Planning to migrate data

You can use the Data Management tool to import data into your BMC Helix ITSM applications. This section provides you with reference and conceptual information to help you understand what the Data Management tool does and how it does it. Read this section if you are new to the Data Management tool, or are unclear about the way certain aspects of Data Management work.

Which data migration method should I use

You can use the Atrium Integratoror data load spreadsheets to migrate data from an external source into BMC Helix ITSM applications. The recommended method of migrating data depends on the accessibility of the data. The following table gives information on choosing a data migration method:

Levels of BMC Helix ITSM data

BMC Helix ITSM  contains the following levels of data:

• Foundation data— Configuration data that applies to all of the BMC Helix ITSM applications, such as companies, sites, people, and categorization 
• Process setup data— Configuration data that affects processes for a specific application;for example, decision trees can be used by Service Desk.
• Transactional data— Records created during day-to-day use of the product, such as incidents and change requests

CI data can be loaded even if BMC Helix ITSMis not installed.

Not all levels or types of data are supported by all products in Data Management. See the following diagram to understand which data is supported by which product.

Levels and types of data supported, by product, in Data Management 

Data load components

As a part of data management, you can create and run your own data transformations. The BMC Helix ITSM applications runs on the AR System platform. The Mid Tier serves as a client of the AR System and as a server to web browsers. AR System provides an Atrium Integrator adapter plug-in that enables you to create and run your own data .transformations. The following diagram describes the main components that support the dataload process:

Dataload components 

Atrium Integrator adapter for AR System 

AR System provides an Atrium Integrator adapter plug-in that enables you to create and run your own data transformations.

The adapter is used in transformations to import data into AR System or to extract data from AR System into other data sources.

For more information, see Importing, transforming, and migrating data by using Atrium Integrator.

Atrium Integrator Spoon client

The Atrium Integrator Spoon client is a graphical transformation and job designer. For more information, see Atrium-Integrator-Spoon-client.

Data Management Job Console

The Data Management Job Console replaces the Data Load console that was used previously for data loads. It enables you to create and manage data load jobs. The Data Management Job Console is referred to as the Job Console in the the rest of the documentation. For information about navigating the Job Console, see Data-Management-consoles-and-windows.

Error management

The error management functionality enables you to handle validation errors for multiple jobs from one location in the Error Management console. For information about navigating the Error Management console, see Data-Management-consoles-and-windows.

Load template

The load template functionality enables you to select an out-of-the-box template or previously-saved custom template that you created for a job.

An out-of-the-box template already has a set of steps defined for it.

BMC Helix CMDB

The BMC Helix ITSM applications consumes data from the BMC Helix ITSM application. CMDB stores information about the configuration items (CIs) in your environment and the relationships between them.

How to update existing data

If data is already present in your BMC Helix ITSM system, you can create jobs to update specific fields;for example: First Name, Last Name, Login ID, and Site Address. For more information, see Creating-and-managing-data-load-jobs.

You can also use the data wizard to update foundation data. For example, Company Name and Site Name cannot be modified in foundation configuration forms hence use the data wizard to modify this data. For more details about using the data wizard to modify data, see Using-the-data-wizard-to-modify-data.

Exclusions from Data Management

The following foundation forms are excluded from bulk load data management:

• CFG:Geography City
• CFG:Geography Country
• CFG:Geography Stat/Province

These foundation geography forms are excluded because BMC Helix ITSM provides extensive data for all these forms with installation of the applications. To import additional data, import the records directly into these forms by using the Data Import tool. For information about using the Data Import tool, see the Data Import tool help.

Multi-tenancy and Data Management

When your Data Management system is set up for multi-tenancy, users can associate more than one company with their profiles. Users can create jobs and templates for these companies, and can use custom templates that have been created for the companies. Multiple companies can be added to custom templates so that the templates can be shared. For more information, see Creating customized job templates.

Exclusions from the data wizard

Some fields on specified forms are excluded from the data wizard for one of the following reasons:

• The field on the specified form is shorter than the field elsewhere in the application.
• The field on the form is not uniquely identified.

You can manually update any of these fields, as required. If the field is shorter than required, however, you must increase the field length.

The following table lists fields not updated by the data wizard, because the field on the form is shorter than required.

The following table lists fields not updated by the data wizard, because the field on the form is not uniquely identified. For example, a person's name is listed on the form, but not the Person ID or Login ID.

Fields that are not uniquely identified