Data Management

Introduction to the Data Management component

The Data Management component is a web-enabled tool to use when loading data from earlier versions of BMC Helix ITSM, or from legacy systems, into the current release of BMC Helix ITSM.

You can also use the Data Management component to update the following levels of data:

• foundation
• process setup
• transactional

For more information about these levels of data, see Planning-to-migrate-data.

For an introduction to Data Management concepts, view the following video:

https://youtu.be/Y2mHF3o4PZE

 The dataload tool provides a job-based framework that supports job-based data loads. You can use the tool to import data for:

• Foundation, which contains the common forms and data that are needed to support the BMC Helix ITSM of applications.
• Change Management and Release Management.
• Asset Managementand Software License Management.
• Service Desk
• Knowledge Management
  
  

You can also use the dataload tool to import data for Service Request Management. However, the tool uses a different method to import data into  Service Request Managementthan it does for BMC Helix ITSM. For more information about importing data into Service Request Management, see Migrating data by using the Import Export Console in the Service Request Management online documentation.

The job-based framework provides support for:

• Automated job scheduling
• Multiple users performing multiple simultaneous dataloads
• Multi-tenancy, which means users can create dataload jobs and templates that can be restricted to specific companies
• Centralized error handling
• Case insensitivity correction and alias replacement during validation
• Loading data from various sources; for example:
  • Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) source files
  • AR Export (ARX) files
  • Extensible Markup Language (XML) files
  • databases using Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)

  • Microsoft Excel spreadsheets 

    About Microsoft Excel spreadsheets

    Microsoft Excel spreadsheets formatted with the .xlsx extension have the following limitations:

    Worksheet size: 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns

    Number of characters in a cell: 32,767
    If your data load operations could exceed these limitations, consider customizing the data loads using Atrium Integrator transformations as described in Using-Data-Management-tools-for-custom-Foundation-data.

    Data load customization options include:

    (Recommended) Modifying or creating new Atrium Integrator transformations or jobs that load directly from the data source to the associated load forms. This is accomplished using one of the many out of the box input adapters in Atrium Integrator, for example JDBC. With this option, you can use the spreadsheets as a source of information on the target forms.

    Adding extra cells that you can concatenate if the cell length is exceeded.

    If the row length could exceed the spreadsheet limitation, another option (which does not require customization) is to split the load into multiple spreadsheets. This method, however, requires you to perform multiple loads.

Data Management provides out-of-the-box job templates, spreadsheets, and staging form mappings for your use. Data Management also provides a data wizard for modifying foundation data throughout all applicable BMC Helix ITSM forms. The Data Wizard also modifies configuration item (CI) records in . For more information about the data wizard, see Using-the-data-wizard-to-modify-data.

Job-based framework terminology

The following terms are used when describing the job-based framework: