Creating service configuration items in BMC Impact Model Designer

Use the Classes drawer in BMC Impact Model Designer to create a service CI. The following figure displays the Classes drawer:

Classes drawer



Ensure that you have the service catalog spreadsheet that lists IT components and their relationships. Also, ensure that you have installed all the required software before creating the CI. For a list of the required software, see BMC Atrium CMDB User's Guide.

To create a service configuration item by using the Classes drawer

1. When you open BMC Impact Model Designer, a new asset view opens automatically if you have no saved views.
2. Drag the component type from the Classes drawer to the asset view. When you drag a component, click Yes in the Convert View to Sandbox View dialog box to convert the asset view to sandbox view.
3. In the sandbox view, right-click the new component icon and select Edit.

To specify attributes for configuration items

In the sandbox view, when you right-click the new component icon and select Edit, the Edit Component Properties dialog box opens. The dialog box has four tabs. After specifying information on all the tabs, click OK to save the CI in the BMC Atrium CMDB.

General tab

On the General tab, perform the following steps:

1. In the Short Description text box, enter a component description that is meaningful to your enterprise.

2. In the Name text box, replace the default name for the CI with a specific CI name that is meaningful to your enterprise and that you want to use as the label of the CI in a view.

   Note

   A CI is displayed in the sandbox view with the short description attribute instead of the name attribute as its label. You can configure this label to display the name of the CI instead of the short description. To do this, you need to edit the BMC.CORE.CONFIG:BMC_UIComponent form by using BMC Remedy Action Request System User (BMC AR User). For more information, see the BMC Atrium CMDB User's Guide.

3. In the Cell list, select the cell on which the selected CI gets published.
   
   BMC Impact Model Designer retrieves the list of cell names from the BMC Atrium CMDB.
4. (Optional) In the OwnerName text box, enter the name of the individual responsible for the CI.
5. (Optional) In the OwnerContact text box, enter a contact method, such as a phone number or email address, for the individual.
6. In the Publish to Infrastructure Management Performance Manager (BPPM) area, select the following options:

• 
  
  • Inherit if you want the CI to inherit the same mode of publication set for the consumers of the CI. In this case, if even one of the consumers of the CI is set to Yes and Propagate, the CI is also published. Inherit is selected by default.
  • Yes and Propagate to publish not only the CI but also all the providers of the CI to the cell.

If you are creating a discrete service model, select Yes and Propagate for the cell of the top-level CI. If you are creating a distributed service model, select Yes and Propagate for the cells of the top-level CIs of the submodel that resides on the Child Server. For information about discrete and distributed service models, see Using the Centralized Service Model

• 
  
  • Yes, Only Me to publish only the currently selected CI to the cell.
  • No to not publish the CI to the cell and to not publish the CI's providers.

Status and Alias tab

On the Status and Alias tab, perform the following steps:

1. In the Status Computation list, select a status computation model. The default selection is Standard, which is acceptable for most CI definitions. For more information about status computation models, see Designing-a-service-model
2. In the Aliases text box, click Add Alias. Each CI must have a unique alias; if more than one CI has the same alias, publishing fails.
   • In the Alias text box, enter the alias and click OK.
   • (Optional) Enter additional aliases (one for each event that can potentially affect the status of the CI) by clicking Add Alias. Each alias that you enter is listed in the Aliases box.

On the Permissions tab, assign the proper permission to each of the roles listed for this CI.

Schedule and Priority tab

On the Schedule and Priority tab, perform the following steps:

1. In the Schedule area, assign the appropriate service schedules information to the CI. For more information, see Assigning components to service schedules.
2. In the Priority area, from the Propagate Priority to Providers list:
   
   • Select Yes to have the selected components propagate their self-priority to their causal components.
   • Select No (default) if you do not want the self-priority to be propagated.
3. In the Self Priority Function list, select a base priority for the CI.
4. In the Priority and Cost by Timeframes area:
   1. Select a base priority for the high-demand and low-demand timeframes.
   2. Enter the cost per second of the high-demand and low-demand timeframes in the Cost text boxes and the currency of the cost in the Cost Unit text box.

Other tab

The Other tab displays more information about the CI that you created. You can enter values for fields not already populated or edit the default values of most fields. The following table lists some of the fields on the Other tab. The fields vary depending on the type of CI you created. Fields marked with * are mandatory and have to contain a value.

Where to go from here

Continue creating CIs until you have a number of CIs that are related, and then see Defining-relationships-between-configuration-items.

To learn more about working with CIs (viewing, editing, copying, deleting, and finding), continue with the next section.

Switching sandbox view modes

In the sandbox view, you can switch between a model-based view of components, which displays the components in a hierarchical graph, and a table-based view, which displays the components in a table that includes properties. Components selected in either mode remain selected after you switch to the other mode.

You can switch modes by clicking the appropriate toolbar icon, as shown in the following table:

View mode switch icons