Best practices for consolidating shared ITSM data

A BMC Helix ITSM application contains the following categories of data:

• Transactional data—Ticket data such as incidents, problems, changes, service requests, work orders, tasks, releases, and activities are included in this category. Data created by end-user activity in the system is also included in this category. This category does not include any configuration data.
• Foundation data—Company-specific application configuration including company, people, support groups, sites, organizations, departments, and assets are all included in this category. This category also includes any company-specific configuration data (for example, service request definitions, SLA targets, and agreements). Data in this category is always linked to a particular ITSM company.
• Global data—This category includes configuration data that is shared between all users of the system. A company-specific configuration can override the majority of global configuration, with some exceptions such as Global SRM configuration.
• Baseline data—Configuration data that affects all BMC Helix ITSM users and that cannot be overridden for a specific multitenant company. This category also includes system-specific configuration, such as AR System Email Mailbox Configuration. This category of data is usually configured directly in the system and is not included in the scope of data migration.

Our recommended best-practice approach for data configuration management in a multitenancy BMC Helix ITSM system, is to use company-specific configuration wherever possible. Global data should be used only where absolutely necessary and explicitly overridden for each multitenant company when possible.

Consolidating multitenant BMC Helix ITSM systems that have been configured with little to no use of shared data is significantly easier. However, if attempting to consolidate systems that make use of global shared configuration data, use one of the following methods:

• Harmonizing shared data
• Converting shared data to company-specific data

Harmonizing shared data

To harmonize the shared data in the two BMC Helix ITSM applications being merged, complete the following activities:

• Analyze the shared data in the systems to be consolidated to identify common and clashing shared configuration.
• Define a single shared data set that supports the systems' users' requirements and that should be consolidated.
• Gain approval from the customers or business units that are currently using the systems for the changes.
• After gaining business approval, migrate and modify or create the shared global data in the system that will hold the consolidated data.

BMC Helix Data Manager can apply transformations to configuration and transactional data that references shared data as part of a data migration operation, but BMC Helix Data Manager cannot transform shared data in place. Therefore, unless the goal is to simply align the shared data with the shared data in the target system, harmonizing is much easier when using the Merge rather than Import consolidation method.

Converting shared data to company-specific data

Using BMC Helix Data Manager, you can convert shared data that is configured for the global company to company-specific data as part of a migration operation. Then, you can migrate the shared data from a BMC Helix ITSM system into a target system without affecting existing customers. This approach is preferred because:

• It aligns the configuration with the recommended best practice of company-specific configuration.
• Analysis effort is significantly reduced.
• You do not need to negotiate a single shared set of configuration data with disparate companies or businesses who have different processes and objectives.

Some types of global data might be more difficult to convert to company-specific configuration data. If multiple ITSM companies on the same system are using the same set of global Service Request Management application object templates (AOTs), it will be challenging to split these safely into company-specific AOTs.

If companies on different systems are using the sample global data installed with the SRM module, conversion to company-specific data might cause clashes. BMC Helix Data Manager can apply conversions to unique identifiers to prevent these clashes, but this requires a high level of technical analysis and oversight to ensure a successful consolidation.