Localized foundation data in BMC Helix Digital Workplace

Important

The features and enhancements in this topic are under controlled availability to select customers.

In the Action Request System (AR) server, administrators can localize common foundation data; for example, People or Company data. For detailed instructions, see Localizing foundation data into the supported languages.

BMC Helix Digital Workplace displays foundation data across the end-user console and within service requests. After the foundation data is localized, AR administrators can make these translations available within BMC Helix Digital Workplace and other consuming products. For instructions, see the procedure To display the foundation data in localized languages or English only in the consuming applications in Localizing foundation data into the supported languages.

Important
The BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console doesn't support displaying localized foundation data.

For the list of known issues when the localized foundation data is displayed in this console, see the Limitations and known issues section.

Localized foundation data ensures that users see information in their preferred language, improving user experience and meeting regional language requirements.

Supported foundation data and behaviour in the end-user console

In the end-user console, various types of foundation data are displayed across multiple areas of the user interface. Users can view this data in their preferred language if those translations have been defined. For example, if the end-user console is in German, the foundation data is displayed in German.

Localized foundation data is shown based on the language settings configured for the end-user console by administrators. They can enable or disable specific languages, set a default application language, and allow users to override these settings. To learn more about these settings, see Setting a language for your end users.

The following table outlines the types of localized foundation data in the end-user console, along with examples where users might encounter this content:

Foundation data type	Localizable fields	Examples of impacted areas
Company	Company	Service request and fulfillment details
Organization / Department	Organization, Department	Service request and fulfillment details
People	First Name, Last Name, and Full Name	Multiple application areas, including the user profile details, in service requests as Requested for and Requester by, collaborators, approvers, delegated approvers, on-behalf-of users, impersonated users, and so on.
Location	Region, Site Name, Street, Site Group	Service request and fulfillment details
Product category	Product Categorization Tier 1, Product Categorization Tier 2, Product Categorization Tier 3	Fulfillment details of submitted service requests
Operational category	Service Categorization Tier 1, Service Categorization Tier 2, Service Categorization Tier 3, Service Categorization Tier 4	Fulfillment details of submitted service requests
Resolution Category	Generic Categorization Tier 1, Generic Categorization Tier 2, Generic Categorization Tier 3	Fulfillment details of submitted service requests

The following screenshot displays localized data in a created service request for fr-CA (French – Canada):

Overall, users might encounter the localized foundation data in the following interface and functional areas of the end-user console:

See the list of impacted interface and functional areas

User preferences
Item profiles (service request definitions, native Catalog requests, imported services) in the service catalog
Service requests (service request definitions, native Catalog requests, imported services), collaborators, and fulfillment details
Shopping cart and the Save for Later interface
BMC Helix Business Workflows cases, approvals, and to-dos
People search (on-behalf-of users, impersonation, and other people search interfaces)
Search functionality in multiple interface areas
Approvals and approval comments, reassign and delegate approval interfaces
Impersonation interface
Social and social groups
Locations (timeline, asset details, asset profile, and asset owner)
Notifications

Supported foundation data and behavior in the Catalog console

The BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog user interface does not display localized foundation data directly. However, when creating service requests in the Catalog console, the Catalog administrator can configure those services to use localized foundation data of all supported data types. These localized values are then visible to end users in BMC Helix Digital Workplace when they request services and answer questions from a questionnaire.

In the Catalog console, localized foundation data can be used in the following areas:

Functional area	Impact
Selection menus for question responses that are pulled from localized BMC Helix ITSM forms	When a question is mapped to a BMC Helix ITSM form that includes localized data, the localized response options are presented to the user in the language of the end-user console. For more information about pulling question values from a BMC Helix ITSM form, see Creating selection menus for question responses. For example, to display localized Service Categorization Tier 1 values as answers for a Lookup question, the Catalog administrator can map the question to the localized CFG:Service Catalog form. Then, the administrator must select the Categorization Tier 1 field for both the Display Label and Stored Value settings.
Query filters for dynamic questions that are mapped to a form that includes localized data	If a question's query filter uses input from another question, the filter works with both the default locale as well as localized data. The same behaviour is supported for query filters configured while creating actions. For example, when a user requests a service through the end-user console in fr-CA (French – Canada) and provides an answer in that locale, any subsequent question that uses this input via a query filter will evaluate the localized data. If the subsequent question is mapped to a form that includes data in fr-CA, this question will display the selection options in fr-CA. However, if the mapped form doesn't include the data in fr-CA, the question will display the selection options in English.
Search in the Table and Lookup question types that pull responses from localized BMC Helix ITSM forms	When end users begin typing input in Lookup and Table question types, the search automatically detects the input language, checks for matching values in the mapped form for that locale, and displays localized selection entries accordingly.
Error messages returned by the Catalog	The following error messages that are returned by the Catalog are localized in the end-user console: Regex validation messages in questionnaires. The error message that is displayed when users try to request a service to which no workflow is attached.
Workflows	BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix Innovation Studio workflow actions can get, set or create localized data. For more information about configuring these workflow actions to handle localized foundation data, see the Localized data handling in workflows section. Important: If your existing workflows include BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix Innovation Studio actions, and you want these workflows to support localized foundation data, you must update them and configure the required action parameters. If the required action parameters are not configured, existing workflows will use the default language for the foundation data.

Localized data handling in workflows

The following table outlines how workflows support localized foundation data through specific actions and configuration parameters:

Action	Description
BMC Helix ITSM Get actions and parameters that support getting localized foundation data	For Get actions, the Catalog administrator must specify either the Service Request ID or Locale parameter, depending on the Get action used. Important: To define these parameters, the context variable of the Service Broker Context type must be added first. For more information about how to add the context variable, see Adding a process context variable to a workflow. Actions that use the Service Request ID parameter Applicable actions: Get Work Order By Identifiers Get Incident By Identifiers Get Change Request By Identifiers For these actions, the Service Request ID parameter must be defined to derive the requester's locale directly from the service request. To define the Service Request ID parameter To define the Service Request ID parameter, complete the following steps: In the Input Map section of the Element Properties pane, click Click to build an expression to open the expression builder for the Service Request ID parameter. Select Process Variables > context > Service Request > Service Request ID. The following image shows the configuration for the Get Incidents by Identifiers action: Actions that use the Locale parameter Applicable actions: Get Entry Get Entry By Query Get Entries By Query Get Incident By Id Get WO By Id Get Change Request By Id These actions require the Locale parameter to be explicitly mapped to the Requester Locale. To define the Locale parameter To define the Locale parameter, complete the following steps: In the Input Map section of the Element Properties pane, click Click to build an expression to open the expression builder for the Locale parameter. Select Process Variables > context > Service Request > Requester Locale. The following image shows the configuration for the Get Incident by ID action:
BMC Helix ITSM Create and Set actions and parameters that support setting localized foundation data	For Create actions, the locale is set by using either the Correlation ID or the Service Request ID parameter. These action create an entry on the given form that uses the localized data. Important: To define these parameters, the context variable of the Service Broker Context type must be added first. For more information about how to add the context variable, see Adding a process context variable to a workflow. Applicable actions: Create Entry Create Incident Create Incident With Identifiers Create WO Create WO By Identifiers Create Change Request Create Change Request With Identifiers Set Entry To define the Service Request ID or the Correlation ID parameter To define the Service Request ID or the Correlation ID parameter, complete the following steps: In the Input Map section of the Element Properties pane, click Click to build an expression to open the expression builder for the Service Request ID or the Correlation ID parameter. Define the Service Request ID or the Correlation ID parameters: For the Service Request ID parameter, select Process Variables > context > Service Request > Service Request ID. For the Correlation ID parameter, select Process Variables > General > Process Correlation ID. The following image shows the configuration for the Create Incident With Identifiers action by specifying the Correlation ID:
The Create Ticket action under BMC Helix Innovation Suite	In workflows for BMC Helix Business Workflows, the Create Ticket action allows passing localized data to BMC Helix Business Workflows. The locale is set by using either the Correlation ID or the Service Request ID parameter. Important: To define these parameters, the context variable of the Service Broker Context type must be added first. To define the Service Request ID or the Correlation ID parameter To define the Service Request ID or the Correlation ID parameter, complete the following steps: In the Input Map section of the Element Properties pane, click Click to build an expression to open the expression builder for the Service Request ID or the Correlation ID parameter. Define the Service Request ID or the Correlation ID parameters: For the Service Request ID parameter, select Process Variables > context > Service Request > Service Request ID. For the Correlation ID parameter, select Process Variables > General > Process Correlation ID.

Supported languages and fallback behavior

AR administrators can localize common foundation data into all languages supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace, not only the languages supported by BMC Helix ITSM. For a complete list of languages supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace, see Supported languages and locales.

When localizing foundation data, the AR administrator must specify the appropriate language code while indicating the language for localization. For more information, see the procedure To localize the foundation data into a supported language in Localizing foundation data into the supported languages.

Important

For BMC Helix Digital Workplace to correctly display localized foundation data, the AR administrator must specify the localization language by using only the language codes (for example, ro, fi), not the language-region codes. However, the following languages are exceptions and must be defined by using both the language and region codes:

zh-TW (Traditional Chinese – Taiwan)
zh-CN (Simplified Chinese – China)
pt-PT (Portuguese – Portugal)
fr-CA (French – Canada)
en-GB (English – United Kingdom)
en-CA (English – Canada)

Currently, displaying localized data in en-GB and en-CA is not supported. For the list of known issues and limitations when displaying the localized foundation data, see the Limitations and known issues section.

When a localized value is not available for the user's exact locale in BMC Helix Digital Workplace, the application applies the following fallback logic to display an alternative value:

User locale for which the localized value is not available	Fallback locale
pt-PT	pt
fr-CA	fr
All other locales	en

Limitations and known issues

The following table outlines limitations and known issues related to displaying localized foundation data in different BMC Helix Digital Workplace consoles:

Console	Limitations and known issues
End-user console	Localized foundation data is not displayed for en-CA (English – Canada) and en-GB (English – United Kingdom) locales.
	Searching for localized foundation data in the CTM:People form by using wildcards is not supported (for example, '1000000019' LIKE "%Кат%" ).
	Searching for submitted service requests or approvals by localized people data (First Name, Last Name, and Full Name) is not supported in Events search or global search.
	When a custom BMC Helix Innovation Studio page is created with the URL that includes First name, Last name, or Full name as a variable, the following issue occurs: The localized user name is not displayed in this URL when this page is opened in a new tab from the end-user console.
	When the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Studio is used, the user name is not localized in email notifications for social events.
	User names are not localized across various Change Request approval notifications.
	If the user changes the language of the end-user console, the user name is displayed in the previously selected application language in the following cases: User names in the recent search when requesting a service as someone else Requested for user names in the saved Shopping cart Requested by user names in bell notifications
Admin console	If the web browser locale or the end-user console language is set to a language other than English, localized people foundation data is displayed in the following areas of the Admin console: Navigation bar—Localized user name is displayed on the navigation bar. Reports— Reports show localized user names. As a result, csv export of the reports show encoded characters instead of user names in English. Social menu—Timeline tab displays localized user names. Guest portal configuration—Localized guest admin and guest user names are displayed in the guest portal configurations. External Users configuration—Localized site is displayed in the Site list. Important: To prevent localized people foundation data from appearing in the Admin console, make sure the web browser locale or the end-user console language is set to English when accessing the Admin console.