Enabling and configuring the Contracts console

The BMC Helix Innovation Studio-based Contracts console is enabled for BMC Helix ITSM by default. The Contracts console provides rich filtering and sorting capabilities to users and helps them manage contracts from a single, intuitive console.

You can also customize the Contract console interface by customizing views.
You can perform the following configurations in Contract console:

Before you begin

In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, make sure you have selected the Best Practice mode.
If you want to customize the Contracts console, you have to create your own view.
For more information, see To create a view by copying a default view.
You can opt in or opt out of the Contracts console anytime by enabling or disabling the enableISContractConsole CCS parameter.
You must enable single logout to log out completely from BMC Helix Single Sign-On integrated applications. For more information, see Login and logout experience for end users

Parameters to enable and configure the Contracts console

Specify the BMC Helix Innovation Suite server base URL in the innovation_suite.base.url CCS parameter in the com.bmc.arsys.smartit * component.
Specify the Mid-Tier, Smart IT, Digital Workplace, and Digital Workplace Catalog entry point URLs in the IFrame-Allowed-Sites CCS parameter in the com.bmc.arsys.server.shared * component.
Make sure the BMC Helix Innovation Suite server base URL is specified for the com.bmc.arsys.smartit>*>innovation_suite.base.url CCS parameter.
Make sure the Mid-Tier, Smart IT, Digital Workplace, and DWP Catalog entry point URLs are specified for the com.bmc.arsys.server.shared>*>IFrame-Allowed-Sites CCS parameter.

For more details, see Setting configuration parameters in BMC Helix ITSM.

To enable or disable the Contracts console

In Mid Tier, select AR System Administration > AR System Administration Console.
Select System > General > Centralized Configuration.
Set the enableISContractConsole CCS parameter in the com.bmc.arsys.smartit * component to any of the following values:
- true: To enable the Contracts console.
- false: To disable the Contracts console.

The default value is true.

Views in Contracts console

In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, Views define the console's user interface.. In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, a view is a graphical representation of an application.

You can customize the following default views for Contracts console:

Views	Description	Default view names
Contract console	Contract console view.	Default Contract Console SM
View related contracts	In the Contract console, you can view the contracts related to a contract by selecting > View related contracts.	Default View Related Contracts
View Contract Related CIs	In the Contract console, you can view the configuration items related to a contract by selecting > View related CIs.	Default View Contract Related CIs

Customizing Contract console views

You can customize a view by arranging the data items in a specific order or displaying only specific items. To customize the out-of-the-box views, you must create a new view by copying a default view.

In BMC Helix ITSM, you can access views from Innovation Studio Configuration > Screen Configuration > Manage Views. Default views appear within placeholder views; for example, Contract Console is a placeholder, while Default Contract Console SM defines the actual interface. When copied, the new view appears under the same placeholder.

You can perform the following configurations in Contract console:

To create a view by copying a default view

To customize the Contract console, you must first create a new view by copying a default view, which you can then modify to suit your needs.

From the menu bar in BMC Helix ITSM, select Configuration > Innovation Studio Configuration.
In the Settings pane, select Screen Configuration > Manage Views.
Click in the default Asset console view that you want to customize.
Click Copy default view.
Enter a view name. For example, enter Custom Contract Console.
Click Copy.
Click Activate.

Contracts console displays the new view that you created only after you click Activate. Click Edit to further customize the view.

To add a column to Contracts console's grid

To add a column to the Contract console, first create the field in the CTR:Contract form using Developer Studio, then add it to the record grid.

Important

You can only add fields from the PV views of the CTR:Contract form to the Contract console.

In the customized view that you created by copying a default view, click Edit.
Select Record grid > Properties > Edit grid columns.
In Available columns, click <column name>.
In Selected Columns, select Visible for the newly added column.
Click Save.

You can customize the Contract console record grid by adding columns to the grid, enabling sorting, filtering the columns, and so on. For more about information about the record grid, see Creating a tabular view of record instances by using a record grid.

To customize view presets

You can edit the defined filters in the view presets or add any new field to the view presets. For example, you can edit the Status filter in the Printers view preset to display the printers in inventory instead of the printers deployed.

In the customized view that you created by copying a default view, click Edit.
Select Record grid > Properties > Edit view presets.
Expand the preset that you want to modify.
Click Edit grid columns.
Click the column that you want to add to the preset, and select Visible.
Click Save.
Click Filter. Add or delete filters to the preset.
Click Apply filters.

Removing a contextual field suggestion displayed in the preset filters

The Contract console's filters display contextual search suggestions based on contract fields like Company, Region, Site Group and so on. While filtering contracts, contextual search suggestions help you find the relevant contracts quickly.

The following image shows the Site Group search suggestion in the Site filter:
Here, Engineering is a Site Group search suggestion.

Based on your business requirement, you can choose not to display certain contract fields as search suggestions while performing a search in the Contract console filters.

To hide the Site Group search suggestion in the Site filter, you must perform the configuration in the following sequence:

To remove the Site Group field in BMC Helix Innovation Studio

Navigate to the Workspace tab.
On the Applications tab, click ITSM Application.
On the Named lists tab, search the textual filter name to manage the contextual field, and then copy its definition.
In this example, we have copied the definition of the Site filter.
In the Edit Named list window, click Edit contextual label fields.
Click Remove corresponding to the contextual label field that you want to hide.
Click Save, and then click Close.

To edit the record grid in BMC Helix ITSM Application

Click Visit deployed application.
In ITSM Application, click > Screen Configuration > Manage Views.
In the Contract Console panel, select > Copy default view.
Click Copy, and then click Edit in the Contract Console panel.
Select Record grid and then edit the Region.
.
Expand ContractSite.
In the Named list field, select the definition name that you copied in step 3 of the previous procedure.
Click Save.
On the Manage Views page, click Activate.

After the configuration, the Site filter does not display search suggestions based on the Site Group field.