Making BMC Helix ITSM available to your users

IT users access BMC Helix ITSM through Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch), Google Android devices, and the universal client. The universal client provides access through a web browser.

After you install BMC Helix ITSM and configure it, you can make it available to your users via the universal client (desktop web browser) and mobile applications.

Important

Download the BMC Helix ITSM mobile clients from the BMC Electronic Product Download site. You must make the mobile clients available to your users by using the procedures in this topic.

Your users should not use the mobile applications that are available from the Apple App Store or Google Play, which connect to our trial environment. If the user automatically gets an updated version, for example, from Google Play, that updated version might not match the version of your BMC Helix ITSM server and might not work with your server.

For compatibility information and system requirements, see Planning.

Before you begin

When you upgrade BMC Helix ITSM, rebranding changes do not persist. Before you upgrade, back up your rebranding changes:

Universal client — Back up your images and rebranded style-smart-it.css file, so that you can restore your changes after the upgrade.
Mobile clients — Back up your images and create a record of your hex color values and other changes. You must rebrand the clients again after the upgrade, either by yourself (iOS), or with the assistance of BMC Professional Services (Android).
When you upgrade Android application, you need to uninstall the old Android APK before attempting to install the APK signed with a new certificate.

If you need assistance with rebranding the application, contact BMC Support, or your local account team.

To prepare the Smart IT clients

Client	Preparation
Universal client	(Optional) Rebranding Smart IT on the universal client.
Apple iOS client	(Optional) Rebranding Smart IT for Apple iOS. Re-sign Smart IT for Apple iOS. Note: Download Remedy with Smart IT iOS xcarchive Version 21.3.00 from the Electronic Product Download (EPD) site and then re-sign to generate the ipa. Important: Even if you are not rebranding the iOS mobile client, you must obtain an Apple Enterprise Distribution Certificate and use it to re-sign the iOS mobile client. This step is required to distribute the application among your users.
Google Android client	(Optional) Rebrand BMC Helix ITSM for Android. The Android mobile client can be rebranded only with the assistance of BMC Professional Services.

To make the clients available

Client	Options
Universal client	Provide users with the URL for the universal client: *http://<hostName:port>/smartit/*
Mobile clients	Provide the apps for installation on mobile devices: Make the mobile applications available through the download URL (as described in this topic). Place the application in your enterprise app store. Push the application through your mobile device management platform, using your preferred tool. Neither the Apple App Store nor the Google Play Store are involved in the process. Provide users with the server address and port to which they can connect. Users must enter this information when logging in for the first time.

Client

Options

Universal client

Provide users with the URL for the universal client:
http://<hostName:port>/smartit/

Mobile clients

Provide the apps for installation on mobile devices:
1. - Make the mobile applications available through the download URL (as described in this topic).
  - Place the application in your enterprise app store.
  - Push the application through your mobile device management platform, using your preferred tool.
    
    Neither the Apple App Store nor the Google Play Store are involved in the process.
Provide users with the server address and port to which they can connect. Users must enter this information when logging in for the first time.

To make mobile applications available through the download URL

Make the mobile clients available to your users by announcing the download URL: http://SmartITServerName:port/smartit/download/.
Replace SmartITServerName:port with the web address for your BMC Helix ITSM server.

The download URL provides users with appropriate links (buttons) to install the BMC Helix ITSM application on Android devices.

Notes

When installing the BMC Helix ITSM application:

For Android mobile app downloads, users might need to update their device settings to allow downloads from unknown sources.
For iOS mobile app, use one of these methods to download:
- Download the iOS mobile app from the Mobile Device Management solution for your organization.
- Uncomment the iOS links in index.html from DBFileSync_utility. Upload the index.html file back to the container using DBFileSync_utility.
For iOS mobile app downloads:
- The server must have an external signed certificate. (Apple requires a valid HTTPS server with a valid CA certificate for distributing native iOS applications.)
- You must use secure HTTPS (https://) in the URL.
- If the Smart IT server is not configured with HTTPS and a valid CA certificate, you can use any valid HTTPS server to host the files.

Troubleshooting information

For HTTPS connection:

You should purchase a valid root certificate from a trusted root certificate authority. If the certificate is not from a trusted root certificate authority, then follow these steps to enable the certificate:

For iOS 10.3 onwards version

Install your root certificate on your device.
From the General Setting, select About.
Click Certificate Trust Setting.
From the ENABLE FULL TRUST FOR ROOT CERTIFICATES, enable your certificate.

For Android application

Download the certificate on your device and open it.
Specify a name to the certificate.
After installing the certificate, check Settings > Security > Trusted credentials.
Your installed certificate is displayed under the USER tab.

Note

If you want to install it on multiple devices, then you can install your root certificate through the Mobile Device Management (MDM) server. Contact your MDM server administrator for more information.