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  • BMC Remedy AssetManagement User Guide

    Supporting

    BMC Remedy Asset Management version 7.6.04

    January 2011

    www.bmc.com

  • Contacting BMC Software

    You can access the BMC Software website at http://www.bmc.com. From this website, you can obtaininformation about the company, its products, corporate offices, special events, and career opportunities.

    United States and Canada

    Address BMC SOFTWARE INC2101 CITYWEST BLVDHOUSTON TX 77042-2827 USA

    Telephone 1 713 918 8800or1 800 841 2031

    Fax 1 713 918 8000

    Outside United States and Canada

    Telephone +01 713 918 8800 Fax +01 713 918 8000

    Copyright 1996, 1998-1999, 2002-2006, 2009-2011 BMC Software, Inc.BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software, Inc., areregistered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration inother countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pendingregistration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are theproperty of their respective owners.BladeLogic and the BladeLogic logo are the exclusive properties of BladeLogic, Inc. The BladeLogictrademark is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pendingregistration in other countries. All other BladeLogic trademarks, service marks, and logos may beregistered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registeredtrademarks are the property of their respective owners.Current and Notes are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business MachinesCorporation in the United States, other countries, or both.IT Infrastructure Library is a registered trademark of the Office of Government Commerce and is usedhere by BMC Software, Inc., under license from and with the permission of OGC.ITIL is a registered trademark, and a registered community trademark of the Office of GovernmentCommerce, and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and is used here by BMC Software,Inc., under license from and with the permission of OGC.Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarksof their respective owners.Crystal Reports is a trademark or registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.The information included in this documentation is the proprietary and confidential information of BMCSoftware, Inc., its affiliates, or licensors. Your use of this information is subject to the terms and conditionsof the applicable End User License agreement for the product and to the proprietary and restricted rightsnotices included in the product documentation.

    Restricted rights legend

    U.S. Government Restricted Rights to Computer Software. UNPUBLISHEDRIGHTS RESERVEDUNDER THE COPYRIGHT LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. Use, duplication, or disclosure of any dataand computer software by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions, as applicable, set forth in FARSection 52.227-14, DFARS 252.227-7013, DFARS 252.227-7014, DFARS 252.227-7015, and DFARS252.227-7025, as amended from time to time. Contractor/Manufacturer is BMC SOFTWARE INC, 2101CITYWEST BLVD, HOUSTON TX 77042-2827, USA. Any contract notices should be sent to this address.

  • Customer support

    Support website

    You can obtain technical support from BMC 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at http://www.bmc.com/support. From thiswebsite, you can read overviews about support services and programs that BMC offers find the most current information about BMC products search a database for problems similar to yours and possible solutions order or download product documentation download products and maintenance report a problem or ask a question subscribe to receive proactive e-mail alerts find worldwide BMC support center locations and contact information, including e-mail addresses, fax numbers, and

    telephone numbers

    Support by telephone or e-mail

    In the United States and Canada, if you need technical support and do not have access to the web, call 800 537 1813 orsend an e-mail message to [email protected]. (In the subject line, enter SupID:yourSupportContractID, suchas SupID:12345). Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local support center for assistance.

    Before contacting BMC

    Have the following information available so that Customer Support can begin working on your issue immediately: product information

    product name product version (release number) license number and password (trial or permanent)

    operating system and environment information machine type operating system type, version, and service pack or other maintenance level such as PUT or PTF system hardware configuration serial numbers related software (database, application, and communication) including type, version, and service pack or

    maintenance level sequence of events leading to the problem commands and options that you used messages received (and the time and date that you received them)

    product error messages messages from the operating system, such as file system full messages from related software

    3

  • License key and password information

    If you have questions about your license key or password, contact Customer Support through one of the following methods: Send an e-mail message to [email protected]. (In the Subject line, enter SupID:yourSupportContractID ,

    such as SupID:12345.) In the United States and Canada, call 1 800 537 1813. Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local support

    center for assistance. Submit a new issue at http://www.bmc.com/support_home.

    4 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Contents

    About this Book 13Audience ..........................................................................................................................13BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite documents .........................................14Conventions .....................................................................................................................17Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 19About BMC Remedy Asset Management ..................................................................19BMC Remedy ITSM usability enhancements .............................................................20Where to find features and fields that have moved ..................................................23User interface standards for field labels ......................................................................23Icons used in the interface .............................................................................................24Using BMC Remedy Asset Management with other products ................................24Installing and configuring BMC Remedy Asset Management ...............................25User roles .........................................................................................................................26

    Approver ...............................................................................................................27Configuration administrator ..............................................................................27Contract manager ................................................................................................28Financial manager ................................................................................................28Purchasing agent ..................................................................................................28Software asset manager ......................................................................................29

    User scenarios ..................................................................................................................29Calbro Services .....................................................................................................30BMC Remedy Asset Management user scenarios ...........................................30

    Chapter 2 Getting started 41About the IT Home Page ...............................................................................................41

    Configuring the IT Home Page ..........................................................................44Using Global search .............................................................................................45

    Navigating consoles, forms, and modules .................................................................46Using the Asset Management console .........................................................................49

    Functional areas of the Asset Management console .......................................50Using the functions on the Asset Management console ................................53Using the KPI flashboards ..................................................................................54Searching for CIs ..................................................................................................58Broadcasting a message ......................................................................................63Changing datasets ................................................................................................66

    Contents 5

  • Performing bulk updates ....................................................................................66Creating reminders ..............................................................................................68Modifying your application preferences ..........................................................68

    Using the Overview console .........................................................................................69Functional areas of the Overview console .......................................................70Console List table .................................................................................................72Selecting status values .........................................................................................73

    Role-based consoles ........................................................................................................74Chapter 3 Working with configuration items 77Overview of a CI .............................................................................................................77

    CIs and other BMC products ..............................................................................77Overview of the CI form .....................................................................................78

    Categorizing CIs .............................................................................................................79Setting the company and location of a CI ...................................................................80Providing access to a CI for multiple companies .......................................................80Using a sandbox dataset for CI data ............................................................................81Working with discovered CIs .......................................................................................81Creating CIs .....................................................................................................................82

    Creating a Computer System CI ........................................................................83Creating a Bulk Inventory CI .............................................................................86Adding bulk inventory to a storage location ...................................................86

    Viewing CI audits ...........................................................................................................87Viewing a notification audit of a CI .................................................................87Viewing a BMC Atrium CMDB audit of a CI ..................................................88

    Exploring CI relationships .............................................................................................88Using BMC Atrium Impact Simulator .........................................................................89

    Functional areas of the BMC Atrium Impact Simulator console ..................91Running an impact simulation ..........................................................................91

    Creating relationships in a topology ............................................................................92Using network topologies to diagnose problems ...........................................92Relating CIs in a network topology ..................................................................93

    Chapter 4 Leveraging secondary CI features 95Adding work information .............................................................................................95Relating people, organizations, and groups to CIs ....................................................96Working with configurations ........................................................................................99

    Viewing configuration information ..................................................................99Adding a configuration to a CI ........................................................................100

    Working with related items .........................................................................................100Viewing relationship details for a computer system CI ...............................101

    6 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Creating records from the Relationships tab .................................................102Relating records to CIs ......................................................................................103Using relationship quick actions .....................................................................104

    Working with costs .......................................................................................................106Adding costs .......................................................................................................106

    Working with maintenance schedules and audit schedules .................................107Creating a schedule ...........................................................................................107Relating a schedule to a CI ...............................................................................109Searching for and modifying a schedule ........................................................109Changing the status for a schedule .................................................................111

    Managing decommission schedules ..........................................................................111Notification of a virtual machine scheduled for decommission .................114

    Creating outage information .......................................................................................114CI unavailability lifecycle .................................................................................115

    Creating a blackout schedule ......................................................................................118Creating a one-time blackout schedule ..........................................................119Creating a recurring blackout schedule ..........................................................120

    Performing additional functions on the CI form .....................................................121Chapter 5 Requisition management 125Overview of the purchasing process .........................................................................125Creating purchase requisitions ...................................................................................129

    Specifying purchase items manually ..............................................................132Purchase requisition states ...............................................................................136Obtaining pricing ...............................................................................................136Pricing purchase items ......................................................................................136Submitting the purchase requisition for approval ........................................138Approving the purchase requisition ...............................................................138Modifying rejected purchase requisitions ......................................................140

    Working with purchase requisitions .........................................................................141Modifying purchase items ................................................................................141Removing purchase items ................................................................................142Holding a purchase requisition .......................................................................143Canceling a purchase requisition ....................................................................143

    Viewing purchase requisitions in the console ..........................................................144Searching for purchase requisitions ...........................................................................144Working with purchase orders ...................................................................................145

    Searching for purchase orders .........................................................................145Completing a purchase order ...........................................................................146Placing a purchase order ..................................................................................147Resending a purchase order .............................................................................148

    Contents 7

  • Canceling a purchase order ..............................................................................148Generating reports from the Purchasing console ..........................................149

    Receiving and returning purchase items ...................................................................149Receiving items ..................................................................................................150Returning purchase items .................................................................................152Returning purchase items to be replaced .......................................................153Returning purchase items from a CI ...............................................................153

    Chapter 6 Contract management 155Contract types ...............................................................................................................155About the Contract Management console .................................................................156

    Functional areas of the Contract Management console ...............................156Searching for contracts ......................................................................................159Secondary functions on the Contract Management console .......................160

    Creating master contracts ............................................................................................160Creating non-software-license contracts ...................................................................163

    Adding contact information .............................................................................165Adding cost information to a contract ............................................................165Adding terms and conditions ..........................................................................166Relating the contract to another contract .......................................................167

    Tracking the contract lifecycle ....................................................................................167Adding a payment for a contract ................................................................................169Relating contracts to CIs ..............................................................................................169

    Relating CIs to a contract ..................................................................................169Relating a contract to a CI .................................................................................170Creating a new contract to relate to a CI ........................................................171

    Adding end-of-lease terms ..........................................................................................172Chapter 7 Software license management 173About software asset management and software license management ...............173

    About the software lifecycle .............................................................................174Implementing software license management ................................................177Software license management and multi-tenancy ........................................180

    About the Software Asset Management console .....................................................180Functional areas of the Software Asset Management console ....................180Secondary functions on the Software Asset Management console ............184

    Viewing KPIs .................................................................................................................185Creating a software contract .......................................................................................186Reviewing a software contract ....................................................................................188Adding a license certificate to a software contract ..................................................189About certificate groups ..............................................................................................194

    8 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Manually managing certificate groups ......................................................................195Relating licenses to users and devices .......................................................................196Adding work information ...........................................................................................198Managing jobs that automatically attach CIs to license certificates ......................199

    About the Manage License Jobs console ........................................................200Creating a job ......................................................................................................201Running a job immediately ..............................................................................202Scheduling a time-based license job ................................................................203Viewing the results of a license job .................................................................203Scheduling a reconciliation-based license job ................................................203

    Reviewing a software license certificate ....................................................................204Relating one license certificate to another license certificate ..................................206Adding, modifying or removing product categorization from a licensecertificate ........................................................................................................................210Viewing software usage details ..................................................................................210Upgrading licenses .......................................................................................................213Determining which CIs use a license certificate .......................................................218Manually managing CIs attached to a license certificate ........................................219Manually specifying a license certificate for a software CI ....................................220Recording the purchase cost for a license .................................................................221Troubleshooting software license management .......................................................221

    No CIs are related to a software license certificate .......................................222One or more CIs are not related to any software license certificates .........223Incorrect CIs are related to a software license certificate .............................224A "per copy" license is approaching breach faster than expected ..............225

    Chapter 8 Costing and charge-backs 227IT roles for asset accounting ........................................................................................227The charge-back cycle .................................................................................................228About cost centers ........................................................................................................229About charge-backs .....................................................................................................229About time periods ......................................................................................................230Providing accounting information .............................................................................230Providing purchasing information .............................................................................231Working with costs .......................................................................................................232

    Viewing costs ......................................................................................................233Adding costs ......................................................................................................233Modifying costs .................................................................................................235Removing costs .................................................................................................236

    Working with depreciation .........................................................................................237Providing depreciation information ...............................................................239

    Contents 9

  • Viewing depreciation .......................................................................................240Modifying depreciation ...................................................................................241Specifying tax-related values other than depreciation .................................243

    Working with charge-backs .......................................................................................244Planning and setting up charge-back information .......................................244Implementing the charge-back process during each period ......................245Generating a list of charge-back entries ........................................................245Viewing charge-back entries ...........................................................................246Adjusting charge-back entries ........................................................................247

    Generating charge-back reports and invoices ..........................................................249Generating charge-back reports ......................................................................250Generating charge-back invoices ....................................................................253Viewing and resolving process messages .....................................................256

    Closing the current period ..........................................................................................257Chapter 9 Managing inventory 259Creating bulk inventory CIs ........................................................................................259Creating inventory location CIs .................................................................................260Placing bulk CIs in inventory ......................................................................................260Placing non-bulk CIs in inventory ............................................................................261Viewing inventory locations .......................................................................................262Relocating CIs ...............................................................................................................262Reserving and using inventory ..................................................................................263Chapter 10 Using the configuration catalog 265About the configuration catalog .................................................................................265Viewing configurations ................................................................................................267Adding a configuration ................................................................................................268

    Adding items to the configuration ..................................................................269Creating items to add to a configuration ........................................................270Changing the unit type and the number of items .........................................271

    Relating CIs to a configuration ...................................................................................272Generating a differences report ..................................................................................273Modifying a configuration ..........................................................................................273Generating a review schedule .....................................................................................275

    Relating additional configurations to a review schedule ............................276Removing configurations from a review schedule .......................................276Marking a review as in progress or completed .............................................277

    Creating a new version of an active configuration ..................................................277Creating a configuration from a copy ........................................................................278

    10 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Chapter 11 Working with reports 281Generating a report .......................................................................................................281Using qualifications to generate a report ..................................................................283Using advanced qualifications to generate a report ................................................285BMC Remedy Asset Management predefined reports ...........................................286Appendix A CI and relationship types 289BMC_Access Point subclass ........................................................................................289BMC_Bulk Inventory subclass ....................................................................................289BMC_Collection subclass .............................................................................................290BMC_Document class ..................................................................................................290BMC_Equipment class .................................................................................................290BMC_Logical Entity subclass .....................................................................................291BMC_Settings subclass .................................................................................................292BMC_System subclass .................................................................................................292BMC_System Component subclass ...........................................................................293BMC_System Service subclass ...................................................................................295Relationship types .......................................................................................................295

    Contents 11

  • 12 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • About this BookThe BMC Remedy Asset Management User's Guide describes how to use the BMCRemedy Asset Management application to manage assets throughout yourenterprise. BMC Remedy Asset Management is one of the BMC Remedy IT ServiceManagement suite (BMC Remedy ITSM suite) applications, which also include: The BMC Remedy Change and Release Management applications. The BMC Remedy Service Desk solution (which includes the

    BMC Remedy Incident Management application and the BMC Remedy ProblemManagement application).

    The applications run in conjunction with the BMC Remedy Action Request Systemplatform (BMC Remedy AR System platform) and share a common database. Theapplications consume data from the BMC Atrium Configuration ManagementDatabase (BMC Atrium CMDB) application.

    AudienceBMC Remedy Asset Management is intended for the following IT professionals: Approver Asset manager Configuration administrator Contract manager Financial manager IT director Purchasing agent Software asset manager

    About this Book 13

  • BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suitedocuments

    The following table lists the documentation available for BMC Remedy AssetManagement. It also lists relevant documents for related solutions and products.

    Unless otherwise noted, online documentation in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format isavailable on product installation CDs, on the Customer Support website http://www.bmc.com/support , or both.

    Title Document provides Audience

    BMC Remedy Asset ManagementBMC Remedy ITSM ConfigurationQuick Start

    A reference card to quickly installand configure applications in theBMC Remedy ITSM suite.

    Administrators

    BMC Remedy Asset ManagementUser's Guide

    Procedures for using the BMCRemedy Asset Managementapplications; includes newfeatures and overview.

    Everyone

    BMC Remedy IT ServiceManagement Concepts Guide

    Conceptual overview of theapplications that make up theBMC Remedy ITSM suite ofapplications

    Everyone

    BMC Remedy IT ServiceManagement Administration Guide

    Procedures for configuring theBMC Remedy ITSM applications.

    Administrators

    BMC Remedy IT ServiceManagement Data ManagementAdministrator's Guide

    Procedures for using the DataManagement tool that is part ofthe BMC Remedy ITSM suite.

    Administrators

    BMC Remedy IT ServiceManagement Guide to Multi-Tenancy

    Scenarios for implementing multi-tenancy. It also describes howmulti-tenancy is implemented inthe BMC Atrium CMDB productand how that implementationrelates to multi-tenancy asimplemented in the BMC RemedyITSM applications

    Everyone

    BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite documents

    14 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Title Document provides Audience

    BMC Remedy IT ServiceManagement Installation Guide

    Procedures for installing the BMCRemedy IT Service Managementapplications and solutions, BMCRemedy Service Desk solution(BMC Remedy IncidentManagement and BMC RemedyProblem Management), BMCRemedy Change Management,and BMC Remedy AssetManagement.

    Administrators

    BMC Remedy IT ServiceManagement Release Notes

    Information about known issues ineach release of BMC RemedyITSM. Also provides a list of newfeatures included with theapplications.

    Everyone

    Help Help for using BMC RemedyAsset Management, available byclicking Help in the productinterface.Available from help links afterhelp is installed.

    Everyone

    Other BMC Remedy IT Service Management productsBMC Remedy Change ManagementUsers Guide

    Procedures for using the BMCRemedy Change Managementapplication; includes new featuresand overview.

    Everyone

    BMC Remedy Service Desk: IncidentManagement Users Guide

    Procedures for using the BMCRemedy Service Desk: IncidentManagement application; includesnew features and overview.

    Everyone

    BMC Remedy Service Desk: ProblemManagement Users Guide

    Procedures for using the BMCRemedy Service Desk: ProblemManagement application; includesnew features and overview.

    Everyone

    SolutionsBMC Dashboards for BusinessService Management Getting Started

    Information about installing,configuring, and using BMCDashboards for BSM.

    Everyone

    BMC Atrium CoreBMC Atrium CMDBAdministrator's Guide

    Information about configuring theBMC Atrium CMDB application tomanage data about your ITenvironment

    Administrators

    BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite documents

    About this Book 15

  • Title Document provides Audience

    BMC Atrium CMDB Common DataModel Diagram

    Hierarchical diagram of all classesin the CDM, including uniqueattributes and applicablerelationships.

    Administrators

    BMC Atrium CMDB Normalizationand Reconciliation Guide

    Information about configuring andmanaging jobs that normalize andreconcile product informationfrom data providers that is used toupdate the BMC Atrium CMDB.

    Administrators

    BMC Atrium Core Concepts andPlanning Guide

    Information about BMC AtriumCMDB concepts and best practicesfor planning your BMC AtriumCMDB implementation.

    Executives and administrators

    BMC Atrium CMDB User's Guide Information about using BMCAtrium CMDB, including how tosearch for CIs and relationships,launch federated data, generatereports, and run reconciliation jobs.

    Users

    BMC Atrium Discovery and Dependency MappingBMC Atrium Discovery andDependency Mapping: PopulatingBMC Atrium CMDB

    Information about configuring aconnection to BMC AtriumCMDB, synchronizing discoverydata, and reconciling andmaintaining the data.

    Administrator

    BMC BladeLogic Client AutomationBMC Configuration Automation forClients Configuration DiscoveryIntegration for CMDBImplementation Guide

    Instructions about planning,installing, and configuring theConfiguration Discoveryintegration. This guide alsoincludes information aboutrelationship classes and mapping,data exchanges, and reconciliationdefinitions.

    Administrator

    BMC Remedy Action Request SystemBMC Remedy Action Request SystemConcepts Guide

    Concepts for using the BMCRemedy Action Request System.

    Administrators

    BMC Remedy Action RequestSystem: BMC Remedy ApprovalServer Guide

    Topics on installation andconfiguration of the ApprovalServer, how to use the ApprovalServer, and understanding theapproval workflow.

    Users and administrators

    BMC Service Level Management

    BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite documents

    16 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Title Document provides Audience

    BMC Service Level ManagementConfiguration Guide

    Procedures for configuring theBMC Service Level Managementapplication.

    Administrators

    BMC Service Level ManagementUser's Guide

    Procedures for using the BMCService Level Managementapplication.

    Everyone

    ConventionsThis document uses the following special conventions: All syntax, operating system terms, and literal examples are

    presented in this typeface.

    Variable text in path names, system messages, or syntax is displayed in italic text:testsys/instance/fileName

    This document uses a symbol to show menu sequences. For example, Actions => Create Test instructs you to choose the Create Test command from the Actionsmenu.

    Conventions

    About this Book 17

  • Conventions

    18 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Introducing BMC Remedy AssetManagement

    This section introduces you to BMC Remedy Asset Management. IT professionalscan use BMC Remedy Asset Management to track and manage enterpriseconfiguration items (CIs), the items they represent, and their changing relationships,throughout the entire CI lifecycle.

    About BMC Remedy Asset ManagementBMC Remedy Asset Management helps reduce the total cost of ownership of itemsrepresented by your CIs and increases return on investment. The BMC RemedyITSM suite integrates BMC Remedy Asset Management with BMC Remedy ServiceDesk (which contains the BMC Remedy Incident Management and BMC RemedyProblem Management applications), BMC Remedy Change Management, and BMCService Level Management. BMC Remedy Asset Management offers the flexibility tosupport customized business processes.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management provides the following capabilities: Enhanced software license management automationReduce software license

    overspending and non-compliance through greater accuracy in discovering,tracking, and reallocating software licenses. By automatically linking discoveredsoftware CIs to contracts, BMC Remedy Asset Management can report on licensecompliance. If BMC Remedy Change Management is installed, it can also facilitatelicense reallocation.

    Contract managementTrack the status, type, terms, conditions, payments, andother information about lease, software, warranty, and maintenance contracts.

    Blackout scheduleCreate schedules listing available or unavailable times for CIs. Inventory managementSpecify, track, and manage individual CIs and bulk items.

    1

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 19

  • Configuration managementDefine standard configurations, or setups, fordifferent people or groups within a company, and maintain the status of the CIswithin the configurations.

    Lifecycle IT CI managementUse best practices workflow to manage all phasesof the IT CI management lifecycle from requisition, purchase and receipt, toinstallation and deployment.

    Financial managementConsolidate CI costs from procurement to disposition,and allocate and track costs to cost centers.

    Requisition managementCreate purchase requisitions, manage the approvalsof the requisitions, create purchase orders, and manage the receipt of items fromsuppliers and the creation of the associated CIs.

    BMC Remedy ITSM usability enhancementsThe BMC Remedy ITSM 7.6.04 release contains the following usabilityenhancements. These enhancements are available only when the applications areaccessed through a web browser.

    Table 1: BMC Remedy ITSM usability enhancements

    Description Affected applications and modules

    To help you retrieve information faster, the type-ahead search functionality is available on morefields. When you start to type a query into a fieldthat has the type-ahead search functionality, one ormore possible matches are immediately presentedfor selection in a drop-down list. As you type morecharacters, the list changes to match what you type.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Remedy Change Management, includingRelease Management

    BMC Remedy Incident Management

    BMC Remedy Problem Management

    BMC Remedy Knowledge Management

    BMC Service Request Management

    BMC Remedy ITSM usability enhancements

    20 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Description Affected applications and modules

    To improve application performance, systemadministrators can configure system messages fromfilters and servers to appear in a message bar insteadof in pop-up windows. For information about thisconfiguration, see the BMC Remedy Action RequestSystem 7.6.04 Configuration Guide .

    BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Remedy Change Management, includingRelease Management

    BMC Remedy Incident Management

    BMC Remedy Problem Management

    BMC Remedy Knowledge Management

    BMC Service Request Management

    BMC Service Level Management

    To provide easier access to the BMC ServiceManagement Process Model (SMPM) from theapplications, the Process Overview link is availablefrom the Quick Actions navigation area of the mainforms. The Process Overview link is also availableabove the main tables on the consoles.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Remedy Change Management

    BMC Remedy Incident Management

    BMC Remedy Problem Management

    To improve overall system performance, mostconsoles and forms now open inside a single viewarea, instead of in individual windows.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Remedy Change Management

    BMC Remedy Incident Management

    BMC Remedy Problem Management

    BMC Service Request Management

    BMC Remedy Knowledge Management

    BMC Remedy ITSM usability enhancements

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 21

  • Description Affected applications and modules

    To make navigation through the BMC Remedy ITSMsuite of applications easier, a more consistentnavigation model is used on the IT Home Page,consoles, and forms. For example, the applicationmenu that appeared on the IT Home page in earlierreleases of the BMC Remedy ITSM suite ofapplications is now used on all of the applicationconsoles and main forms.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Remedy Change Management

    BMC Remedy Incident Management

    BMC Remedy Problem Management

    BMC Service Request Management

    BMC Remedy Knowledge Management

    To make required fields more obvious, when yousave a record, a red box outlines mandatory fieldsthat do not contain valid information.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Remedy Change Management

    BMC Remedy Incident Management

    BMC Remedy Problem Management

    To make searching for information acrossapplications easier and more intuitive, a globalsearch option is available. The search scans andretrieves information from the installed BMCRemedy ITSM applications and presents it in areadable, consumable format. See the applicableapplication user guide for information about how theglobal search function works.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Remedy Change Management

    BMC Remedy Incident Management

    BMC Remedy Problem Management

    To quickly access BMC Atrium Explorer from theService and CI fields, you can click the new ExploreCI icon.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Remedy Change Management

    BMC Remedy Incident Management

    BMC Remedy Problem Management

    BMC Remedy ITSM usability enhancements

    22 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Where to find features and fields that havemoved

    This section lists features and fields that have moved from their previous locationson the user interface and provides you with their new location.

    The following console features and links have moved: KPIsYou now access the KPIs by clicking the KPIs link in the Functions menu

    on the navigation pane. Defined Searches You now access Defined Searches from the Filter By drop

    down menu at the top of the console. Process OverviewYou now access Process Overview from a link above the

    console table.

    User interface standards for field labelsOn BMC Remedy ITSM forms, field labels provide data entry hints.

    Table 2 on page 23 lists the significance of field-label formats and special characters.

    Table 2: Significance of field labels for data entry

    Field-label format or special characters Significance for data entry

    Bold label followed by an asterisk (*) Field is required to submit and update the form.Note: If you leave the field blank when you attemptto submit the form, the field is highlighted with a redborder.

    Field label not bolded Field is optional.Italicized label System-generated value for this field. Typically this

    field is read-only for the user.Label followed by a plus sign (+) Additional functionality is associated with this field.

    Typically, you access this functionality by pressingEnter. For example, you might press Enter in a fieldto access a search dialog box or to perform a searchbased on the value typed into the field.If a field label followed by a plus sign is also bolded,the field is required. Otherwise, the field is optional.

    Where to find features and fields that have moved

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 23

  • Icons used in the interfaceThis table describes the icons used on the consoles and in the Best Practice view ofthe application interface.

    Table 3: Icon descriptions

    Icon Description

    DetailDisplays detailed information about the field's content. For example, if youclick the Detail icon associated with the Customer field, the People form appears withinformation about the customer whose name appears in the field.SearchSearches for field contents. This icon is associated with fields that have theability to open a search dialog box or form.Explore CIOpens the BMC Atrium Explorer for the CIs selected in the Service andCI fields.Clear field contentsClears the contents of the field and allows you to make anotherselection. It does not delete the record.

    Using BMC Remedy Asset Management withother products

    In a typical environment, you use BMC Remedy Asset Management with otherproducts. For example, you might use a discovery product to populate BMC AtriumConfiguration Management Database (BMC Atrium CMDB). The following tablelists products that might be used in your environment.

    Table 4: Products used with BMC Remedy Asset Management

    Product Relationship with BMC Remedy Asset Management

    BMC Atrium CMDB BMC Remedy Asset Management extends the BMC AtriumCMDB common data model. BMC Remedy AssetManagement provides views of CIs that focus on theattributes applicable to managing your assets.

    Icons used in the interface

    24 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Product Relationship with BMC Remedy Asset Management

    Discovery products, such as the followingproducts:

    BMC Configuration Automation forClients Configuration DiscoveryIntegration for CMDB (BMCConfiguration Automation CDI)

    BMC Atrium Discovery and DependencyMapping (BMC Atrium Discovery)

    Discovery products automatically populate BMC AtriumCMDB. BMC Remedy Asset Management is a consumer ofdata from discovery products.Note: If you are using the BMC Remedy Asset Managementsoftware license management feature together with BMCConfiguration Automation CDI, you must use BMCConfiguration Automation CDI patch 7.5.00.001 or later.

    BMC Service Level Management Agreements created in BMC Service Level Management canbe tied to CI unavailability (outages). For example, anagreement can establish the maximum length of time thatcertain items can be unavailable and set penalties forbreaching the agreement.

    BMC Remedy Change Management BMC Remedy Asset Management can initiate changerequests to make sure that work is performed in thefollowing areas:

    PurchasingWhen you purchase an item requiringinstallation, you can generate a change request.

    Scheduled audits and maintenanceChange requests canbe generated to assign and track the work.

    When BMC Remedy Change Management updates BMCAtrium CMDB, you can view the changes in BMC RemedyAsset Management.

    BMC Remedy Service Desk Service desk analysts can record CI unavailability fromincidents and can link incidents to CI unavailability. Servicedesk analysts and problem analysts can use information fromBMC Remedy Asset Management to help diagnose incidentsand problems.

    Installing and configuring BMC Remedy AssetManagement

    Application administrators use the Application Administration console to configurethe BMC Remedy Asset Management application. They use this console to: Modify permissions and functional roles.

    Installing and configuring BMC Remedy Asset Management

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 25

  • Configure assignment rules. Define bulk CI reorder levels. Delete CIs duplicated during the reconciliation process. Configure the default depreciation method for a specific CI categorization. Configure who to notify when a CI is set to a specific status. Configure whether a CI is down or up depending on its status. Configure license management rules. Configure the priority of a CI unavailability record based on the unavailability

    class (Incident or Change), and type (scheduled or unscheduled). Configure the approval process for configurations. Create contract types and software license types.

    For information about installation and configuration of BMC Remedy AssetManagement, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management Installation Guide and theBMC Remedy IT Service Management Administration Guide.

    User rolesThe roles related to using BMC Remedy Asset Management generally encompass theresponsibilities outline in the following sections. The roles in your organizationmight vary. For example, one person might fulfill several roles.

    Note To define the permissions and functional roles for each of the following roles, reviewthe BMC Remedy Asset Management permissions section in the BMC Remedy ITService Management Administration Guide.

    BMC Remedy Asset Management includes the following roles: Approver on page 27 Configuration administrator on page 27 Contract manager on page 28 Financial manager on page 28

    User roles

    26 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Purchasing agent on page 28 Software asset manager on page 29

    Approver

    Approvers use BMC Remedy Asset Management to perform the following tasks: Approve or reject requests for the acquisition of new items. Approve or reject proposed standard configurations.

    An approver can be any person in your organization. This role uses the followingpermissions:

    Asset Viewer Incident Viewer Infrastructure Change Viewer Problem Viewer

    Configuration administrator

    Configuration administrators require an overall view of the CIs for which theirsupport groups are responsible. Some organizations call this role an asset manager.For CIs for which their support group is responsible, configuration administratorsperform the following tasks: Create purchase requisitions. After an item is ordered has been delivered, verify the condition and inform

    purchasing. Label items after they have been delivered. Keep CIs up-to-date. Maintain the information of external organizations that supply or support items. Maintain CI relationships. These relationships include the relationships between a

    CI and other CIs, its supplier, its contracts, and the service infrastructures that it isa part of.

    User roles

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 27

  • Manage inventory. Perform bulk updates. Create maintenance schedules and audit schedules for CIs.

    This role uses the following permissions: Asset Admin Contract User Purchasing User Receiving User

    Contract manager

    Contract managers are responsible for managing IT contracts. This role uses theContract Admin permission. Contract managers perform the following tasks: Create support, warranty, lease, maintenance, and software contract and license

    information. Relate the contracts to the applicable CIs. Maintain the contract data. Make sure that customers are renewing or renegotiating their contracts.

    In some organizations, the contract manager also takes on the role of software assetmanager.

    Financial manager

    Financial managers use BMC Remedy Asset Management to review cost informationand prepare periodic charge-back and cost-recovery reports. This role uses the CostManager permission.

    Purchasing agent

    Purchasing agents who are not part of the IT organization might have access only tothe Purchasing console. Purchasing agents who are part of the IT organization

    User roles

    28 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • assume one or more additional roles and have access to the applicable consoles. ThePurchasing console provides access to purchase requisitions and purchase orders.This role uses the Purchasing User permission. Purchasing agents perform thefollowing tasks: Obtain quotes from suppliers for items that have been requested for purchase. Request approval for ordering items after the quotes from suppliers for these

    items have been collected. Submit purchase orders for items that have been approved for purchase. Update purchase line items after configuration administrators have confirmed the

    receipt of items for which purchase orders were submitted.

    Software asset manager

    Software asset managers are responsible for optimizing software assets and formanaging compliance with software license contracts. They also evaluate usage ofsoftware licenses to make sure that the organization is not over-purchasing licenses.

    This role uses the Asset Admin permission. This role can be fulfilled by theconfiguration administrator.

    User scenariosThis section describes common BMC Remedy IT Service Management user scenariosthat you encounter as IT support staff. Calbro Services user personas help toillustrate the user scenarios. The typical steps described by these user scenarios arein keeping with BMC best practices as outlined by BMC Service ManagementProcess Model (BMC SMPM).

    The user scenarios indicate people that are included with sample data. For each ofthese people, the user name is the person's first name, and the password is password.

    The user scenarios do not necessarily refer to specific Calbro Services sample data(for information about Calbro Services, see Calbro Services on page 30). Tofollow the user scenarios, in some instances, you might need to create your ownsample data (for example, bulk inventory CIs). In addition, you might need to grantadditional permissions to certain users.

    User scenarios

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 29

  • Calbro Services

    In the BMC Remedy ITSM documentation set, a fictional company named CalbroServices helps explain how BMC Remedy ITSM principles and procedures are usedin practice.

    Although Calbro Services is a fictional company, it is based on research of actualBMC Software customers. Learning how Calbro Services manages common ITService Management scenarios should prove useful as you use the BMC RemedyITSM applications in your own environment.

    Calbro Services, a large, global company, is headquartered in New York City andpublicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has 27,000employees in 240 offices located in 20 countries. Table 5 on page 30 describes keybusiness services in Calbro Services.

    Table 5: Key business services

    Service Description

    Online banking 500 ATMs in major citiesWWW presence Corporate site and online brokerage servicesDiscount equity brokerage Online and storefront servicesSales force automation Automated sales activities such as leads, orders, reports,

    and so onCustomer support Support centers in the United States, Europe, and AsiaMass marketing World-wide marketing campaigns aimed at making

    Calbro Services a household name

    BMC Remedy Asset Management user scenarios

    This section describe at a high-level common BMC Remedy Asset Management userscenarios that you typically encounter as IT support staff. The Calbro Servicessample data is used to illustrate the user scenarios.

    The following user scenarios are provided: Purchasing software and assigning a license on page 31 Scheduling regular maintenance on a network printer on page 32 Purchasing a laptop for a new employee on page 34 Investigating inaccurate CI data on page 37

    User scenarios

    30 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Making sure that scheduled changes to CIs do not impact business services onpage 37

    Purchasing software and assigning a license

    Calbro Services has an enterprise license for Microsoft Office, which gives allemployees access to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power Point, andMicrosoft Outlook. However, because only a few people require Microsoft Visio, thissoftware is purchased only as required.

    Allen Allbrook is the Contract Manager for Calbro Services. He maintains thecontracts for Microsoft products.

    Joe Unser, who works in Human Resources, requires a copy of Microsoft Visio. AllenAllbrook, who is also the configuration administrator and software asset manager,orders Microsoft Visio.

    Table 6 on page 31 describes the typical steps involved in this user scenario.

    Table 6: Purchasing software and assigning a license

    Role Actions Explanation

    Contract manager On the Contract Management console,the contract manager creates a softwarelicense contract for Microsoft Visio andsets the status to Executed.

    Allen Allbrook creates a contract forMicrosoft Visio. Because this contract ismanaged by Backoffice Support, contractusers (such as Bob Baxter) can add licensecertificates as they are purchased.

    Configurationadministrator

    On the Purchasing console, theconfiguration manager creates apurchase requisition for Microsoft Visio.On the License Certificate tab of theline item, the configurationadministrator selects a Per Instancelicense type and completes therequired fields.The configuration administratorsubmits the purchase requisition forapproval.

    Allen Allbrook creates a purchaserequisition for Microsoft Visio. He specifiesdetails about the license certificate. Themanager of the requester is the defaultapprover of the purchase requisition.Note: If Per Instance license types are notavailable, you must enable the Per Instancelicense type, as described in the BMCRemedy IT Service Management AdministrationGuide.

    Requester's manager On Approval Central, the requester'smanager selects the purchaserequisition and approves it.

    The requesters manager must approve thepurchase requisition.Note: If no manager is assigned to therequester, you should assign a manager inthe People form. For more information, seethe BMC Remedy IT Service ManagementAdministration Guide.

    User scenarios

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 31

  • Role Actions Explanation

    Purchasing agent The purchasing agent creates thepurchase order:On the Purchasing console, thepurchasing agent searches for orders toplace.He views and then places the order.

    After the purchase requisition is approved,a purchase order is automatically createdand is ready to be placed with the vendor.If the system is configured to auto-receivesoftware products, the license certificate iscreated when the purchase order is placedon order and is linked to the line item on thepurchase order.Note: To set auto-receive, refer to theConfiguring BMC Remedy AssetManagement section in the BMC Remedy ITService Management Administration Guide.

    Configurationadministrator

    The configuration administratorreceives the item on the purchase order:On the Receiving console, theconfiguration administrator searchesfor the purchase order and receives aquantity of one.

    If the system is not configured to auto-receive software products, Allen Allbrookreceives Microsoft Visio on the purchaseorder. At this time, the license certificate isautomatically created and linked to the lineitem on the purchase order.This action automatically creates a new CI.

    Customer The customer installs the software. After Joe Unser installs Microsoft Visio onhis computer, discovery software discoversthe software. During reconciliation, the CI,which previously had a status of Received,is set to a status of Deployed.

    Contract manager The contract manager runs a license jobto assign the license:From the Software Asset Managementconsole, the contract manager accessesthe Manage License Jobs console.The contract manager creates a licensejob for the Per instance license type.On the Manage License Jobs console,the contract manager runs the licensejob.

    Allen Allbrook runs a license job.If a broad license job is already scheduled torun nightly or upon reconciliation, Allencould skip this step. The license job connectsthe CI to the software license certificate.

    Scheduling regular maintenance on a network printer

    Calbro Services has a high-speed high-volume network printer on each floor of itsoffices. These printers require maintenance every six months. The configurationadministrator, Allen Allbrook, sets up a maintenance schedule for each of theseprinters.

    Note Not all data for this example is included with the sample data. You must create theAsset Maintenance change type template and the network printer CI.

    User scenarios

    32 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Allen selects a network printer maintenance change template, so that theappropriate change request is started when maintenance is scheduled. Because thisis a pre-approved change, no approval is required, and a technician performs thescheduled work.

    After completing the maintenance tasks, the technician changes the status of theschedule to completed.

    Note BMC Remedy Asset Management and BMC Remedy Change Management must beinstalled to follow this user scenario.

    Table 7 on page 33 describes the typical steps involved in this user scenario.

    Table 7: Scheduling regular maintenance

    Role Actions Explanation

    Configurationadministrator

    The configuration administrator createsa maintenance schedule for a networkprinter:From the Asset Management console, theconfiguration administrator accessesschedules and creates a newmaintenance schedule.The configuration administrator specifiesthe details of the schedule. He selects achange template for network printermaintenance. To select network printers,he chooses the categorizationHardware => Printer => Network.

    Allen Allbrook, the Calbro configurationadministrator, needs IT personnel to performmaintenance every six months on a networkprinter. He sets up a maintenance schedule,selects the change template, and selects thenetwork printers.

    Technician The technician completes the changerequest to perform maintenance:That technician receives an alert that achange request is assigned (throughemail, alert, or page).On the Change Management Supportconsole, the technician opens the changerequest. The technician relates an ad hoctask to the change request and moves thechange request through its lifecycle tothe Implementation stage.The technician completes maintenanceand closes the task. The technician thencloses the change request.

    When the maintenance schedule comes due,the Asset Maintenance change template isused to create the change request. Thistemplate assigns the change request to thecorrect technician and notifies the technicianto complete the maintenance every six months.The technician completes the change request.For more information, see the BMC RemedyChange Management Users Guide.

    User scenarios

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 33

  • Role Actions Explanation

    Technician The technician indicates thatmaintenance is complete:On the Asset Management console, thetechnician searches for the networkprinter CI and views it.From the CI form, the technician accessesthe schedules and views the networkprinter maintenance schedule.The technician indicates that themaintenance is complete.

    The technician indicates that the maintenanceis complete.

    Purchasing a laptop for a new employee

    Calbro Services ensures that new employees are fully functional on their first day ofemployment. Purchasing a laptop for a new employee is therefore a common taskfor the purchasing agent at Calbro Services. He must create a purchase requisitionand place a purchase order (PO). When the PO is received, BMC Remedy AssetManagement automatically generates a new CI and a change request.

    The change coordinator can also create a new employee change request in whichone of the tasks is providing a fully configured laptop to new employees on theirfirst day at Calbro Services.

    Note BMC Remedy Asset Management and BMC Remedy Change Management must beinstalled to follow this user scenario. If you cannot find the correct CIs in the Calbrosample data, you must create a laptop CI and add it to the inventory to follow thisuser scenario. For more information about managing CI inventory, especially if youare adding bulk items, see the BMC Remedy Asset Management Users Guide.

    Table 8 on page 35 describes the typical steps involved in this user scenario.

    User scenarios

    34 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Table 8: Purchasing a laptop for a new employee

    Role Actions Explanation

    Configurationadministrator

    From the Purchasing console, theconfiguration administrator creates apurchase requisition.The configuration administrator entersthe required details. The configurationadministrator indicates that installationis needed, and chooses the ConfigureNew Computer change template.To make sure there is enoughinventory, the configurationadministrator selects the standardconfiguration, and checks whether thecomputer system is in inventory.The configuration administrator addsthe item to the requisition and submitsthe requisition for approval.

    When the configuration administratorcreates the purchase requisition, AllenAllbrook, the manager of the requester, isthe default approver of this purchaserequisition.Using a change template automaticallycreates a change request when the orderedlaptop is received.

    Requester's manager On Approval Central, the requester'smanager selects the purchaserequisition and approves it.

    The requester's manager must approve thepurchase requisition.Note: If no manager is assigned to therequester, you should assign a manager inthe People form. For more information, seethe BMC Remedy IT Service ManagementAdministration Guide.

    Purchasing agent The purchasing agent creates thepurchase order:On the Purchasing console, thepurchasing agent searches for orders toplace.The purchasing agent views and thenplaces the order.

    After the purchase requisition is approved,a purchase order is automatically createdand is ready to be placed with the vendor.

    Configurationadministrator

    The configuration administratorreceives the item on the purchase order:On the Receiving console, theconfiguration administrator searchesfor the purchase order and receives aquantity of one.

    This action automatically creates a new CI.If your system is properly configured, a newchange request is also created.

    Purchasing agent The purchasing agent views the new CI:On the Asset Management console, thepurchasing agent searches for allcomputers with a status of Received.The purchasing agent finds the laptopCI and views the details, including thefinancial details.

    The original purchase requisition isautomatically related to this CI.Note: If the purchasing agent does not haveaccess to the Asset Management console, aconfiguration administrator can view the CI.

    User scenarios

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 35

  • Role Actions Explanation

    Change coordinator The change coordinator views thechange request:On the Change Management console,the change coordinator searches for allopen changes. The change coordinatorviews the change request for the newlaptop.

    Mary Mann is the change coordinator forCalbro Services. She views all open ChangeRequests in the Manager Console view.For more information about using BMCRemedy Change Management, see the BMCRemedy Change Management Users Guide.

    Change coordinator The change coordinator views dates forthe change request and performs riskassessment:On the Change form, the changecoordinator views the calendar.The change coordinator defines therisk level of the change request.

    Mary opens the Change Calendar to see ifthere are any conflicting change requests orbusiness events.Although the Risk Level had a predefinedvalue, she can perform Risk Assessment toformalize the Risk Level.This type of change request is pre-approvedand does not require any formal approvals.

    Change coordinator The change coordinator creates a taskand schedules the change request:On the Change form, the changecoordinator moves the change requestto the Plan & Schedule stage.The change coordinator relates thechange request to the Install Laptoptask template. The change coordinatorassigns the task to the taskimplementer who is part of CalbrosBackoffice Support Staff.The change manger moves the changerequest to the Scheduled for Reviewstage.The change coordinator specifies thescheduled dates and moves the changerequest to the Implement stage.

    Mary creates a task to install or configurethe laptop and assigns the task to the taskimplementer.When the change request reaches theImplement stage, the task moves toAssigned status and the task implementercan start working on the task.

    Task implementer After performing each task, the taskimplementer closes the tasks:From the Change ManagementSupport console, the task implementersearches for assigned tasks.After performing the task, the taskimplementer records informationabout performing the task and changesthe status to Closed.

    Ian Plyment, the task implementer,completes the task.

    User scenarios

    36 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Role Actions Explanation

    Change coordinator The change coordinator completes thechange request:The change coordinator moves thechange request to the Closed stage.The change coordinator enters theperformance rating and the actualdates of the change.

    Mary Mann completes and closes thechange request. She enters a performancerating and start and end dates.

    Investigating inaccurate CI data

    CI data is used by IT personnel throughout Calbro Services. Configurationadministrators use CI data for most tasks. Change coordinators analyze the CIs andtheir relationships before implementing changes. Service Desk personnel use CI datato help resolve incident requests and investigate problems. Accurate CI data isimportant to their work.

    Allen Allbrook, a configuration administrator at Calbro Services, thinks that the datafor a computer system might be inaccurate. He wants to view the audit history of theCI, so that he can see all the modifications to this computer system during its history.He can investigate whether the data is no longer accurate by checking the audithistory for the CI.

    Typically, Allen accesses data stored in BMC Atrium CMDB from the AssetManagement console. On the Asset Management console, he searches for the CI andviews it. From the CI form, he views the BMC Atrium CMDB audit history.

    Making sure that scheduled changes to CIs do not impactbusiness services

    The Finance department at Calbro Services processes payroll checks every Thursday.Allen Allbrook, the configuration administrator, wants to make sure that neither thepayroll server nor the payroll printer are taken down for maintenance on Thursdays.He sets two blackout schedules to accomplish thisthese key services are unavailablefor maintenance on any Thursday.

    The payroll server is having performance issues and needs more memory. WhenMary Mann, the change coordinator, schedules the change request, she sees that thepayroll server is unavailable on Thursday. To prevent conflicts, she creates anotherunavailable time segment, on Monday instead of Thursday.

    The Calbro business process has predefined that this type of change request requiresstandard approvals to move the project forward.

    User scenarios

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 37

  • Note BMC Remedy Asset Management and BMC Remedy Change Management must beinstalled to follow this user scenario. If you cannot find the correct CIs in the Calbrosample data, you must create a server CI and add it to the inventory to follow thisuser scenario. For more information about managing CIs, see the BMC RemedyChange Management Users Guide.

    Table 9 on page 38 describes the typical steps involved in this user scenario.

    Table 9: Scheduling mandatory unavailability for key services

    Role Actions Explanation

    Configurationadministrator

    The configuration administratorcreates unavailability blackoutschedules for the payroll server andpayroll printer:On the Asset Management console, theconfiguration administrator searchesfor the server CI.On the CI form, the configurationadministrator opens the blackoutschedule.The configuration administrator adds abusiness time segment. Theconfiguration administrator specifiesthe server CI to be Unavailable. Theconfiguration administrator sets up aweekly recurring duration forThursdays.

    Allen specifies that the payroll server andprinter server CIs are unavailable everyThursday because of maintenance. Duringthis blackout, these CIs must not be broughtdown.

    Change coordinator The change coordinator creates achange request, using a changetemplate:On the Change Management console,the change coordinator creates a newchange request.On the Change form, the changecoordinator selects the Server HardDrive template. The changecoordinator completes the requiredinformation to finish creating thechange request.

    Mary uses a predefined change templatethat supports the business process andaccelerates the change request process. Itprepopulates fields on the change requestwith information.

    User scenarios

    38 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Role Actions Explanation

    Change coordinator The change coordinator views dates forthe change request and performs riskassessment:On the Change form, the changecoordinator views the calendar.The change coordinator defines the risklevel of the change request.

    Mary opens the Change Calendar to see ifthere are any conflicting change requests orbusiness events.Although the Risk Level had a predefinedvalue, she performs Risk Assessment toformalize the Risk Level.

    Change coordinator The change coordinator relates the CIto the change request:On the Change form, the changecoordinator creates a relationship tothe server CI. She specifies theRelationship Type as Upgrades.The change coordinator creates anunavailability relationship.In the Configuration ItemUnavailability dialog box, the changecoordinator specifies the unavailabilitytype (for example, Scheduled Full) andthe scheduled dates.

    Mary creates a server CI unavailability thatis related to the change request.

    Change coordinator The change coordinator searches foravailable times to schedule the changerequest:On the Change form, the changecoordinator uses the Schedule Assisttool to search for available times. Thechange coordinator views the timeswhen the server CI is unavailable. Thechange coordinator finds the nextavailable time, based on the durationand available start time.The change coordinator creates aschedule time segment.

    Mary finds the next available time toupgrade the payroll server. She schedulesthe CI unavailability on Monday to avoidconflicts with the Thursday blackoutschedule.

    User scenarios

    Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Asset Management 39

  • Role Actions Explanation

    Change coordinator The change coordinator creates anunavailability blackout schedule to fixthe payroll server:On the Change Management console,the change coordinator searches for theserver CI.From the CI form, the changecoordinator accesses blackoutschedules.The Change coordinator adds abusiness time segment. She specifiesthe server CI to be unavailable on someday other than Thursday (for example,Monday).The change coordinator moves thechange request to the ImplementationApproval phase.

    Mary creates a blackout schedule toupgrade the server CI.

    Change approver The change approver approves theInstall Hard Drive change request.

    Allen Allbrook must approve the change tomove it forward to the Scheduled status.

    Task implementer The task implementer performs thetasks:On the Change Management Supportconsole, the task implementer searchesfor assigned tasks.The task implementer performs each ofthe three Upgrade Server Hard Drivetasks and records the work performed.

    Task implementers must complete all threetasks successfully before the change requestcan be closed.

    Change coordinator The change coordinator completes thechange request:The change coordinator moves thechange request to the Closed stage.The change coordinator enters theperformance rating and the actualdates of the change.

    Mary completes and closes the changerequest. She enters the performance ratingand start and end dates.

    User scenarios

    40 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Getting startedThis section introduces you to BMC Remedy Asset Management and describes howto access the application. This section describes the Asset Management console andsome of its features, some of which are common across the other BMC Remedy ITService Management applications. This section also introduces the other consoles inBMC Remedy Asset Management.

    About the IT Home PageWhen you start the BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite, the IT Home Pagedisplays the Overview console by default. However, you can set up what you wantto see on the IT Home Page. If you are a system administrator, you can configure thepage for all users. Otherwise, you can configure your own user ID to see your views.

    2

    Chapter 2 Getting started 41

  • The following figure illustrates the functional areas of the IT Home Page.

    Figure 1: IT Home Page and its functional areas

    The following table describes each of the functional areas of the IT Home Page.

    Functional area Purpose

    Home Page headerLogout Click Logout to exit the application.Breadcrumb bar The breadcrumb bar helps you keep track of the records you are viewing and

    helps with navigation. For more information about breadcrumbs, refer to Navigating consoles, forms, and modules on page 46.

    Global search Type in a word or a phrase in the search area, and the application will searchacross multiple forms for records that match your input. For more informationabout global search, refer to Using Global search on page 45.

    Navigation pane

    About the IT Home Page

    42 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • Functional area Purpose

    Applications Depending on your permissions and other installed applications, the followinglinks are displayed. Use them to open applications.

    Quick Links

    AR System Administration

    Analytics

    BMC Atrium Core

    BMC Atrium Integration Engine

    Administrator Console

    Asset Management

    Change Management

    Change Management Dashboard

    Contract Management

    Product Catalog

    Foundation Elements

    Incident Management

    Problem Management

    Return On Investment

    Release Management

    Requestor Console

    Task Management

    Note: When you run your mouse over the applications, you see a second menu.You can select one of those options to go directly to a form. For example, rollover Change Management and select Change/Release Calendar. The Calendarscreen appears.

    Configuration Buttons Use these buttons to configure your panel display.Overview console

    About the IT Home Page

    Chapter 2 Getting started 43

  • Functional area Purpose

    Company and View By These fields combine to provide a way to indicate the company name and theassigned-to categories filtering the records in the Console List table.

    Refresh This button refreshes the data in the table.Preferences This button allows you to set preferences for the console list table. You can

    remove columns, set refresh intervals, reset and save your preferences.Console List table This table lists the different types of requests.

    Configuring the IT Home Page

    You can configure the IT Home Page to display information of your choice. Forexample, Bob Baxter is the Manager for payroll at Calbro Services. He likes to keeptrack of all potential problems, changes, and incidents pertaining to his department.He also tracks software license contracts so that he knows which ones are about toexpire. Bob configures his panels to display all the information he is looking for, asfollows: Asset Management => Contracts About to Expire in 90 Days Change Management => All Open Changes with Extensive Impact Incident Management => All Open Incidents with Extensive Impact Problem Management => All Open Problems by Status and Priority

    To add or delete panels

    You can specify how many panels to display on your IT Home Page up to amaximum of four panels.

    1 In the IT Home Page, click the Add panels to layout button.

    Four panels appear.

    2 To delete a panel, click the Close button on the panel.

    To configure panels

    You can select what to display on your IT Home Page. Note

    You can configure your panels only with options for which you have permissions.

    About the IT Home Page

    44 BMC Remedy Asset Management User Guide

  • 1 In the panel, click the Show list and run your cursor over the list of options.

    2 From the list of work areas for each option, select the one to display (for example,Asset Management => Software Certificates).

    The panel displays your selection.

    3 Repeat Step 1 to for your other panels.

    To change display on a panel, click the Edit button to display the Show list,and make another selection.

    4 Click the Save Current Layout button to save your IT Home Page.

    A dialog box confirms that your customized layout has been saved.

    5 Click OK.

    When you next log in, you will see your saved IT Home Page.

    To expand and collapse panels

    1 In the panel, click the Collapse button. The panel will collapse. In the panelclick the Expand button. The panel will expand to its original size.

    To restore a default IT Home Page view

    1 In the IT Home Page, click the Restore Default Layout button. A dialog boxinforms you that the default layout for this page will be brought back. Click OKto proceed or Cancel to retain your current layout. If you click OK, the panels onthe IT Home Page disappear and the Overview Console is displayed.

    To hide or show the navigation pane

    1 In the IT Home Page, click the Applications button to hide or show thenavigation pane.

    Using Global search

    If you have BMC Remedy Knowledge Management installed, you can use the Globalsearch feature. Global search searches across multiple forms for records that match aword or phrase that you type in the search area.

    About the IT Home Page

    Chapter 2 Getting started 45

  • To use Global search

    1 In the text field to the right of the breadcrumb bar, type your search string andthen click the Search icon.Figure 2: Global search

    2 Locate the record you want in the search results table and double-click it.

    The record opens in the viewing area and the system updates the breadcrumbtrail with an entry for the record you opened.

    Note As you drill down through the record, each record you open is also added to thebreadcrumb trail.If you want to maintain the contents of the search results table to view later, donot change the text in the Search field. If you do, when you click the Search iconto return to the search results table, the search feature will execute a new searchbased on the changed content of the Search field.

    3 To return to the search results table, click the Search icon again.

    Navigating consoles, forms, and modulesThis section describes how to navigate around BMC Remedy ITSM consoles, forms,and modules.

    In most cases, when you open consoles, forms, and modules from the IT Home page,they open inside the IT Home page view. Similarly, if you open a form from aconsole, the form replaces the console in the view.

    If you open a related record from a form, the related record opens in the view thatwas occupied by the form. For example, if you are working with a probleminvestigation (the "parent" record) and from the parent record you open a relatedincident request, the incident request replaces the parent record in the view. If youthen open a change request from the incident request, the change request replacesthe incident request in the view, and so on. To help you keep track of the recordsyou are viewing and to help with navigati