating reports against a read-only database that contains modified or customized objects such as forms, fields, or active links. 
Restarting the AR System server ensures that the changes you made to the schema are reflected in your report.

This recommendation applies to all objects that are cached by the AR System server. You can modify the objects through Developer Studio, Innovation Studio, D2P deployment, or any other mechanism that you follow to modify the objects.

(SaaS subscribers) If there are any changes in the production system and you want those changes to be reflected in a report, contact BMC support.

 

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