This documentation supports the 25.1 version of BMC Helix ITSM Asset Management.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Relating assets

In BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management, you can relate CIs to other CIs, people, organizations, and so on. You can also view the CI relationships. 

A CI can be related to other CIs. For example, a monitor, mouse, or keyboard CIs can be related to a computer system CI as components. If you are using a BMC Discovery product, the discovery product creates the relationships when it populates BMC Helix CMDB.

When a CI or relationship is not discovered, you can manually create the relationship. When you relate a CI or service to another CI, you must define the relationship type between the two records. For a description of each relationship type, see Asset-types-and-subtypes. 

If the BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk or BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management is installed, you can also relate incidents, problems, known errors, solution database entries, or change requests to the current CI. For example, if an incident or change request affects the availability of a CI, you can relate the incident or change request to the CI.

To relate an asset to another asset

  1. From the Console menu, select Asset Console.
  2. Enter the search filters and click Search.
  3. From the search result, select the required asset.
  4. Click on the Assets tab, and then click Relate existing asset.

  5. In the Relate items window, enter the search criteria, and click Search.
    You can search multiple configuration items (CI) at the same time by entering comma-separated CI names in the search box.

    Important

    While searching for CIs, you must enter at least three characters in the search box to find matching results. There is no limit for the number of CIs that you can search using comma-separated CI names.

  6. Select assets that you want to relate.
    Based on the requirement, you can select all CIs listed in all pages of the search result.
    image-2024-10-17_13-3-6.png
  7. From Relationship class, select the required value.
    Relationships are defined by the CMDB common data model. For more information, see Relationships represented in a data model diagram.
  8. From Relationship, select whether you want to relate the asset as a parent or a child.
    The Relationship box is not visible for the following relationship classes:
    • Hosted System Components
    • Hosted Service
  9. Click Save.

To relate a ticket to current asset

  1. From the Console menu, select Asset Console.
  2. Enter the search filters and click Search.
  3. From the search result, select the required asset.
  4. On the Related Items tab, click Relate Existing Item, and select the ticket type.
    image2021-2-22_16-57-24.png
  5. Enter the search filters and click Search.
    image2021-1-22_17-47-9.png
  6. Select the records that you want to relate to the asset.
  7. From Relationship type list, select the relationship type.
  8. Click Save.
    The Relate items window is automatically closed and the Related items table is updated with the related items.

To create a ticket from an asset

  1. From the Console menu, select Asset Console.
  2. Enter the search filters and click Search.
  3. From the search result, select the required asset.
  4. On the Related Items tab, click Create related.
  5. Select the ticket type that you want to relate to the asset.
    image2021-2-22_17-8-19.png
    A new ticket opens in draft mode with some information prepopulated from the original ticket.
  6. Update the new ticket as needed and save it.
    The new ticket opens. The asset is displayed on the Configuration Item tab of the new item.

Instructions for classic interfaces

View instructions for classic Smart IT

To relate an asset to another asset

  1. Open the asset that you want to relate to another asset.
  2. On the Assets tab, click Relate Existing Asset.
  3. In the Relate Assets pane, search for the asset that you want to relate to by using the basic or advanced search option. 
    You can also search for CIs that have a status set as Delete. Perform the advanced search to search for CIs that are in the Delete status.
  4. From the search result, select the check boxes for assets that you want to relate. 
    The list of relationship types appears in the lower-left corner of the Relate Assets pane.
  5. From the Relationship Type list, select a relationship for the related assets.
  6. Click Save.
    Based on the relationship that you specified, the related asset is displayed on the Assets tab of the main asset.  

To remove the relationship from a related asset, select the Remove option for the related asset. 

To relate a ticket to current asset

  1. On the Related Items tab, click Relate Existing Item.
  2. From Item Type, select the related item type.
  3. Specify the search criteria and initiate the search.
    You must specify some search criteria, such as a company name, status value, or keyword. To search for all records, enter the % wildcard character.
  4. Select related items and specify the relationship type.
  5. Click Save.

To create a ticket from an asset

You can create a ticket manually or by scanning an asset.

Perform the following steps to create a ticket by scanning an asset:

 If you do not know asset details, you can search for the asset by scanning its QR code or barcode by using the scanning feature on a Google Android or Apple iOS device.

  1. On the Update page, tap Menu Menu icon.jpg to display the navigation pane.
  2. Tap Search and select Or search by code scanning.
    The scanner is activated.
  3. To scan the asset, place your device's camera over the QR code or barcode. 
    After the code is scanned successfully, the asset details are displayed in the asset profile.
  4. Scroll down to the asset profile page, and tap Related Items.
  5. On the Related Items page, tap Actions and select the appropriate option to create a related incident, work order, or change request ticket.
    The selected ticket type is displayed.
  6. Enter the necessary details in the ticket form, and tap Save.
    The related ticket appears on the Related Items tab of the asset. Similarly, the asset appears on the Related Items tab of the ticket.

For additional information, see Creating a change request at the Initiate stage and Overview of ticket creation.

Perform the following steps to create a ticket manually:

  1. Use one of the following methods to navigate to an asset:
    • Find the asset by using the global Search box on the BMC Helix ITSM dashboard.
    • In Asset Console, specify filters to identify the asset.
  2. Open the asset.
  3. On the Related Items tab, click +Create and select the appropriate option to create a related incident, work order, or change request ticket. 
    The selected ticket type is displayed.
  4. Enter the necessary details in the ticket form and, depending on the type of ticket, click Confirm+Save or Submit Change.
    The related ticket appears on the Related Items tab of the asset. Similarly, the asset appears on the Related Items tab of the ticket.
View instructions for Mid Tier

To relate a record

  1. Open a CI, as described in Searching for tickets, assets, resources, and people in BMC Helix ITSM.
  2. Click the Relationships tab.

  3. From the Request Type list, select the type of record you want to relate.

    Depending on the BMC Helix ITSM applications you have installed, you might see more than one option in the Request Type list. For example, if you have Incident Management installed, you can relate an incident from the Request Type list. 

  4. If you have selected Asset Record, select a CI type from the CI Type list, and click Search. 
    The search dialog box displayed depends on the type of record you want to relate.

  5. Specify your search criteria, and click Search.

    Important

    • If BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management is installed, the Global Search option is displayed. Global search performs a basic keyword search across multiple forms for records that match a word or phrase that you type in the search area.
      To include additional search criteria, click the Use Advanced Search link.
    • The Global Search functionality does not include Asset CIs. In the CI Search dialog box, the relationship keyword search is provided and the search is performed on the CI Name. This keyword search is enabled when BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management is installed.
  6. Select one or more records from the table.

  7. From the Relationship Type list, select the relationship between the records.

    Important

    What appears in the Relationship Type list depends on the type of record you are relating. The list is different for a known error in Problem Management, an infrastructure change in BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management, and so on.

  8. Click Relate.
    The Select Relationship Type dialog box is displayed.
  9. Select a value and click OK.
    The record that you related is displayed in the Current Relationships table of the CI record.

To view relationship details

  1. Open a computer system CI, as described in Searching for tickets, assets, resources, and people in BMC Helix ITSM.
  2. Use the advanced search feature to locate a computer system with specific components.

  3. Click the Relationship Details tab.

    The left side of the tab contains a tree view, organized by CI category. The rest of the tab displays information about the related CIs.

  4. From the tree view, select the category of the CI that you want to view.
    The related CIs that belong to that category appear in the table.

  5. View either a detailed description or a summary of the related CI, as described in the following table:

To create a record from the Relationships tab

  1. Open a CI, as described in Searching for tickets, assets, resources, and people in BMC Helix ITSM.
  2. Click the Relationships tab. 
    To see relationships to the current CI, select an option from the Show Related list.
  3. From the Request Type list, select the type of record you want to relate.
    If you have selected Asset Record, select a CI type from the CI Type list. For a description of each CI type, see Asset-types-and-subtypes.
  4. Click Create.
    The dialog box or the form for the record type selected by you is displayed.
  5. From the Relationship list, select the relationship between the two CI records, for example, Component.
  6. Click OK.
  7. In the Select Relationship Type dialog box, from the Show list, select Parent or Child.
    • To set the related CI as a parent of the current CI record, select Parent.
    • To set the related CI as a child of the current CI record, select Child.
  8. Click OK.
  9. In the Show Related field of the Relationships tab of the CI, select the appropriate item, and click Search.
  10. If the selection criteria for the table includes the CI that you related to, it appears in the Current Relationships table.
  11. Click OK.
  12. In the new CI Information form, specify the required fields, and click Save.


Best practice
When using the sandbox feature of BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management, you can create relationships for CIs in Asset Console. When you create relationships for CIs in Asset Console, and the source and destination datasets are defined as BMC.ASSET, while the relationship is created in the sandbox dataset, the endpoints are referenced from the BMC.ASSET dataset. The implication of this is that you cannot view these CI relationships in the sandbox dataset. We recommend that to make these relationships viewable, you must create them by using Atrium Explorer instead. 

When the Delete functionality in the Sandbox Reconciliation Engine job runs, it removes the records in the Sandbox dataset. By default, the Delete functionality is disabled in BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management . If you have enabled this functionality in the Reconciliation Engine job, after the job executes, recreate the CIs in the Sandbox dataset.  Use the recreated CIs when you create relationships for them.

To use a relationship quick action

You can use the Quick Action field to create new relationships or modify relationships.

  1. Open a CI, as described in Searching for tickets, assets, resources, and people in BMC Helix ITSM.
  2. Click the Relationships tab.
  3. To view another related record type, select the appropriate type from the Show Related list, such as Incidents.
  4. Select a record.

  5. From the Quick Action list, select the action, and click Execute.
    You can perform the following actions in Quick Action.

    Quick Action

    Applicable record type

    Purpose

    Explore CI

    CI

    Explore the CI and its relationships to other CIs. For details, see Exploring-asset-relationships.

    Get Related Relationships

    Incident
    Problem
    Known error
    Solution database entry
    Change request

    Pull relationships from the selected records to the current CI.

    Modify Relationship Type

    Incident
    Problem
    Known error
    Solution database entry
    Change request

    Modify the relationship between the selected record and the current CI.

    Show Related Services

    CI

    See the list of business services that are affected by the selected CI.

 

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