Overview of the Remedyforce CMDB tab

The Remedyforce CMDB tab enables you to view the CMDB classes, and manage the CMDB instances. A CMDB instance represents a record in the Remedyforce CMDB, which can be classified as configuration item (CI), asset, or both CI and asset.

The following topics are provided:

The following video (3:37) provides an overview of CMDB in Remedyforce Console.

https://youtu.be/Nv55Zqks-fE

Viewing classes and managing configuration items and assets

You can view classes, and manage related CIs and assets on the Remedyforce CMDB tab based on the following configurations set by the system administrator:

CI and asset management configurations
Remedyforce CMDB user permissions

CI and asset management configurations

Classes are displayed on the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab based on the CI and asset management configurations set by the system administrator.

If the system administrator has enabled both CI and asset management, the top of the left navigation pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab displays the following tabs:

Tab	Description
CI	Displays the CI and CI and Asset classes. When you select a class on the left pane, the right pane displays the related instances, which could be of the type CI or CI/Asset. By default, on the left pane, All CIs (Base Element) is displayed at the top of the class hierarchy and is highlighted.
Asset	Displays the asset, Rule Based Asset, and CI and Asset classes. When you select a class on the left pane, the right pane displays the related instances, which could be of the type Asset or CI/Asset. By default, on the left pane, All Assets (Base Element) is displayed at the top of the class hierarchy and is highlighted.
All	Displays the available CI, asset, Rule Based Asset, and CI and Asset classes. When you select a class on the left pane, the right pane displays the related instances, which could be of the type CI, Asset, CI/Asset. By default, on the left pane, All Instances (Base Element) is displayed at the top of the class hierarchy and is highlighted.

On the Remedyforce CMDB tab, the CI, Asset, and All tabs are displayed to you only if the system administrator has assigned you the required CMDB user permissions (Update and Delete, Update, or Read-Only) for both CI Management View and Asset Management View. For more information, see Remedyforce CMDB user permissions.

If only CI management is enabled, the left pane displays only the CI classes and All CIs (Base Element) is displayed at the top of the class hierarchy and is not highlighted.
If only asset management is enabled, the left pane displays only the asset classes and All Assets (Base Element) is displayed at the top of the class hierarchy and is not highlighted.

For more information about the enabling CI management, see Enabling-CI-management; for more information about enabling asset management, see Enabling-asset-management.

Remedyforce CMDB user permissions

System administrators can assign the following user-specific CMDB user permissions for CI Management View and Asset Management View to restrict what non-administrator users can view and manage on the Remedyforce CMDB tab:

Update and Delete
Update
Read-Only
None
Hidden

If the system administrator has enabled both CI and asset management, and has assigned you Hidden permissions for one of the views (CI Management View or Asset Management View), the top of the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab does not display the CI, Asset, and All tabs. You must be assigned at least Read-Only permission for both CI Management View and Asset Management View for these tabs to be displayed. For more information about, see Managing-Remedyforce-CMDB-user-permissions.

Following is an example of the Remedyforce CMDB tab when both CI and asset management are enabled and you have been assigned Update and Delete permissionfor both CI Management View and Asset Management View:

When you click on the All tab, in the Tile and List views, class names are followed by the class type (for example, CI, Asset, and CI and Asset); in the Tree view, the class type is displayed in a tooltip for the Asset and CI and Asset classes.

Irrespective of CI and asset management configuration, the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab does not display any hidden classes in the Tile, List, and Tree views. However, when you search for instances, CIs and assets of hidden classes are displayed in the search results.

From the Views menu ( CMDB_LeftPane_View filter.png ), you can perform the following actions:

To view instances of subclasses of the selected class, select the Include instances of subclasses option.
To view the instances of the selected class, select the Configuration Items option.
To view only the Business Services, select the Business Services option.

Note

On the Remedyforce CMDB tab, the class type tab (CI, Asset, or All) and view (Tree, List, or Tile) that you select from the left pane for the current session is retained as your preferred selection for subsequent logins. For example, if you select the Tile view and the Asset tab in the current session, on subsequent logins, the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab will display the Tile view and the Asset tab.

The Configuration Items and Business Services options are enabled only if you select the All CIs (Base Element) class in the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab.

Viewing classes and related CMDB instances

The following table lists the types of class which displayed on the left pane of the Remedyforce CMDB tab, the related CIs and assets of a class which are displayed on the right pane, and the attributes which are displayed the Instance Editor form, based on the CI and asset management configuration. For more information about the out-of-the-box attributes that are specific to a class, see BMC-Remedyforce-CMDB-Common-Data-Model.

CI and asset management configuration	Selected tab	Classes displayed on the left pane	Instances displayed on right pane	Attributes on the Instance Editor
Both CI and asset management enabled	CI	CI classes Classes which are both CIs and assets	CI	The General tab contains attributes of the Base Element field set (including the CI Status field and excluding the Asset Status field). The Specifications tab contains attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the class selected on the left pane, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
	Asset	Asset classes Classes which are both CIs and assets	Asset	The General tab contains attributes of the Base Element field set (including the the Asset Status field and excluding the CI Status field) and the attributes of the Asset Common Attributes field set. The Specifications tab contains attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the class selected on the left pane, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
	Asset	Rule Based Asset classes	Asset	The General tab contains the attributes of the Base Element field set (including the the Asset Status field, and excluding the CI Status field) and the attributes of the Asset Common Attributes field set. The Class Name field is displayed as Rule Based Asset Class name *(Name of the CI class of the Rule Based Asset class). For example, in the Instance Editor of Desktop class, which is an out-of-the-box Rule Based Asset class based on the Computer System CI class, the Class Name field is displayed as BMC_Desktop (BMC_ComputerSystem). The Specifications* tab contains attributes of the CI class based on which the Rule Based Asset class is created and attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the CI class on which the Rule Based Asset class is created, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
	All	CI classes	CI	The General tab contains the attributes of the Base Element field set (including the CI Status and Asset Status fields). The Specifications tab contains attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the class selected on the left pane, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
		Asset classes	Asset	The General tab contains attributes of the Base Element field set (including the CI Status and Asset Status fields), and the attributes of the Asset Common Attributes field set. The Specifications tab contains attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the class selected on the left pane, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
		Rule Based Asset classes	Asset	The General tab contains the attributes of the Base Element field set (including the Asset Status and CI Status fields), and the attributes of the Asset Common Attributes field set. The Class Name field is displayed as *Rule Based Asset Class name(Name of the CI class of the Rule Based Asset class). The Specifications* tab contains attributes of the CI class based on which the Rule Based Asset class is created and attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the CI class on which the Rule Based Asset class is created, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
		Classes which are both CIs and assets	CI Asset	The General tab contains attributes of the Base Element field set (including the CI Status and Asset Status fields) and the attributes of the Asset Common Attributes field set. The Specifications tab contains attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the class selected on the left pane, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
Only CI management enabled	No tab is available.	CI classes	CIs	The General tab contains the attributes of the Base Element field set (including the CI Status field). The Specifications tab contains attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the class selected on the left pane, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
Only asset management enabled	No tab is available.	Asset classes	Assets	The General tab contains attributes of the Base Element field set (including the Asset Status field) and the attributes of the Asset Common Attributes field set. The Specifications tab contains attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the class selected on the left pane, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.
Only asset management enabled	No tab is available.	Rule Based Asset classes	Assets	The General tab contains the attributes of the Base Element field set (including the Asset Status field) and the attributes of the Asset Common Attributes field set. The Class Name field is displayed as Rule Based Asset Class name *(Name of the CI class of the Rule Based Asset class). The Specifications* tab contains attributes of the CI class based on which the Rule Based Asset class is created and attributes of classes which are higher in the class hierarchy of the CI class on which the Rule Based Asset class is created, except the attributes of the Base Element field set.

Searching for CIs and assets in the list view

The list view on the Remedyforce CMDB tab displays all instances of the class that is selected in the left navigation pane, along with instances of its child classes. You can use the Search box to search for CIs and assets based on specific keywords. Alternatively, in BMC Remedyforce CMDB 2.0, you can use search filters () to perform a precise search based on multiple criteria.

User permissions

You can use search filters only if your system administrator has granted the following access permissions to the profile or permission set that is assigned to you:

Visualforce page: BMCServiceDesk.AdvancedSearchFilter
Objects and fields:
- Object: Advanced Search Filter Criteria (Read, Create, Edit, Delete permissions)
  Fields: Field Info, Filter Name, Grouping Operator, Operand, Operator, Order Index (Edit permission)
- Object: Advanced Search Filters (Read, Create, Edit, Delete permissions)
  Fields: CMDB Class, Execution Count (Edit permission)

How the search feature works in the CMDB list view

You can either perform a keyword-based search or apply filters to CIs and assets in the list view. When you apply a filter, the keywords that you have specified in the Search box are cleared. Similarly, when you specify keywords in the Search box, the applied filter is cleared. To indicate that a filter has been applied to CIs and assets in the list view, the filter icon changes from to .

The following table describes how search works in the list view:

Option	Details
Search box You can search for CIs or assets based on specific keywords. You can also search for CIs or assets that contain wildcard characters (such as /, #, $, %, -, and so on). For example, you can search for L-series Laptops.	All CI or asset records are searched. All fields of a CI or asset record are searched, and not just the fields that are shown in the list view. However, fields of the Lookup Relationship and Formula types are not searched. Text entered in the Search box is treated like an exact phrase and is searched for in the exact sequence that you have specified. For example, if you are searching for John Doe, search results for John V. Doe and Johnny Doe are not shown.
Search filters You can search for CIs or assets based on defined criteria. For example, you might want to search for all printers in a specific location with the In Repair status.	Filters can be applied dynamically or saved if they are frequently used. However, you cannot share saved filters with other users. Filters can be created for all types of CMDB classes (CI and Asset, CI, Asset, and Rule Based Asset) and at any level in the class hierarchy. Filters are applied only to instances of the selected class and its child classes displayed in the CMDB list view. When a class is selected in the left navigation pane, only saved filters for that class are available in the Selected Filter list. Also, the dynamic or saved filter that was last applied to this class is displayed by default in the Selected Filter list. When All Instances (Base Element), All CIs (Base Element), or All Assets (Base Element) is selected, saved filters for all other classes in the left pane are also available in the Selected Filter list.

Option

Details

Search box

You can search for CIs or assets based on specific keywords. You can also search for CIs or assets that contain wildcard characters (such as /, #, $, %, -, and so on). For example, you can search for L-series Laptops.

All CI or asset records are searched.
All fields of a CI or asset record are searched, and not just the fields that are shown in the list view. However, fields of the Lookup Relationship and Formula types are not searched.
Text entered in the Search box is treated like an exact phrase and is searched for in the exact sequence that you have specified.
For example, if you are searching for John Doe, search results for John V. Doe and Johnny Doe are not shown.

Search filters

You can search for CIs or assets based on defined criteria. For example, you might want to search for all printers in a specific location with the In Repair status.

Filters can be applied dynamically or saved if they are frequently used. However, you cannot share saved filters with other users.
Filters can be created for all types of CMDB classes (CI and Asset, CI, Asset, and Rule Based Asset) and at any level in the class hierarchy.
Filters are applied only to instances of the selected class and its child classes displayed in the CMDB list view.
When a class is selected in the left navigation pane, only saved filters for that class are available in the Selected Filter list. Also, the dynamic or saved filter that was last applied to this class is displayed by default in the Selected Filter list.
When All Instances (Base Element), All CIs (Base Element), or All Assets (Base Element) is selected, saved filters for all other classes in the left pane are also available in the Selected Filter list.

Note

To clear the keyword-based search or the search filter that is applied to the CMDB list view, click .

To create, apply, and save a filter

Create filters to search for CIs or assets based on multiple criteria. You can apply dynamic filters or choose to save filters that are frequently used.

Consider the following points when creating a filter:

A maximum of 20 filters can be created. Each filter can contain a maximum of 20 criteria.
The performance of search filters might be impacted based on the number of defined filter criteria and the data type of fields in the filter criteria.
Filters are defined for the specific class that is selected in the Class Name = selectedClass filter criterion. Note the following points about selecting a class in the Class Name filter criterion:
- When a class is selected in the left navigation pane, you can create filters for that class only.
- When All Instances (Base Element), All CIs (Base Element), or All Assets (Base Element) is selected in the left navigation pane, you can define filters for any class in the hierarchy.
The AND logical operator is used for all filter criteria by default and cannot be modified.
In the filter criteria, you can select only one value for fields of the Picklist (Multi-Select) data type.
Filter criteria can be defined on all supported fields of the class that you have selected in the Class Name filter criterion and its parent classes.
You cannot define filter criteria for fields of the Long Text Area and Text Area (Rich) data type. To search for CIs and assets based on values in any fields of these data types, use the keyword-based search box.

Operators that are available for a filter criterion are based on the data type of the selected field:

Data type	Supported operators
Text	=, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE, STARTS WITH
Phone, Check box, Lookup, Picklist	=, !=
Currency, Number, Percent, Date, Date/Time, Picklist	=, !=, >, >=, <,<=
Email	=, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE
Text Area	LIKE, NOT LIKE, STARTS WITH
Formula	Supported operators are displayed based on the data type of the Formula field. For example, the operators displayed for a field of the Formula (Text) data type are =, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE, STARTS WITH.
Geolocation	=, !=, >, >=, <,<=

To update, delete, or clear filters

You can update or delete saved filters, and clear dynamic or saved filters that are applied to the list view. On the Remedyforce CMDB tab, select a class in the left navigation pane, and perform one of the following actions:

Click the filter icon () and click Clear Applied Filter to clear the dynamic or saved filter that is currently applied to CIs and assets in the list view.
Click the filter icon (), and from the Selected Filter list, select the filter that you want to update.
Consider the following points when updating a saved filter:
- If you update the filter criteria and click Save, the filter criteria is updated. However, you must click Apply to filter CIs and assets in the list view based on the updated criteria.
- If you update the filter criteria and click Apply, a new dynamic filter with the updated criteria is applied to CIs and assets in the list view. Also, the Selected Filter list displays the None value.
Click the filter icon (), and from the Selected Filter list, delete the appropriate filter.

Working with CIs and assets

The following table lists the actions that you can perform from the Remedyforce CMDB tab. You can perform only those actions for which your system administrator has granted you access.