Configuring Proactive Service Resolution for TMF-compliant trouble tickets

Currently, BMC Helix Intelligent Automation connects with BMC Helix for CSP and ServiceNow Telecommunications and Media Assurance Workflows. 

Proactive Service Resolution supports the following levels:

Before you begin

Before configuring the solution, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• If using BMC Helix for CSP, it is available for your BMC Helix tenant.
• You have the credentials such as the URL, username, password, and so on for the Trouble Ticket Management System in which you want to create the ticket.
• Proactive Service Resolution with BMC Helix Integration Service is NOT enabled from BMC Helix Operations Management.
• You have the administrative permissions for your BMC Helix tenant.

Video

The following video (3:55) demonstrates how to configure Proactive Service Resolution for the L1 - Event-based service resolution level from BMC Helix Intelligent Automation and the artifacts that are created post configuration. 

https://youtu.be/5DSN_s2eR_g

To configure Proactive Service Resolution

The following graphic illustrates the steps involved in configuring Proactive Service Resolution.

Step 1: To set up a connection with the Trouble Ticket Management System

1. Click Solutions > 

   Proactive Service Resolution

    (TMF-compliant) > Configure.

2. Click Set Up > select the target trouble ticket system.
   By default, BMC Helix for CSP is selected.
   • For BMC Helix for CSP, enter the application endpoint URL, username, and password to connect with the application.
   • If using ServiceNow Telecommunications and Media Assurance Workflows cloud application, enter the following details:
     • ServiceNow Endpoint URL
     • Username and password 
       (Username supports # ! $ & * ( ) _ - +, and . special characters.)
     • Grant Type
     • Client ID
     • Client Secret
   • If using on-premises instance of ServiceNow Telecommunications and Media Assurance Workflows, see Configuring-ServiceNow-connector-for-Proactive-Service-Resolution.
3. Click Save.  

Step 2: To define a trigger condition

By default, the trigger condition is set to Severity = Critical, which indicates that BMC Helix Intelligent Automation creates trouble tickets when the event severity is critical.

If there are more than two conditions, click Click here to view additional details to view them. 

Step 3: To provide the event to trouble ticket fields mapping

By default, BMC Helix Intelligent Automation provides mapping of event fields to the trouble ticket fields. Based on these mappings, a trouble ticket of the type Incident gets created. You can choose to specify custom values for the default fields, add more fields, or apply transformation based on your requirements. As part of this step, the Create and Update Trouble Ticket automation policy is created. 

1. To view the default mappings, click Configure against the Configure mapping : Event → Trouble Ticket field.
   

   Does the solution support multibyte characters?

   Yes. If an incoming event contains multilingual characters (for example, Message contains Chinese characters) an incident is created successfully with no additional configuration required in the solution.

2. (Optional) Click Add Trouble Ticket Field to add more fields to be updated while creating a trouble ticket.
   The field names in the list appear based on the fields supported by the connected Trouble Ticket Management System. 

   Note

   If you select Required and make a field mandatory, you cannot change it back to an optional field or delete the required field unless you delete the solution.

3. When you add a field, you must map it to a field in the incoming event.
   For example, if you add the StatusReason, you can add any reason in the event field. 
   

   Note

   To be able to mark the trouble ticket as Resolved every time the event is closed in , add the StatusReason field, and specify the value available for the Reason for Status Change field in . Note that this is required only if your target ticket management system is . 

   1. (Optional) To add a condition to a field, click +Add Condition and add the ticket field and map it to the event field. 

      Note

      If using custom values, you can specify multiple same values in the conditions. 
      

   2. (Optional) Against any field, click Transform fields and select the transformation type:
      • Source value to target value: Enables you to map the event source fields to the target ticket fields.
      • String: Enables you to concatenate or extract a part of a string.

        1. About CILookUpCriteria field for Level 2

           By default, the CILookUpCriteria field is defined in the solution, based on which the solution retrieves the configuration items (CIs) information from the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) integrated with ServiceNow. The CI information retrieved is passed as a related entity to be associated with the ticket in ServiceNow. 

           If CI information is unavailable in the event, or the CI Lookup criteria is not specified in the solution, a ticket is created without associating any CIs. 

           Note that this behavior is applicable for Level 2: Infrastructure-based service resolution, currently available for only. 

   3. (Optional) To add multiple functions to process the strings for a field, go to a field and specify the conditions based on your requirement:
      For example, in the following MP4, you can add another function to process the value available in the Summary field in the event:
      

       

      Important

      • The following functions are supported to transform the string data:
        • concat
        • substr: Specify values for Start and Length of the string to process
        • substrAfter: Specify the character and everything after the character gets processed. If the specified character is not found in the input string, the entire string is included.
        • substrBefore: Specify the character and everything before the character gets processed. If the specified character is not found in the input string, the entire string is included.
        • substrByByte: Specify the end index. For example, if you specify 99, all characters from 0-99 are processed.  
        • toLowerCase: Transforms the entire string to lower case
        • toUpperCase: Transforms the entire string to upper case
      • When you add more than one function to transform data, conditions are applied in the order in which they are displayed.
      • You can use more than one function while mapping any field, for event to incident mapping or for trouble tickets to information event mapping.  
   4. (Optional) To add date and time function, add a new field and click Configure Text and perform the following steps:
      1. Click Add.
      2. Select the transformation type as Date & Time.
      3. To transform date, select the getDate function.
         The time zone format is generated based on your system settings. 
      4. Select an output format: 
         • ISO
         • yyyy-dd-MM hh:mm:ss
         • ddMMyyyy
         • MMddyyyy
      5. To transform time, select the getTime function and select the output format as hhmm.
      6. Save changes. 
4. Click Save.
   A Policy published successfully message appears.

Step 4: To provide the trouble ticket fields to Information Event mapping

By default, BMC Helix Intelligent Automation provides mapping of trouble ticket fields to Information Event mapping. Based on these mappings, an information event is created in BMC Helix Operations Management. Every time the ticket is updated, the information event is updated too. As part of this step, the Create an Information Event automation policy is created. 

1. To view the default mapping of the trouble ticket fields to the Information Event, click Configure against the Configure mapping : Event → Trouble Ticket field.
   

1. If required, make changes, and click Save.
2. Click Enable to enable the solution. 
   The Proactive Service Resolution enabled successfully message appears. If you skip any of the steps, the status on the Solutions page shows the pending step. 

Artifacts created after configuring Proactive Service Resolution

Consult the following table to learn more about the artifacts created after configuring the solution: 

To disable or enable Proactive Service Resolution

If there is a downtime for any of the integrated products, you can disable the solution temporarily. This ensures that the artifacts and the customizations are not deleted when you enable the solution again. 

1. Click Solutions > 

   Proactive Service Resolution

   .

2. Use the toggle key to disable the solution.
   The message Proactive Service Resolution disabled successfully appears. Use the toggle key to enable the solution as required. 

To modify Proactive Service Resolution

To modify the solution, you first disable it. 

1. Click Solutions > 

   Proactive Service Resolution

    and click Disable.

2. Click Modify.
   You cannot update the connection details to the Trouble Ticket Management System. You can only update the field mappings. 
3. Click Enable.

To merge new or updated field mappings

If new out-of-the-box field mappings are provided or if the existing mapped values are updated, you can merge them with the existing mappings. The out-of-the-box policies get updated and the solution creates incidents automatically based on the updated configurations.  

1. Click Solutions > Proactive Service Resolution and use the toggle key to disable the solution.
2. Click Modify and then click Modify against the Configure mapping: Event Incident or Configure mapping: Incident Information Event section.
3. For updated fields, click View Difference to view the updated values.
4. Click Merge Changes and select the new or updated fields that you want to merge.
5. Click Merge.
   Changes are merged successfully and the updated field mappings are displayed. 
6. Click Save and then enable the solution. 

To delete Proactive Service Resolution

To delete the solution, you first disable it. 

1. Click Solutions > 

   Proactive Service Resolution

    and click Disable.

2. Click Delete.
   On the warning message that appears, click Yes.

When you delete the solution, the Create or Update Trouble Ticket and Create an Information Event automation policies and the connector are deleted from BMC Helix Intelligent Automation. 

Where to go from here

• If using Proactive Service Resolution for ServiceNow Telecommunications and Media Assurance Workflows, you need to create a business rule in ServiceNow Telecommunications and Media Assurance Workflows to be able to create information events in BMC Helix Operations Management, which includes the ticket details.
  For more information, see Creating-a-business-rule-in-ServiceNow-for-creating-information-events-for-trouble-tickets.
• If using Proactive Service Resolution for BMC Helix for CSP, you can directly view the status of the policies run by BMC Helix Intelligent Automation for creating trouble tickets.
  For more information, see Viewing-automation-policy-runs-history.