Setting up service context to share business service CI information with other applications

Within companies, different departments maintain and track different aspects of the business. For example, one department might be responsible for incident management, and another might handle service requests for providing access to all business applications within the company. However, people working in the IT service request department might not have access to incident management information. Without correct information about services and service owners, the different departments might find it challenging to determine the health of a particular business service or the negative impact on the overall business if the service is out of order.

Service Context architecture

Service Context is installed as an adapter (or plug-in) with BMC Helix CMDB, as shown in the following figure. This adapter collects attributes and data from compatible BMC applications by using web services published by these applications in a web services registry.

Attributes are collected from various BMC applications appear in the Service Context Administration window. In this window, the attributes can be configured for display in the Service Context Summary window. The Service Context adapter contains its own cache that helps to manage the flow of attributes and data to the user interface.

The Service Context adapter cache accesses attributes and related data as an internal Service Context user. This user can be any Action Request System user with administrator permissions and a fixed license.

When you install a BMC application or suite, you can provide information needed by Service Context. In this case, the installer program registers the web service and configures the Service Context user for you. You can also perform these steps after installation. For more information, see Service-Context-for-BMC-Helix-ITSM-applications or the online documentation for your BMC application, located at http://docs.bmc.com.

Service Context components

The following components are required for Service Context to function. Service context architecture shows the relationships among these components.

Note

To start using the Service Context in CMDB Explorer you must first configure the Mid Tier and AR System server configuration steps. Also, for Service Context to behave as expected in BMC applications, you must complete the setup process required for these applications.

Process for service context

The following table lists the required process, in the order they must be completed:

Process to enable Service Context in BMC Helix ITSM applications

Perform the following tasks to enable Service Context in the BMC Helix ITSM applications, BMC Service Level Management applications, and BMC Service Request Management applications:

Task	For more information, see...
Set up BMC Helix CMDB components required by Service Context. Note: You can ignore this step if the AR System server is already configured in the Mid Tier.	Service-Context-for-BMC-Helix-ITSM-applications Installing BMC Helix Single Sign-On
Register web services.	Registering the Service Context web service for BMC applications
Set up a user with administrative permissions identified with Service Context.	Configuring authentication for Atrium Service Context
Set up users who access the Service Context Summary window in BMC Helix ITSM and have the correct permissions.	In the context of BBMC Helix ITSM, the Service Context permissions are rolled up in the BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management permissions. For information on BMC Helix ITSM permissions, see ITSM User Permissions For more information on Service Context permissions, see Service context permissions.
Configure the Service Context to display the information you want.	Configuring-attributes-by-using-the-Service-Context-Administration-window Configuring-BMC-Atrium-Service-Context-cache-and-data-retrieval-settings
Troubleshooting the Service Context plug-ins.	If you have problems configuring Service Context, see Troubleshooting-the-Service-Context-plug-in

Service Context permissions

To configure and use Service Context, you must have the appropriate assigned permission roles.

For more information about assigning BMC Helix CMDB permissions, see BMC-Atrium-Core-permission-roles-within-applications.

Service Context permission roles

Applications that interact with Service Context

BMC applications provide data to Service Context, and also enable users to launch the Service Context Summary window. These applications include:

BMC Helix ITSM (BMC Helix ITSM), including:
- BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management
- BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management
- BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk
- BMC Service Request Management
- BMC Service Level Management

Important

To use Service Context with BMC applications, the most recent versions of these applications must be installed. For more information about versions, see http://www.bmc.com/support/product-availability-compatibility.

For more information about the data provided by each application or suite, see Attributes that are displayed in Service Context.

Troubleshooting

When you launch the Service Context page, and if you see the following error, click OK and proceed:

Error in plugin :
BMC.ARDBC.ATRIUM.SERVICECONTEXT
Cannot invoke
"net.sf.ehcache.Cache.get(java.io.Serializabl e)"

This error occurs if the Atrium plug-in pod has restarted after a zero-downtime upgrade and Service Context is started within 10 minutes of the restart.