Importing configuration sets to a production organization from its sandbox - BETA
In your production organization, the Configuration Sets (BETA) option is available on the Remedyforce Administration tab under the Content Management tile as follows:
For more information about importing the configuration sets, see the following sections:
Use case
You might build an IT service's configuration in your sandbox. After completing the sandbox testing, you might want to move the configuration to the production organization.
Earlier, promoting configuration from the sandbox to the production organization was impossible. The configuration had to be recreated in the production organization when required. From the 20.20.01 version, you can use the Configuration Sets feature to promote configuration from the sandbox to the production organization.
Migration specifications
Following are some specifications that you should know when you are importing configuration sets from a sandbox to its production organization:
General
- Import can be performed from the production organization's sandbox only.
- Provide the Remedyforce Administrator's sandbox credentials to import configuration sets from the sandbox. Note that these credentials are not saved.
- While importing from the sandbox, a list of the last 50 modified request definitions that are not present in the production organization is shown. You can select and import 10 request definitions at a time.
- All Salesforce metadata objects or fields used in request definitions should be imported using Salesforce Change Sets, else configuration set import will fail.
- Post-migration logs are available that provide information such as whether the records were created, updated, or reused. This information will be available as a report.
- Do not use the images in the Rich Text Description and Instructions fields that you want to import.
Service request definitions
- New request definitions are created with the same Status and Online values as those in the sandbox. Imported request definitions are entitled only to the Remedyforce Administrator permission set user. Administrators must review all Remedyforce metadata, such as category, template, and services, and then appropriately update the entitlement of service requests and imported templates. For more information about what metadata must be reviewed, see Post migration review.
- Settings such as Submit for Approval, Mobile, Price, and Quantity are the same as those configured in the sandbox organization.
- For the selected request definitions, existing Services and Service Offerings should be related to the production organization. If they are not related, then the import will fail.
Base Elements
- While migrating Base Elements, the Service Hour field, if set in the sandbox organization, is set only if the business hour is present in the production organization.
- Records for Model, Location, and Primary Client or Users are not imported into the production organization and are not linked to the Base Element record.
- While migrating Base Element data to the production organization, the following fields (with user reference) are not imported: Primary Client, Supported By, and Service Owner.
- For an imported Base Element, if a CMDB class does not exist in the production organization, then by default, it is set to BMC_BaseElement.For example, if some custom class instances are mapped to Service or Configurations Item fields under Incident/Task/Change Request templates and these templates have been used in the Request Definition created in the sandbox organization, then after migrating this Request Definition to the production organization these custom class instances are created under BMC_BaseElement class if the same custom classes are not available in the production organization.
- The administrator must associate the Primary Client, Supported By, and Service Owner on the imported Base Elements.
Template
- Mappings created on the custom lookup and input lookup fields are imported into the production organization if the custom object is present in the production organization and data exists.
- For existing templates of the selected request definitions, the Type should be the same in both organizations.
- For the selected request definitions, if templates and the linked templates exist in the production organization but the linking record does not, the import will fail. If either of them is not present, the Template and its linking record are created.
Categories
- In the production organization, any existing data except for Category is not modified. For Category, Applies to information is updated for request definitions.
- If an Urgency that is associated with a category already exists in the production organization, it is reused elsewhere. It is not created if it is not present in the production organization.
- The existing categories of the selected request definitions are updated so that if they are not applied, they apply to the service request.
Metadata that is imported
While importing request definitions, the following metadata is also imported.
The following list provides a list of resources that are imported:
- Only the service and the related service offering, category, incident template and its related service request template, configuration item/asset, and non-lookup fields are imported.
- A category and its parent tree are imported.
- A Base Element and its immediate parent is imported.
- Records for request definitions related to objects listed in the following table are imported from a sandbox to the production organization. Only those records that satisfy the respective conditions are pulled from the sandbox organization.
| Object name | Conditions to fetch records | Upper limit |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Category |
| 5000 |
2 | Base Element |
| |
3 | Template |
|
Metadata that is not imported
The following metadata is not imported:
- Any image that contains a request definition icon, category icon, and Rich Text Box field images.
- For Self-Service and Remedyforce Console, the account selection in the Entitlement section is not imported and will be blank. The administrator must update entitlements after the import.
- Fulfillment inputs on custom lookup fields.
- Lookup filters.
- Impact, Urgency, Account, and Status fields.
- Base Element fields: Primary Client, Supported By, and Service Owner
- Salesforce metadata.
- Fulfillment Criteria - CMDB
- If some profiles are selected for an underlying template, these profiles are not imported. After the import, the profile section for the imported template will be blank and are required to be set by the administrator.
Before you begin
- It is recommended to create a fresh sandbox from the production organization.
- The import should be performed by a user with Remedyforce administrator permissions set, and the sandbox user should also be a Remedyforce administrator only.
- Request definitions on the sandbox must be available for import. Create the required request definitions on the sandbox that you want to import. Ensure that you assign names to these request definitions that do not exist in the production organization; otherwise, they will not be listed for selection during the import process.
- If you are using the feature for the first time, we recommend that you begin by importing one or two request definitions to get an appropriate hands-on of the feature.
- Remedyforce major version must be the same on both the production and sandbox organizations.
- Before you start the import, all the following primitive metadata that you plan to use in the imported request definitions must be present in the production organization:
- Status
- Urgency
- Impact
- CMDB Class
- Custom object in case lookup input related to the custom object is present.
To import the service request definitions
- From the Remedyforce Administration > Content Management tab, click Configuration Sets (BETA).
- In the next window, enter the credentials of the sandbox organization from which the configuration sets will be imported and click Login.
- Verify the sandbox details in the popup and click Proceed.
- From the list of request definitions, select the ones you want to import to the production organization and click Import. You can select up to 10 requests at a time.
- The progress of the import is displayed:
- After the import is complete, you can view the import log.
Post-migration tasks
If the import is successful, the administrator must perform the following actions:
- Review import logs by using the View log link.
- On the production organization, verify the imported request definitions.
- Review all metadata such as category, template, and services, and then appropriately update the entitlement of imported request definitions on the production organization. By default, it is set to the Remedyforce Administrator permission set.
- Update Entitlements for imported templates. By default, imported templates are available for any profile.
If the import fails for any reason, a few request definitions might still be created in the production organization. The administrator must delete such request definitions, fix the errors, and try re-importing.
Post-migration review
The following table lists the metadata that must be reviewed:
What needs to be reviewed | Object/Module | Action to be taken in the production organization as applicable |
|---|---|---|
Request Definition icon | Request Definition | Add an icon for the imported Request Definition. |
Rich Text Description of Request Definition | Request Definition | Add images and text in the Rich Text Description of the imported Request Definitions. |
Rich Text Instructions of Request Definition | Request Definition | Add images and text in Rich Text Instructions of the imported Request Definitions. |
Category icon | Category | Add an icon for the imported categories |
Request Inputs with lookup filter criteria | Request Definition | Create lookup filters manually for Request Inputs created during import. |
Fields of imported services and service offerings | Base Element | The values of these fields are not imported. You need to update the following fields manually.
|
CMDB Class of imported instances used in the Template field mappings. | Base Element | If imported Templates have field mappings with the CMDB custom class instances and that class was not present in the production environment during import, such instance gets associated with the Base Element class by default. Correct the class and update the template field mappings. |
Service Request Entitlement
| Request Definition | After the review is completed, update Entitlements for the imported request definitions. |
Templates – For Use By | Template | After the review, select Profiles under the “For Use By” section of Templates. |
The following table lists the modules that can be optionally reviewed:
What needs to be reviewed | Object/Module | Action to be taken in the production organization as applicable |
|---|---|---|
Relationships of imported services and service offerings | Base Element | If your service and service offerings have related configuration items in the sandbox, create those configuration items manually. |
Details of imported Service and Service Offering | Base Element | If your service and service offerings have related records (such as Accounts, Clients, Agreement) under the Details tab in the sandbox, create those records manually. |
Supporting Information of Category | Category | If the imported category has child categories in the sandbox, those should be manually created and linked to the category imported to the Production Environment. If the imported category has child categories in the sandbox, then those should be manually created/linked to the imported category. |
Fulfillment Criteria - CMDB | Request Definition | Manually add Fulfillment Criteria – CMDB. |
Viewing import logs
Import logs are available, and you can view them in either case, whether the import succeeded or failed. After the import is over, the import result popup shows the options to view the log. You can click the View log link to view the import details. You cannot click the View log link, if you do not have the permission to view the report. You can also view the Configuration Set Log report later from the Report module.
Import logs contain the following information:
- Metadata name
- Metadata ID
- Metadata type such as category, base element and template
- Operation that can be either created or reused based on whether the metadata was created during the import or already existed in the production organization and is being reused
- Date of log creation
If the import fails, you can view the import log to troubleshoot:
The following image shows a snapshot of the import log:
Known limitations
- Salesforce metadata is not imported from a sandbox.
- For migration, a maximum of the last 50 modified request definitions not present on the production are shown, but you can select and import only 10 request definitions. If you need to import more than 10 request definitions, you must do it in batches of 10.
- Records for Model, Location, Primary Client, or Users will not be imported to the production organization or linked to the Base Element record.
- Lookup filters, custom objects, or fields will not be imported to the production organization.
- Images, such as request definition icons, category icons, or Rich Text Box images, will not be migrated.
The text added after an image in the Rich Text Instructions and Rich Text Description fields is not imported and is not displayed on a service request form in Self-Service 3.0.