This documentation supports the 21.05 version of BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management. To view an earlier version, select the version from the product version menu.

Relating contracts to CIs


You can link CIs to related contracts. For example, if a warranty agreement applies to a hardware item, you can relate this agreement to the CI. For software contracts, you must relate the CI to the license certificate. Software license compliance is tracked at the certificate level.

To relate multiple CIs to a single non-software contract, create the relationships on the Contract form. To relate a single CI to multiple non-software contracts, create the relationships on the CI form.


Related topic

Configuration Item and configuration item classes

To relate a CI to a contract

You cannot relate a CI directly to a software contract. Instead, use the License Certificate field to relate the CI to the software license certificate. The software license certificate is related to the software contract.

  1. Open the contract.
  2. Click the Relationships tab.
  3. From the CI Type lists, select the type of CI that you want to relate to the contract.
    Only certain CI types are available, depending on the contract. For example, from a lease contract you can select a computer system, but not software.
  4. Perform one of the following tasks to relate the CI to the current contract:
    • Create a CI:
      1. From the Create New Related Record list, select the CI type, and then click Create.
      2. Complete the new CI form.
    • Select an existing CI:
      1. From the Search for Existing Record to Relate, select the CI type, and then click Search.

      2. To search for the CI, enter basic or advanced search criteria on the CI Relationship Search dialog.

        Tip

        The Basic Keyword search enables you to search based on the CI name. Use the advanced search to search based on CI Type or other criteria.

      3. Select the CI from the search results, select the relationship type, and then click Relate.
  5. Click Save.
    Relationships between contracts and CIs can be 1-to-many and many-to-1.

To relate a contract to a CI

  1. From the Asset Management console, open a CI.
    For information about opening a CI, see Searching for records in the application consoles.
  2. Click the Contracts tab.
  3. In the Search Existing Contracts area, select a contract type from the Contract Type list, and click Search.
  4. In the Searching for Contracts dialog box, from the Search For list, select the type of contract you want to relate, and click Search.
  5. In the Results list, select one or more contracts to relate to the CI.
    If no contracts appear in the list, you can add a contract. 
  6. From the Relationship Type list, select the relationship of this contract to the CI:
    • Attached to — The contract is related to the CI.
    • Terms and Conditions of — The contract uses the terms and conditions of the CI contract.
  7. Click Relate.
    The contract is related to the CI, and the contract appears in the Current Contracts for this CI table.

To create a new contract to relate to a CI

  1. Open a CI, as described in Searching for records in the application consoles.
  2. Click the Contracts tab.
  3. In the Create New Contracts area, from the Contract Type list, select a contract type .
  4. Click Create.
    The appearance of the contract form varies, depending on the type of contract.
  5. Complete the required fields on the contract form.
  6. Click Save.
    A message appears stating that the person in the Notification Contact field will be notified when this contract expires.
  7. To notify a group when a contract expires, leave the individual contact field blank. Otherwise, specify the notification group and the individual in the group to notify an individual.
  8. Click OK and then click Close.
  9. The contract record is related to the CI, and the contract appears in the Current Contracts for this CI table.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*