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.

Performing the optional tasks for knowledge base synchronization


Before you begin

Make sure you have completed the following steps:

Product

Action

BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management

BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management

In Remedy Mid Tier, you have assigned the following IS Personas in the CTM:People form to the user who will run the sync utility:

  • Application Name: com.bmc.dsm.case-lib
  • IS Persona: Case Business Analyst

You have added BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround credentials for BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management.


To map the custom fields in a knowledge template with BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround

The out-of-the-box knowledge templates and fields in your BMC application are automatically mapped with BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. If you have custom templates or custom fields, you must map them manually.

Learn how to map the custom templates and fields.


To modify the query to synchronize knowledge articles and previously failed articles

You can modify the default synchronization configurations to specify the articles that you want to synchronize for the first time. For example, you can specify the status of the knowledge articles that you want to include or exclude from the synchronization.

To modify the query for BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. On the Workspace tab, select Knowledge Sync > Processes > Get RKM Articles. 
  3. Modify the type of knowledge articles and previously failed articles that are synchronized by default. 
    1. On the canvas, click one of the following Get Records By Query elements that you want to modify:
      • Get Failed Records By Query
      • Get Problem Solution Records By Query
      • Get How To Records By Query
      • Get KCS records By Query
      • Get Known Error records By Query
      • Get Reference Records By Query

        For example, if you want to modify the query to get the How To type of articles, click the Get How To Records By Query element.

    2. On the Settings icon.PNGGENERAL tab, in the INPUT MAP section, edit the Query Expression field. 
    3. In the Edit Expression dialog box, modify the conditions to synchronize the knowledge articles. 

      View the Get RKM Articles process

      Get RKM articles process1.png

    4. For example, if you want to synchronize the Retired, How To knowledge articles, add ArticleStatusEnglish = "Retired" to the query, as shown in the following image:

      Ka status sync_remove status value.jpg

    5. Click OK and click Save.
  4. Repeat the procedure to update the required Get Records By Query elements in the process.

To modify the query for BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. On the Workspace tab, select Knowledge Sync > Processes > Get BWF Articles. Modify the type of knowledge articles and previously failed articles that are synchronized by default. 
  3. Modify the default synchronization queries for BMC Helix Business Workflows Knowledge Management.
    1. On the canvas, click one of the following Get Records By Query elements that you want to modify:
      • Get Failed Records By Query
      • Get BWF HowTo Records By Query
      • Get BWF KCS Records By Query
      • Get BWF Reference Records By Query
        For example, if you want to modify the query to get the How To type of articles, click the Get BWF HowTo Records By Query element.
    2. On the Settings icon.PNGGENERAL tab, in the INPUT MAP section, edit the Query Expression field. 
    3. In the Edit Expression dialog box, modify the conditions to synchronize the knowledge articles. 

      View the Get BWF Articles process

      Modify_query_Get_BWF_articles.jpg

    4. For example, if you want to synchronize the Retired, How To knowledge articles, add ArticleStatus = "6000" to the query, as shown in the following image:
      Query_variables.png

      View the supported article states and their codes

      Article status

      Code

      In progress

      1000

      Draft

      2000

      SME review

      3000

      Content review

      3100

      Proof reading

      3200

      Published

      5000

      Closed

      9000

      Retired

      6000

      Cancelled

      7000

      Publish approval

      4000

      Retire approval

      5500

      Request cancellation

      6500

    5. Click OK and click Save.
  4. Repeat the procedure to update the required Get Records By Query elements in the process.


To modify the schedule to periodically run the sync job

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. On the Workspace tab, select Knowledge Sync > Rules.
  3. Click Run Job Migration Process
  4. On the canvas, click Trigger
  5. On the Settings icon.PNGGENERAL tab, edit the Schedule Definition field as shown in the following image: 
    Schedule knowledge sync.png
  6. In the Edit Schedule Definition dialog box, specify the frequency of the knowledge synchronization job. 
  7. Click Save


To create a custom locale mapping

You can create a custom mapping between a locale in your BMC application and any existing language in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.

Best practice
You can use this mapping to enable the synchronization of articles if their locale is set to a language that either doesn't exist in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround or isn't supported by a BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround portal.

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. On the Workspace tab, select Knowledge Sync > Records.
  3. On the Records tab, select Migration Locale Mapping and click Edit data.
  4. On the Data Editor (Migration Locale Mapping) page, click New.
  1. On the New Record page, specify the following required fields:
    • ComAroundLocaleValue—Enter a language code for a BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround translation language into which articles must be migrated from your BMC application (for example, en-US).

      View the supported translation languages and their language codes

      Translation language in  BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround

      Language code

      Čeština

      cs-CZ

      Dansk

      da-DK

      Deutsch (Deutschland)

      de-DE

      Deutsch (Österreich)

      de-AT

      Deutsch (Schweiz)

      de-CH

      Eesti

      et-EE

      English (Ireland)

      en-IE

      English (United States)

      en-US

      Español

      es-ES

      Français (Belgique)

      fr-BE

      Français (France)

      fr-FR

      Français (Luxembourg)

      fr-LU

      Français (Switzerland)

      fr-CH

      Hrvatski

      hr-HR

      Italiano (Italia)

      it-IT

      Italiano (Swiss)

      it-CH

      Latviešu

      lv-LV

      Lietuvių

      lt-LT

      Magyar

      hu-HU

      Dutch (Belgium)

      nl-BE

      Dutch (Nederland)

      nl-NL

      Polski

      pl-PL

      Português

      pt-PT

      Română

      ro-RO

      Slovenčina

      sk-SK

      Slovenščina

      sl-SI

      Srpski

      sr-Latn-RS

      Suomi

      fi-FI

      Svenska

      sv-SE

      Türkçe

      tr-TR

      Ελληνικά

      el-GR

      Български

      bg-BG

      Русский (Russia)

      ru-RU

      Русский (Ukraine)

      ru-UA

      Українська

      uk-UA

      中文(简体)

      zh-CN

    • Description—Enter the mapping description.
    • Created By—Enter the name of the user who created this mapping. The default value is the BMC Helix Innovation Studio user name.
    • SourceLocaleValue—Enter the language name for a locale in your BMC application from which articles must be migrated into the selected BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround translation language.
    • SourceKBAArticle—Select a source BMC application from which localized articles must be migrated to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.
  1. Click Save.
View the New Record fields

custom_locale_mapping.png

Example

The Japanese language doesn't exist in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. However, you can migrate localized articles in Japanese from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management to any language supported by BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. For example, you can set English as a ComAroundLocaleValue to get articles in Japanese migrated from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management to the English translation language. 


To modify the multithreading configurations for the knowledge base synchronization

The synchronization tool uses the multithreading approach to deliver a top-level performance when it synchronizes knowledge bases from BMC applications to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. The tool migrates multiple knowledge articles in parallel by using a separate thread for each article instead of copying articles in a consecutive order.

Warning

To keep the performance of the synchronization tool optimal, we recommend that you don't change the default multithreading configurations. 

Performance testing shows that the defined default values enable the synchronization tool to maximize its effectiveness. Changing the values might result in performance issues both in BMC Helix Innovation Studio and BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.

If you are sure that you want to define custom multithreading configurations, you can modify the default settings. 

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. On the Workspace tab, select Knowledge Sync > Records.
  3. On the Records tab, select Migration Config Common Settings Properties and click Edit data.
  4. On the Data Editor (Migration Config Common Settings Properties) page, open a record that contains the multithreading configurations you want to modify as represented by the property name: 

    PropertyName

    Definition

    threadPoolMin

    Minimum number of threads that the synchronization tool runs in parallel

    threadPoolMax

    Maximum number of threads that the synchronization tool runs in parallel

    keepAliveTime

    Time in seconds to migrate a single article from your BMC application to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround

    View records on the Migration Config Common Settings Properties page

    multithreading_configs.jpg

  5. Specify the following required fields:
    • Created by—Enter the name of the user who created this mapping. The default value is the BMC Helix Innovation Studio user name.
    • Description—Enter the record description.
    • Status—Select the status of the record.
    • Assignee—Enter the assignee name.
    • PropertyName— Do not change the name of the property defined in the record.
    • PropertyValue—Modify the value of the selected property.

      PropertyName

      ProperyValue

      threadPoolMin

      Enter the minimum number of threads that the synchronization tool will run in parallel. The default value is 100.

      threadPoolMax

      Enter the maximum number of threads that the synchronization tool will run in parallel. The default value is 100.

      Important: The threadPoolMin and threadPoolMax values must be the same. 

      Example: There are 1000 knowledge articles that must be migrated from BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. If the threadPoolMax value is set to 100, the synchronization tool will migrate 100 articles in parallel. After this migration is completed, the next set of 100 articles will be pushed from the queue of the thread pool into the threads. The process will remain the same, regardless of the number of articles to be migrated. You do not have to increase the threadPoolMax value if the number of articles is larger; for example, 5000. 

      keepAliveTime

      Enter the time in seconds to migrate a single article from your BMC application to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. The default value is 600.
      If the article hasn't been fully migrated before this time elapses, it will be completed with the Timeout error, and the system will create an error log. For information about working with logs, see Troubleshooting.

      Important: During subsequent synchronizations, the sync tool will detect these articles and try to resynchronize them. 

      View the ThreadPoolMax record

      threadPoolMax.png

  6. Click Save


To modify the number of articles to be migrated into subfolders

To improve the synchronization performance, the synchronization tool automatically generates subfolders for each folder created in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround and migrates knowledge articles directly into them. The number of articles that can be migrated into one subfolder is limited to 300 articles per folder by default.

Warning

To keep the performance of the synchronization tool optimal, we recommend that you don't change the default number of articles to be migrated per folder. 

Performance testing shows that the defined default values enable the synchronization tool to maximize its effectiveness. Changing the values might result in performance issues both in BMC Helix Innovation Studio and BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround.

If you are sure that you want to change the number of articles to be migrated, you can modify the default settings. 

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. On the Workspace tab, select Knowledge Sync > Records.
  3. On the Records tab, select Migration Config Common Settings Properties and click Edit data.
  4. On the Data Editor (Migration Config Common Settings Properties) page, open the record that has the PropertyName set to NumberOfChildsFolders
  1. On the Edit Record page, specify the following required fields:
    • Created by—Enter the name of the user who created this mapping. The default value is the BMC Helix Innovation Studio user name.
    • Description—Enter the record description.
    • Status—Select the status of the record.
    • Assignee—Enter the assignee name.
    • PropertyName— Do not change the name of the property.
    • PropertyValue—Enter the number of articles to be migrated per folder. The default value is 300.

      Important

      There is no maximum limit for this value. However, the larger the value, the longer it takes to migrate articles.

  2. Click Save.

If you want to start a fresh synchronization process after migrating articles to BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround folders, you must clear the application cache.

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. On the Workspace tab, select Knowledge Sync > Records.
  3. On the Records tab, select Migration Config Common Settings Properties and click Edit data.
  4. On the Data Editor (Migration Config Common Settings Properties) page, open the record that has the PropertyName set to ClearSubFoldersCache
  1. On The Edit Record page, Set the PropertyValue to true.
  2. Click Save.

You can now start the synchronization process again. After the synchronization is done, ClearSubFoldersCache is automatically set to false


Where to go from here

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*