Incident brokering
When organizations utilize services from multiple vendors, managing incidents across multiple ticket management systems presents a challenge to effective service management. BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker facilitates efficient service management by integrating BMC Helix ITSM with cloud service providers (for example AWS Support).
Benefits of incident brokering
Incident brokering provides the following benefits:
- Whenever an incident is created in BMC Helix ITSM a corresponding ticket is created in the vendor application.
- Notifications for status updates are sent so that changes in the status of an incident are synchronized between BMC Helix ITSM and the vendor application.
- Notes in the BMC Helix ITSM incident and the vendor application ticket are updated.
- The BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT console displays the vendor application ticket ID as a link that opens the ticket in the vendor ticket management system.
Using BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker with Mid Tier
You can integrate BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker with vendor ticketing systems without using BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT. Instead of the Smart IT console, you can use Mid Tier to view the incidents. When working without Smart IT, you cannot view the vendor ticket details. However, you can view the work logs to verify that tickets are being brokered.
If you are using Mid Tier, BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker supports all available features except for sending an activity note from BMC Helix ITSM to the vendor application ticket.
Components used to create vendor tickets
BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker supports BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit and BMC Helix Integration Service as the underlying integration platforms. These platforms contain different components that you can configure for an integration.
The following table describes these components in detail:
Component | Description | Where you can configure the component |
|---|---|---|
BMC Helix iPaaS | ||
Project variables | A project variable is a data element that you can update based on your environment settings. You set a project variable before running an integration. You can set a project variable for credentials, filenames, or environment settings. | You update a project variable in the out-of-the-box integration template in Cloud Studio. |
Workflows | A workflow is a sequence of tasks that is used to accomplish a goal, for example, to create a record or to update a record. | You can view the workflows in the out-of-the-box integration template in Cloud Studio. |
BMC Helix Integration Service | ||
Connector | A connector is an integration with a BMC or third-party application, for example,BMC Helix ITSM, Atlassian Jira Software, and BMC Helix Remedyforce. Each connector supports a certain number of triggers, actions, or both. | You configure a connector in BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by Jitterbit. |
Flow | A flow is a connection between two connectors that lets you accomplish a certain task. Each flow has a source application and a target application. A triggering event in the source application causes an action to take place in the target application. | You can configure a flow in BMC Helix Integration Studio. |
Connector target | BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker defines processes to call vendor application specific actions to perform different business functions. When triggered by using a rule, a process uses the actions defined to implement the business logic for a given business case. The process is associated with a connector target which provides the process with the information required to connect to a vendor service. | You configure connector targets in BMC Helix Innovation Studio. |
How a vendor ticket is created automatically by using BMC Helix iPaaS
The following image shows an example of how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker uses BMC Helix iPaaS to broker an incident from BMC Helix ITSM to ServiceNow:
How a vendor ticket is created automatically by using BMC Helix Integration Service
The following image illustrates how BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker uses connectors, flows, and processes when an incident is created:
How status and activity notes are updated in BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker
The following table lists the events that update the status and activity notes:
Event type | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|
Addition of a comment | A service desk agent adds a comment to the incident ticket in Smart IT and clicks Share with AWS/Salesforce. | The comment is added to the vendor application ticket. |
A Case Comment is added to a Salesforce Service Cloud ticket. | Smart IT displays the comment as an activity note for the corresponding incident. | |
Addition of an attachment | A service desk agent adds an attachment to an activity note in ITSM. | BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker adds the attachment to the case in Service Cloud. The text from the activity note is added to Case Comment. Similarly, when an attachment is added to a case in Service Cloud, BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker creates an activity note and adds the attachment to the corresponding incident in BMC Helix ITSM. Important: The file size of the attachments depends on the limitations specified in BMC Helix ITSM and the Service Cloud application. The BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker connector does not support attachments that are larger than 50 MB. |
Updates to a field | A field is updated in BMC Helix ITSM. | BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker updates the corresponding vendor application ticket with a comment listing the field name with the new and existing values. |
A field in the vendor application ticket is updated. | Updates are reflected in the corresponding BMC Helix ITSM incident field. | |
Updates to a ticket status | A vendor ticket is closed. | A BMC Helix ITSM incident is marked as resolved, based on the option you select during the vendor data configuration. |
A BMC Helix ITSM incident is Canceled, Closed, or Resolved. | The corresponding vendor application ticket is Closed. |
The status changes to a vendor application ticket are reflected as an activity note on the BMC Helix ITSM incident. Activity notes display the vendor ticket numbers and the author of the note.
The following table lists the different formats in which an activity note can be displayed:
From where a ticket is created | Format of the activity note |
|---|---|
From a vendor to BMC Helix ITSM | Note added from <vendor> ticket <vendor ticket id as URL> by <vendor user first last names> |
From BMC Helix ITSM to vendor | ITSM user <ITSM user first last name>, added a work note: <work note text> |
Where to go from here