This documentation supports the 21.3 version of BMC Helix Innovation Studio.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.


BMC Helix Innovation Studio 21.3

BMC Helix Innovation Studio (formerly known as BMC Helix Platform) is a part of the single-tenant BMC Helix Innovation Suite that consolidates the capabilities of AR System and BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

BMC Helix Innovation Studio helps you develop, build, deploy, and use applications on cloud (SaaS) and on-premises environments. It also helps you create and automate business processes without learning programming languages or complex development tools.

Release notes and notices Updated 01 Oct 2024

Learn what’s new or changed for BMC Helix Innovation Studio 21.3, including new features, urgent issues, documentation updates, and fixes or patches.

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Related topics

Known-and-corrected-issues

Support-information

Action Request System release notes

BMC Helix ITSM release notes

BMC Helix Virtual Agent release notes

BMC Helix Business Workflows release notes

The following updates have been added since the release of the space:

Date

Summary

Reference

January 29, 2024

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 11 and issues that remain open

Patch 11 for version 21.3 is available for SaaS subscribers. The following updates are available in this patch:

  • (Controlled availability customers only) Facilitate application access to users having different email domains 
  • Extended long-term support for AngularJS

September 5, 2023

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 10 and issues that remain open

Patch 10 for version 21.3 is available for on-premises customers and SaaS subscribers. The following updates are available in this patch:

  • Improve data retrieval performance by selecting a row level security algorithm
  • Support for Kubernetes 1.25 and OpenShift 4.12
  • Support for Ingress 1.7.0 and Helm 3.11
  • Additional products available for on-premises installation

June 15, 2023

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 9 and issues that remain open

Patch 9 for version 21.3 is available for SaaS subscribers.

January 23, 2023

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 8 and issues that remain open

Patch 8 for version 21.3 is available for SaaS subscribers.

December 20, 2022

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 7 and issues that remain open

Patch 7 for version 21.3 is available for SaaS subscribers.

December 1, 2022

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 6 and issues that remain open

Patch 6 for version 21.3 is available for on-premises customers. The following updates are available in this patch:

  • Support for Kubernetes and OpenShift
  • Updated support for Ingress controller
  • BMC Deployment Engine automation
  • Support for self-signed and CA signed certificates
  • Rebrand PWA screens
  • Synchronize articles in multiple languages from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround
  • Separate migration options for synchronizing knowledge articles

October 3, 2022

Updates to Patch 6 for version 21.3 are available for SaaS subscribers.

This update includes support for rebranding Progressive Web Application (PWA) screens according to your company's standards and requirements.

September 2, 2022

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 6 and issues that remain open

Patch 6 for version 21.3 is available for SaaS subscribers. Updates available in 21.3 patch 6:

  • Use separate migration options to synchronize folders and content from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround
  • Perform partial migration of content from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to prevent articles updated in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround from being overridden
  • Have article flags and flagging attributes such as date and comment automatically synchronized from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management and BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround
  • Have your localized knowledge articles in BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management automatically synchronized to the corresponding translation languages in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround
  • Have your knowledge articles migrated significantly faster from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management or BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround

August 1, 2022

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 5 and issues that remain open

Patch 5 for version 21.3 is available for on-premises customers. Updates available in 21.3 patch 5:

  • Execute arbitrary commands by using the Run Process action
  • Support for Amazon EKS, GKE and OKE platforms
  • Rollback BMC Helix ITSM deployment
  • Enhancements to Fluent Bit deployment
  • Enhancements to Support Assistant tool

May 23, 2022

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 5 and issues that remain open

Patch 5 for version 21.3 is available for SaaS subscribers. 

March 23, 2022

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 4 and issues that remain open

Patch 4 for version 21.3 is available for both SaaS subscribers and on-premises customers. Updates available in 21.3 patch 4:

February 8, 2022

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 3 and issues that remain open

Patch 3 for version 21.3 is available for SaaS subscribers. 

January 20, 2022

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 2 and issues that remain open

Patch 2 for version 21.3 is available for SaaS subscribers. Updates available in 21.3 patch 2:

  • Seamless authentication of users from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.
  • Improved parity between knowledge articles in BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management and BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround by synchronizing knowledge article attributes.
  • BMC Service Request Management is available only for upgrade scenarios.

January 5, 2022

Patch 2 for version 21.3 is available for on-premises customers. This patch offers a support for BMC Helix ITSM Insights and BMC Helix Dashboards deployment.

November 19, 2021

Issues that were corrected by 21.3 patch 1 and issues that remain open

Updates available in 21.3 patch 1:

  • Use content packages to integrate with Blue Prism and UiPath to automate routine tasks
  • Use AutomationEdge callbacks to receive real-time event notifications

October 4, 2021

BMC Helix Innovation Studio has been enhanced in the following areas:

  • Leverage BMC Helix iPaaS, powered by MuleSoft to easily integrate out-of-the-box and custom applications with other external applications. 
  • Track user activity in BMC Helix Innovation Studio applications
  • Use BMC Helix Dashboards as the default platform for dashboards and viewing reports
  • Support for unified platform user license management capability in BMC Helix Innovation Suite
  • Copy application definitions to your target application
  • Improve the security of BMC Helix Innovation Studio applications
  • Facilitate automation of tasks by using RPA tools

See also Deprecated features.

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Getting started

Introduction to BMC Helix Innovation Studio

The video shows an older version of BMC Helix Innovation Studio. The previous product name was BMC Helix Platform. Although there might be minor changes in the UI, the overall functionality remains the same:


Tailoring applications and automating processes

Customize applications according to your business processes.If you are an Application business analyst this is a good place to start.

Enabling services

Customize your applications by using Cognitive service, Approval library, and Connectors

Integrating

Integrate BMC Helix Innovation Studio with other BMC products or third-party applications to perform specific use cases in BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

Setting up and going live

Set up BMC Helix Innovation Studio environment and tailor the environment according to your organizational requirements.

Administering

Set up users, manage roles, set up foundation data, assign licenses, submit user reported issues, and create and deploy codeless applications with minimal programming knowledge or dependency on developers.If you are an Administrator this is a good place to start.

Developing applications

Develop codeless applications with minimal programming.Develop code-based applications by using the BMC Helix Innovation Studio SDK, and Maven archetypes to extend the BMC Helix Innovation Studio to create custom components, custom REST APIs, and so on.If you are a Developer, this is a good place to start.

Troubleshooting

Resolve issues with your environment, find solutions to problems while developing or tailoring applications, look up error messages or logs.
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Frequently asked questions

This topic provides information that supplements the BMC Helix Innovation Studio documentation.

Frequently asked questions

This topic provides answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

What can you do by using Sandbox?
  • Design and develop your innovative ideas
  • Build tailorable definitions for your app so that it can be safely customized by your end users
  • String together the UI of your application
  • Define your data model and relationships
  • Configure and tailor existing apps using BMC Helix Innovation Studio
  • Create new workflows, processes or UI using designers
  • Design and develop new custom components
How do I set account usernames and passwords?

When you first request a Sandbox (on the Developer Portal), you are provisioned two accounts, developer account and administrator account. By default, the developer account is developer and administrator is admin (as shown in the image below). You can specify the account names and passwords.

Developer credentials.jpg

You can changes the usernames for these accounts and specify the passwords for these accounts. The passwords you specify must meet the following criteria:

  • Passwords must consist of at least one uppercase character and at least one lower case character.
  • Passwords must consist of at least one numeric value.
  • Passwords must consist of at least one special character (any of the following special character ~!@#$%^&*_-).
  • The length of the passwords must be between 8 to 30 characters.


If I am a BMC customer, do I need to sign-up for the Developer program?

Yes, you still need to sign-up for the program to ensure you benefit from the exclusive Developer content and the Personal Sandbox that will be available only as part of the program.

Do I need to be an existing BMC Customer or Partner to be part of the program?

No, that is not a pre-requisite to sign up for the program.

Can I deploy the application I built in the sandbox into production?

The personal sandbox you get is only a Development Environment. This does not have a Production Environment with a run-time available to deploy applications in the cloud at this time. 

How long do I have access to the sandbox?

You have unlimited access to the sandbox as long as you use it. The sandboxes will be reclaimed by BMC if there is a week's worth of inactivity. You will have to request a new sandbox once your sandbox has been reclaimed.

How do I reset developer password?

You can reset the developer password by using Sandbox details page.

  1. On the Sandbox details page, navigate to Manage Your Sandbox > RESET PASSWORD, click RESET PASSWORD.

  2. Select Innovation Suite Developer, enter the new password, and reset the password.

The following image shows the Manage Your Sandbox section:

1802_Reset Developer Password.PNG

How do I set the required language for BMC Helix Innovation Studio?

BMC Helix Innovation Studio supports the following languages:

  • German (de)
  • Japanese (ja)
  • Russian (ru)
  • Spanish (es)
  • French (fr)
  • Italian (it)
  • Korean (ko)
  • Brazilian Portuguese (pt-br)
  • Chinese (zh-cn)
  • Swedish (sv)
  • Dutch (nl)

The following table describes how users can select the required language from various browsers:

Browser

Operating System

Steps to change the language

Google Chrome

Windows, apple MacOS

Open Settings, search for language settings, and add the required language.

Mozilla Firefox

Windows, apple MacOS

Navigate to Open Menu and click Options. Search for language settings and add the required language.

Edge

Windows

In Control Panel, in the Clock, Language, and Region option, add the required languages in the order of preference.

You must download the install pack of the added languages and then restart the computer.

BMC Helix Innovation Studio also provides localized error messages in the supported locales.

How do I reset Foundation Data user password?

You can reset the Foundation Data user password by using BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio as a developer.
    For more information about the roles and their permissions in Failed to execute the [excerpt-include] macro. Cause: [Error number 2 in 0: No wiki with id [confluencePage:page] could be found]. Click on this message for details.
    , see Roles-and-permissions.
  2. On the Administration tab, click Administration > Foundation Data > Manage People > All People.
  3. Select the user for whom you want to change the password, click Edit, and navigate to the Basic tab.
  4. On the Basic tab, click Access Details.
  5. In Password, enter the new password, and click Save.
How do I unlock an account?

If you encounter the error ERROR 624 User account locked, when you login to BMC Helix Innovation Studio, navigate to the Sandbox details page, and click Unlock Account.


How are test metrics calculated for BMC Helix Platform Cognitive Service?

Example of how cognitive test metrics are calculated

You have created a data set to test whether BMC Helix Innovation Studio Cognitive Service can categorize appropriate service requests in Category A and Category B. The following table indicates the number of expected and predicted categories:


Expected Category A

Expected Category B

Total Predictions of expected categories

Predicted Category A

8

4

12

Predicted Category B

2

6

8

Total predictions for A and B

10

10

20

Based on the above results, the accuracy, precision, recall, and F-score for Category A and Category B are calculated as shown in the following table:

Test metrics

Category A

Category B

Accuracy

8/10 = 0.8

6/10 = 0.6

Recall

8/10 = 0.8

6/10 = 0.6

Precision

8/12 = 0.67

6/8 = 0.75

F-score

2* (0.80*0.67)/ (0.80 + 0.67)

2* (0.60*0.75) / (0.60 + 0.75) = 0.66

The consolidated results for BMC Helix Innovation Studio Cognitive Service for Category A and Category B are calculated by using the weighted macro average as shown in the following table:

Test metrics

Formula

Result

Accuracy

10/20*0.80 + 10/20*0.60

0.70

Recall

10/20*0.80 + 10/20*0.60

0.70

Precision

10/20*0.67 + 10.20*0.75

0.71

F-score

2*(0.70*0.71) / (0.70+0.71)

0.70

Note

For multi-class categories, Accuracy and Recall that is computed for each category and the consolidated calculation for BMC Helix Innovation Studio Cognitive Service are the same.



What do I do when I get the error 'You are not authorized to access BMC Helix Innovation Studio?'

If you encounter the error You are not authorized to access BMC Helix Innovation Studio when you log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio, use your developer account to log in. This error occurs when you try to log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio by using an administrator account.

What do I do when BMC Helix Innovation Studio locks constantly?

If you encounter the following error even if you do not have any failed login attempts:

ERROR (624): User account locked out due to too many failed login attempts. Please contact your Administrator.; developer

In this case, you should create a new account in BMC Helix Innovation Studio and use the account for development. To create a new account, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. Navigate to Administration > Configure My Server > People > Manage User Accounts.
  3. Create a user with Administrator permissions and a fixed license.
How do I access database record and transaction record in a process?
  • To access the transaction record of a rule, you can use record as the process input, and have rule call process and pass the transaction record. See Working with rules.
  • To get the database value of a record, you can use Get Record action, and access the database value using the activity results of the Get Record action. See Get Record action.
How to use transaction (TR) field or DB field in rule qualification?

In rule qualification, you can use the function NEWVALUE() for TR field and the function OLDVALUE() for DB field. See Working with rules.

How do I create display only field to store action results?

You do not need the display only field to store the activity results. In a process, you can get the activity results in the following ways:

  • You can use the expression ${activityResults.<activityGUID>.xxx> to access an activity output.
    All activity results are stored in the process context and can be accessed anywhere.
  • If an activity is not executed, you get an empty value.
  • If an activity returns a record (that is Get Record Service Task), only the record identity (record ID and record definition name) is persisted to the process context. Record field values are not persisted to the process context.
  • If you access field values of Get Record Service Task, you get the latest database value of the record. See Get Record.
  • You can use the activity Output Map to store activity result in a process variable.
How does a process transaction works in process runtime?

When a process is started through an API (Record API triggers rule, which starts the process or Start Process API), process transaction starts at the REST APIs.

The process transaction joins the API transaction and the process runs till its completion or it is goes to a wait step. Wait steps are User Tasks or Receive tasks. When the process reaches a wait step, it persists all the transaction values and returns from the wait state. When the process resumes the execution from a wait step, the process transaction continues till it completes or reaches the next wait step. The records, signal inputs, process operations, process context, and the wait state information are all persisted in one transaction.

For more information on APIs, see PDFs-videos-and-API-documentation.

For more information on User Tasks and Receive tasks, see Activities.

How are process instances managed?

Process instances are managed by the platform and third party process engine Activiti. The platform manages process context and Activiti engine manages process instance state information.

  • Process context consists of process variables and process activity results.
  • Process instance state information consists of process current activity, start time of a process, and end time of completed process activities.

For process context, there is a form to store active process instances, and a form to store completed process instances. The archive policy of completed process instances is that all completed process process instances are moved to an archive form after three months. Process instance state information follows the similar pattern.

How does a process instance resumes from User Task?

The condition to resume a process instance from User Task is specified in the Completion Criteria property of User Task (process designer element).  Completion Criteria specifies the condition when the user task is considered as complete. The condition is an expression that evaluates fields of a task record.

  • The platform service EntryEventNotificationService is used to monitor registered record events. User Task uses EntryEventNotificationService to monitor the task completion. Records that need to be monitored are registered in the Entry Event Registration system form and the Notifier Listening field is set to true.

    Entry Event Registration.PNG
  • When a record event occurs, the EntryEventNotificationService evaluates the record instance condition and if the condition is true, the Pending Notification flag is set.
  • A background thread notifies event listeners of all pending notification records with the Notification Information provided by the record event register. When the listener is notified, the record event is cleaned up from the registration form and the Notifier Listening flag is reset. Event listeners are notified by a separate pool of threads where the pool size can be configured.
Where are my overlay objects?

To make the platform operational in varied customer environments, the way you customize objects in core BMC applications has changed from 17-02 onwards. You can customize the objects developed in your own applications, but you cannot customize the objects developed in com.bmc.arsys. For example, objects in core BMC applications like Foundation, Approval, and Assignment cannot be customized. You cannot customize the record definitions by updating the permissions or adding security labels, adding or updating record fields, and so on. Therefore, you must delete the customizations and then perform the upgrade the BMC Helix Innovation Studio. If you attempt to customize any objects developed in core BMC applications, you encounter the following error message:

If you attempt to customize any objects developed in core BMC applications, you encounter the following error message:

Error message_object locking.jpg

Why are the required Default Tenant field values displayed empty?

In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, you may find the required fields of the Default Tenant (Administrator > Configure My Server > Manage Tenants) such as Domain Identifier and Virtual Host Name are empty. This is because the default tenant fields are imported during the platform creation and when you use tools such as data import there is an option to not trigger the required field check.

I am unable to export a licensed application that includes definitions and data? What do I do?

If you are working on a dedicated system, ensure that you have assigned the application license to yourself using the Foundation Person UI. For more information, see Setting up Foundation data.

I am unable to see my licensed application. What do I do?

To see a licensed application, you must have that application license assigned to you using the Foundation Person UI. For more information, see Setting up Foundation data.

Application upgrade FAQs

How do I enable logging for applications that are created by using BMC Helix Platform 17.02 or earlier?

The logs for applications created using the BMC Helix Innovation Studio SDK 17.02 or earlier are stored in the arextension.log file located at the following location:

  • Windows: <ARSystemInstallDir>\Arserver\Db
  • UNIX: <ARSystemInstallDir>/Arserver/Db

By default, only error messages are logged. If you want to log all messages (debug, info, warning, and error), you must change the log level to debug in the logback_server.xml file. The following configuration enables debug log level:

<logger name="com.bmc.arsys.server.extension.impl.LogServiceImpl"
     level="debug" additivity="false">
     <appender-ref ref="AlwaysOnLog" />
     <appender-ref ref="ExtensionLog" />
</logger>

Note

When you make changes to the logback-server.xml file, you do not need to restart the Remedy AR System server. After making the changes to the logback_server.xml file, you must reload the file by using the Reload Log Conf File option in the Server Information form on the Log Files tab.

The logback logging framework provides this logging functionality.


PDFs, videos, and API documentation

This topic describes and links to PDFs, videos and other documents that support this product release. If the ready-made PDFs of this space do not satisfy your requirements, you can export a custom PDF. 

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Videos

The following list displays the topics that contain videos that supplement or replace the text-based documentation:


Related spaces

AR System and BMC Helix documentation

Action Request System

Helix Virtual Agent

Helix Digital Workplace Advanced

Helix Business Workflows

Helix Dashboards

 

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