Creating CIs

To create a business service CI

The business service CI type is a virtual CI. In this context, a service can be provided from one business or organization within a business to another. Service CIs can include customer support, employee provisioning, web farms, storage, and so on.

Using the following procedure, you can create a business service and relate the service to a company. After you relate the service to the company, the service appears in the Service field menu on the main form when you are relating the problem investigation to the company.

1. From the Navigation pane of the BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management console in Mid Tier, select Functions > Manage CIs.
2. From the CI Type list, select Logical Entity > Business Service, and click Create.

3. In the CI Name field of the Business Service form, enter the CI name.

   Best practice
   When creating a CI name, we recommend that you follow a consistent naming convention. According to ITIL guidelines, identifiers should be short but meaningful (for example, Payroll or Network). The name can be followed by a numeric code (for example, NETWORK100).
   

4. Complete the optional fields that appear on the form in a way that is appropriate for the service you are creating.
   The following table lists the optional fields with their description:

   Field name	Description
   CI ID	A customer-specified identifier. You can use this identifier to augment the CI Name.
   Company	The company that owns the service.
   Impact, Urgency, and Priority	Determine the service levels when support is assigned.
   Supported	Whether the service currently is supported.
   System Role	The role that the service fulfills in the organization.
   Additional Information	More details about the service.
   Users Affected	The number of users who use this service.
   Product Categorization	A file used to categorize the business service through multiple tiers. This hierarchy drives assignment routing.
   Location	The location of the support group that supports the service.
   Lifecycle	The date on which the service became active.

5. Click Save.
   Depending on how your application is configured, after you click Save, the Service CI form might be redisplayed in a Modify window.
   The People tab referred to in the following step does not appear on the Business Service form until you create and save the CI. The Relationships, Outage, and Impact tabs also appear after you save the new CI. If the People tab does not appear after you click Save , open the CI record as described in To search for CIs from the console, and then continue with step 6.
6. Open the People tab, and click Add.
7. From the Type list in the CI Person Type, select People Organization and click OK.
8. From the Company list in the Organization Search window, select the company to which you are relating the service and click Search.
   If you are relating the service to the entire company, skip step 9.
9. (Optional) If you must relate the service to an organization within the company and to a department within the organization, select the organization and the department from the Organization and Department lists.
10. From the Choose a Relationship Level list, select how much of the company will be related to this service.
    For example, if you are relating the service to the entire company, select Company. If you specified department in the preceding step, select Department, and so on.
11. Click Select.
12. From the Role list in the Asset Person Role window, select Used By and click OK.
13. Click OK to dismiss the confirmation note.
14. Click Save and then click Close.

For information about designing, developing, and maintaining service models that enable you to manage your IT resources from the perspective of the business services that they provide, see Planning a service model.

To create a computer system CI

1. From the Navigation pane of the console in Mid Tier, select Functions > Manage CIs.
2. From the CI Type list of the CI Type dialog box, select System > Computer System.
3. Click Create.

4. In the CI Name field of the Computer System form, type a name for the CI.

   Best practice
   When creating a CI name, we recommend that you follow a consistent naming convention. According to ITIL guidelines, identifiers should be short but meaningful. For hardware, they should not be based on supplier device names. For example, the name can include an indicator of the CI's function (such as Workstation or Monitor) followed by a numeric code (for example, MONITOR100).
   

5. In the CI ID field, type a unique alphanumeric value for the CI.
6. Select the company to which this CI belongs.
7. From the Primary Capability and Capability lists, select the roles this CI performs in your company's topology.

8. Select a status from the Status list.
   The default value is Deployed. You can select one of the following options:

   Status	Description
   Ordered	The CI was ordered from the supplier.
   Received	The CI was received in shipping.
   Being Assembled	The CI is being assembled.
   Deployed	The CI was installed.
   In Repair	The CI is down for maintenance.
   Down	The CI is down, but not yet in maintenance.
   End of Life	The CI is no longer being deployed.
   Transferred	The CI was transferred to another place.
   Delete	The CI is marked for deletion. You must be a member of the APP-Management or APP-Administrator group to mark a CI for deletion.
   In Inventory	The CI is in inventory but not yet deployed. When you select this status, you are prompted to select the inventory place.
   On Loan	The CI is on loan to another location.
   Disposed	The CI is no longer available and was disposed of.
   Reserved	The CI was reserved and taken out of inventory.
   Return to Vendor	The CI must be returned to the vendor as damaged or unwanted.

9. To specify whether the CI is supported, select Yes or No from the Supported list.
10. Select what impact or urgency this CI will have if it goes down.
11. In the Users Affected field, specify the number of people who use this CI or will be affected if it goes down.

12. Complete the other fields in this area:

    Field name	Description
    Tag Number	The CI's tag number (Usually, an IT department member places this number on the product to track the CI.)
    Serial Number	The CI's serial number
    Part Number	The CI's part number
    System Role	The role this CI plays in your company
    Status Reason	The reason this CI has the status it does

13. Click the General tab.
14. Categorize your CI using the fields in the Product Categorization area.
15. Specify the place of the CI using the fields in the Location area.
16. Enter the dates of the CI in the lifecycle area.
17. Click the Specifications tab.
18. Add more information about the CI.
19. Click Save.

To create a bulk inventory CI

Bulk inventory items are not tracked by a separate record for each item. Instead, bulk items are tracked by quantities of an item type. For example, cables used to connect desktop computers to the network do not require individual records. Instead, they require one record for a bulk quantity of the specific cable type.

1. From the Navigation pane of the console in Mid Tier, select Functions > Manage CIs.
2. From the CI Type list of the Manage CI Information dialog box, select Bulk Inventory > Bulk Inventory, and click Create.

3. In the Bulk Inventory form, complete the following required fields.

   Field name	Description
   CI Name	Enter the name of the bulk inventory item, for example, Microsoft Windows XP.
   Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3	Categorize the item.
   Received Quantity	Enter the number of items received.

4. Click Save.

To create an inventory location CI

You can use inventory location CIs to indicate where bulk inventory and other CIs are located.

1. From the Navigation pane of the console in Mid Tier, select Functions > Manage CIs.
2. From the Type list on the Manage CI Information dialog box, select System > Inventory Location, and click Create.
3. In the CI Name field on the Inventory Location form, enter the location name.
4. Complete the optional fields.
5. Click Save.