BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector
The BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector enables catalog administrators to use service requests to create cases in BMC Helix Business Workflows. The catalog administrators can also create questions that use responses from the BMC Helix Innovation Studio record definitions and named lists. Use this connector to enable BMC Helix Business Workflows to use BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog.
Before you begin
Make sure the administrator and the end users have the access to the following data:
Access requirement | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|
Data objects | The administrator whose login name is used to configure this connector should have access to the required data objects in BMC Helix Innovation Studio. | |
Integrating application | The user whose login name is used to configure this connector should have access to the required data objects in BMC Helix Innovation Studio. The permissions should allow another application (in this case, BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog) to work with the data objects in BMC Helix Innovation Studio. | |
Record definition | The record definition permissions should allow end users to see the data in the questionnaires. | |
User account | A BMC Helix Innovation Studio tenant admin user account is required to use this connector with BMC Helix Innovation Studio |
Configuration parameters for the BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector
Before you can use the BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector to import services, or in workflows, you must configure a connection as described in Configuring-service-connectors. The following table describes the parameters required to create a connection:
Parameter | Examples | Description |
|---|---|---|
Server URL | http://bmc-helix-innovation-studio-server.com:8008 | The BMC Helix Innovation Studio server URL. |
Login | user@domain.com | The Login name of the user that is used to configure this connector. This user must be a tenant admin with access to the required data objects in BMC Helix Innovation Studio. |
Password | ******* | The password for the user. |
Trust Self-Signed Certificates | true | - |
Connect Timeout (ms) | 30000 | Time in milliseconds that the connector waits for a successful connection with the BMC Helix Innovation Studio instance before cancelling the connection attempt. Default value—30000 ms |
Read Timeout (ms) (Applicable only when BMC Helix Business Workflows is integrated through this connector) | 30000 | Time in milliseconds that the connector waits to read the data from the BMC Helix Innovation Studio instance. For example, the timeout period is applied when the system loads data such as cases, templates, and so on. Default value—30000 ms |
Long Read Timeout (ms) (Applicable only when BMC Helix Business Workflows is integrated through this connector) | 60000 | Time in milliseconds that the connector waits to read the data from BMC Helix Innovation Studio instance. This setting applies to the following actions:
Default value—60000 ms |
Resource mapping capabilities
The BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector exposes the following resources that can be mapped to the following selection type questions: checkbox, dropdown, multiselect dropdown, radio buttons, and lookup.
Resource | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Forms | Map selection type questions or action triggers to Records in BMC Helix Innovation Studio. |
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Dataset | Map selection type questions or action triggers to Named Lists in BMC Helix Innovation Studio. |
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Localization support when retrieving data from forms and datasets
Catalog administrators create questions that use responses from the BMC Helix Innovation Studio applications. The Innovation Studio connector can retrieve localized values from the record definitions and named lists, which are then displayed as responses. With this capability, end users can see response options in their preferred language, based on their locale in BMC Helix Digital Workplace.
The Innovation Studio connector can retrieve localized values only from the localized text fields within record definitions and named lists. Retrieving localized values from other field types is not supported. Retrieved localized values can be displayed as responses in the following types of questions in BMC Helix Digital Workplace:
- Checkbox
- Dropdown (single select)
- Dropdown (multi-select)
- Lookup
Important: Always define localizations for this field type, as localization fallback is not available for it. If no localized value exists in BMC Helix Innovation Studio matching the user's locale in BMC Helix Digital Workplace, the error message will appear when selecting the value for the fallback locale (English). For more information about fallback scenarios, see the Fallback scenarios for absent localized values section. - Radio buttons
- Table (single select)
- Table (multi-select)
For more information about creating questions that use responses from the BMC Helix Innovation Studio applications, refer to Map to dataset and Map to form options in Creating selection menus for question responses.
Requirements for defining localized values in BMC Helix Innovation Studio applications
To ensure that the connector can retrieve and display localized values correctly in BMC Helix Digital Workplace, consider the following guidelines and limitations:
| Guidelines | Description |
|---|---|
| Using language codes instead of language-region codes | In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, define languages for which you want to add translations by using only the language codes (for example, ro, fi). If you enter your translations in the fields that include both language and region codes (for example, ro-RO, fi-FI), BMC Helix Digital Workplace will instead display values defined for the English locale. However, as an exception, the following languages must be defined by using both language and region codes:
For more information about localizing field values in BMC Helix Innovation Studio, see Localizing field values. |
| Using languages supported out of the box | Although Brazilian Portuguese (pt-BR) is defined in BMC Helix Innovation Studio out of the box, you must manually add this language to BMC Helix Innovation Studio again by using the pt language code and define your translations only in the localized text fields that use this code. Use other languages provided by BMC Helix Innovation Studio out of the box as they are. For the list of languages supported by BMC Helix Innovation Studio, see Localizing an application. |
| Manually adding unsupported languages | If you need to define translations for languages supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog but not available in BMC Helix Innovation Studio out of the box, you can manually add these languages by using only language codes (for example, ro, fi), with a few exceptions that are described earlier. For more information about adding new system languages, see the To add a system locale procedure in Localizing field values. See the following list of all languages supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog. You can add the required languages to BMC Helix Innovation Studio: |
Fallback scenarios for absent localized values
Locale fallback is available when retrieving localized values by using the Map to Form and Map to Dataset options. However, locale fallback is available only if no additional queries to filter the data are defined. If any query expression is defined either for the Map to Form or Map to Dataset options, only values that exactly match the user's locale will be returned. If no matching values exist, the result will be empty.
When a localized value is not available for the user's exact locale in BMC HelixGPT, 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 |
Catalog export capabilities
With the BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector, you can create cases in BMC Helix Business Workflows through BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog service requests.
Workflow action available through the BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector
The following table provides an overview of the BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector action:
Action | Description | Input parameters |
|---|---|---|
Create Ticket | Use this action to create a record using BMC Helix Business Workflows forms in BMC Helix Innovation Studio. |
Create Ticket input parameters
Required | Parameter name | Data type | Examples | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Required | Connection Id | String | Connection > BMC Helix Innovation Studio | Default Connection ID for this connector. |
Required | Sub-catalog ID | String | Process context >Service > Sub Catalog Id | The identifier for the subcatalog that contains this service. Note: If you assigned the service subcatalog ID from the Service Broker Context, ensure that the service belongs to the appropriate subcatalog. |
Required | Service Request GUID | String | Process context > Service Request > Service Request GUID | Globally unique identifier for the Service Request. |
Required | Service Request Display ID | String | Process context > Service Request > Service Request ID | The Service Request identifier displayed to the user. |
Required | Requester | String | Process context > Requested For User > Login Name | Name of the user who submitted the request. |
Optional | Ticket Template GUID | String | Process variables > Template | GUID of the ticket template to use. |
Optional | Contact | String | Process context > Requested By User > Login Name | Login ID of the user who submitted the request. |
Required | Summary | String | Process input > Text variable | Summary to be sent to the request handler. |
Optional | Description | String | Process input > Text variable | Details to be sent to the request handler. |
Optional | Attachments | String | Process input > Text variable | String array of attachment ID values that is submitted by using a Text process input. In the associated questionnaire, map the Text process input to an Attachment question. |
Optional | Q & As | String | Process context > Questions And Answers | String representation of all questions and responses, including those assigned to process inputs, and created questions. |
Optional | Process Correlation Id | String | General > Process Correlation ID | System generated key that identifies the service request to the integration component. For more information, see Waiting-for-a-response. |