Front cover

IT Service Management
Best Practices
Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Automation using response plans, scripting,
escalations, actions, and workflows
Best practices configuration and
customization examples
Implementation of typical
real-world use cases

Bo Batty
Jason Brown
Axel Buecker
Alex Chung
Samuel Hokama
Aurelien Jarry
Leonardo Matos
Daniel Wiegand

ibm.com/redbooks

International Technical Support Organization

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk
December 2013

SG24-8095-00

Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in
Notices on page xi.

First Edition (December 2013)

This edition applies to Version 7.5.1 of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.
Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2013. All rights reserved.
Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP
Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.

Contents
Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Now you can become a published author, too! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Comments welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Stay connected to IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Part 1. Business context and solution overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1. Business context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Business drivers for IT service management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Challenges: Aligning IT with the business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2.1 Recommendations for a service catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.2 Service asset and configuration management using relationships and
attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.2.3 Setting service level expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.2.4 Request fulfillment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.2.5 Identification and resolution of incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.2.6 Rising to problem management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.2.7 Handling change management: Identifying impact and increasing
availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.2.8 General guidelines for a support organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.2.9 Extra challenges that you might face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.2.10 Service Provider Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.2.11 The unique IBM value proposition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.3 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.1 Meeting customer needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.1.1 Cloud or no cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.1.2 The benefits of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2 Solution components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.2.1 Main features and enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.2.2 Common services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.2.3 IT asset management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.2.4 IT change, configuration, and release management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.2.5 IT service request, incident, and problem management . . . . . . . . . . 59

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

iii

2.3 Deployment models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

2.3.1 Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.3.2 Deployment options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
2.4 Deployment strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2.4.1 Initial assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2.4.2 System architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
2.4.3 Determining suitable system hardware and software . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
2.5 Deployment planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.5.1 Deployment topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.5.2 Deployment security planning, serviceability planning, and language
support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
2.5.3 Installation options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
2.5.4 Middleware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
2.5.5 Installing SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
2.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Part 2. Implementing processes in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Chapter 3. IT foundations configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.1 General configuration for SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.2 IT foundations for SmartCloud Control Desk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.2.1 Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.2.2 Work types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.2.3 Financial configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3.2.4 Classifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3.2.5 Security groups and users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3.2.6 Profile information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
3.2.7 Import content packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
3.2.8 Changes in the navigation bar location, tabs, and fields . . . . . . . . . 104
3.2.9 Modifying an object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
3.2.10 Customizing the options available on application menus . . . . . . . 109
3.2.11 Changing applications on the navigation bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
3.2.12 Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.2.13 Data loading using quick configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
3.2.14 Importing and exporting data from applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.2.15 Searching with Lucene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.2.16 Field validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.2.17 Query management and advanced search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.2.18 Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.2.19 Customer configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
3.2.20 Extra configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
3.3 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Chapter 4. IT asset management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

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4.1 IT asset management process overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

4.1.1 IT resources representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
4.1.2 IT asset lifecycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
4.1.3 Relation to other processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
4.1.4 IT asset management roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4.1.5 Product capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
4.2 IT asset management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.2.1 IT asset management applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.2.2 Managing the software catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
4.2.3 Software license management use cases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
4.2.4 Hardware assets management use cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
4.2.5 Assets and configuration items linkage use cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
4.3 Integrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
4.3.1 IBM discovery tools for IT assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
4.3.2 IBM Tivoli Integration Composer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
4.4 Reports and KPIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
4.4.1 KPIs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
4.5 IT asset management for service providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
4.5.1 Customers and assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
4.5.2 Asset classifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
4.5.3 Customer synchronization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
4.5.4 Customers, locations, and service addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
4.5.5 Service addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
4.5.6 Charge-back costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
4.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Chapter 5. Configuration management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
5.1 Configuration management overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
5.2 Using SmartCloud Control Desk with configuration management . . . . . 228
5.2.1 Actual and authorized CIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
5.2.2 Starting with actual CIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
5.2.3 Starting with authorized CIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
5.2.4 CI lifecycles and status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
5.2.5 Reconciliation (audit) best practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
5.2.6 Impact analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
5.2.7 Baselines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
5.2.8 Data cleansing and reconciliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
5.3 Configuration management for service providers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
5.3.1 Assigning customers to actual CIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
5.3.2 Service Provider considerations for promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
5.3.3 Service Provider considerations for reconciliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
5.3.4 Service Provider considerations for baselines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Contents

Chapter 6. Service catalog management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

6.1 Service catalog management overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
6.1.1 Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
6.1.2 Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
6.2 Service catalog management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . 324
6.2.1 Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
6.3 Offering design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
6.3.1 Offering types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
6.3.2 Approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
6.3.3 Fulfillment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
6.3.4 Scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
6.3.5 Presentation and specification attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
6.3.6 Custom MBOs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
6.3.7 Price and cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
6.3.8 Ratings and user comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
6.3.9 Adding Offerings to a Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
6.4 Catalog design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
6.5 Enterprise App Store scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
6.6 Restricting access to Catalogs and Offerings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
6.7 Approving a request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
6.8 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Chapter 7. Service level management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
7.1 Service level management process overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
7.1.1 Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
7.1.2 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
7.1.3 Product capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
7.2 Service level management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . 385
7.2.1 Organization SLA options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
7.2.2 Create a service level agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
7.2.3 Applying a service level agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
7.2.4 Service level agreement calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
7.2.5 Service level agreement hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
7.3 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
Chapter 8. Service Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
8.1 Service operation overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
8.1.1 Service desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
8.1.2 Request Fulfillment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
8.1.3 Incident management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
8.1.4 Automatic incident assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
8.1.5 Problem Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
8.1.6 IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

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8.2 Service Operation using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

8.2.1 Logging a service request example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
8.2.2 Quickly determining important details of a service request, incident, and
problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
8.2.3 Fulfilling and routing the service request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
8.2.4 Investigating and diagnosing an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
8.2.5 Resolving and closing the incident, and logging a problem . . . . . . 466
8.2.6 Managing a problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
8.2.7 Resolving tickets with solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
8.2.8 Quickly resolving service requests and incidents by using service
bulletins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
8.2.9 Using configuration information for diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
8.2.10 KPIs and reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
8.3 Configuring IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
8.3.1 Setting Indicated Priority from the Configuration Item. . . . . . . . . . . 489
8.3.2 Configuring ticket templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
8.3.3 Configuring live chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
8.3.4 Modifying and disabling the new service request, and new incident and
new change dialogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
8.3.5 Creating a workflow go button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
8.3.6 Setting color alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
8.3.7 Changing available Automation workflows for incident resolution . 512
8.3.8 Using automations scripts for field validations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
8.4 Performing remote diagnostics using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . 520
8.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Chapter 9. Self-service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
9.1 Self-service overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
9.1.1 Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
9.1.2 IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
9.2 Self-service using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
9.2.1 Introduction to the Self Service Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
9.2.2 Browsing solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
9.2.3 Requesting Services from the Service Catalog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
9.2.4 Managing and using cart templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
9.2.5 Reporting issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
9.2.6 Frequent requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
9.2.7 Tracking requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
9.2.8 Chatting with an agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
9.2.9 Working with assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
9.2.10 My News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
9.3 Administering the Self Service Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
9.3.1 Setting the Self Service Center as a users default application. . . . 559

Contents

vii

9.3.2 Authorizing users for the Self Service Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

9.3.3 Adding and modifying solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
9.3.4 Adding and modifying ticket templates and service offerings . . . . . 561
9.3.5 Adding bulletin board messages to My News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
9.4 Configuring the Self Service Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
9.4.1 Self Service Center configuration files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
9.4.2 Modifying the navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
9.4.3 Modifying the pods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
9.4.4 Changing the number of search results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
9.4.5 Adding a background image to Self Service Center . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
9.4.6 Extra configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
9.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Chapter 10. Survey management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
10.1 Survey management overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
10.1.1 Survey management process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
10.1.2 Survey management roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
10.1.3 Survey management capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
10.2 Survey management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . 578
10.2.1 Creating a Survey Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
10.2.2 Creating Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580
10.2.3 Creating a Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
10.2.4 Defining escalations for survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
10.2.5 Activating the survey and sending it to users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
10.2.6 Checking the survey results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
10.2.7 Modifying user access for survey management applications . . . . 592
10.3 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592
Chapter 11. Change management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
11.1 Change management overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
11.1.1 Change management roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
11.1.2 Change management process flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
11.2 Change management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . 601
11.2.1 Request for change, change acceptance, and categorization . . . 601
11.2.2 Providing change assessments and implementation tasks. . . . . . 619
11.2.3 Scheduling the change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
11.2.4 Change authorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
11.2.5 Change implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
11.2.6 Bringing the change to closure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
11.2.7 Standard and emergency changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
11.2.8 Automated changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
11.3 Supporting change applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
11.3.1 Blackout change periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

viii

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

11.3.2 Change schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

11.3.3 Change window calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
11.3.4 Impact analysis configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640
11.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Chapter 12. Release management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
12.1 Release management overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
12.1.1 Release management process overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
12.1.2 Product capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
12.2 Release management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . 652
12.2.1 Pre-implementation tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
12.2.2 Release management end to end use case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660
12.3 Integrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
12.3.1 Integration modules for Operational Management Product . . . . . 686
12.3.2 Deploying using an Operational Management Product. . . . . . . . . 687
12.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Chapter 13. Service Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
13.1 Service provider overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
13.2 Service provider capabilities in SmartCloud Control Desk . . . . . . . . . . 694
13.2.1 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
13.2.2 Use cases and scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
13.2.3 Customer management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
13.2.4 Customer agreements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
13.2.5 Customer billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
13.3 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
Part 3. Appendixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Appendix A. Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
What to look for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
Inspecting the logs and error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
Logs for app use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
Logs for Self Service Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
Tivoli Integration Composer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
Deployers Workbench (DW). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
Performance issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
What support must help you with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
General issues with apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
Integration Composer (Tivoli Integration Composer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
Deployers Workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
Miscellaneous issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
Setting up Tivoli Integration Composer to delete Configuration Items . . . 724

Contents

ix

Global Search does not find anything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
Supported properties within the ccmdb.properties file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
How Tivoli Integration Composer determines which CIs to process . . . . . . . 766
How Tivoli Integration Composer creates and then deletes the Actual CI
relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
How Tivoli Integration Composer marks Actual CIs for deletion . . . . . . . . . . 772
Troubleshooting hints for delete processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774
How Tivoli Integration Composer supports a partial execution . . . . . . . . . . . 775
Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Online resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Help from IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

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IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any
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obtained in other operating environments may vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made on
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Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published
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COPYRIGHT LICENSE:
This information contains sample application programs in source language, which illustrate programming
techniques on various operating platforms. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample programs in any
form without payment to IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing or distributing application programs
conforming to the application programming interface for the operating platform for which the sample programs are
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imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample
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application programs conforming to IBM's application programming interfaces.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

xi

Trademarks
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. These and other IBM trademarked
terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with the appropriate symbol ( or ),
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The following terms are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States,
other countries, or both:
DB2
developerWorks
IBM
IBM SmartCloud
LanguageWare
Maximo

Redbooks
Redbooks (logo)

Service Request Manager

Smarter Planet
System p5
System z

Tivoli
Velocity
WebSphere
z/OS

The following terms are trademarks of other companies:

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Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
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and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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Java, and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its
affiliates.
Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

xii

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Preface
SmartCloud Control Desk is a comprehensive IT Asset and Service
Management solution that helps reduce cost and minimize service disruptions. It
does so through automated service request handling, efficient change
management, and optimized asset lifecycle management across IT and
enterprise domains.
SmartCloud Control Desk helps to reduce total cost of ownership by using one
unified solution to license, install, and manage multiple ITIL processes under one
price point. It can also help reduce business risk by using advanced impact
analysis and defining automated change procedures that ensure integrity of
existing infrastructure while supporting business agility.
SmartCloud Control Desk improves efficiency and quality of service by unifying
asset, change, and problem management. It lowers cost and mitigates license
compliance risk by performing end to end software asset management.
It also delivers an adaptive, role-based simplified UI that can be more intuitive for
novice users, which reduces training costs, while allowing access from anywhere
at anytime through mobile device support that includes BlackBerry, iOS, and
Android.
In addition, SmartCloud Control Desk supports both a profit center business
model for internal IT organizations, and an external Service Provider model. It
allows organizations to manage customers and customer agreements and bills
for managed assets, usage, and work activities while improving utilization rates
and reducing unnecessary purchases by managing the IT asset lifecycle.
You can deploy SmartCloud Control Desk in a variety of ways; traditional
on-premise, SaaS, VM image. This approach can make it more affordable to
meet your current business needs, and seamlessly move between delivery
models while keeping the same functionality.
This IBM Redbooks publication covers IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
product configuration, customization, and implementation best practices.

Authors
This book was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working
at the International Technical Support Organization, Raleigh Center.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

xiii

Bo Batty is the Product Architect and Designer of the

IBM Maximo for Service Providers product. He has
been responsible for the Service Provider product
since its inception in 2007. He has worked with the
Maximo product since 2000 where his responsibilities
include the Labor, Crafts, Qualifications, Person,
Person Group, and Locations applications. Bo has over
30 years of experience in both management and
development roles for software application products in
the areas of service management, customer support,
and service dispatch.
Jason Brown is an advisory software engineer for IBM
at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. He joined
IBM in 1999, working on the Tivoli brand since he
started, and has been focused on configuration
management since 2005. As a developer working on
SmartCloud Control Desk, he has held multiple roles
including configuration management team lead,
developer, L3 support, customer advocate, and
accelerated deployment focal point. He has designed
and developed many SmartCloud Control Desk
features in the configuration management space.
Axel Buecker is a Certified Consulting Software IT
Specialist at the ITSO, Austin Center. He writes
extensively and teaches IBM classes worldwide about
software security architecture and network computing
technologies. He has a degree in Computer Science
from the University of Bremen, Germany. He has 26
years of experience in various areas related to
workstation and systems management, network
computing, and e-business solutions. Before joining
the ITSO in March 2000, Axel worked for IBM in
Germany as a Senior IT Specialist in Software Security
Architecture.

xiv

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Alex Chung is an application architect for IBM

Strategic Outsourcing Delivery in Australia. He
graduated with honors in Software Engineering from
the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has 10
years of experience in IT. Seven of them have been
spent designing, deploying, and supporting IBM
Maximo based products in both the Enterprise Asset
Management and IT Service Management space out in
the field.
Samuel Hokama is a Sales Manager for IBM Peru and
Ecuador, working with Strategic Outsourcing accounts.
Samuel has five years of experience working in
solutions for customers based in Chile, Ecuador,
Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, US, and Peru.
He is a Certified Solution Advisor and Advanced
Deployment Professional in IBM Tivoli Service
Request Management and IBM Tivoli Application
Dependency and Discovery Manager, and a
contributor to Tivoli Certifications. He graduated from
Universidad de Lima, as a Systems Engineer, and also
has expertise in Solution Design, Integrations, and
Implementations. As a Certified ITIL engineer, he has
provided guidelines and consultancy in outsourced,
private, and government accounts in Latin America. He
incorporated other IT Solutions found in the IBM Tivoli
portfolio, providing an integrated, end-to-end Business
Service Management outsourcing model for IBM
customers.
Aurelien Jarry is an IT Service Management
consultant at The Createch Group in Canada since
2010, certified ITIL practitioner on Service Operations
and Service Transition processes, and certified
deployment professional on IBM Tivoli Service
Request Manager and IBM Tivoli Change and
Configuration Management Database. Before he
moved to Canada, Aurelien was an IT Specialist in IBM
France for over six years in the domain of Systems
Management. This is his second IBM Redbooks
publication after covering IBM Director on System p5
in 2006.

Preface

xv

Leonardo Matos is a Staff Software Engineer in the

IBM Brazil software lab. He holds a Bachelor of
Computer Science degree from Paulista State
University - UNESP, Brazil. He joined IBM in 2007,
where he worked with BIRT Reports for the IBM Tivoli's
process automation engine and IBM Tivoli Provisioning
Manager. He then joined the IBM Tivoli Service
Request Manager team, where he worked in L3
support and the Fixpack team, solving customer issues
and being responsible for the updates included in the
fix packs. He has worked as a developer since the 7.5
release in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.
Daniel Wiegand is an Advisory Software engineer at
the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina labs. He
joined IBM in 1998 after graduating from Clarkson
University with degrees in Computer Engineering and
Computer Science. For the past six years, he has
specialized in design and development of Service
Catalog and Self Service. Daniel has assisted
numerous customers in their deployments. Before
joining the SmartCloud Control Desk team, he worked
on Mobile Device Management standards and
solutions.
Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:
David Bennin
Richard Conway
Shari Deiana
Ernest A. Keenan
International Technical Support Organization
Vijay Aggarwal
Gladys Arsenault
Jason Ashcroft
Frank Baldiga
Ana Biazetti
Melody Bienfang
Leandro Cassa
Scott Dickerson
Robert Dunyak
Alfredo Ferreira
Richard Gebhardt
Alan Ghezzo

xvi

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Jeremy Gibson
Wayne Halverson
Cheryl Johnston
Thomas Knowles
Daniel McConomy
Joseph Nedimyer
Lily Orozco
CJ Paul
Caio Pereira
Stephen Ridgill
David Schmidt
Cheryl Thrailkill
Niraj Vora
Susan Wenzinger
Edward Whitehead
IBM

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xvii

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xviii

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Part 1

Part

Business context
and solution
overview
This part presents a general business overview to provide context to
organizations seeking advice on how to align IT with your organization. It also
addresses important aspects that are required within each service management
implementation when you consider a customer oriented approach.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Chapter 1.

Business context
This chapter provides a general business overview for organizations that are
seeking advice on how to align IT within the organization.
In a dynamic and globalized economy, where IT has its own agenda, interesting
business and marketplace factors have emerged thanks to C-level studies,
unraveling how both CIOs and CEOs are now targeting similar objectives.
Never before have organizations found themselves in a more instrumented,
integrated, and intelligent world as today, where challenges must have
extraordinary solutions.
This chapter includes the following sections:
Business drivers for IT service management
Challenges: Aligning IT with the business
Conclusion

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

1.1 Business drivers for IT service management

Managing and working with IT is a complicated task for many organizations,
especially managing complex and multivendor environments that include
servers, software, telecommunications, and applications. Most organizations
realize the value of IT within their business, and have basic management
processes in place. They use best practices or other industry solutions and even
provide mission critical applications, such as email and instant messaging.
This is a common standard for companies around the world because technology
supports line of business processes already, independently of the industry.
For example, the energy and utility industry faces market forces that affect the
business landscape around the world, requiring the transformation of business
models as illustrated in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1 Global market forces induce a new approach in the energy utilities industry

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

These forces can drive change across the value chain, a change takes place
progressively over time and involves layers of instrumentation, integration,
automation, and intelligence, as shown in Figure 1-2.

Figure 1-2 Change over time in progressive layers

These layers can ultimately be a compelling reason for a shift in the business for
the following reasons:
There are a growing number of participants in the energy value chain that the
utility must take into account.
There are more applications and technologies to consider.
Analytics are being used everywhere, at all levels.
Progressive performance improvements can be realized by accessing data
from other domains and third parties.

Chapter 1. Business context

Taking these concepts into consideration, you can propose a technology design,
as shown in Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3 Considerations for investments in grid operations for energy utility organizations

Studying the energy and utilities industry identifies a factor that is substantially
impacting how the business is managed and the transformation it has undergone
in the past 10-20 years. Information Technology (IT) has dramatically changed
the landscape for this and other industries. But the question remains, how does it
drive, impact, and provide value in a measurable way to other industries.
For the past 10 years, IBM engages C-level executives to analyze how they
innovate through technology to succeed and respond to complexity in their
organizations.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

One of these studies, The 2012 IBM CEO Study1, interviewed 1,709 CEOs from
64 countries and 18 industries to understand how they manage and work with
increasing interconnected and globalized marketplaces, societies, and
governments. Over the years, technology has risen in the CEOs interest. For the
fist time in the studys history, technology is now considered the number one
factor impacting organizations (Figure 1-4).

Figure 1-4 Technology is now the number one factor impacting organizations

In the same study, CEOs identify how technology has created new industries and
destroyed others. Businesses have started deploying sensors on previously
unmonitored devices, such as water pumps and pressure gauges so that they
are interconnected and instrumented, and to help control of their non-IT assets.
Control over assets and components can provide value, reduce cost, and
mitigate risk, as does being interconnected to core systems in the organization.

The 2012 IBM CEO Study, Leading Through Connections can be found at
http://www.ibm.com/services/us/en/c-suite/ceostudy2012

Chapter 1. Business context

Furthermore, the study also reveals the impact of human talent and innovation
within the organization, as depicted in Figure 1-5. Technology is basically
building the bridges and connecting people inside and outside the organization
by altering the scope of control and overall organizational composition and
structure. This applies especially to service providers and third-party vendors,
who have an impact in the overall business as well.

Figure 1-5 Key sources of sustained economic value

Some of the biggest challenges for organizations are the reduction of risk and
cost, while increasing profits and earnings. The IT department is put under
pressure to deliver IT services. If a business expands, demand for new
employees increases proportionally. A logical reaction of an IT department is to
incur more operational expenditure (OPEX) by hiring more personnel. The
organization must realize that information is a mission critical element and key
component in decision making, which relies heavily on IT systems. Even as a
temporary measure, this cannot be a healthy practice within any organization.
The second C-level study, The 2011 IBM CIO Study - The Essential CIO2,
provides significant findings. It shows how CIOs keep up with the CEOs top
priorities. Maybe the most important parallel between the two studies is the

The 2011 IBM CIO Study - The Essential CIO

http://www.ibm.com/services/c-suite/cio/study.html

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

identification of IT as a critical success factor, whether it is a public or private

company.
Taking the energy utilities industry again as an example, the study found that
organizations in this market require better alignment in their initiatives by
increasing efficiency, as shown in Figure 1-6.

Figure 1-6 Highlights about energy utility organizations

Even though the findings illustrate potential behavior and decision making in the
energy utility industry, these behavior patterns can be applied to other industry
sectors.
Consider the following goals when considering your organizations challenges
and meet their expectations:
Standardization and consolidation to address gaps and overlaps in IT.
Update and renewal of older systems, by planning ahead and controlling older
system costs.
Tighten business and technology integration, by including internal customers
in the planning processes.
Focus on the core, by evaluating the benefits of outsourcing and cloud
computing.
Simplify, automate, and integrate.
Match human talent with business demands.

Chapter 1. Business context

IT faces more responsibilities. Besides managing and operating current

information systems, IT staff are assigned to new project implementations,
generating more overhead. The following tasks are faced by IT professionals on
a day to day basis:
Reacting and solving incidents.
Performance management of IT services.
User satisfaction.
Release of new applications.
Capacity management of IT systems.
Change and configuration management of the complex and multi-vendor
infrastructure.
Process automation.
Management of change within the IT infrastructure.
With the pressure of service scope, and limitation of resources, IT must place
special focus on user satisfaction, delivery of services, remote access interfaces,
and general system administration. With these requirements, how can
organizations stand up to the test?
IT must identify key challenges to prioritize business execution and automation.
This can be achieved by using knowledge, from both private and public
organizations, to obtain the best possible outcome by aligning IT with the
business.
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library3 (ITIL) is a widely known,
studied, and applied collection of best practices in the IT industry that aligns
processes and commits to overall business goals. ITIL is not a mandate. It is a
guideline towards the implementation of already tested initiatives that can save
you time and money over an ad hoc model.
ITIL is flexible. It is your organizations culture, mission, vision, industry,
regulations, laws, values, and experience that dictate the direction of the
implementation. Some of the most important challenges that are faced by
organizations are explained in 1.2, Challenges: Aligning IT with the business on
page 11 to reduce rework and efforts to maximize overall value.

10

For more information about the ITIL, see http://www.itil-officialsite.com/

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

1.2 Challenges: Aligning IT with the business

Some organizations struggle to interlock IT and their business objectives. It is
common to find customer and service provider (internal or external) initiatives
that target cost reduction, process streamlining, and user satisfaction, even
though these components are not related to IT.
This is because of globalization dynamics, Internet and mobility, which require
work and resources. Because IT consists of specialized knowledge about
technology, subject matter experts in these areas tend to provide in-depth detail
and precision, despite working with granular demands, and define clear technical
requirements to deploy and configure the perfect system. However, perfection is
the enemy of efficiency and effectiveness. This is especially true if the ultimate IT
goal is to deliver and manage these offerings, which can lead to a dead end and
make IT services unmanageable.
Furthermore, you commonly hear about how the IT role is circled to minimize
vulnerabilities and reduce related risks. This can be true, as many organizations
lack understanding of how IT can automate processes within their business.
These organizations often have the wrong impression that information
technology reduces flexibility and adds business hurdles or obstacles when
deploying them inside a server. The server is sometimes considered a black box
to everybody outside IT.
This lack of understanding raises the bar for IT when facing the dilemma,
between reducing risks for a safer organization, and expansion of more flexible,
friendlier, and ubiquitous applications.
The IBM approach is to provide organizations with solutions that can cope in a
multi-vendor environment, while using good practices such as ITIL, and aligning
IT with the business. To use this approach, you must identify key challenges that
your organization might encounter. This ultimately enables you to set an accurate
stage for any suite of IT solutions.
IBM is heavily committed to the challenges that IT faces. As an IT company itself,
IBM faces the same challenges of managing and using IT applications and
services that provide the means for value generation, both for external and
internal stakeholders.
From this perspective, a challenge that must be addressed from the beginning is
creating the service catalog.

Chapter 1. Business context

11

1.2.1 Recommendations for a service catalog

Whenever a person goes into a restaurant, from a user perspective, there is
always a general idea of what the selection scope is. In a chicken restaurant, for
example, the user can select from dishes that include chicken as one of their
components. This selection is expected from the users perspective because
there is no other choice than to select an option from the menu.
So how does this analogy reflect to information technology? Just like a
restaurant, IT offers a menu, and it is called a service catalog.
The service catalog is intended to provide the user with all the possible
alternatives. From this point of view, a decision of picking meat in a chicken
restaurant can translate into a similar scenario in an IT environment.
The moment the user picks the dish from the menu, a whole set of processes are
triggered in the restaurant. Some steps might include the kitchen, the bar, or
even processes related to cooking and serving the dish. IT operates in a similar
way.
After the customer select the offering within the service catalog, other sub
processes can be triggered to fulfill this request. These requests are generally
fulfilled inside a black box from the user perspective. Because users do not see
any value in the actions that are needed to fulfill a request, only a ticket number
that represents their order is created for the users to keep track.
Just like in modern restaurants, kitchens remain open, so everyone can see what
the cooks are doing to fulfill a customers request. A similar thing applies to IT
because IT operations must identify the steps to fulfill a user request in a
transparent way within the IT support groups. Requests are generally tracked by
associating all related activities that are needed to fulfill the request for the user.
This service catalog example considers some important concepts while facing
challenges. Just like a menu in a restaurant, menu items are prime offerings that
are provided by the manager (IT). These are included as service offerings within
the service catalog. It is the menu, or service catalog, that ultimately determines
the type of chef, kitchen requirements, table cloths, and important investment
decisions, such as restaurant location.
When you create a service catalog, you have two different options: A request
catalog and a more technical, or line of business oriented, catalog. Each has a
different use and purpose. Based on previous engagements, a good
recommendation is to analyze user behavior within the organization. Many users
access standard services, like password reset, and generate requests for the IT
department, which are usually well documented and addressed within the first
level of support.

12

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

A definition in the request catalog must express the full composition of sub
processes that an organization needs to define to fulfill a user request. This
definition helps to generate certainty within the organization, as all steps required
to fulfill the requests are documented, or at least identified. An example of an
offering within a service request catalog is shown in Example 1-1.
Example 1-1 Password reset application

A password reset application contained within the following service

catalog structure:
Business Applications Access Requests Password Reset
The details of the offering can include fields like service
descirption, summary, cost and the application.
Attention: The request catalog must include the users perspective. Failing to
connect to the user can make the service catalog initiative fail.
There is a second catalog that includes offerings that should not be available to
everybody in the organization. This service catalog generally includes service
offerings from specific lines of business, such as Human Resources, and Billing.
These catalogs contain specific services that are focused on the particular needs
of that line of business. Have these catalogs created by people who understand
the business processes and the internal services they provide.
Make the users interface in the service catalog intuitive, simple, and quick. If a
user perceives a user-oriented approach with quick response from IT systems,
that user will use it as the preferred method of contact.
A self-service portal should provide quick reference for the user. By using
graphics and good guidance in the interface, the users can then request services
with ease. You can use multiple service catalogs in your organization.
Attention: A user who perceives slow response time from applications will
probably stop using that method of contact.
Include the IT delivery team in the design of a service catalog. Extra subtickets
might be created to fulfill the tasks that are needed to complete a users request.
The complete chain of subtickets should be completed in the allotted time as
defined in the service level agreement (SLA) commitments.
An SLA represents the organizations expectation of ticket attention or resolution,
no matter how many activities or tasks are required. When you define SLAs, you

Chapter 1. Business context

13

must obtain many details from the design and implementation teams that are
working on the service catalog. Both processes have many dependencies.
Tip: Associating costs to offerings and displaying them in the service catalog
applications is a good method to prevent users from casually requesting
services that they do not have a business requirement for at the moment. This
approach usually works even if users are not going to actually pay for the
services.

1.2.2 Service asset and configuration management using

relationships and attributes
On a day to day basis, tickets are created to request services. Almost all of them
point to either an asset, or a configuration item (CI).
In ITIL, these concepts are defined within the same section. However, they are
seen as different components.

Asset
From an IT perspective, assets provide financial information for IT. An IT-asset is
the financial representation of a server or application within the organization.
Details of an IT-asset include asset owner, vendor, provider, authorized support,
and warranty information. This record represents an investment of the
organization, which must be tracked throughout its lifecycle. IT asset
management is a discipline similar to regular enterprise asset management.
However, it differs because it manages the assets from a technology perspective,
considering caveats that are involved with maintenance, assignment, and usage.
Generally speaking, the use of IT-assets within the organization applies to these
items:
Notebooks, desktops, scanners, printers, and so on, targeted mainly for
users.
Servers, switches, routers, and so on, targeted for general data center usage.
IT asset management must track these components to manage associated
warranties and surrounding services. For example, the inclusion of desktop
provisioning within the service catalog is a good example of IT asset
management as described in the following list.

14

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Desktop provisioning typically includes the following steps:

1. A new employee requests a notebook from the service catalog.
2. After the request is submitted, it gets routed to the service line and fulfillment
manager for approval.
3. After the request is approved, it is forwarded to the asset management
process, where a new asset is assigned to the user.
4. After the asset is installed and deployed, the request is resolved.
The assignment and management of IT assets is done through the request
fulfillment process, which addresses the following tasks, which are usually
performed by an on site representative:
Install

Applications

Move

Move desktop from one floor to the other

Add

Desktop components, such a monitor or printer

Change

Replace the users desktop

A request fulfillment service, also referred to as IMAC, is generally requested

within the service catalog.
After the on site representative finishes delivery of a service, an IT asset
management process is triggered to update the asset inventory and ownership.
Software and applications are considered in the scope of an IT asset. A software
catalog must include information about all the purchased software for adequate
license management.
Because both software and physical IT assets must be tracked, there are two
different ways to manage these components.
Deployed assets or software
Refers to the actual asset that is deployed, or on the floor, in the data center.
Authorized asset
This is the asset controlled by a service management system. This is where
all the actual operational activities, such as IMACs, are documented.
The reconciliation between the assets can identify the status or maturity of IT
assets because a reconciliation can compare the status of the asset (deployed)
against the operational use (authorized). Based on these discrepancies, a report
can be generated to determine unauthorized changes in a deployed asset
without work orders or change tickets.

Chapter 1. Business context

15

There are many ways to manage deployed assets, either by data loading or by
discovery.
Discovery advice: Include software libraries for software identification in a
discovery tool. Because desktops and notebooks differ from regular servers,
the correct discovery tools must be selected.
Perform periodic software and hardware discoveries for deployed assets.
Select a discovery tool that does not generate extra processor load in target
systems. Generally, schedule your typical discovery to run late at night or early
in the morning.

Configuration item
The use of configuration management within an organization can be considered
one of the most important steps within ITIL.
A configuration item (CI) is an element that must be tracked from an attribute,
relationship, dependency, and scope perspective. These elements range from
basic isolated to integrated and complex, and cover assets like applications,
databases, web servers, and services.
The definition and application of this process is vital because it can provide a
common ground for most processes, and enable them to generate value for the
organization. A CI can be described as the glue that fits all the pieces together.
Some examples of CIs can be found in the following list:
Hardware
Servers
Routers
Switches
Software
Operating systems
Applications
Services and processes
Service level agreements
Process documentation
Policies
As you can see, there is an overlap with IT assets. A server can be a CI and an
asset. This can be confusing if the criteria and concepts are not clearly defined.

16

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

To facilitate the management of these different views of IT resources, assets and

CIs, and different levels of representation, discovered and authorized, IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk provides reconciliation and synchronization features.
For more information about IT resources representation in IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk, see 4.1.1, IT resources representation on page 138.
The CI server is used when that server requires the application of a firmware
update. This process represents an operational task that is related to the service
that CI enables.
The asset server is used if that asset must be moved from one rack to the other.
Attention: You can include the related CIs in an asset movement because the
physical movement of a server can affect applications and services.
Just like IT assets, CIs also have an actual CI (the CI deployed within the data
center) and the CI in the management system. These two can also be used to
identify non-authorized changes within the infrastructure.
Better managing your CIs: Generally, use common data models because
they are a proven source of reliable information for a CMDB.
A discovery tool that can use a monitoring infrastructure can be a good
alternative for CI discovery.
An electronic discovery tool is the ideal way to discover and associate the CIs
with their applications and services. This way, the CIs can be integrated into a
system where incident, problem, and change management processes can use
the information.

1.2.3 Setting service level expectations

The application of service level agreements within an organization must include
important aspects, such as shifts, calendars, and general applications.
It is common to find service level agreements that are based on user type (VIPs
get a speedier time to respond), type of request (request, work order, incident),
and event location. All of these topics must be addressed in terms of the
applicability of SLAs within the business.

Chapter 1. Business context

17

The SLA considerations in Table 1-1 can provide some guidelines for your
organization.
Table 1-1 General considerations for SLA management

18

Application

Considerations

General ticketing
(requests, incidents,
problems, changes, work
orders, releases)

Measurable SLA times

Calendars and shifts

Holidays and non-labor

days

Notifications

Recommendation

Consider the usage of

the SLA timer, and
define policies and sub
processes for its
application.

Load as many
calendars as the
organization needs,
and shifts that are
covered by the resolver
or owner groups.

Load calendars and

non-labor days, as they
are considered in the
target SLA calculation.

Consider programming
of escalations that
depend on the priority
of the ticket, and at
adequate intervals.
Too many notifications
diminish the value of
them.

Assets

Different assets might have

different priorities.

Associate the assets if

there is an organization
initiative for their
prioritization.

Configuration Items

Different CIs can have

different impacts to the
business.

Associate the CIs to the

applicable SLAs to meet
the organizations internal
or external commitments.

Locations

Locations can have

different importance due to
their strategic objective in
the organization.

Depending on the
importance of locations,
these can have higher or
lower SLAs.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

After the service catalog is finalized and is ready to be published through the
self-service portal, email, or phone, a support group must be ready to respond.
This is the role of IT support.

1.2.4 Request fulfillment

In most organizations, IT support is made up of all the areas that provide
resolutions towards the IT services provided. For example, a specific support
group can be responsible to fulfill and track SLAs and manage user complaints.
In an ITIL based model, define a single point of contact to increase user
satisfaction and avoid the scenario that is shown in Example 1-2.
Example 1-2 Multiple lines of support

Sandy: I have a problem with my user account.

Robert: Call support they will help you.
Sandy: Do you have the number?
Robert: Ah... yes it is ether 623, 645 or 723. They are different
though, I do not know who will be able to help you. Just call all three
of them.
Sandy: What a problem, I will see if someone around here can give me a
hand.
Under this model, your organization should generally adopt what is most
commonly called a single point of contact (SPOC). Also known as the service
desk, this group of individuals concentrate their efforts into solving as many
tickets as possible within their scope, whether they are simple application how to
questions, or specific ERP user support. The service desk is intended to initially
handle all requests, avoiding rework and other related expenses that can happen
if you have multiple teams doing the same tasks.
Depending on the organization, either a service desk, help desk, or call center
can be implemented as detailed in Table 1-2.
Table 1-2 Different types of first level support
Type

Features

Call Center

Basic call taking and routing of tickets to

resolver groups.

Help Desk

Addresses basic technical issues, related to

questions and solutions to users.

Chapter 1. Business context

19

Type

Features

Service Desk

Provides a broader scope of actions that are

based on the attention of support to services,
such as ERP.

Because the service desk is the single point of contact, a large number of issues
are reported by the users, and created by the service desk.
A good way to transmit the status of requests to users is by channeling this
information through the self-service portal, or through simple notifications.
Because a good percentage of incoming calls that are only follow-up calls, this
can remove pressure from the service desk team if the user can clearly identify
the ticket status, and the committed delivery date.
Do not overdo it: Notification strategy must be balanced. Sending
notifications on every status change subtracts value from its real purpose.
However, a reduced number of notifications can create overhead for service
desk call takers, when users call again to request an update.
After the ticket is resolved, a good way to measure user satisfaction is to send
surveys occasionally. Users only respond in a positive way to surveys if they are
short, straight to the point, and simple to use.
When to close: Remember to define ticket closure time frames. After a ticket
is closed, it becomes a part of history records. In this status, tickets cannot be
reopened. Only privileged users should have authority to edit closed tickets.
After request fulfillment is in control of ongoing user requests, the overhead
generated by user interactions can provide an additional opportunity for solutions
and automations.

1.2.5 Identification and resolution of incidents

Incident management is one of the key challenges within an organization, and
you need powerful capabilities to be successful.
The more information you can about the gather about the unique nature of an
incident at the beginning, the better. Incident management includes several
interactions with several processes, including event management and change
management.

20

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

It is important to set adequate expectations within the organization during the

incident management process. To create correct SLAs, you must consider factors
like the ones described in 1.2.3, Setting service level expectations on page 17.
This process is essential to enable the correct prioritization and assignment of
resources to the incident.
Some organizations are still struggling with incident diagnosis, confusing
concepts like symptom, cause, and solution.
A good approach towards the correct diagnosis of an incident is shown in
Example 1-3.
Example 1-3 A visit to the doctor.

Axel: Good morning doctor. I am feeling very sick today.

Dr. Bob: That is fine Axel. Please, tell me, where is it hurting?
Axel: My stomach is hurting. After I had breakfast, I started feeling
some aching. I think it was the oatmeal.
Dr Bob: Thats fine, does it hurt here (stomach), here (kidneys) or here
(liver) ?
Axel: It is my stomach.
Dr Bob: Ok, no problem. Did you have some milk with your oatmeal ?
Axel: Yes, I did.
Dr Bob: Do you happen to know if you are lactose intolerant?
Axel: I dont know.
Dr. Bob: Ok, we will have some fast tests, but I think thats pretty
much it. Please, take these pills and you will be better.
Axel: Thanks Doc.
Just like a doctor, the incident management team must identify the symptom,
cause, and solution of an incident. If a user is experiencing disruption of a
service, a similar approach can be taken to identify the symptom:
1. What is going wrong?
2. What is the cause (what is triggering the disruption)?
3. What is the solution (the steps to follow to restore normal operations)?
Most often users are the first to identify a possible incident, due to their constant
usage of IT services. In some cases, incidents are reported through automation.
If the latter is the case, the event management system is key to obtaining
information about a possible disruption of a service. For these scenarios, the
event console can be used to create and dispatch the event, which should
include troubleshooting information from the command center to avoid false
positives.

Chapter 1. Business context

21

If an event is classified as an incident, it must be created and assigned to the

correct owner group.
After the incident is created, include prioritization, classification, and ownership
to trigger the correct process. In the specific case of an automatically created
incident, information about the configuration of the IT infrastructure is important,
which helps assign priority and ownership of the incident.
Because the incident is usually uncertain at first, have the owners of the affected
CIs take initial ownership of the incident. Then create more tickets to underlying
support teams to reduce time that is wasted when you reassign the ticket to other
support groups.
If the CMDB is used from the beginning of an incident, the support group can
concentrate on the diagnosis. If it is not an expected behavior, create an incident
by taking information from the CMDB and inherit impact, ownership, and extra
relationship information to provide as many details as possible to the owner
group responsible for the resolution.
Using the CMDB: The CMDB also provides information from extra support
groups that must be engaged in the occurrence of an incident.

Incident or not: Not all critical events actually represent an incident.

Remember that, for example, change windows require the suspension of
services and applications to commit the changes. In this case, the critical
event is not an incident, but rather a planned outage.
If an incident stays open, and a workaround must be applied to reestablish
service, but the root cause for the incident has not been found, open a problem
ticket.

1.2.6 Rising to problem management

The organization must be able to extract as much information as possible from a
problem ticket (either proactive or reactive) to reduce the number of problems.
The correct identification of problems, and their recurring appearances, can
dramatically reduce overall downtime. Results can be seen in the long run. As
level 3 and level 2 support groups involve themselves in known error and root
cause documentation, the process enables the first level of support to increase
their scope and resolution percentage.

22

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Make known errors available through the ticketing system to consolidate

information in a single system, and provide this information to the whole
organization.
Remember that a problem cannot always be solved. Sometimes the overall
solution of a problem is too expensive to implement. Document these problems
as a known error, and publish them through the service portal.
When a problem can be solved, and a viable solution is found, implement the
solution by using the change management process.
Document information about failure details for metric purposes, such as failure
classes and codes.
When an incident interlocks with problem management, both processes address
the same issue, but their paths differ from the beginning. The objective of incident
management is to reduce downtime, whereas problem management is focused
on finding the root cause of the incident.
These two processes ideally have different groups assigned, each one with a
different set of skills. Generally, incident management teams look for instant
solutions in reaction to an incident to re-establish service as quickly as possible,
as seen in Example 1-4.
Example 1-4 An incident management support group working for a solution

Dan: The application server xyz-1 is down.

Alfredo: Engage the backup application server xyz-b1.
Dan: Shouldnt we try to find out what happend to that server first?
Alfredo: We do not have much time left. We have a pretty agressive up
time for that service.
Dan: OK, no problem. I will route all server connections to the xyz-b1
server. Once I am done, I will resolve the incident. Please let Niraj
know that a problem ticket will be assigned to him to investigate what
went wrong.
However, problem management support groups try to address the issue that
caused the service outage, as described in Example 1-5.
Example 1-5 A problem management support group working to find the root cause

Niraj: Dan I need a copy of the application server and all of its
components, so that I can replicate the error found on the incident
this morning.
Dan: No problem, I will send you a backup of the application server.
That will contain everything you need to replicate the error.

Chapter 1. Business context

23

Niraj: Thank you. I will document the problem ticket and once I find
the solution I will create a change record if it can be implemented.
These are examples of how incident and problem management differ from one
another. But what happens if the root cause is found and is viable for
implementation? How can organizations handle changes with minimal impact
and increase the success rate for the organization?

1.2.7 Handling change management: Identifying impact and

increasing availability
Change management is another important process within ITIL. It updates the IT
infrastructure by altering the relationships, dependencies, and attributes of
configuration items. This is why it requires a slightly different approach.
Change management can be seen as an umbrella for the incident, problem, and
change processes, as depicted in Figure 1-7.

Figure 1-7 Increasing change effectiveness to increase availability

The success of change management within the organization can either reduce or
increase the overall quality of the following processes:
Incident management
Reduces the number of outages through good planning and execution of
changes.
Problem management
Reduces the number of unidentified incident causes by using good change
management implementation. Sometimes a simple parameter change in a
system property file can affect a service. It is not until someone identifies that
the parameter has changed, that the real cause can be identified.

24

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

 Configuration
Correctly updating the relationships, dependencies, and attributes of CIs (a
correct understanding of services) can help change management achieve
correct change assessment, incident prioritization, and ownership.
Based on the previous engagements the change management process is one of
the most detailed and process oriented defined in ITIL. Because change
management processes can update every CI, it must be robust to enable correct
organizational planning.
For example, obtain a change impact analysis for the CIs if possible. This can
reduce the number of human errors due to incorrect impact association to a
change. The CIs impact can also relate to other processes, such as incident
management.
By balancing CI relationships, you can calculate impact based on CI depth levels.
Based on your organizations needs, you can opt to select a deeper or a
shallower level. Usually, the highest CI impact within a relationship or
dependency can determine the impact of the change, and therefore increase the
overall risk of the change itself.
Change targets: A change normally targets a CI (service, application,
infrastructure) or an asset.
After change targets are loaded, create an impact assessment to identify the real
business impact and risk of the change. A good practice is to conduct change
management planning meetings, where stakeholders understand the reason for
the change and their implications within the organization.
Furthermore, adequate planning for the change, by using project management
tools, is useful when you are coordinating the required activities for a change
between impacted business divisions or groups.
From the definition of the activities and their dependencies, a good estimate for
the whole change window can be calculated. Consider extra concepts like
change windows and blackout periods when you schedule the change.
Consider pre-assigned change windows for critical CIs in your organization,
especially for those that run core business applications such as ERPs, billing,
and sales systems.
Just like defining a change window, define a blackout period when those CIs are
not eligible for change scheduling. This is a good practice within IT organizations.
Blackout periods can be associated with specific CIs, and can be made available

Chapter 1. Business context

25

to all the stakeholders so that you can align expectations for change applicability
for CIs.
If an organization must determine the override of a change window or blackout
period, obtain extra approvals. This helps with the overall success of the change
and continuity of the business.
Do not rely on individuals: A good change management policy includes the
association of change approver groups instead of individuals. This is a good
way to provide flexibility to the process, especially when individuals are out on
vacation or are unavailable to process a critical path workflow through the
application.
When the change and all the related activities are complete, conduct a post
implementation review (PIR) to determine the success of the change. There are
different approaches to this step within the change management discipline, and
more details can be found within ITIL.
PIRs should be conducted by a group of people who had no involvement in the
change process, so that they can objectively determine the success or failure of
the change.

1.2.8 General guidelines for a support organization

The support organization is made up of several groups, internal and external.
A typical support organization might include these groups:
Level 1: Command center, service desk, or help desk
Monitors events within the infrastructure and generally tracks all data center
activity and runs scheduled jobs. After the level 1 group identifies an affected
service, they can create an incident within their monitoring console. They are
also in charge of dispatching tickets to other support teams, such as level 2 or
level 3 support.
Level 2: Support groups
Usually manage a part of the systems that are needed to provide services to
the organization. They usually apply changes to the infrastructure and solve
incidents.
Level 3: Support groups
Usually expert support groups that have extensive knowledge in specific
technical applications. Vendors can be included in this support level as part of
warranties or support from software or hardware vendors.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Depending on the type of the overall organization structure, there are some
important decisions that you must make to deploy the best form of support into
your organization. If the organization is looking to consolidate IT operations of
different departments, an internal service provider model might the best option.
If the organization is looking to provide IT services to other organizations, and act
as a service provider, an external service provider model must be defined.
An example of an IT support team, working to provide services within the IT
organization, is depicted in Figure 1-8.

Figure 1-8 An example of an integrated IT support organization

1.2.9 Extra challenges that you might face

In 2011, IBM published a thought leader white paper called Gaining efficiency
and business value through better management of your IT infrastructure4. It
describes some of the challenges that organizations face to provide effective
service delivery while saving costs.
4

Gaining efficiency and business value through better management of your IT infrastructure, Eight
challenges to overcome for effective service delivery and cost savings,
http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=SA&subtype=WH&htmlfid=SSW03005U
SEN

Chapter 1. Business context

27

The white paper explains some of the challenges that must be identified to
provide a good and better management of the IT infrastructure.

1.2.10 Service Provider Edition

Many internal IT organizations operate as a profit center and charge, through
internal chargebacks, for the services they provide. Managed Service Providers
provide IT Services to external customers and bill for these services. The Service
Provider Edition supports these business models.
Asset information can be associated with customers, and customer agreements
define the entitlements for customers, and the negotiated pricing rules. Customer
billing for the assets managed or for asset usage, and fixed fees, can be billed
automatically on a recurring schedule according to the terms of the customer
agreements. Customers can also be billed for individual work activities, and for
services and assets that are provided through the Service Catalog.

1.2.11 The unique IBM value proposition

After challenges are clearly identified and addressed, the organizations strategy
and IT operations have a strong alignment. An important decision must be made
to cover the IT needs as identified in this chapter.
The unique IBM value proposition is based on best practices, where IBM is a
contributor itself, backed by over 100 years of innovation around the world.
IBM has applied technology and innovation through almost all industries,
providing organizations with flexible and integrated solutions to help them reach
their business goals.
In addition, you can use the best practices approach of ITIL to achieve the results
you are striving for, while keeping your organizations business goals in sight.
Just like the studies mentioned, IBM has a commitment to overall business
improvement used through IT, while providing business solutions that fit your
organization.
In a world that consists of demanding, interconnected, integrated, and intelligent
technology components, applications, and services, IBM provides a set of
solutions that use cloud technology to increase its value to the organization.
By using visibility, control, and automation, IBM provides a set of solutions that
are lead by one of the most complete and integrated solutions in the market: IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

1.3 Conclusion
Every organization that strives for business success must be able to face their IT
challenges on a day to day basis. These challenges can be considered
opportunities to streamline IT and improve the overall alignment between IT
goals and expectations. But IT management today no longer operates in a glass
house.
Organizations around the world have identified the need to align IT operations
with their business goals to succeed in the marketplace. IT must be used every
inch of the way to help your organization become more efficient and effective in
reaching those business goals.
Chapter 2, Solution overview and deployment strategy on page 31 outlines
important features and solutions that are needed to be successful with an IT
service management implementation.

Chapter 1. Business context

29

30

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Chapter 2.

Solution overview and

deployment strategy
This chapter addresses important aspects of a service management
implementation are addressed.
Almost every organization today defines a set of business objectives for their IT
operations to hold management and their departments accountable for
investments. These investments can help an organization to visualize, control,
and automate their current processes and increase its overall efficiency.
This chapter introduces the following concepts to help you understand how IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk can support IT operations deliver on these promises:

Meeting customer needs

Solution components
Deployment models
Deployment strategies
Deployment planning

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

31

2.1 Meeting customer needs

As shown in Figure 2-1, organizations today have a strong need to work in an
interconnected, instrumented, and intelligent environment.

Figure 2-1 Investing to optimize dynamic business infrastructures to sustain delivery of business value

IT landscapes today are increasingly complex, virtualized, distributed, and

diverse. Cloud computing improves responsiveness and changes the economics
of IT.
At the same time, the envelope of IT is stretching far beyond the data center,
networks, and workstations to new classes of assets with embedded IT
capabilities.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides organizations with the ability to maintain
configuration integrity in response to planned changes and unplanned incidents
and problems. These issues can be dealt with when they occur across this
complex IT landscape to ensure continuity of service, speed of response, and
efficiency in management.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk delivers an advanced architecture that uses key
Internet concepts, standards, and technologies, including Java Platform,
Enterprise Edition and service-oriented architecture (SOA). The web-based

32

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

interface can be configured to map to your organizations processes, data

models, user and corporate user interfaces, and portal standards.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can help your organization accomplish the
following goals:
Bridge department silos
Save time and process costs of applying simultaneous updates to related
assets and configuration items.
Manage intelligent business assets
Deliver repeatable business outcomes by managing both traditional
applications and the intelligent IT enabled assets that support them.
Achieve more with less
Empower users to solve their problems and help them access the services
that they need.
Enable IT to reduce downtime and mean time to repair, all with a reduced
number of employees.
Improve quality of service in a dynamic infrastructure environment.

2.1.1 Cloud or no cloud

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk combines the capabilities of existing offerings
(such as the Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database, Tivoli
Service Request Manager, and Tivoli Asset Management for IT) into a single
unified cloud solution. If you are not running a cloud environment today, you are
still able to access all the latest service management capabilities that can
address your service management problems.
In addition, the traditional non-cloud customer can feel comfortable and ready for
transition when a cloud model becomes the organizations mandate for the
future.

2.1.2 The benefits of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Changing products is always a question of when the benefits surpass the
planning, training, and purchase costs of selecting new software. Upgrading
within the same product family also provides cost advantages.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

33

If you are already using any of the previous Tivoli solutions, you can see the
following benefits by shifting to IBM SmartCloud Control Desk:
User interface improvements that include navigation panels
Single solution installation process
Single maintenance stream
New functionality that addresses a number of key challenges
Improved asset and CI integration, which enables you to load the CMDB with
asset information
Based on this solution consolidation, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can provide
an integrated approach towards an effective service management-oriented
organization. This end-to-end model is depicted in Figure 2-2.

Figure 2-2 IBM SmartCloud Control Desk solution overview

34

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Business requirements seek smarter solutions, resulting in initiatives to manage

assets and change. The following issues are aspects of the changing landscape:
Fading boundaries across business and IT assets
Physical and infrastructure assets are increasingly embedded with software
and therefore resemble assets in a traditional IT environment.
Velocity of changes impact business agility
Manual processes cannot keep up with faster rates of change driven by cloud
and virtualized environments. This is further impacted by planning and
scheduling of work across IT and operations of lines of business.
Many organizations are not IT-savvy
Increasing population of non-technical users request access to business
services.
To manage the changing landscape, new tools, ways of thinking, and dynamic
business response are required. Taking the time to review your technology
strengths is critical and helps define budget and planning decisions.
Because IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is a unified solution, moving or
upgrading to this version provides the following advantages:
Enhanced usability in user interfaces helps increase productivity with new left
navigation, simplified interfaces for key applications, asynchronous validation,
an all-new calendar, updated rich text editing, type ahead, and tightened
consistency. Extra features include mobile devices.
Unified product benefits help to reduce restrictions that prevent users from
working as needed across functional areas. All users can have access to all
product functions that they require.
Using the Service Provider Edition, a single instance can be used to manage
the assets of internal or external customers. Access rules can be defined to
limit certain users to access one customer, or a group of customers, while
providing a global, enterprise view to other users. The Service Provider
Edition manages customers and customer agreements, which ensure that
customers receive only the services to which they are entitled, and that
customers are properly billed for the services that they receive. The same
asset information used for configuration management is used for financial
management of the assets, ensuring the correct billing and chargeback of the
managed assets. This can eliminate the need to maintain, update, and
reconcile separate asset databases.
A single install and maintenance stream reduces installation and
maintenance time.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

35

 Latest platform updates in the Tivoli's process automation engine v7.5 deliver
benefits in user interface, migration manager, import and export, scripting,
help performance, and more.

2.2 Solution components

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is an integrated IT Service Management solution.
As a solution it approaches the business as an end-to-end entity, which helps
align IT with business objectives. The following sections identify key elements
within the design of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk to maximize functionality in
your organization:

Main features and enhancements

Common services
IT asset management
IT change, configuration, and release management
IT service request, incident, and problem management

2.2.1 Main features and enhancements

By having a comprehensive service management approach, which is built on top
of a common platform and delivered as a single suite, you can create a solid
end-to-end solution.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

This solution focuses on users, seeing the issue as a whole and not as separated
silos, as shown in Figure 2-3.

Figure 2-3 An integrated solution based on certified ITIL processes

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk enables your organization to handle enterprise

management tasks from one service desk by managing requests from anywhere
in the organization. By using the same service desk, you can minimize the

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

37

number of tools that your staff uses, promote consistent execution of processes,
and correctly prioritize the issues that have the greatest impact on the business.
Few vendors bring together the capabilities to manage a large set of physical and
digital aspects of business services. Todays solutions focus on either the IT
portion of the service or the line of business assets. Currently, most
organizations have separate tools and processes in place, meaning that
coordination between IT and line of business can be difficult.
For example, when a service outage is reported on an IT-enabled asset, are the
service desk users coming from the IT organization or the facilities team? If an
asset must be taken offline for maintenance, is IT notified to reroute workflow?
With Maximo Asset Management, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can deliver a
complete service and asset management solution that spans through IT, cloud,
improved physical infrastructure, and traditional enterprise assets on a single
platform.
To provide all of these services, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is built from a
cross platform perspective that provides the framework for all these solutions to
work in an integrated and instrumented fashion. Tivoli's process automation
engine delivers this framework and enables all of the solutions to coexist and use
each other, providing more value for the organization.

2.2.2 Common services

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is based on a common platform, known as Tivoli's
process automation engine. This platform provides the necessary tools,
elements, and components to host all the applications that are contained within
the solution.

Capabilities of the Tivoli Process Automation Engine

Table 2-1 shows the common platform capabilities.
Table 2-1 Common platform capabilities

38

Feature

Benefits

Common user interface

Efficient process sharing due to common user interface.

Runbook automation

Helps automate and improve resolution of incidents

through an integrated runbook capability that spans all
functional areas, with the power and flexibility to make
changes throughout the process.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Feature

Benefits

Custom workflow

Easy to use Workflow Builder that includes Application

Designer, Database Configuration, Escalations,
Notifications, and Email Listener.

Common, versatile
reporting engine

Report tooling includes ready to use reports, key

performance indicators, and ad hoc query functions with
upgrades on Query Based Report (QBR).

Integration framework

Seamless integration of ITIL-based frameworks,

including support for web services, JMS, HTTP(S),
database files (XML or flat), LDAP, launch-in-context,
event NS batch/bulk processing, email, and workflow
connectivity.

Global deployment support

Support for multiple languages.

Service provider support

Multi-customer enablement or service provider support

allows management of multiple customers in a single
instance deployment.
A customer agreement defines entitlements for each
customer. It also defines pricing rules for managing
assets, usage of assets, for work performed in the repair
or configuration of the assets, and for the fulfillment of
Service Catalog offerings.
Customer billing manages the billing or chargeback of
recurring charges, or charges related to activities.

Tivoli's process automation engine has a new user interface. Understanding its
features is important to understanding its usefulness. Some of the features of the
user interface are described in Table 2-2.
Table 2-2 User interface enhancements
Feature

Description

Navigation and
functionality

Intuitive interface, introducing left navigation controls in

key applications, prioritized by user role and major use
cases.

Ease of use and intuitive

interface

Easier and more intuitive forms in the areas os service

request, incident, and change. This is achieved through
process flow improvement, and by removing fields.

Client-side validation

Faster validations that increase overall interface

performance.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

39

Feature

Description

Reporting enhancements

Export of reports can now be done in the list view.

Asynchronous validation

Useful for multi-site customers.

Mobile support: Key features

More than ever, business is going mobile. If mobile has not been included or
considered by a vendor solution, it is not a solution. The following list includes
some of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk mobile activities that are supported for
BlackBerry, iOS, and Android:

User creates or views service requests

Service request assignment to owner
Service request approval
Analysis and creation of incidents

Runbook automation capabilities

Businesses run day and night, and automated processes help support
continuous business activity. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk supports the
automation of the following operational processes:

Workflow designer and job plans

Workflow engine
Actions and scripts
Start centers
Inbox and work queue
Escalations
Notifications
Communication templates
Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

Within the operational process of workflow design and job plans, IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk has made more improvements. The following list notes
those additional improvements for automation support for workflow designer:

40

Freshened look and feel and improved usability

Customized icons for actions (invisible on original canvas)
Improved scalability for large, complex workflows
Maximizes the built-in capabilities of iLog

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Furthermore, within the operational process of actions and scripts, IBM

SmartCloud Control Desk includes a new script engine, with the following
capabilities:
Full use of scripting API, part of JDK 6 (JSR)
Ships with Rhino and Jython, and allows other JSR223 compliant engines to
be plugged in
Scripts can run against any object within various contexts

Migration Manager
The Migration Manager is an application included in IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk that allows the migration of configuration data from one environment to
another. With this application, manual migrations steps can be reduced,
improving migration integrity. Main features (such as a detailed interface and the
fast building and deployment of packages) address this specific function. For
more information, see Migration Use Cases with the Migration Manager,
SG24-7906-01.

2.2.3 IT asset management

In the dynamic and changing world of today, effective asset management can
make a significant difference from a financial standpoint (for IT and non-IT
organizations).
A good starting point to harvest the real value of asset management is the
identification of software licensing, and the reduction of the amount software
bought by different departments within the same organization.
By centralizing and consolidating information within a single point of
management, and by updating license usage and purchasing, a cut in associated
costs is possible.
By using these capabilities, you can also reduce time, effort, and risk that are
associated with compliance audits.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

41

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides an end-to-end process to address

efficient asset management. The main capabilities are given in Table 2-3.
Table 2-3 IBM SmartCloud Control Desk features and benefits
Feature

Benefit

Up to date, proactively
managed authorized
repository of assets

Gain deep visibility across the organization into assets

owned, where they are located, maintenance details, and
corporate compliance. Track and control all hardware
assets. Manage a complete view of software entitlements
across the organization.
Provides a unified source for billing and chargebacks for
the use of the assets.

42

Accurate inventory of
deployed software

Automate license tracking to meet compliance

requirements.

Asset reports

Reduce unnecessary acquisition costs by identifying

inactive assets or by redeploying underused assets. Use
contract and entitlement information to improve
negotiation points with vendors. Reduce costs that are
related to over-licensing.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Understanding IT asset management is critical to business decisions,

negotiations with vendors, and technology strategy. An overview about the
capabilities of IT asset management is shown in Figure 2-4.

Figure 2-4 IT asset management capabilities

The following list includes some extra IT asset management features:

License application
Create and manage entitled licenses.
Manage how licenses are internally allocated.
Generate purchase requests and purchase orders.
Software Catalog application
Integrates with the Software Knowledge Base Toolkit or can be populated
by discovery.
Provides a distinct list of software products.
Provides the ability to create items that are used in procurement
applications.
Provides the ability to set aliases on products, including those discovered
by Tivoli or third-party tools.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

43

 Deployed Software applications

Lists all software instances that have been discovered.
Provides details of individually installed software instances.
Self-Service application
Provides users with a view of all assets that are assigned to them and their
designated role. Allows them to validate information and initiate an effort to
address any discrepancies.
Extra features:
Added license to existing procurement cycle.
Enhanced technology refresh and end-of-life function.
Promotion of deployed assets to authorized assets (with default values).
Software contract enhancements.
Discovered and authorized support for virtual machines.
Reconciliation usability enhancements.
New and updated integration adapters.
New license management reports.

Asset lifecycle management

Regarding IT asset management lifecycle, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can
provide and satisfy the following business elements:
Business need
Improve visibility and control of all IT assets through their lifecycle.
Obtain accurate asset data to enable appropriate and timely action across
the business.
Business drivers
Streamline purchasing and contract management.
Improve planning capability.
Improve asset usage by extending life.
Improve employee/customer service.
Optimize energy efficiency of assets.

44

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

 Business value delivered

Based on business drivers and needs, you can identify value in these goals:
Reduce IT asset cost through visibility and control.
Increase time to value with IT asset management best practices.
Maximize lifetime productive value of assets.
Improve efficiency through roles that drive UI and workflow.
Better IT service that meets increasing business demand.
Key questions: Do you know what assets you own? Where are they
located? Who owns them? Are they well kept and maintained? Do you
have a procurement in place to keep them up to date?

Audit readiness
How prepared is your organization to face a software or general asset audit? IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk can help you address the following challenges within
the process:
Business need
Be prepared for a 24x7 software audit
Understand licenses and their relationship to contracts
Accurate information about software inventory and usage in both
distributed and mainframe environments
Business drivers
Reduce business risk due to vendor-specific software audits
Support requirements of internal audits
One solution for all vendors, contract, and license types
Centralized management of all contracts, licenses, and inventory for all
vendors
Business value delivered
Helps avoid license compliance penalties
Reduces costs to conduct internal or external vendor audits
Key questions: What is your organization entitled to? What is deployed in
your environment? Are you under purchased?

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

45

Key Product Solutions: The deployment of Tivoli Asset Discovery can

electronically identify server software and hardware. This means that data
center software and hardware can be discovered by using this add on
component. However, for user computing assets, such as desktops and
notebooks, the implementation of Tivoli Endpoint Manager for inventory can
correctly discover hardware and software within your organization. They are
both different in scope, and each have a different approach.
An example of how audit readiness can work in your organization is shown in
Figure 2-5.

Figure 2-5 An example of an audit process flow in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Software asset management

A correct software management approach can potentially reduce cost from
licenses. By identifying which software you have deployed, how many people are
actually using it, and how many licenses you have available, you can have a
more controlled and consistent environment. You are also more prepared for an
audit.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Tip: A controlled and identified software environment includes information

about hardware and software. This process and information is valuable in
correctly preparing for future application deployments, such as ERPs and
CRMs.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk organizes and gathers critical software and
hardware information, which makes asset management simpler. Having this
information at the ready can help you address the following business challenges:
Business need
Correctly understand purchased software contracts, agreements, and
license entitlements.
Deployed software inventory, software usage and associated hardware
environment.
Business drivers
Identification and reduction of no and low use software.
Strong Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 approach.
Strong vendor contract negotiation leverage.
Use new technologies without increasing business expense or risk. Enable
multi-core processor-based licensing, virtual machines, and cloud
licensing models in your organization.
Business value delivered
Reduce software budget.
Mitigate audit risk.
Key questions: Are you using the software deployed? Are your contract and
purchasing agreements efficient? When do your leases, warranties, and
support agreements expire?

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

47

An example of how IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides a software

acquisition cycle is shown in Figure 2-6.

Figure 2-6 IT asset management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Benefits: When the service desk has access to asset details, including
contract and procurement information, the request fulfillment process
becomes more efficient. The process is streamlined, incident and problem
management processes expedited, and service levels and customer
satisfaction is improved.
Service desk data can also provide information to asset management about
frequency of issues within IT assets, potentially increasing efficiency and cost
effectiveness.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Extra solution functions have been included in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk:
Software license manager:
Quickly create new licenses by selecting from a list of common predefined
license templates.
Quickly associate products to licenses. Available products are filtered
based on selected attributes.
View open PO/PRs based on selected license.
View deployed software that is covered under license.
Select and allocate capacity to multiple people.
Add software consumption data from sources other than discovery tools
for use in comparing licenses.
License reservation for allocation based on the linkage between license
and work order.
Change asset status from a work order.
SWBToolkit can now be downloaded from IBM to publish software catalog
content.

IT financial management
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, can provide insight into the organizations
financial status. Information such as total cost of ownership, IT costs, and service
profitability can be calculated by using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. Having
this information can help you manage the following financial business
challenges:
Business need
Optimize the lifetime value of mission critical assets.
Reduce total cost of ownership of IT assets.
Understand IT costs to determine line of business product and service
profitability.
Business drivers
Optimize the lifetime value of mission critical assets.
Financial management approval of shared technology investments (such
as virtualization).
Chargeback for business services delivered (such as cloud computing).
Reduce costs through use of energy efficient assets.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

49

 Business value delivered

Align IT spending with business objectives.
Increase return on assets.
Lower infrastructure costs.
Key questions: What are your asset costs? What is the total cost of
ownership (TCO)? How much do your contracts cost? Can you allocate costs
fairly and effectively?

IT asset management architecture

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, provides a solution for organizations to reconcile
their deployed assets and their authorized assets within a service management
solution, as seen in Figure 2-7.

Figure 2-7 IT asset management in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, including the reconciliation of assets

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

2.2.4 IT change, configuration, and release management

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk includes features to help your organization
implement change management and in adding value with a Configuration
Management Database (CMDB).These aspects provide valuable information for
other processes, such as incident or problem and request fulfillment, as
described in Figure 2-8.

Figure 2-8 Using CMDBs power in IBM SmartCloud Control Desktop

When using IBM SmartCloud Control Desktop for change management you are
taking a close look at change configuration and release. This close look can
identify the following types of business-related issues to change management:
Business need
Reduce the overall impact of changes to the infrastructure by maximizing
workflow.
Ensure integrity of existing infrastructure during release of new hardware
and software.
Identifying relationships and attributes between services, applications, and
infrastructure.

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 Business drivers
Accurate determination of change risks and their relationships to the IT
environment.
Change scheduling, including windows, and blackout periods.
Reduce number of incidents due to changes.
Business value delivered
Business-oriented change management process.
Integrated CMDB, including impacts to the business.
Reduce time to update or deploy new software and hardware.
Tip: Have you identified the applications and service dependencies in your
environment? Do you understand the implications of hardware outages to the
overall service and application availability? Do you have a configuration item
(CI) impact approach for your changes?
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can help you manage and update your overall IT
infrastructure to drive change, configuration, and release management. Having
processes integrated, and using discovery solutions like Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can help you
identify infrastructure, applications, and services, and how they are related to one
another.
This can be useful for environments where there is no precise idea on how
services are configured between them. Having a discovery solution like Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager fully uses electronic discovery. This
reduces the labor expense and increases the precision and efficiency of the
discovery of CIs deployed in your IT environment.
It is common for organizations to realize they do not have the updated versions of
the application topologies or know the overall impact to the business. IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk helps your organization to identify and load all this
information to provide a CMDB. A CMDB provides a single source of information
and consistency for other processes such as incident or problem and request
fulfillment.
Some of the main capabilities of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk are described in
the following sections.

Change scheduling
Change scheduling is an important concept within your IT service management
deployment. Change windows dictate when the target CI is subject to regular

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

change maintenance windows, according to business rules and policies. This

means that IT and the business side are synchronized regarding core and
non-core IT elements that must be serviced without impacting services that are
provided to the organizations users. Whether it is a bank, a hospital, or a school,
todays IT systems are part of key organization areas that provide service and
require the highest availability possible. IT systems represent customer facing
entities for external and internal users.
The following list notes some concepts to consider when you implement change
and release management and configuration:
Change windows
The predefined time frame in which a determined CI (whether it is a service,
application, or infrastructure component) can be serviced according to
business needs. In this particular case, a difference must be made between
production and quality and development environments to define these change
windows. For example, if a change to an application requires a service outage
to permanently resolve the issue, more approvals can be managed within IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk. This helps to ensure awareness and to comply
with audit procedures defined in your organization.
Blackout Periods
These are periods in which the CI is marked untouchable. The CI must work
according to stakeholder demands during these periods. For example, an
ERP system has a predefined blackout period from the first until the 25th of
each month. It cannot be serviced unless approved by high-level
management. This period ensures the integrity of the core services that are
part of the CIs. When blackout periods extend over long periods of time,
change requests tend to become more elaborate. The next window of
opportunity for change might not be for the next 3-4 weeks.
Change scheduling
Include and consult with people who are managing the systems before any
change. This discussion ensures appropriate commitment to the change.
When a high risk change is programmed, hold meetings to effectively identify
the necessary tasks. These meetings usually involve specific people with the
necessary skills. If the change is not scheduled with the originally dedicated
resources, the change might not have the success rate specified in the
planning phase. To keep continuity, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides a
detailed project management-oriented view. This view allows changes to be
scheduled, taking into consideration blackout periods, change windows,
people skills, and availability.

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53

CI baselines
A CI baseline is an important concept for managing change to the IT
infrastructure. A CI baseline provides information that is needed to make a
calculated decision for a CI. The baseline shows the current approved
configuration.
With this concept in place, you have an outline of the configurations you have in
terms of attributes. If you perform a change that requires a target CI that is not
aligned with the CI baseline, an unauthorized change is performed to that CI.
This unauthorized change can potentially identify the level of maturity of the
change management process, breeches of security, or unforeseen gaps. In any
case, it is an informative tool for those managing IT systems.
Sometimes people do not have a clear idea of what an unauthorized change
represents to the configuration of services. Even a change in a parameter can
result in unexpected behavior in your infrastructure.

CI auditing
It is important to identify unauthorized changes before they cause problems. This
can be a root cause for incidents that are created in the infrastructure. It is
common to identify changes that disrupt services because an unauthorized
change has been implemented in the IT environment.
The CI auditing feature provides a method to ensure accurate authorized CIs.
This allows business processes to run successfully and efficiently. A preferred
practice is to immediately remediate an audit variance by updating with an actual
authorized value.
One method to reduce outages is by browsing approved changes, attribute
history, and audit results for a CI. Browse these elements to see whether there is
any relation between the targets in the change and the CIs identified as
inconsistent.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

An example of an audit inconsistence is shown in Figure 2-9.

Figure 2-9 Addressing integrity issues within a CMDB in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Business impact analysis

Inherited impacts are used in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. They come from
trends of how long CIs have taken in the past, and help determine a basis for
business impact analysis. The inherited impact, which is associated to the CI, is
key to setting the expectation within the change ticket as to what the risk of the
change is going to be. A correct assignment of impact to CIs helps to calculate
ticket priorities.
Sometimes, a CI can have its impact changed because of other business
reasons. If a trend can be identified within the CIs history, take it into account
when you calculate the overall business impact.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

55

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides this function, and the association
between the CI and its impact, as a ready to use function, as seen in Figure 2-10.

Figure 2-10 Business impact analysis functions in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Automated process workflows

The change management process must preserve the integrity of the
infrastructure. This is important to provide a consistent IT environment across the
system. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides ready to use process workflows
designs based on best practices to fast track the implementation of change
management in your organization.
Attention: A strong change management process includes several control
points. These control points are necessary to maintain the overall integrity in
your IT environment. Remember that IT changes update relationships and
attributes to your CIs, which can potentially hurt your organization if a change
policy is not sufficient.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Figure 2-11 illustrates a scenario within the change management process

workflow as a predefined feature in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.

Figure 2-11 An example of the ready to use workflows in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Release management
Release management is the ability to plan and oversee the successful roll-out of
new, changed, and associated hardware. It includes documentation and training.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk includes role-based start centers, workflows,
scheduling, and analytics for this process, as shown in Figure 2-12.

Figure 2-12 Proposed Release Management Process outline

Definitive Media Library

The ability to identify approved deployed software within the organization can
help reduce support costs by allowing only approved software images to be
deployed. One of the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk enhancements for change,
release, and configuration management includes the Definitive Media Library.
With a data repository such as the Definitive Media Library, IT can quickly identify

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

57

and base work outcomes on the versions of software that are authorized by the
organization.

Application level import and export

Customers can import and export data from any Tivoli's process automation
engine based application. Functions are available that support bulk importing
records, exporting a result set of records, making quick changes (within Microsoft
Excel, XML, and so on), and then reimporting them into Tivoli's process
automation engine.

Unified asset, change, and configuration management

Unified asset, change, and configuration management enables automated
updates of related assets and CI data. This helps to keep asset information
accurate while driving down cost of ownership. One of the ways that asset
information is supported is called linkage of assets. An illustration of the linkage
can be seen in Figure 2-13.

Figure 2-13 Unified asset, change, and configuration management

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

2.2.5 IT service request, incident, and problem management

Because the main goal of IT operations is to respond to user requests and to
minimize outages, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk includes some important
features and enhancements:
Prioritized Incidents: Make critical services available first by prioritizing
incidents based on business service impact.
Built in searchable solutions knowledge base: Shorten time to resolved
incidents through access to solutions for specific service requests.
Embedded remote diagnostics capability: Enable service desk agents to
remotely take over workstations for problem resolution.
Ticket templates: Saves labor and reduces errors by pre-populating work
order fields with service request information.
Auto pre-population and classification of tickets: Save time by pre-populating
tickets through integration with compute telephony software, such as from
Genesys or Cisco.
Chat capability: Enable service desk agents to communicate through
multi-vendor alternatives for efficient and quicker request fulfillment.
Email listener: Efficiently process inbound emails into service requests.
Third-party tool integration: Provides capability to synchronize tickets through
bidirectional integration with other ticket products.
Mobile support: Service requests can be created, viewed, and approved from
mobile devices.

CMDB and service operations convergence

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk maximizes use of the CMDB, and obtains
information from CIs and their relationships. The CMDB can populate the impact
of a ticket, which affects prioritization of that ticket and aligns it to the
expectations of the business.
Tip: Other fields such as owner, service group, or service, can be populated
by the CI. This reduces the time that an operator takes to correctly assign a
ticket to the corresponding owner group.
By analyzing the relationships within the CI, the service desk or command center
can quickly identify to which service that CI belongs. This can be used to trigger
a predefined action plan that is based on the service, application, or
infrastructure.

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59

The incident application provides a link to the CI application, enabling a single

source of information across the whole organization. Also shown in Figure 2-13
on page 58 is the ability to maximize information from IT assets. This can be
useful when you assign IMACs (installation, movement, additions, and changes)
to IT assets. If the organization includes several sites, this single source
becomes even more valuable.
Tip: Asset information can also be used to determine location. The location to
direct the work order or request for change to is the location of the asset and
the location of the affected user.

User portal: Self service center

An intuitive self service portal is key to any successful service management
implementation. User self service and user customization are valuable options
for an organization willing to deploy a self service culture. The following options
are often available in a self service center:
My news: Quickly identify business announcements.
My requests: Identify the ticket status of your requests.
My assets: View and make new requests on your assets.
Besides information that belongs to the user, the self service center application
includes a view for the service catalog. This view can provide users with a more
intuitive and friendly approach towards the access and ordering of services in the
catalogs defined in your organization.
The user can also report an issue or access knowledge base solutions. The
frequent requests pod contains the request options that are predefined to all
users and the ones that have been frequently ordered by the user.
This application can actually be the front end for all of your regular users. Its
versatility and ease of use makes requesting services easier for users. If they find
that this application is easier and faster than writing an email or calling the help
desk, your chances of having a successful self service culture increase.
Most organizations strongly push for these kinds of services because they
demand less workforce to deliver the same service. Call desk and onsite
representative resource are limited. These resources can only handle a certain
number of requests or incidents at a time. With a self service approach, your
organization can self fulfill requests and resolve incidents without having to log
them in the system.
Tip: You can configure the default application that the user will see based on
the security groups that are defined for that user.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Extra design features add value to the user interface. The following list notes
some of those available features:
No need to write presentation XML by hand.
You can edit custom dialogs in Application Designer.
No need to modify library.xml for offering dialogs.
Offerings can store data in a MBO1 (instead of specification attributes).
Use of full power of MBOs for offerings, including conditional UIs.
Support for Cart Templates.
An example on how the service fulfillment process uses the service catalog can
be found in Figure 2-14.

Figure 2-14 Service catalog request fulfillment overview

MBOs (Maximo business objects) are the business objects that are used by SmartCloud Control
Desk.

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61

All these features can help your organization drive extra value. Some of the
benefits from IBM SmartCloud Control Desks service catalog are noted in the
following list:
Publish a searchable list of available services
Improve service levels and employee productivity by providing a list of
services available to them.
Help shorten time to find services by allowing a search of catalog for
available services.
Associate cost information to services
Allows users of services to understand the cost and manage consumption
of services.
Service entitlement
Service catalog entries can be provided based on group or business unit.
Service definition templates
Lower cost and time required for catalog development by using templates
that are available for common service items.
Job plan templates
Lowers costs by improving reuse of information every time you create a
work order for similar work.
IT service management
Typical examples: Request a cell phone or notebook, deploy a server in a
data center, provision a notebook with a specific software application,
request a toner for a printer
Cloud
Typical examples: Provision a new service on the cloud, request more
capacity for a new application
IBM Smarter Planet solutions
Typical examples: Move an office, request new employee badge with
building security rights

Runbook Workflow Library and automation action library

Using the Runbook Workflow Library can enable the addition of functional steps
within the attention of a ticket, such as an incident. To help convey a clear
application of this concept, the following scenario applies Runbook Workflow
Library to every day operations. Mary gets an incident assigned to her. After she
takes ownership of the ticket, she determines that this is a common error that is
coming from a server. Her initial procedure tells her to run a couple of commands

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

to isolate some issues in the server. She must ping the server, collect process
information from the system, and collect some logs from within the system. After
she gathers that information, she passes the information to a second level of
support.
As this scenario shows, automation of otherwise manual steps can improve the
overall response time of IT support. This reduces response time and mean time
to repair. By having information at the correct time, decisions can be made
immediately with reliable information. This process increases the success of
changes and the resolution of incidents by level 1 or level 2.
How this new feature is implemented within IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Workflow is shown in Figure 2-15.

Figure 2-15 Applying Runbook Workflow library to automate manual tasks

Support tables in an offering

A table attribute can now be associated to the offering, which provides more
flexibility to the user experience. This can reduce the number of open text
elements that are loaded in the offering.

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63

Tip: Guide the user through the request process. A user form that contains too
many fields can create a negative effect on the user. By using limited
alternatives within each field in the service offering, the user is guided through
the request, which helps ensure data integrity. Additionally, an open box that
allows the user to type in any further request is important. If a form must be
attached for the user to fill and return, include this form within the service
offering.

Support for work order and change creation directly from the
service catalog
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk now provides the chance to create and associate
a work order and a change directly from the service catalog. This can be useful
for organizations that have a set of requests of change that are pre-approved.
Those pre-approved requests can be configured for automatic execution. This
framework to automate requests and work orders further aligns IT with business
needs. Automating workflows reduces manual work and response time.

Reusing the service catalog for non-IT services

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can also provide a platform for other non-IT
catalogs. This function can also be used by lines of business to reduce their
manual work and increase automation.

2.3 Deployment models

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides flexibility regarding implementation
approaches. These approaches are independent and end to end solutions for
your organizations business needs.
Take the time to consider more than one approach when you are planning for
your IBM SmartCloud Control Desk implementation. Look at the situation from
several angles, which might cause issues that might not have been noticed to
emerge.
Perform an assessment to determine which approach is appropriate for you.
Consider which kind of scope your IBM SmartCloud Control Desk will have, and
what your goals for the future are.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

2.3.1 Editions
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is available in the following editions:
Entry
Advanced
Service Provider
For information that is not covered in this section, go to the IBM information
center at the following website:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/overview/c_editions.html

Entry
An organization that typically focuses their first level of support on resolving
generic issues and forwarding out of scope tickets to other support groups might
fit the Entry Edition.
In this approach, the second-level team focuses more on the relations between
CIs and assets. Usually the generic issues have few attributes that fit into small
procedural documents.
In this case, the number of IT services that are delivered within the organization
are small in number or specific. Often approvals are done through email because
of the limited size of the organization.
The need for a service catalog is not a high priority. This means that the
implementation of service level agreements is usually left behind or defined as
simple as possible. Demand for IT support (requests, changes, incidents,
problems) is handled on a first come, first serve basis or by using a simple
priority determination.
Because the IT services provided are limited, the solutions management process
is contained within the knowledge of the people who manage the IT systems.
The requirements to run the business do not require many detailed or specific
procedures in place.
The Entry Edition is also an appropriate approach in these scenarios:
A unit or specific department within your organization has streamlined
processes with basic best practices and little detail is required.
An immediate need for a streamlined service desk with basic request
fulfillment, incident, problem, and change management.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

65

 An entry level organization that needs a short-term solution because it has

just started to use best practices and has little knowledge of how and when it
will mature.
A need to deploy basic asset information with streamlined processes.
A need for a basic call center, help desk, or a call center that redirects to other
support groups.
The IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Entry Edition, provides the following
processes that are ready to be implemented within your organization:

Self-service center
Service request and incident management
Problem management
Knowledge management
Remote control (limited licenses)
Change management
Support for mobile usage

Advanced
If your organization has a strong need to deploy more processes, the Advanced
Edition might be the better option. It provides some extra processes that include
a service catalog, service level management, a traditional change management
process, and asset and configuration management.
Processes such as event management, business dashboards, CI discoveries,
asset discoveries, endpoint inventory, and license management can be included
in the Advanced Edition. Their inclusion in this approach is managed with the
help of other IBM branded solutions or other vendors.
In this type of approach, the organization needs a strong commitment towards an
overall implementation. This implementation identifies starting points and areas
of improvement to define a business process that can work along ITIL best
practices. In the end, this business process must be adopted by the users and
the lines of business.
This model also assumes that there is no need to distribute internal costs. It also
assumes that the organization itself does not need to provide services (either
internally or externally) to any other organizations or sub organizations.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides a solution to fit these needs. The
Advanced Edition includes the following disciplines and applications:
Service level management
Service catalog management
Self service center

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Service request and incident management

Problem management
Knowledge management
Remote control (limited licenses)
Change management
Release management
Configuration management
Asset lifecycle management
Procurement management
Contract management
Software license management
Support for mobile usage

Service Provider
If you want the capabilities of the Advanced Edition, if you feel there is a missing
component regarding multi-customer environments, the Service Provider Edition
is the approach for you.
There are basically two approaches as a service provider:
Internal Service Provider
An Internal Service Provider is defined as one that delivers services to either
internal departments or to other organizations that belong to the same
corporation. This approach uses charge back and service accounting for
internal customers, but no actual revenue is generated.
External Service Provider
An External Service Provider is defined as an organization that wants to
provide services to third-party customers. This approach is typically used in a
revenue generating model, and uses charge back for both internal and
external customers.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides a flexible solution for each of these
specific cases, and contains all of the functions included in the Advanced Edition.
Table 2-4 has details about these solutions.
Table 2-4 Details about internal and external versions of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Discipline

Internal service
provider add-on

External service
provider add-on

Charge back and service accounting

for internal customers

Yes

Yes

Charge back and service accounting

for external customers

No

Yes

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

67

Extra Service Provider Edition features include management of change,

requests, incidents, problems, configurations, and assets for multiple customers.
You can also manage service desks, catalogs, and run audits in a multi-customer
environment. Data is strictly segmented by the customer, ensuring that only
authorized customers and internal users can view information about each
customer. Using the multiple-customer capabilities that are provided within IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk allows the following capabilities:
Create and manage customer records, specifying billing addresses, contacts,
and other pertinent information.
Associate one or more authorized configuration items (CIs) with each
customer.
Authorize people within customer organizations to view the product GUI and
track the progress of the agreed upon work.
Set up an internal customer access list, specifying users within your
organization who can view particular customer records.
Set up customer agreements. Each agreement defines the services that can
be delivered, and the pricing of the services. The agreement specifies the
pricing rules for activities that are performed under the agreement.
Set up billing schedules for the automated recurring billing of managed
assets, asset usage, and fixed fees.
Create, manage, and apply response plans that ensure predictable and
repeatable responses to similar work requests.
After a request is fulfilled, route it through one or more defined approvals
before final billing.

2.3.2 Deployment options

To meet the needs of a wide community of customers, IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk can be deployed in several ways. The deployment options are as an
enterprise solution, as a virtual machine (VM) image, or through the web-based
cloud infrastructure administered by IBM.
All three deployment options provide integrated management of traditional IT,
virtual, and cloud environments. When you install as an enterprise solution, you
can install any product edition.
The Entry and Service Provider Editions are not available in the IBM hosted
deployment option. When you purchase the SmartCloud Control Desk VM
image, you are also entitled to install the product as an enterprise solution. For
example, you can deploy a VM image for your development or test environment
and perform a traditional installation for your production environment.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

The quick installation VM image contains the Entry Edition. After you deploy the
VM image, you can run the installer to upgrade to the edition that you have
purchased (SmartCloud Control Desk or IBM SmartCloud Control Desk - Service
Provider Edition).
Tip: When you deploy the VM image, look closely at the host files for the
database engine and the server itself. Errors might come up if the host files
are not correctly configured. Some typical errors show as Error 500, meaning
that an error related to the database has been encountered. Check your IBM
WebSphere Application Server SystemOut file, which is found in
<WebSphereHome>/logs/MXServer/SystemOut.log, to verify the exact error in
your system.

2.4 Deployment strategies

After you select the distribution of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk suitable for you
and your deployment option, you are ready to design the infrastructure that is
going to host it.

2.4.1 Initial assessments

No matter what edition you are deploying, or option, this initial step is crucial to
correctly identify the kind of infrastructure you are going to require.
After you identify the processes that you are going to implement, determine a
sizing factor to determine the hardware capacities you are going to require to
deploy the solution.
An element that can be used with precision to calculate hardware requirements
is the number of concurrent users that are going to be logged in the system at a
particular time.
Because user load is typically based on specific time frames during the day, it
has an effect on the general sizing as well.
Another aspect to consider when calculating the number of concurrent users is
seasonal dates. If you have special dates where the number of users spikes,
consider deploying extra temporary resources for those days to cope with the
demand.
The total number of employees in your company who have access to IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk is also another factor to include when you are sizing

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69

the infrastructure. Considering a percentage of the total number of employees to

be logged in at any particular moment can give you further insight to complete
your sizing.
Finally, consider the number of processes that take place in the background,
such as escalations and cron tasks. Consider whether there are going to be extra
integrations that might require background resources to work as expected.
After you determine the total number of concurrent users, consider
communication factors. Talking to your networking team is helpful to correctly
identify which kind of bandwidth you are going to require. Specially, be sure to
identify if there are multiple ways of access to the application, such as mobile,
internet, and regular LAN.
With these factors or concepts, you can now address sizing requirements, and
correctly identify which platform suits you the most.
More considerations for the overall planning of your IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk planning can be found at the IBM developerWorks website:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/tivoli/SmartCloud+Contr
ol+Desk+-+Overview+and+Planning
Remember the overall tuning of the whole system. The whole system includes
networking, servers, applications, databases, integrations, and so on. Tuning can
affect how IBM SmartCloud Control Desk performs in your organization.
Because IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is based on several dependencies, it is
important to have personnel who support these instances. Train these personnel
as much as possible in the operating systems, web servers, application servers,
databases, and so on.
Tip: Business growth is an important element to consider when you are
planning for deployment. Consider scalability factors when you select your
infrastructure.

2.4.2 System architecture

The following architecture applies to most IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
deployments. See Best Practices for System Performance 7.5 for more details:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/groups/service/html
/communityview?communityUuid=a9ba1efe-b731-4317-9724-a181d6155e3a#fullp
ageWidgetId=W5f281fe58c09_49c7_9fa4_e094f86b7e98&file=c51d5f5b-dea3-404
3-a81f-d5213fc10063

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Tip: Generally, have development and quality assurance environments

separate from your production environment. Test solutions, configurations,
and overall performance in a quality instance. The instance needs to be as
similar as possible to your production environment if business circumstances
allow you to do so.
Depending on your business needs, there are two deployment options available:
Basic: This type of deployment refers to a single instance of IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk within a single application server, having only the database
engine in a separate environment.
Advanced system configuration: This method of deployment allows IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk to have horizontal and vertical clustering, which
provides an effective method of managing user and cron task load. With this
option, you can provide a cluster service within your organization.

2.4.3 Determining suitable system hardware and software

Along with your business scope, concurrent number of users, and overall
business usage of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, note these considerations
when you implement your environment:

Application performance
Port availability
Hardware topology
Browser
File systems
Middleware installation

In an integrated environment where many IT components work in a collaborative

manner, it is important to identify these concepts from the beginning. Doing so
increases your success rate when you are deploying IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk. These concepts are covered in more detail in the following section.
For more information about the latest updates on system requirements for IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk, see System Requirements for SmartCloud Control
Desk version 7.5 at IBM developerWorks:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/tivoli/SmartCloud+Cont
rol+Desk+-+Version+7.5+System+Requirements

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

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Application performance
The number of concurrent users has a strong effect on the amount of resources
necessary to provide the service. For optimal performance, follow these
guidelines:
Plan one Java virtual machine (JVM) for every processor that is configured in
your system. This JVM must also contain 3 GB of RAM.
With this JVM setup, you can manage approximately 50 concurrent users in
your system. Configure as many JVMs as you need based on the number of
concurrent users that was calculated in 2.4.1, Initial assessments on
page 69.
Tips: The installation program sets memory to a maximum of 1.5 GB for 32-bit
platforms and 4 GB of RAM for 64-bit environments.
Remember that 32-bit architectures have limits for the amount of memory you
can manage in some operating systems.

Port availability
The ports listed in System Requirements for SmartCloud Control Desk version
7.5 must be verified to ensure complete communication between the IT
components.
The ping command issued from the administrator workstation must receive
response back from each server in the scope of this deployment. Make sure that
this command is configured in each host.

Hardware topology
Both stand-alone and distributed topologies can be found in System
Requirements for SmartCloud Control Desk version 7.5. Take a few moments to
check out the alternatives available for your organization.
The following are important considerations and tips for hardware topology:
Deploy 64-bit infrastructure when possible. 32-bit infrastructures might have
limitations when managing more than 4 GB of memory in the system. For
more information, see your vendors operating system specifications.
When deploying your middleware hosts, avoid installing the same
components within a single physical server. Even if there are placed in
different logical partitions, if the main server fails, the whole system fails as
well. In this situation, consider including two physical servers with the correct
amount of resources to host a highly available environment.

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 Sharing an operating system between a database and an application server

might lead to memory overload.
When assigning IPs, defined them within the same network segment.
Defining IPs this way supports high availability considerations in some
application servers.
If your organization is going to deploy IBM SmartCloud Control Desk through
the Internet, involve IT security management, network management, and the
Internet service provider during the planning process. Some of the
components that might be required include a digital certificate, reverse proxy,
Internet access, and a public URL to access IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.
An email server can be used within IBM SmartCloud Control Desk to send
and receive notifications. If the large numbers of notifications are sent and
received, size a separate host based on the volume of notifications to manage
this workload.

Browser
When available, use the same browser and version within your environment.
Because IBM SmartCloud Control Desk requires interaction with Java runtime
environment (JRE) version 1.6 from IBM or Oracle, consider this factor when
upgrading Java in your desktops or notebooks.
The version of Java required to download the JRE can be found at the following
website:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/
The following list are important tips for installation and compatibility:
Tip: Download the needed version of Java before you use IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk. Also, note that new browsers and distributing might be
supported. Check browser compatibility in the System Requirements for
SmartCloud Control Desk version 7.5 document.

File systems
File systems are usually not present before the installation of IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk. These file systems are needed to deploy the solution.
Depending on your operating system, different file systems might be needed with
different usages and sizes.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

73

The following list notes important considerations and information for file systems:
File systems need enough space and require permissions (such as read and
write) to deploy images or installers. These requirements ensure their ability
to properly unpack and run the installers required.
Unpacking tools must be available in your hosts where the installation takes
place.
Depending on your operating system, you might require a browser to run the
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk installer.
File system structures can be found in the System Requirements for
SmartCloud Control Desk version 7.5 document, based on your supported
operating system and version.

Middleware installation
Middleware installation requirements and supported operating systems can be
found in the System Requirements for SmartCloud Control Desk version 7.5
document. Depending on your operating system and the use of already installed
application servers, there might be some additional steps to consider.
Tip: Sometimes you are required to create specific users, depending on your
deployment method and type. Make sure that the required user belongs to the
correct user group, has the correct permissions, and that you know the
password for this account.

2.5 Deployment planning

During deployment planning, you must correctly identify your organizations
needs. This requires that you to choose between a single server and a
multi-server topology, and determine security, serviceability, and language
support for your organization.
The latest version of deployment steps can be found at the IBM information
center:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom
.ibm.tusc.doc%2Finstall%2Fc_ccmdb_planningdeployment.html

2.5.1 Deployment topologies

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk works with various application servers,
databases, and operating systems. Although the solution includes IBM

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middleware such as IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment

and IBM DB2, you can also choose to implement this solution with other
supported vendors. Supported vendors are noted in Middleware installation on
page 74.
You can use these deployment topologies:
Single server2: Loading all SmartCloud Control Desk components, which
include middleware, the administrative workstation, and all the remaining
components, into one server.
Multi-server3: A split system where components can be found within different
servers. This method is beneficial because it optimizes resources and
decreases workload for each system. This is particularly valuable when
deploying a production environment.
For more information about deployment topologies, see the following website:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom
.ibm.tusc.doc%2Finstall%2Fc_ccmdb_deploymentscenarios.html
Tip: Generally, have all servers use the same OS version and distribution.
This recommendation also applies to other components if they are working in
a cluster environment. Keeping OS versions and distribution the same on all
servers and components can increase consistency among the systems.

After you select your topology, you need to decide what to use as your
administrative workstation. The administrative workstation4 is the computer
system where IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is installed. Similar to the rest of the
computer systems that are involved in the installation, it has hardware and
software requirements.
The following list notes important considerations about the administrative
workstation:
The administrative workstation is where the EAR files are going to be created
and later deployed into the application server. This workstation is used during
the entire solution lifecycle.
2

Single server deployment topology:

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.tusc.doc%2Fi
nstall%2Fc_ccmdb_singledeployment.html
3
Multiple server deployment topology
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.tusc.doc%2Fi
nstall%2Fc_ccmdb_multipledeployment.html
4
Administrative workstation requirements
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.tusc.doc%2Fi
nstall%2Fc_ccmdb_maxadminsystem.html

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75

 Because the administrative workstation is where you deploy fixes to IBM

SmartCloud Control Desk, periodically back up the folders containing the files
needed to build the EAR files such as <install_home>/IBM/SMP.
The language packs are also installed from the administrative workstation.

2.5.2 Deployment security planning, serviceability planning, and

language support
Security and serviceability planning and language support are also important
topics to consider for every deployment.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can be configured to manage system users and
their relationships in security groups. The following information is required to set
up the security group process:
Maximo administrator user: The solution administrator user that is used for
initial configuration and for adding users. The default user is maxadmin.
Maximo system registration user: The user that is used for the
self-registration of users. The default user is maxreg.
Maximo system integration user: The user that is used with enterprise
adapters. The default user is maxintadm.
By default, the users are created in the database. You can log in by using the
default users, or you can modify them as needed.
When installing IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, a method for managing users
and groups must be defined. Use an approach that will also work with any
add-ons you might install.
The following list provides important considerations for installation of IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk and user needs:
A Directory Server can be integrated into IBM SmartCloud Control Desk if
needed. If your organization has an internal service provider infrastructure
with multiple directories, contact your local application server administrator to
help with the integration of several directories.
Have a console or process in place for users to change their passwords for
the first time if a dedicated directory server is implemented for IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk.
Consider installing IBM SmartCloud Control Desk in English and then in other
languages. This can be helpful for support and users when they require more
information from your system.

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For more information about directory server security integration,5 serviceability

planning,6 and language support7 on IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, see the
IBM information center.

2.5.3 Installation options

This section addresses some of the most important factors to consider in the
installation of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. It concentrates on some important
facts about organizations, sites, and data sharing. The final focus is information
about the middleware installation.

Simple or custom installation

Early in an installation, a decision must be made to identify the installation8 that
you want to use:
Simple: Select this option if you want to deploy all IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk components within a single server, for proof of concept, demonstration,
or training purposes.
Custom: Select this option if you want to deploy IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk across several servers. This is the most common approach for
production environments.

Deferring database update and ear file deployment

Whether you are actually installing IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, reapplying
fixes, or adding more features, this option to defer database update and ear file
deployment can save time. You can use this feature to delay the application of
changes to the database and the EAR file. This can be useful when you must
apply several fixes and only want to build and run database scripts once.

Planning for security:

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.tusc.doc%2F
install%2Fc_plan_sec.html
Planning for serviceability:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.tusc.doc%2F
install%2Fc_ccmdb_planforservicability.html
Language support:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.tusc.doc%2F
install%2Fc_ccmdb_planforlang.html
Simple or Custom installation:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.tusc.doc%2F
install%2Fc_ccmdb_baseservices_simple_custom_option.html

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For more information about this feature, see the database deferral and ear file
update section of the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/tusc_install/c_install_defer.html

2.5.4 Middleware
Before you start installing IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, there are several
middleware products that can either be deployed or reused.
More information about these products and components can be found in the
Middleware section in the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/install/c_ccmdb_ccmdbcmiddlewareoverview.html

Installing program workspace

The middleware installation program is designed to record the options you select
during installation. The records are contained in a directory that is known as the
workspace. The components in the workspace can then be selected and
configured as a single deployed application.
For more information about this middleware feature, see the IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/install/c_ccmdb_mwiworkspace.html

Configuration options
This middleware feature allows you to configure servers whether you deployed
middleware components from the middleware installation program or reused
already deployed middleware infrastructure.
For more information about manually or auto-configuring these components, see
the Middleware configuration options section of the IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/install/c_ccmdb_autoconfigvsmanual.html

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Object naming conventions

When you install and configure middleware, in both the middleware installation
program and the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk installation program, follow the
standard conventions for object names. For more information about middleware
object naming conventions, see the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/install/r_middleware_object_naming_conventions.html

2.5.5 Installing SmartCloud Control Desk

Depending on the type of deployment option that you select, the method of
installation varies.
Refer to the IBM information center to access the latest IBM SmartCloud
installation procedures at the following website:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v58r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/tusc_install/t_ctr_install.html

2.6 Conclusion
This chapter identified the key elements that make IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk one of the leading IT Service Management solutions in the market.
This chapter described the main components of the solution from common
services through the main processes it can address. This prepares an
organization to start defining service management processes, and to start
deployment of the supporting products that provide the foundations for IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk. These supporting products include directory servers,
databases, and application servers.
The next chapter addresses what tasks and initial configurations must be
performed to IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. These configurations must be set in
place before configuring and working on IT processes.

Chapter 2. Solution overview and deployment strategy

79

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Part 2

Part

Implementing
processes in IBM
SmartCloud Control
Desk
In this part, the IT service management processes supported by IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk are described. Each chapter consists of an overview of
a specific process and use cases on how to implement it using the product.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

81

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Chapter 3.

IT foundations configuration
This chapter provides information about the basic configurations necessary to
work with SmartCloud Control Desk, and provides details about some of the
applications used.
The following topics are covered in this chapter:
General configuration for SmartCloud Control Desk
IT foundations for SmartCloud Control Desk

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

83

3.1 General configuration for SmartCloud Control Desk

Before you start using SmartCloud Control Desk, some configuration steps are
required. This chapter presents these configurations.
There are two ways of defining the data necessary to start using the product:
Create the data from scratch
Start with the data content available for the product
For the examples in this book, the content pack used was the optional content
pack that is included in the SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5 installer.

3.2 IT foundations for SmartCloud Control Desk

This section presents some of the configurations necessary to use SmartCloud
Control Desk.

3.2.1 Organization
An organization is typically a financial entity in an enterprise in which all financial
transactions are maintained in one base currency. Each organization maintains
its own general ledger account, which is available to all sites that belong to that
organization. Each organization can have one or more sites.
Some items need to be configured to properly use the SmartCloud Control Desk.
There are four information levels on SmartCloud Control Desk:
Enterprise
Information available to all organizations
Set
Sets can be shared between organizations, so in this case the information is
available to some organizations
Organization
Information available to all sites inside an organization
Site
Information available only for a specific site

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The organizations are managed in SmartCloud Control Desk by using the

Organizations application, which is in Administration Organization.
When a new organization is created, some items must be defined for it. An
example is displayed in Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1 Empty organization

The administrator must define the following fields:

Organization
Defines the name of the organization to be used in the system.
Base Currency1
Defines the main monetary currency used. To define this, you can use the
currency code application if necessary.
BaseCurrency2 - Optional
Defines the secondary monetary currency used.

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85

 ItemSet
Defines a set of items that are available to the organizations included in the
ItemSet. Each organization is associated to one item set, but an item set can
be associated with multiple organizations.
CompanySet
Defines a list of companies that can be used to gather information to be used
by one or more organizations.
Default Item Status
Defines the initial status of the items added to this organization set. The
available values are Active, Planning, and Pending.
Default Stock Category
Defines the default mode of stocking items for the organization. The options
are stocked (STK) or non-stocked (NS).
Clearing Account
Defines the general ledger account, which is used as the default account for
this organization. This account is used for transfers between organizations.
Besides those items, define the sites and addresses that are part of the
organization. To do so, click the corresponding tab in the organization
configuration window as shown in Figure 3-1 on page 85.
There are two ways of creating an organization. The first is using the
organization application, where you define each item directly on the application.
The other way is by using Quick Configuration.
Quick Configuration is an application that is designed to make it easier for users
to create new organizations and the items related to the organization.
The Quick Configuration application can be opened by clicking System
Configuration Platform Configuration Quick Configuration.
All changes related to organizations are made under the Org and Site
Configuration tab. When you enter the quick configuration application, some
sample data is already populated in the fields. Change this data according to
your organizations needs.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

An example of the window that is used to create a new organization is displayed

in Figure 3-2.

Figure 3-2 Quick configuration

Tip: When you create an organization using Quick Configuration, a new

general ledger account is created with the default value GLACCT and a length
value of 6 unless you already have an account in your system.
After all data is correctly defined, click Submit and the new organization is
created. To check it, access the Organizations application.
Tip: Accounts can be defined under Financial Chart of Accounts.

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87

After an organization is created, it must be activated for use in the SmartCloud

Control Desk. To activate an organization, select Active. This option is located
under the Organizations application tab. Then, save the record. At least one site
must be created for each organization.
Another configuration option in the Organizations application allows you to define
a prefix for objects created by the application, such as SR or IN. This can make it
easier for users to identify objects. For example, a Service Request can be
named SR1234 and an incident as IN2345. To do so, click Select Action
Autonumber Setup System Level. In system level window, find the
Autonumber name for which you want to create a prefix. In this example, the
Autonumber name is SRID and INCIDENTID. Enter the prefix that you want in
the associated prefix field. The records are defined as shown in Figure 3-3.

Figure 3-3 Autonumber configuration

3.2.2 Work types

Create work types for each organization that you have defined. To create work
types, select an Organization and click Select Action Work Order
Options Work Type. Then, complete the following steps:
1. Click New Row
2. Select the work order class. It can be Activity, Change, Configuration Item
Work Order, Release, or Work Order.
3. Define a new name for the work type. Set the work type to a value that
describes the type of change that is created. For example, you might set a
work type as MAJOR to designate a major change.
4. Change the type if necessary.
5. In the Process flow section, define the start and complete status of the work
type. Usually, those values are defined as In Progress and Complete.
You can create as many work types as necessary for each organization.

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3.2.3 Financial configuration

Currency codes and accounts must be created to use SmartCloud Control Desk.
You can create them during the organization configuration, but they can also be
managed using their applications. Each organization must have an account
associated with it.
For currency codes, click Financial Currency Codes.
To add a currency, complete the following steps:
1. Click New Row
2. Add the currency code and currency description and select Active.
To manage accounts, click Financial Chart of Accounts.
To create new values for Cost Center, Activity and Resource, which are the
components that form the account, click Select Action GL Component
Maintenance.
For each item, a new value can be created by selecting the item and clicking New
Row.
The accounts have a structure defined when the first account is created. This
structure defines the size of each of the fields that is used in an account, cost
center, activity, or resource. This can be changed by clicking Select Action
Add/Modify Account Structure.
Besides the General Ledger account defined for the application, other types of
accounts can be defined for each organization. The following list defines the
other types of definable accounts:
Global Rotating Suspense Account
Use rotating suspense accounts to hold the accumulated cost of repairs for
rotating equipment.
Global Ticket Account
Use the default account when a ticket for a service request is created and no
other account is available.
Tool Control Account
Use the default account when a transaction involves a tool and no other
account is available.
To define these types of account, click Select Action Organization Default
Accounts, and then select the accounts for each item as required.

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89

For companies that use payment, you can specify default general ledger
accounts for company-related accounts. To define this type of account, click
Select Action Company-Related Account, and create a new row for each
account.
For types of accounts that are used to pay for work performed by outside
vendors, external labor accounts can be defined. To define this type of account,
click Select Action External Labor Control Account, and create a new row
for each account.

3.2.4 Classifications
Classifications are used in SmartCloud Control Desk to define groups or
subgroups of similar objects so that can be found by searching for the defined
attribute. For example, a building, a notebook computer, and a centrifugal pump
are types of classifications. A classification can also describe an event, such as a
broken window, a hard disk failure, or a request for a new email account.
You can classify objects such as locations, assets, items, sales orders, and work
orders. Classifications for work orders, tickets, and sales orders can be used as
one of the matching criteria for service level agreements, response plans, and
price schedules. You can search classification structures and attributes with
associated values when you use any record type that can be classified.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

A classification can be defined by using a hierarchy tree. A classification can

have more than one child, but only one parent. An example of the hierarchical
use of classifications is displayed in Figure 3-4.

Figure 3-4 Classification hierarchy

Classifications are created by using the Classifications application, which is

opened by clicking Administration Classifications.

Chapter 3. IT foundations configuration

91

When a new classification is created some options must be defined as shown in

Figure 3-5.

Figure 3-5 New classification

The following list describes the available options:

Classification
The identifier of the classification.
Description
A description of the classification.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

 Classification Path
The full path used for this classification. It contains the parent path plus the
current classification.
Parent Classification
Defines the parent classification of the current classification.
Organization
If the new classification belongs to a specific organization, this field contains
the organization. All children of this classification must have the same
organization defined.
Site
If the new classification belongs to a specific site, this field is set with the site.
All children of this classification must have the same site defined.
Show in business view
Defines whether the classification is available to be used in the topology view
from the Configuration Items application.
Generate description
Uses the attributes of the classification to build the description.
Use Classification
Includes the classification description in the description that it is generated.
Use With
Defines in which applications this classification can be used.
Children
Defines the children of this classification.
Attributes
Defines some characteristics of the classification, such as which processor is
used if the classification is Computer.
Create classifications according to your needs.
Tip: The Use With field defines which application has access to the
classification. Consider that items shared among applications (for example,
service request, service catalog, and change) must have the Use With
classification defined in all applications.
After the classifications are defined, associate the top-level classification to the
organizations defined. To do that, select the organization in Organizations

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93

application, and click Select Action System Settings. In the window that is
displayed, a section named IT Options is displayed as shown in Figure 3-6.

Figure 3-6 IT Options window

In this window, define the top-level classification for CIs, IT Assets, Software, and
Self Service Asset requests. The definitions in this window are used to filter the
list of classifications available for the user. They also define to which hierarchy of
classifications each of the components belong.

3.2.5 Security groups and users

Define the roles and users for use in the SmartCloud Control Desk in the
Security Groups and Users application.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Security groups are groups of users with the same user access for the
application. Each user can be part of multiple security groups, and each security
group can have multiple users.
Within the security group application, the access for each application can be
defined. For example, a service catalog designer must have access to the
applications required to create catalogs, but does not require access to create
new incidents.
To add a user, you must add a person and associate that person to the user.
To define a user, use the Users application, which is opened by clicking
Security Users. An example of a new user is displayed in Figure 3-7.

Figure 3-7 New user configuration

A new person is created if there is no person associated with the user. Each user
who uses the system must have a person record created.

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95

Security groups can contain multiple users, and can be defined as a set of users
with the same access. A new security group is defined in the Security Groups
application, which is opened by clicking Security Security Groups. Users
can be added to security groups using both applications.
For each security group, several definitions can be made. You can define the
access to applications, the default application opened upon user login, the
authorized sites and storerooms available, and the default start center for the
user.
In the Applications tab, the access definitions are configured. Each application
has several access types, such as Read, Insert, Save, and Delete. Each
application also has signature options specific for the application that define the
items the security group is allowed to access.
An example is displayed in Figure 3-8.

Figure 3-8 Service group authorization

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

In this example, all the marked check boxes represent authorized actions that
users are able to do within the Self Service Center application.
The follow are extra definitions that can be made for a security group:
Define authorized sites
This can be defined by using the Sites tab and selecting the authorized sites.
Define authorized storerooms
This can be defined by using the Storerooms tab and selecting the authorized
storerooms.
Define default login screen
This can be defined using the Group tab, by selecting a value in the Default
Application field.
Define default start center template
This can be defined using the Group tab, by selecting a value in the Start
Center Template field.
Insert data restrictions
New restrictions can be defined for a specific group by using the Data
Restrictions tab.
Change account components
This can be defined by using the GL Components tab. Groups can be
authorized to change account information if desired.
Financial limits
This can be defined by using the Limits and Tolerances tab. The group users
can have a limit of how much money they can invest on their purchase or
material requests.
If LDAP is used, the groups and the users are created using LDAP. To do so, a
cron task must be activated. To activate the cron task, use the Cron Task Setup
application. Click System Configuration Platform Configuration Cron
Task Setup.
Complete the following steps to finish this procedure:
1. Search for the LDAPSYNC cron task.
2. Activate the instance LDAPSYNC01.To activate it, select Active.
3. Define the interval that this cron task uses for execution.
4. Click Select Action Reload Request.

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If WebSphere Virtual Member Machine is used, the users are created by

WebSphere. To do that, a cron task must be activated.
Complete the following steps to activate the cron task and finish the procedure:
1. Go to the Cron Task Setup application and search for the VMMSYNC cron task.
2. Activate the instance VMMSYNC01. To activate it, select Active.
3. Define the interval that this cron task uses for execution.
4. Click Select Action Reload Request.

3.2.6 Profile information

Each user has some profile configurations that must be populated before using
the SmartCloud Control Desk.
Access the fields that must be populated by clicking Profile Default
information. Some fields might be already populated in the Users application.

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An example of the window is shown in Figure 3-9.

Figure 3-9 Profile information

The user can define the settings according to the location and role they occupy.
An important field in this window is the default insert site. When the user orders a
new item, it is inserted using the site defined in this dialog field.

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You can also define the default insert site by using the Users application. In this
application, select the user and, in the User Settings section, define the same
fields you defined in the profile information.

3.2.7 Import content packages

Content packages available in the ISM library can be installed in the SmartCloud
Control Desk by using the ISM Content Installer application. To open the ISM
Content Installer application, click System Configuration ISM Content
Installer.
To define the list of content packages available for the product, the application
uses an XML file. You can get this file from the following website:
http://www.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/ismlibrary/resources/catalog?&
client=ISCCD&sortBy=update_ts_desc&rc=SmartCloudControlDesk&rc=IBM_Tivo
li_AssetType_ISMContentInstallerPack

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This application can be used to install packages such as the service catalog
content pack. This package and a list of packages are available in the default
xml, as shown in Figure 3-10.

Figure 3-10 ISM content installer package list

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To install the service catalog content pack, click the Download icon and select
Continue. Then, accept the license agreement as shown as step 1 in
Figure 3-11.

Figure 3-11 Accepting the license agreement

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A list of the items to be installed is displayed in the setup window as Step 2. Clear
the check boxes for the data that is not necessary. An example is shown in
Figure 3-12.

Figure 3-12 List of optional items for installation

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Click Install and the installation begins. A successful message will be displayed
if the installation occurred correctly, as shown in Figure 3-13.

Figure 3-13 Successful installation

3.2.8 Changes in the navigation bar location, tabs, and fields

There are two options for access to the SmartCloud Control Desk applications in
the 7.5 version. You can use the navigation bar, which is now on the left side of
the window, or the menu in the upper left corner.
If you want to change the location of the navigation access points, use the
System Properties application. Click System Configuration Platform
Configuration System Properties.
There are three possible changes that can be done for the location of the
navigation bars.
The first one is to remove the navigation bar on the left side. To do that, complete
these steps:
1. Find the property mxe.webclient.systemNavBar in the System Properties
application.
2. Change the value of the property to 0.
3. Save the record.

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4. Select the record and click Live Refresh.

The second change is to remove the navigation bar on the left side from a
specific application. To make this change, complete these steps:
1. Click System Configuration Platform Configuration Application
Designer, and find the presentation xml file related to that application.
2. In the presentation tag, set systemnav=false. To define this change in
syntax form, an example is to change the presentation tag:
<presentation id="abc" mboname="abc"
beanclass="psdi.webclient.beans.abc" systemnav="false">
An example of an application that uses this flag is the Self Service Center.
Finally, you can relocate the menu in the upper left corner to a selectable Go To
menu button at the top of the window (the position it had in prior product
versions). To make that change, complete these steps:
1. Find the property mxe.webclient.homeButtonHeaders in the System
Properties application.
2. Change the value of the property to 0.
3. Save the record.
4. Select the record and click Live Refresh.
After making this change, your menu looks as shown in Figure 3-14.

Figure 3-14 Go To menu

Another option that you can changed in the SmartCloud Control Desk is to make
the tabs visible in the list view of the applications as shown in Figure 3-15. The
are not visible in the default option for new installations.

Figure 3-15 Default list view

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To change this view to how it looked in prior product versions, complete these
steps:
1. Find the property mxe.webclient.tabBreadCrumbs in the System Properties
application.
2. Change the value of the property to 0.
3. Save the record.
4. Select the record and click Live Refresh.
The application list view is displayed as shown in Figure 3-16. This is the default
option for upgrades.

Figure 3-16 Application list view

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In SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5, the field labels are displayed above the fields,
as shown in Figure 3-17. This is the default option for new installations.

Figure 3-17 New field label position

It is possible to change the way fields are displayed to make it similar to prior
product versions. To change this setting, complete the following steps:
1. Find the property mxe.webclient.verticalLabels in the System Properties
application.
2. Change the value of the property to 0.
3. Save the record.
4. Select the record and click Live Refresh.

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An example of the field display, with the prior version label position directly
beside the field, is shown in Figure 3-18.

Figure 3-18 Prior label position for fields

3.2.9 Modifying an object

If you need to make any change on an object structure, such as adding or
removing a field from the object, use the Database Configuration application. To
open this application, click System Configuration Platform
Configuration Database Configuration.
You must use Administrator mode to apply any changes because authorized
database changes are required. In Administrator mode, all users are required to
log off the application.
To change an object, select the object and then add or modify fields according to
your needs.
All pending changes are marked as To be changed in the Database
Configuration application. To apply the changes, complete the following steps:
1. In the Database Configuration application, select Manage Admin Mode from
the Action menu.
2. In the Turn Admin Mode ON window, modify the values in the Number of
Administrative Sessions Allowed field and the Number of Minutes for User
Logout field. The default value of each field is 5. If you modify these fields,
click Update Properties for the parameters to take effect.
3. Click Turn Admin Mode ON.

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4. In the Electronic Signature Authentication window, enter the appropriate value

in the Reason for Change field.
5. Click OK.
6. A window opens that indicates that the Admin Mode is starting. Click OK.
7. Throughout the configuration process, click Refresh Status to view the
messages that the configuration process writes in the Status window. If you
decide to cancel the configuration, click Cancel Admin Mode.
8. From the Select Action menu, click Apply Configuration Changes to
configure the database and restore backup tables. Wait until the
administration mode is turned on before you perform this step.
9. To turn off Admin Mode, from the Select Action menu, click the Admin Mode
action, and then click Turn Admin Mode OFF.

3.2.10 Customizing the options available on application menus

To change the options available in the select action or toolbar menu, use the
Application Designer. To open it, click System Configuration Platform
Configuration Application Designer.
Select the application, and, using the Select Action menu, choose one of the
following options:
Add/Modify Signature Options
Signature options specify privileges for using applications, menu options, and
toolbar items. The signature option can be allowed or not using security
groups for the selected group.
Add/Modify Select Action Menu
Defines the options available in the Select Action menu for the selected
application.
Add/Modify Toolbar Menu
Defines the options available in the toolbar menu for the selected application.
Add/Modify Search Menu
Defines the options available in the search menu for the selected application.

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When working with these menu options, you can define the position of each
action when a new item is added or changed. An example of a select action
menu is displayed in Figure 3-19.

Figure 3-19 Select action menu

The Key Value field defines the action that this entry will runs, and the position is
defined by the Position and Subposition fields.

3.2.11 Changing applications on the navigation bar

To change an application on the navigation bar that is used to access
SmartCloud Control Desk applications, you must run a query using SQL.
The table that stores the applications that are displayed on the bar is named
maxmenu. The order in which the fields are displayed in the bar is defined by field
position.
Each module defined has one or more applications under it. The modules are
defined in the maxmodules application.

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For example, the Service Desk module is displayed as shown in Figure 3-20.

Figure 3-20 Service Desk module

The following syntax is the query that shows how these items are defined in the
database:
select position, keyvalue from maxmenu where moduleapp='SD' and
elementtype='APP' order by position
The output of the query is displayed in Table 3-1.
Table 3-1 Query results
Position

Key value

10995

INCIDENT

10997

PROBLEM

11000

ACTIVITY

11005

PMCOMSR

11010

SR

11040

SOLUTION

11050

TKTEMPLATE

11051

OBJSEARCH

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Position

Key value

11052

PRIORITY

11054

PLUSPACTVT

11058

PLUSPINC

11062

PLUSPPROB

11066

PLUSPSR

11070

PLUSPSOLUTION

To change the order of an application, update its position in the maxmenu table
and restart your server.

3.2.12 Reports
Some applications have their ready for use BIRT reports defined. To run those
reports, their request page must be generated the first time that the report is run
or after the report is reimported into the system.
Request pages are created by using the Report Administration application. Open
this application by clicking Administration Reporting Report
Administrator. There are two ways to generate the request page:
As one specific report
As a list of reports
In the list tab of the report administration application, filter the reports that
must have their request pages generated. Then, click Generate Request
Pages at the bottom of the window.
After the request page is generated, the reports are available to be run for each
application. To use this function, click Select Action Run Reports, select the
report you want, and run it.
Every time a report is reimported into the application, a new request page must
be generated.
The user might also need to customize a new report, such as creating
on-demand reports, or query based reports.
The Create Report process makes it easier for users to customize their own
individual reports. They are able to design it according to their needs.

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These reports are associated with an application. The fields available for use are
the fields that are defined in the main table of the application, including the
relationships where the main table of the application is the parent.
To create a report, go to the application, and click Select Action Run
Reports. Then, click Create Report.
There are four tabs that you can use to create an on-demand report: Style,
Select, Format, and Submit. These tabs are shown in Figure 3-21.

Figure 3-21 On-demand reports, Style tab

The Style tab is used to select the type of report, input the title, and whether this
report will be available (public) after the execution.
The style of the report can be selected as Summary or Detail.
A Summary Report is the most simple type and is often used to display a list
of elements of one category. This report allows only one multiple relationship
between tables.
A Detail Report is more complex and is often used to display data for several
objects. It allows more than one multiple relationship.

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Tip: When the report is designed without using data from relationships with
the main table or the report is displayed as a list, choose a summary Report.
When it uses data from relationships with the main table, choose a detail
report.
Select Save report and Public to make the report available for other users to
run.
The dialog for the Select tab is displayed in Figure 3-22.

Figure 3-22 On-demand reports, Select tab

On this tab, a list of available fields for this table and its relationships is displayed.
Select the fields that you want to add to your report.
On the Format tab, you can select which fields are used to order, group, or sort
the report output.
On the Submit tab, you select when the report will be run.

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For example, a summary report showing a list of incidents that are sorted by the
ticket ID and description is displayed in Figure 3-23.

Figure 3-23 Summary report

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This type of report can be grouped if necessary by selecting the grouping fields
in the Format tab.
An example of a detail report is displayed in Figure 3-24.

Figure 3-24 Detail report

In this detail report, the status history of the tickets is included using a
relationship between the objects. Each incident record is displayed on one page.
In detail reports, it is not possible to group the report manually because they are
automatically grouped by category.

3.2.13 Data loading using quick configuration

You can import data using the quick configuration application. This is useful for
environments without IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
installed, which loads data.
To import data, the type of file used is a comma-separated value file (CSV).
Assets, configuration items, person users, licenses, and locations can be added
by using quick configuration data loading. By default the assets, CIs, and person
users data is imported or updated by using a sequential queue. A sequential
queue imports one data set at a time in the defined order, and the process stops
when an error is found. This import functions in this manner because there might
be dependencies on the order that the data is imported in. The locations and
licenses data is imported using a continuous queue.

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Complete the following steps to import the data:

1. Activate cron task JMSQSEQCONSUMER.SEQQIN.
a. Start the Cron Task Setup application by clicking System
Configuration Platform Configuration Cron Task Setup.
b. Search for the JMSQSEQCONSUMER cron task, and activate the instance
SEQQIN. To activate it, select Active.
c. Define the interval for this cron task to run, and click Select Action
Reload Request.
2. The configured cron task is displayed in the Reload Request window, as
shown in Figure 3-25. Select SEQQIN and click OK.

Figure 3-25 Cron task to activate data loading

After the data are imported, the CSV files must be created. For information about
how to create CSV files, see the following website:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/import/r_csv_file_structure.html
Follow these guidelines when you create a CSV file:
You can use a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel to create your
CSV file.
Save the CSV file in UTF-8 format.
Do not include more than 3000 records in a single CSV file. If you need to
import more than 3000 records, use multiple files.
Previewing the import of large files is not recommended because it can take a
considerable amount of time. Before importing a large file, preview the import
of a smaller version of the file first.
If you recently imported data but you do not see records for the data,
manually refresh the list of messages. If the import finishes and it failed for
one or more records, messages for the failed records are displayed.

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 Put records that define new users into a separate CSV file from records that
update existing users. Do not mix these types of records in a single CSV file.
To import a CSV file that defines new users, use the Add action. To import a
CSV file that contains updates to user records, use the Add/Change action.
After the CSV files are created, go to the quick configuration application, click the
Data Loading tab, and complete these steps:
1. Select the type of object that corresponds to the type of data you will load,
such as ASSETS, CI, PERSON USER, LICENSES, or LOCATIONS.
2. Click Load data.
3. Click Browse, navigate to the CSV input file, and select it.
4. To deactivate the preview mode, ensure that the Import preview check box is
not selected.
5. Click OK. Assets, CIs, and person users are placed in the sequential queue.
Licenses and locations are placed in the continuous queue. If there is already
a data load request processing on the same application server this request is
initiated from, a message box is displayed. The message box indicates that
the data load application is busy, and to restart the import after the ongoing
data load operation has finished. If there are no other data import requests
processing, the number of records in the CSV file is checked. An error
message is returned if the number of records exceeds the maximum allowed
record size in any one file. The default maximum value is 3000. If the number
of records is within the allowed limit, the content of the CSV file is processed.
6. While the file is being processed, review the Records Tracking table for
information about the Java Message Service (JMS) messages that need to be
processed. Note the following areas when reviewing this section:
On the Data Loading tab, the Total pending records might be null. This
occurs because the field does not update automatically. You must click
Refresh to update the records.
If there are no messages to be processed, the Total pending records is 0.
If you submit 3000 records, the field displays any number between 0 and
3000, depending on the progress of the data loading.
If you submit a new file to be loaded while there are still messages waiting
to be processed, note the Total pending records field. That field shows the
sum of the current backlog of messages, plus the total number of new
messages to be processed in the new data load.
To clear the continuous or sequential queues, click Clear continuous
queue or Clear sequential queue.

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7. Review the Failed Records table for information about problems that were
encountered with the data import. You can take the following actions for
messages:
Edit and save a failed message. You can correct all errors in a failed
message and then reprocess the message.
Select and then reprocess one or more failed messages.
Select and then delete one or more failed messages.
Refresh the Failed Messages list.

3.2.14 Importing and exporting data from applications

SmartCloud Control Desk provides the functionality to import and export data
from another SmartCloud Control Desk application without using an external
product. This feature is useful for users to manage big data changes within the
system. The user can export, change, and reimport data into the system or
create data by using an xml or csv file.
Integration framework is used to enable data import and export functions. The
application that is used to make these changes is Object Structures, which is
started by clicking Integration Object Structures.
For example, if you want to enable data import for the Classifications application,
complete these steps:
1. Open the Object Structures application and find the definition for the object.
The ID of the object structure definition is defined as MX<OBJECT_NAME>. In this
example, the object to enable is Classification, so the object structure is
MXCLASSIFICATION.
2. With the object selected, click Select Action Duplicate object structure.
Some source objects are further defined in the Source Objects section. This
allows you to change the structure of the new object. For example, in the
Classification object, the objects that are defined to be migrated are displayed
in Figure 3-26.

Figure 3-26 Classification objects

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You can define the objects that you need to migrate, but the main object must
be maintained in the list. For this example, only CLASSSTRUCTURE is used, so
the others can be removed from the list.
3. Enable the export process for the application by clicking Select Action
Add/Modify Application Export Support.
4. In the new window, click New Row and add the application where the export
functions will be used, in this case Classifications (ASSETCAT). There are
two options to be considered in this window:
Default Type File
Defines the type of the file that is used in the export process. There are
two options for files to be used in a spreadsheet: XML file and flat file. To
use a flat file, Support File Structure must be selected.
Maximum count
Defines the maximum number of records that can be exported in a single
execution.
In this example, the default type of file is defined as XML, and the maximum
count as 100, shown in Figure 3-27.

Figure 3-27 Add or Modify Application Export Support window

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5. Click OK.
6. For import functionality, similar steps are performed. Click Select Action
Add/Modify Application Import Support.
7. In the dialog, define the new object to be imported and click OK.
8. More changes are required for each security group that needs access to
import or export data. Go to the Security Groups application, and select the
security group you want.
9. Select the application. In this example, Classifications on the Applications tab
was selected.
10.Two new options are created for the application: Application Export and
Application Import. To make the options available for users of the selected
security group, select Grant Access for the option you want to allow, as
displayed in Figure 3-28.

Figure 3-28 New options for security group

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11.The new configuration is completed. Log off and log in again to the system to
see the changes. The application displays two new icons for export and
import application data in the toolbar and the Select Action menu, as shown in
Figure 3-29.

Figure 3-29 New icons for import and export application data

To export data, complete the following steps:

1. Filter the application if necessary, and click Application Export.
2. A new window is displayed with the option to choose the object structure to be
used on the export process. Select the object structure that you created
earlier. The number of records filtered to be exported is displayed in the
Selected to Export field.

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An example of the window is shown in Figure 3-30.

Figure 3-30 Export data

3. Select the type of file to be created, and the Delimiter used if it is a flat file.
The Delimiter default value can be defined by using the property
mxe.int.flatfiledelimiter in the System Properties application. The Text
Qualifier is used to wrap the text if the Delimiter character is found in one of
the exported fields. If you are using an xml file, use sync as the export option.
4. Click OK to create the exported data. Because the file defined is an xml file,
the generated file is a .xml file. This file can be opened in an xml editor. If the
file chosen was a flat file, the generated output is a .dat file, which can be
opened in a spreadsheet as a CSV file.
If you selected a CSV file, make sure that the fields are separated by commas
when you open the file on a spreadsheet.
To import a file, complete these steps:
1. Click Application Import. An XML or a CSV file can be used to import data
into the application. In this example, an XML file is used to add a classification
to the application. To create the file, existing records can be used as an
example.

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2. Using application import dialog, select the file (XML or CSV) used to import
data and the object structure to be used. Select Import Preview to see the
validation results for the file that is loaded into the system. Click OK. An
example of the validation results is displayed in Figure 3-31.

Figure 3-31 Preview results

3. If the validation was concluded with success, data can be imported into the
application. Click Application Import again, select the file and object
structure, but do not select Preview Results. Click OK. If data was imported
correctly a message is displayed as shown in Figure 3-32.

Figure 3-32 Confirmation message

One aspect that must be considered is how to manage autokey fields when
importing data. Autokey fields are the fields where data is populated with a key
defined in SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5 database.

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Based on the file type that you are using for import, consider the following
information:
If an XML file is used, the file should not contain the autokey fields.
If a flat file is used, include the field. To avoid those values actually being
included in the database, a restriction is placed in the object. To configure this
option, use the Database Configuration application by clicking Select
Action Restrict Attributes.
Tip: Define the object structure according to the data that you need to import
or export.

3.2.15 Searching with Lucene

Some of the SmartCloud Control Desk applications, such as service desk and
service catalog applications, use Lucene as a search engine. Lucene works with
indexes, and data is filled in those indexes when a cron task is run. To use search
functions properly on those applications, it is required that the Lucene cron task
be activated to populate the indexes that are used during the search process.
The cron task that is used by Lucene is named PmObjSearchCron. To activate the
cron task, use the Cron Task Setup application by clicking System
Configuration Platform Configuration Cron Task Setup.
Search for the PmObjSearchCron cron task, and activate the instance
PmObjSearchInstance. To activate it, select Active. Next, click Select Action
Reload Request and select the interval when this cron task is run. The default
option is each 24 hours, which means that the indexes from Lucene are updated
once a day.

3.2.16 Field validation

SmartCloud Control Desk provides the feature to validate a field as a background
process. The user can enter the information in a field, and proceed to the next
field while the data in the first field is validated. This makes the data input faster
for the user.
If you want to disable the asynchronous field validation, use the System
Properties application by clicking System Configuration Platform
Configuration System Properties. Then, complete these steps:
1. Find the property mxe.webclient.async in the System Properties application.
2. Change the value of the property to 0.

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3. Save the record.

4. Select the record and click Live Refresh.

3.2.17 Query management and advanced search

Each application in the SmartCloud Control Desk can store queries for users and
run searches in the records of the user. This search process does not use
Lucene.
Searches use the Advanced Search options, and the advanced search menu is
displayed above the list of items returned for the application. There are two main
options:
More Search Field
User can select, using the UI, which items are filtered during the search.
Where Clause
An SQL where the clause is used to search fields from the main table of the
application.
The queries that are used in the search can be saved and used later by the same
or another user. The options for these queries are in Save Query menu. Query
options are available for each application and can be accessed in the application.
They are displayed in the menu near Advanced Search.
There are two options:
Save Current Query
Allows the user to save the current query used on the application. The user
can make the query public or not.
View/Manage Query
Allows the user to view, access, or change a previously saved query. This is
useful for reusing existing queries and to return common results, such as
tickets opened or closed in a specific interval.

3.2.18 Domains
Domains are used as a group of available values for a specific field or
application. There are several domains created for SmartCloud Control Desk.
These domains can be changed or more of them created depending on your
business needs.
To create or change a domain, click System Configuration Platform
Configuration Domains. To add a domain, select Add a new domain and

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select the correct type. To change a domain, select it in the list of available
domains.
There are six types of domains available:
ALN
Defines a list of alphanumeric values that can be used in the domain. The
Length field defines the maximum size of each domain value, and the Data
Type field defines the type for the value column. An example of ALN domains
is displayed in Figure 3-33.

Figure 3-33 ALN domain

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 Numeric
Defines a list of numeric values that can be used in the domain. The Length
field defines the maximum size of each domain value. The Data Type field
defines the type for the value column. The Scale field defines the number of
decimal places for the value column. An example is displayed in Figure 3-34.

Figure 3-34 Numeric domain

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 NumericRange
Defines a range of numeric values that can be used in the domain. The
Length field defines the maximum size of each domain value. The Data Type
field defines the type for the value column. The Scale field defines the number
of decimal places for the value column. An example is shown in Figure 3-35.

Figure 3-35 NumericRange domain

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 Table
The items available on this domain are obtained from an existing object in the
SmartCloud Control Desk. It can be all items in the table that are related to
the object, or a subset of elements of the object. To select the items available
on this domain, select the new object and filter by using the List Where
clause. An example of table domains is displayed in Figure 3-36.

Figure 3-36 Table domain

The List Where clause used in this example is status in (select value from
synonymdomain where domainid='MAXUSERSTATUS' and maxvalue='ACTIVE').
This clause filters the maxuser object with the active items.

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 Crossover
Defines conditions to link two different objects. Crossover domains are
commonly used to get fields from one object using fields from another object
as a reference. The where clause used defines the fields that are used as the
link between the two objects. The crossover fields are the fields where the
information is applied. An example of a crossover domain is displayed in
Figure 3-37.

Figure 3-37 Crossover domain

Synonym
This type of domain cannot be created. It can only be changed. The user can
have two synonym values for the same entry. An example of this type of
domain is the status fields. For each status, multiple synonyms can be added.
The Internal Value field must be the same as one of the existing entries

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created. This defines the value that is used internally in the application. The
Value and Description fields define the values visible for the user. An example
of a synonym domain is displayed in Figure 3-38.

Figure 3-38 Synonym domain

This domain has two different entries with the internal value of Pending. The
second column shows a value of Needs Info and Pending. The second
column (list of values) can be customized according to your needs, but the
interval values cannot be changed. At least one entry must be present for
each of the internal values.
After a domain is defined, it can be associated with a field. To associate a field,
complete these steps:
1. Go to the Database Configuration application.
2. Select the object.
3. In the Attributes tab, select the attribute to be associated with the domain.
4. Save the record. It is marked as To be changed.
5. Click Select Action Manage Admin Mode.
6. In the Turn Admin Mode ON window, modify the values in the Number of
Administrative Sessions Allowed field and the Number of Minutes for User
Logout field. The default value of each field is 5. If you modify these fields,
click Update Properties for the parameters to take effect.
7. Click Turn Admin Mode ON.
8. In the Electronic Signature Authentication window, enter the appropriate value
in the Reason for Change field.
9. Click OK. A window opens that indicates that the Admin Mode is starting.

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10.Click OK.
11.Throughout the configuration process, click Refresh Status to view the
messages that the configuration process writes in the Status window. If you
decide to cancel the configuration, click Cancel Admin Mode.
12.Click Select Action Apply Configuration Changes to configure the
database and restore backup tables. Administration mode must be turned on
before you perform this step.
13.To turn off Admin Mode, from the Select Action menu, click the Admin Mode
action, and then click Turn Admin Mode OFF.

3.2.19 Customer configuration

Customer functions are part of the Service Provider, and available only for
Service Provider edition of SmartCloud Control Desk.
To be able to manage assets for service providers, you must set the customer in
the SmartCloud Control Desk applications. Customers are set in the Customer
application, which is opened by clicking Service Provider (SP) Customers
(SP).
Set the customer information according to your needs. Restrictions can be
applied in security groups for group access to information from specific
customers. Customers might need to be associated with storerooms,
organizations, sites, assets, solutions, classifications, and configuration items.
In the Customers Agreements application, which can be opened by clicking
Service Provider (SP) Customer Agreements (SP), you can define
agreements with your customers.

3.2.20 Extra configuration

Some extra system properties are shown in Table 3-2.
Table 3-2 Extra properties
Property

Description

Default value

mxe.webclient.errortooltip
waitbeforeopen

The number of seconds

before an error tooltip is
displayed when a user
drags the mouse over an
error icon

Default Value = 2. Lower

numbers result in better
usability, but generate
more server traffic

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134

Property

Description

Default value

mxe.webclient.asyncrende
rtimelimit

Specifies the maximum

number of seconds
between the responses
that are sent to the user
interface when processing
multiple asynchronous
validation requests

Default Value = 15. Lower

numbers result in better
usability, but generate
more server traffic

mxe.webclient.asyncreque
stsbeforerender

Specifies the maximum

number of concurrent
asynchronous validation
requests that the user
interface framework
processes before
rendering a response

Default Value = 5. Lower

numbers result in better
usability, but generate
more server traffic

mxe.webclient.ClientData
Validation

Speeds up response
without requiring a trip to
server. Validates user
entries against a defined
data type and size in
domain. Validation is done
within the browser

If value = 1 (default), the

system uses Client Data
validation If value = 0, it
uses Server-side validation

mxe.webclient.
ClientEventQueue.thresho
ld

The maximum number of

events that can be in the
client event queue before
they are sent to the server.
The value is set low in
Control Desk so UI is more
responsive

If value = 0, the events are

sent immediately.
If value = 1, only data type
validation is used, and
errors are queued.
If value = 2 (default), when
there are two events in
queue, they are sent to
server.
If value is 3 or higher,
events are sent when that
number is reached.

mxe.webclient.
ClientEventQueue.timeout

The maximum time in

milliseconds the client
event queue waits before
being sent to the server

Default value = 2000

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Property

Description

Default value

mxe.webclient.listtable.ret
ainstate

Manual refresh of list tab

on each application

If value = 1 (default), the

filters made on list tab are
maintained if the user
works on other tabs.
If value = 0, the filters
made on list tab are not
kept when user works on
different tabs

mxe.retainrecord

Retain the state of

application tabs and child
tables when editing

Default value = 1

mxe.retainrecordlimit

Maximum records for

which the table retains
state

Default value = 200

mxe.server.enableCSRFBl
ocking

Enable checks for the

Cross Site security

Default value = 1

mail.smtp.host

Represents the name of

the host that runs the
SMTP server

Default value = None

3.3 Conclusion
In this chapter, the options and configurations that are required for running the
SmartCloud Control Desk were covered. It showed how to create organizations,
security groups, persons, and classifications, and how to use them in
SmartCloud Control Desk.

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Chapter 4.

IT asset management
This chapter provides an overview of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities.
to help you achieve effective management of the entire IT asset lifecycle from
planning through end of life. These capacities help lower cost, mitigate license
and regulatory compliance risks, and better align IT with business goals.
The key concepts and use cases describe the extensive list of features that IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk provides for IT asset management. These include
inventory management, procurement management, contract management, and
financial management. This chapter covers product features specific to IT and
how they can help you control todays complex environments, including software
license management and different representations of your IT resources. It
provides detailed descriptions of asset and CI linkage concepts, and provides
typical scenarios on how to manage assets and CIs together using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk.
This chapter includes the following sections:

IT asset management process overview

IT asset management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Integrations
Reports and KPIs
IT asset management for service providers

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

137

4.1 IT asset management process overview

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is a product that provides a wide range of
functions for hardware asset management and software license management.
This section provides an overview of the IT asset management features in the
product.
The discipline of IT asset management borrows the practices and processes of
enterprise asset management. One of the leading software solutions for
enterprise asset management is IBM Maximo Asset Management. It has been
adapted and enhanced over time to support IT asset management. The IT asset
management version of the Maximo Asset Management product is now included
in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk and is the primary focus of this chapter.

4.1.1 IT resources representation

This section describes key concepts for IT assets, and clarifies the different
levels of representation and interactions with other types of records.

IT assets and items

An IT asset is any purchased, leased, or licensed hardware device, software
product, or related contract service that supports business services. IT assets
include financial and legal obligations.
An item is an orderable entity, approved by the companys policy. It can be
associated with one or more vendors.

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Figure 4-1 shows the different types of items and their relation with assets or
licenses.

Figure 4-1 Items and assets

Non-Rotating Items are consumed, not serialized, tracked, or managed with

the inventory application.
Rotating Items are not consumed, but issued as assets, serialized when
issued, and tracked throughout their lifecycle with the assets application.
Software Items are associated with a software catalog record, issued as
licenses, and tracked throughout their lifecycle with the licenses application.

Assets and licenses

Licenses represent the software that is purchased by an organization. Assets
and licenses represent the what-you-want view of your infrastructure. In this view,
you find only resources that you consciously decide to manage by your
processes. The what-you-want views are sometimes referred to as authorized
assets and authorized licenses, but the official terms are assets and licenses. To
place existing resources under management (in the what-you want view), you
purchase or create new resources.
To allow you to control the level of information you want to manage, IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk provides another representation of both hardware
assets and software assets. One view represents what-you-have, and is normally
populated through an import of information from your Operational Management
Products, such as Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager, Tivoli

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Asset Discovery for Distributed, Tivoli Provisioning Manager, or Tivoli Endpoint

Manager. Because the what-you-have views are populated by importing
information, they include everything that your tools discover in the infrastructure.
The resources that are represented in the what-you-have views are referred to as
deployed assets and deployed software.
To place deployed assets under management, you promote the what-you-have
view. To link and compare deployed assets and assets, reconcile the
what-you-want and what-you-have views. To ensure compliance between your
licenses and deployed software, run audit reports.
Figure 4-2 depicts the organization of IT assets resources that are managed by
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.

Figure 4-2 IT assets representation

Assets and configuration items

In IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, IT resources are represented in multiple ways
because you most likely want to manage different aspects of them.
Some IT resources must be managed because they represent financial value to
your business, and you must adhere to accounting requirements, demonstrate
compliance, and manage contractual obligations and claims. These resources
are called assets. Typically, you decide to manage your assets when they
represent a value that is greater than the cost of management, or the cost of not
managing the asset properly exceeds the cost of the asset. Managing IT assets
typically involves controlling aspects such as identification, core attributes,

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physical location, ownership, accounting, licensing, warranties, and maintenance

contracts.
However, you can also manage the technical aspects of IT resources. Technical
management involves managing the configuration of your resources as well as
how they relate to, and depend on one another. It also includes management of
changes to the resource configurations and their relationships to maintain control
over the IT infrastructure and ensure that IT services are delivered according to
your (contractual) obligations. In this context, resources are mostly intangible,
and represent resources such as subnets, virtual systems, IP addresses, Java
Platform, Enterprise Edition server instances, and business applications.
Tangible resources, such as routers, computer systems, and storage devices, are
also managed from a technical point of view. Commonly, technical resources are
referred to as configuration items, or CIs.
Within your IT infrastructure, you can have millions of CIs and thousands of
assets. Most of these can be discovered by tools, and imported to IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk. However, chances are that you do not want to
manage all of them. Keyboards are considered commodities these days, and are
so inexpensive that you most likely do not worry about managing them. The
same might apply to monitors. For technical resources, you can discover details
such as BIOS level, and detailed Java Platform, Enterprise Edition Server
configuration parameters. However, it is again not likely that you want to manage
all of these.
To control the level of information you want to manage, IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk provides two representations of both assets and CIs. One view represents
what-you-have, and is normally populated by importing information from your
Operational Management Products, such as Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager, Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed, Tivoli Provisioning
Manager, or Tivoli Endpoint Manager. Because the what-you-have views are
populated from importing information, they include everything that your tools
discover in the infrastructure. The resources that are represented in the
what-you-have views are referred to as deployed assets and actual CIs.
The other representation shows the what-you-want, or plan. In these views, you
find only resources that you consciously decide to manage. The what-you-want
views are sometimes referred to as authorized assets and authorized CIs, but the
official terms are assets and configuration items. To place existing resources
under management (in the what-you want view), promote discrete resources
from the what-you-have views. When you are planning for new managed
resources, create the new resources in the what-you-want views directly.
Besides helping to control the amount of information to manage, having both the
what-you-have and what-you-want views enables auditing and reconciliation. By
comparing the plan (what-you-want) to the actual (what-you-have), you can

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determine whether the actual configuration of your resources matches what you
authorized in the plan (what-you-want). The organization of the resources that
are managed by IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can be depicted as shown in
Figure 4-3.

Figure 4-3 IT resources representation

Managed resources can be created directly by the Asset or Configuration

Manager if you need to start managing a resource before it manifests itself as a
physical entity in your IT infrastructure. Existing resources are imported so you
are aware of their existence. If you want to manage them, promote them.
When both the managed and the unmanaged resources are represented, use
the reconciliation tasks built into IBM SmartCloud Control Desk to manually link
created and discovered resources. When the managed and unmanaged
resources are linked, the reconciliation tasks also identify differences between
what-you-have and what-you-want. This information can be used in an audit
process. You can then manually or automatically reconcile the two sides through
promotion. The import reconcile promote loop is an on-going process that
must be performed regularly so the Asset and Configuration Managers maintain
the accuracy of the CMDB.

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Figure 4-4 shows the reconciliation process.

Figure 4-4 IT resources reconciliation

Using reconciliation and promotion, you can understand how your managed and
unmanaged resources are related to one another either from an administrative or
a technical perspective. However, it does not help you access administrative
management information when working in the technical space, or access
technical information from the administrative management space. To access the
sibling information, you must link the technical and administrative resources. To
provide you with the flexibility to manage assets and configuration items
independently of one another, the administrative and technical resources more or
less are separate from each other. To integrate the two types of management,
you must link managed CIs to assets.
The linkage from the what-you-have (unmanaged) to the what-you-want
(managed) representations can also be automated. When discovered resources
are imported to populate the unmanaged resources, a Globally Unique Identifier
(GUID) is generated by the import tool. This GUID is built from one or more sets
of attributes that uniquely identify a resource. When the same data is used to
import both deployed assets and actual CIs, the same attributes are provided,
and the GUIDs assigned to the two resources are identical. The GUIDs can then
be used to automatically link deployed assets and actual CIs so you have

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immediate access to related sibling resource when working with any unmanaged
resource.
Linking the managed resources provides a different challenge. The managed
resources are often created before they are discovered, and in many instances
the administrative and technical resources are created independently of one
another. In addition, the information needed to construct a GUID that can be
used for linkage is not available at creation time. The likelihood that the Asset
Manager and Configuration Manager use the exact same attribute values is
minimal. Therefore, you need another mechanism for linking managed
resources.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk allows you to link managed resources in multiple
ways. If the unmanaged siblings are not known, you can either manually provide
the linkage information, or you can use a new reconciliation task to compare
common attributes to find the resources that share a common set of attributes.
This task can use attributes such as serial number or asset tag to try to identify
matching Asset-CI pairs. However, if the unmanaged resources have been
imported, the new reconciliation task uses the existing information to identify the
link between the two managed resources.

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By following the Configuration Item Actual CI Deployed Asset Asset

chain of links (Figure 4-5), the reconciliation task can determine which CI is
related to which asset. For this automated linkage to work, all four
representations of a resource must be available. So there is no need to analyze
the chain starting from the asset.

Figure 4-5 IT resources chain of links

In addition to providing the linkage information required to manage assets and

configuration items together, the new reconciliation task also allows you to create
generic resources. Generic resources are system created siblings that are
created when the task detects that no sibling exists for a resource. Typically, this
happens when an administrator creates an asset or a CI. This facility provides a
convenient way for enhancing the collaboration between the Asset and
Configuration Managers. For attributes that are common to the two types of
managed resources, you can also enable automate synchronization to ensure
consistency across management disciplines.

Benefits of linking assets and CIs

Many processes and resources are often involved in the delivery of IT services.
All of these tasks and resources must be orchestrated so that the service is
delivered in accordance with the specified service level agreements, and with
minimal disruptions.

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The complexity of IT environments has grown so much that it is impossible to

manage them using pen and paper, or even spreadsheets. This lack of control
can lead to service degradation or even unplanned outages because of the
application of changes that lead to unexpected consequences. Powerful IT
Service Management solutions like IBM SmartCloud Control Desk must be
deployed in environments to help configure, orchestrate, plan, and implement
changes and updates to the IT infrastructure. Especially in highly dynamic
infrastructures such as cloud-based environments, tools to manage the
ever-changing configuration are a must.
The linkage between assets and CIs as provided by IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk can facilitate the management of your IT infrastructure:
From an incident management perspective
The SMART interface on a hard disk in a production server automatically
sends an alert to notify you of the number of bad sectors detected. This alert
is the basis for an incident. The incident manager will want to know whether
the disk is under warranty. If the configuration item record that represents the
error prone hard disk is not linked to the asset record that represents the
same hard disk, the incident manager must manually find the contract that
specifies the warranty status of the hard disk.
However, if the link between the CI and the asset exists, the related contract is
only a few clicks away. This availability not only allows the Incident Manager to
be more productive, but it also increases the possibility that the correct
contract is identified.
From an asset management perspective
For example, consider that a hardware asset manager responsible for the
central server hardware is asked to withdraw some servers from services.
The current servers consume too much power, and it was decided to
consolidate the load on a new server to avoid an update to the cooling system
in the data center. If the assets and CIs are not linked, there is no information
in the asset data that shows the asset manager that the servers are actively in
use and they support a vital business service. The asset manager is therefore
not prevented from issuing a work order to dispose of the servers. However, if
these links are in place, the system alerts the asset manager the operational
state of the asset cannot be changed while the related CI supports live
applications. In this case, the asset manager must wait for the change and
configuration teams to do their job before the disposal can be activated. When
the workload has been moved to the new server, the configuration manager
changes the operational status of the CI to decomissioned. Because this state
is not protected, the asset manager can then initiate the disposal.

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 From a change management perspective

In this example, as part of the deployment of a new application, a new server
is ordered. While waiting for delivery, the change to implement the server and
all the software components that are needed progresses. If there is a link
between the asset and the CI that represents the new server, the
implementation task can be automatically started as soon as the status of the
asset changes to inactive. This change of status typically happens when the
server is received, physically installed, and powered on. If the asset-CI link
does not exist, the start of the implementation task cannot be automated. It
therefore must wait for the asset manager to convey the news to the change
manager.
From the configuration management perspective
Another scenario that demonstrates the benefits of linked assets and CIs is
related to the provisioning of the new server. When the change request to
deploy a new server is processed, the configuration management team is
asked to create and configure the necessary configuration items.

Benefits of generic asset and CI creation

Besides the linking of existing assets and CIs, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
also supports the creation of generic assets and CIs. If enabled, sibling
resources are automatically created when either a CI or an asset is created.
Enabling this facility ensures that the asset and CI that represent the same
resource are available simultaneously. It therefore allows for tighter integration
between the asset and configuration management disciplines.
From the asset management perspective
In this example, a new server is deployed into the infrastructure. After
discovery, all the configuration items, including the computersystem and
operatingsystem CIs, are registered as actual configuration items. The
configuration manager decides that the server must be managed, so the
actual CIs are promoted to the CI space. The standard linkage takes place, so
if the asset that corresponds to the new computersystem CI exists, the two are
linked. However, if there is no asset record, a generic asset is created, and its
specification is copied from the CI. The specification of this generic asset can
now be refined by the asset manager, who turns it into a normal asset with the
correct classification and administrative information. In addition, if the
reconciliation between deployed assets and assets is automated, the new
asset is linked to the correct deployed asset. This in turn is linked to the actual
CI, and the circle is completed.
From the configuration management perspective
As part of the roll-out of a new application, the asset manager creates a
number of assets that represent virtual machines, and allocates the
necessary software licenses to them. In this case generic CIs are created that

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are used by the configuration manager to provide the configuration details of

the servers. Because the generic CIs are linked to the asset records, the
configuration manager can easily review the asset information to determine
which servers assume which role. This is possible because specific DB, Java
Platform, Enterprise Edition Server, and Web Server software licenses have
already been allocated to the assets.

Benefits of assets and CIs synchronization

When assets and CIs are linked, you can use the synchronization feature to
synchronize attributes that are common to both CIs and assets. You can
configure IBM SmartCloud Control Desk to ensure that attributes are
synchronized as soon as they are updated. Only common attributes such as
customer, organization, site, location, serial number, and custom attributes with
identical names are synchronized. In most cases, these attributes are updated by
the asset manager. So you usually configure the synchronization to update the
CIs when changes are made to the assets.
The synchronization feature allows for better accuracy in your registrations,
productivity gains, and enables greater level of automation.
The use cases presented later in this chapter demonstrate how to put in action
these new features for asset and CI linkage, generic creation of CI, and
synchronization.

4.1.2 IT asset lifecycle

Assets have lifecycles, and an important function of any asset management
process is to track an asset throughout its lifecycle. The asset management
process must not just track the asset, but it must help the business make the
transition to and be prepared for the different phases of the lifecycle.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can manage hardware and software assets using
the IT asset management lifecycle from planning to retirement. Managing the
lifecycle with IBM SmartCloud Control Desk aligns IT with your company
strategy, and provides cost savings and improved business processes. As shown
in Figure 4-6 on page 150, the asset management lifecycle includes the following
phases:
Plan
During the planning phase, an organization formulates a budget and an
associated schedule for hardware and software acquisitions. The technology
refresh cycle indicates when existing assets must be replaced based on
company policy. Stockrooms are used to keep and check inventory before a

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purchase is made. During the planning phase, corporate strategic goals must
also be kept in mind.
Acquire
During the acquisition phase, assets are acquired, typically through purchase
or lease. Critical information about the asset must be captured for the asset
management process. A purchase order (PO) approval process must be in
place to expedite the control of purchasing. Asset records can be created
from a PO, receipt of an asset into inventory, or directly from a vendor.
Deploy
During the deployment phase, assets are assigned either to an employee,
project, or business unit. The status of the asset is tracked as it moves
through its lifecycle. A system that enables communication with the user
facilitates a smooth deployment. Ongoing reconciliation related to the user is
also important: For instance, if a user moves to a new department or leaves
the company, asset records related to the deployment of assets to that user
must be updated.
Interaction with a service desk application, as provided by IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk as a unified solution, can also be critical. For instance, the
requirement for a new asset to be deployed might be generated due to an
event handled by the service desk. Likewise, after a deployment is agreed
upon, a service request is generated for a technician to assist with or perform
the deployment.
Manage
The manage phase includes the tracking of the asset and its ongoing care
and feeding after it is deployed. In this phase, asset reconciliation between
what is discovered versus what has been purchased occurs. Installs, Moves,
Adds, and Changes (IMAC) must be recorded. Integration with change
management processes such as requests for change (RFCs) can be
implemented. During the manage phase, asset costs are managed through
processes such as software license compliance, and monitoring stock rooms
and software use.
Retire
During the retire phase, an asset reaches the end of its life. The asset can be
disposed of, auctioned, donated, sold to employees, or returned to the vendor
when obtained through lease or rental.

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The IT asset management lifecycle, as shown in Figure 4-6, is an endless loop.

When an asset is retired, the planning phase begins to determine how to replace
the asset, if required.

Figure 4-6 IT asset lifecycle

4.1.3 Relation to other processes

IT asset management is related to other processes:
It works with financial management to control the costs of assets and track
their value to the organization.
Compliance management ensures that IT assets comply with licensing,
security, and other compliance issues.
IT asset management works with configuration management to make sure
the assets in the assets database match configuration items in the
Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Assets have a strong
relationship with CIs. While an asset is in operation within the IT
infrastructure, it might also be considered a configuration item. Thus, an asset
has a longer lifecycle than a CI.
For information about how IT assets and CIs work together using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk, see Assets and configuration items on page 140.

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4.1.4 IT asset management roles

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk facilitates many tasks that are performed by
people in traditional business process roles who might intervene during IT asset
management lifecycle:
IT Managers can see how to streamline inventory and resources across the
organization.
Operations Managers can see asset conditions in sufficient detail to improve
asset usage and performance.
Purchasing Managers can see costs and orders enterprise-wide for price
comparisons, discounting, standardization, and order tracking.
Hardware Asset Managers can see lease and maintenance status, and when
to plan for upgrades.
Software Asset Managers can see how to optimize licensing to avoid over- or
under-purchasing and mitigate compliance risks.
Financial Managers can see the entire inventory and analyze return on
assets for financial reporting.
Risk Managers can see asset detail to ensure regulatory compliance and
mitigate risk.
Contract Managers can see asset-related contracts, which helps negotiate
with vendors and monitor supplier performance.
Maintenance Managers can see job plans enabled by availability information
to increase asset capacity.
Facilities Managers can see assets in the data center to optimize power
consumption and reduce unplanned outages.
Service Desk technicians can see asset data to streamline service request
handling and expedite incident and problem resolution.
To facilitate your implementation, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk optional content,
which is installed from the launchpad, provides security groups already
configured that cover these traditional business process roles, granting them
access to necessary applications.

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Table 4-1 shows the security groups that are included in IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk optional content specific to IT asset management:
Table 4-1 Optional content security groups for IT asset management
Security group

Description

ITAMACCTSPEC

IT asset management Accounting Support Specialist

ITAMADMIN

IT asset management administrator

ITAMENDUSER

IT asset management user

ITAMFINMGR

IT asset management financial manager

ITAMHAM

IT asset management hardware asset manager

ITAMINVADMIN

IT asset management inventory administrator

ITAMRECEIVER

IT asset management receiver

ITAMSAM

IT asset management software asset manager

4.1.5 Product capabilities

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk pulls together all the information necessary for the
full spectrum of IT asset management. Direct integration is provided to Tivoli
asset discovery products to provide full software asset management.
For information about integrating IBM SmartCloud Control Desk with asset
discovery and license management products, see 4.3, Integrations on
page 202.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides full asset lifecycle management support.
It provides support for software asset management, including full support for
software license management. It also identifies underused and overused
software based on allocated capacity to reduce costs from over purchasing and
to reduce risk from under purchasing.
Table 4-2 provides a list of IT asset management capabilities with IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk:
Table 4-2 IT asset management capabilities

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Discipline

Capabilities

Contract management

Contract terms and conditions

Notifications
Software contracts

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Discipline

Capabilities

Financial management

Purchase and Lease cost tracking

Work or Service cost tracking
Usage accounting
Total cost of ownership

Asset management

Software asset management

Hardware asset tracking
Installs, moves, adds, changes
Reconciliation and audit
Extend beyond IT (data center facilities, power, and
so on)

Services management

Support service desk with asset configuration data

Service impact management

Procurement

Procure based on standards

Create and route purchase requests
Use catalogs
Integrate with ERP systems

License management

Full lifecycle support

Multiple license types supported
Audit ready reports

Work management

Work planning and scheduling

Skills, labor, and inventory management
Service plans and cost management

Easy configuration

UI, dashboards, KPIs, reports

Process workflows with alerts and escalations
New applications

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can help you to put strong workflow processes in
place, and ensure that your IT asset management procedures are supported and
followed.
Exception: IT asset management capabilities are not included in IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk Entry Edition. The following modules and included
applications, related to IT asset management, are not available in the entry
edition:

Assets
Purchasing
Contracts
Inventory

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4.2 IT asset management using IBM SmartCloud Control

Desk
This section contains use cases that demonstrate IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
capabilities for IT asset management, and design consideration, configuration
tips, and best practices.
The use cases do not demonstrate the capabilities of IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk for inventory management, procurement management, contracts
management, or financial management in any great detail, but rather focus on
specifics for managing IT:
Management of the software catalog
Software license management, including creation of a new license, allocation
to a computer, and license audit report
Reconciliation of assets and deployed assets
Promotion of a deployed asset
Asset and CI linkage
For more information about the extensive capabilities of IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk for inventory management, procurement management, contracts
management, and financial management, see IT Asset Management Processes
using Tivoli Asset Manager for IT, SG24-7601.

4.2.1 IT asset management applications

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk applications specific to IT asset management are
grouped into the following modules and submodules:
The assets module contains applications for Assets and Licenses that show
information about managed records (what-you-want view), and extra
applications such as Locations, or Meters, that are used to manage your
assets.
The deployed assets submodule contains applications such as Computers,
Network Devices, Network Printers, and Deployed Software, which show
information that is imported from discovery tools (what-you-have view).
The conversion submodule in the administration module contains applications
that make information uniform and presentable.

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 The reconciliation application facilitates the linkage of discovered information

to its authorized and financial aspects. The reconciliation applications are
used to perform the following functions:
Define reconciliation tasks that specify how to compare information from
one data set with information in another data set.
View and manage the results of reconciliations.
The contracts module contains applications to manage contracts for labor
rates, purchases, leases, warranties, and software. You can create different
types of contracts and define the rules that govern each type of contract.
The inventory module contains applications to manage your inventory of
spare parts, maximize the availability of items for upcoming work tasks, and
reduce excess inventory balances and related carrying costs.
The purchasing module contains applications to manage the purchasing
process, including obtaining requests for quotes (RFQs), purchasing the
materials and services, and then receiving and invoicing them. The
application also helps you maintain information about the companies from
which you purchase, and to integrate legal terms and conditions into the
purchasing process.

4.2.2 Managing the software catalog

The software catalog provides a list of all software that can be discovered and
licensed in the environment. It can be made up of software definitions from the
Software Knowledge Base Toolkit or software titles identified by third-party
discovery adapters. The later use cases provide general information about the
software catalog, detailing how it can be imported into IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk. They also provide configuration considerations to manage software
hierarchy and software variants.

Software catalog overview

You use the software catalog application to locate and review the catalog data for
software bundles, products, and components. In addition to viewing details about
the software, you can find related license and software deployment information,
and learn about related versions, releases, and parent-child relationships.
The software catalog is a key component in software license management. The
software product that is selected for software records (software items, licenses,
and deployed software) must be defined in the software catalog. Therefore, it is
critical that the software catalog is as complete as possible before you begin
adding software records.

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Important: The software catalog is a key component in software license

management. It is the link between software items, license records, and
deployed software.
The software catalog records are viewed from the Software Catalog application,
which can be accessed by clicking Go To Administration Deployed
Assets Software Catalog.
Because it is portable, the software catalog can be imported into the IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk database. There are two methods for importing a
software catalog. First, you can directly import the software catalog that is
published by IBM. Alternately, you can connect to the Software Knowledge Base
Toolkit and import a published catalog. In this book, the first method is
demonstrated.
Using Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed: if you are using Tivoli Asset
Discovery for Distributed, which requires the Software Knowledge Base
Toolkit, you might want to consider the second method for importing the
software catalog. This method is preferable because it populates the software
catalog in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk not only with the software catalog
provided by IBM, but also any other software that is discovered with Tivoli
Asset Discovery.

Import the IBM software catalog

This section describes the steps to manually import the latest Software
Knowledge Base file, referred as software catalog, into IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk.
The first step is to download the latest software catalog from IBM:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/tivoli_support/misc/CandO/TivoliCat
alog/ibm/SwKBT/

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Figure 4-7 shows the files present on the FTP server at the time of writing.

Figure 4-7 Downloading the latest software catalog from IBM

The name of the file to download is

IBMSoftwareCatalog_canonical_form_yyyymmdd.zip where yyyymmdd is the
date code when the file was released. It is updated at the beginning of a month
and contains the catalog through the end of the previous month. In this
compressed file is an XML file, similarly named, that is what is needed on the
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk server.
Next, the SWCATALOGIMPORT cron task must be set up. Open the cron task
setup application by clicking Go To System Configuration Cron Task
Setup, then open the SWCATALOGIMPORT record.
Table 4-3 shows parameters that are used by the SWCATALOGIMPORT cron
task to import the canonical software catalog that was downloaded from IBM.
Table 4-3 SWCATALOGIMPORT cron task parameters
Parameter

Value

Description

HOSTNAME

[Leave blank]

Required to import the software catalog

from the Software Base Tool Kit.

PARTIALRUN

Option 6 performs the following tasks:

Transform the .xsl file in the
temporary directory.
Load the transformed files into the
database using enterprise services.

PORT

[Leave blank]

Required to import the software catalog

from the Software Base Tool Kit.

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Parameter

Value

Description

REPOSITORYID

[Leave blank]

Leaving this parameter blank turns off the

verification.

TEMPDIR

/data/home/

Working directory where the software

catalog file is located.

TEMPFILE

SwKBT.xml

Name of the canonical software catalog file.

This file was renamed to a shorter name.

After the cron task parameters are set, set the interval and enable the instance.
Because this file is imported once, set the interval to a small value to get the
import process going, then disable the cron task instance.
Figure 4-8 shows the SWCATALOGIMPORT cron task after these changes.

Figure 4-8 SWCATALOGIMPORT cron task

After the cron task starts, you see a processor usage increase and new records
being added to the Systemout.log file. The time to process the file varies on
memory and processor. A few hours is typical to process the entire file.
The cron task parses the IBM software catalog to prepare it for import. After the
file is parsed, the cron task imports the individual XML files created. As the files

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are imported, they are removed from the working directory. A few minutes after
the cron task started, you can verify that SwKBT*.xml files have started to be
created in the working directory.
Figure 4-9 shows the files created by the cron task a few minutes after it was
started.

Figure 4-9 XML files created by SWCATALOGIMPORT cron task

By reviewing the history of the cron task, you can verify that it is complete. The
cron task is complete when the End Time of the ACTION is updated. Figure 4-10
shows SWCATALOGIMPORT completed.

Figure 4-10 SWCATALOGIMPORT cron task complete

Software hierarchy
A software hierarchy is the combination of product, version, and release (or
feature) that represents an item of software in a database or knowledge base.
Typically, the product is the root of the hierarchy, whereas versions and releases
are associated to the product as related versions.
To align with their licensing model, users can define a product's software
hierarchy in either Software Knowledge Base Toolkit or SmartCloud Control Desk
at the product, version, and release or feature level.

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Software products, versions, and releases can be imported into SmartCloud

Control Desk from the Software Knowledge Base Toolkit. In the Software Catalog
application, you can use the Product Hierarchy tab to view the imported software
hierarchy. When an import from Software Knowledge Base Toolkit is in place, the
data that is provided is made read-only in the Software Catalog. Data that is
imported from most other discovery tools can be manually organized into
software product hierarchies. This gives businesses that work with discovery
tools the same capabilities to define hierarchical structures as those that work
with Software Knowledge Base Toolkit.
As mentioned earlier, software is often licenses at the product top level. For
example, when you purchase IBM WebSphere Portal Server, the license is
independent of the version or release. You might have version 6, 7, and 8
installed and all of those versions fall under the license agreement for IBM
WebSphere Portal Server. When you create the license record in IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk, select the top-level product for IBM WebSphere Portal
Server. Because the software catalog maintains the product hierarchy, the
discovered versions that are related versions of the top level are included in audit
reports for the license.

Conversion variants
The link between software in a license and discovered software is made by
finding exact matches in the software names. When you are using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk and IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed
together, this link is automatic because they are both using the same software
knowledge base. The link is also automatic when using IBM Tivoli Asset
Discovery for z/OS.
However, if you use any other discovery tool, the discovery tool might use a
slightly different software name. For example, in the software catalog, a software
product name might be Microsoft Office, but is discovered as MS Office. Because
the name does not match, the discovered software is not counted against the
license when an audit report is run. To address this issue, you can define
conversion variants.
A conversion variant is an alias of the preferred software name. In the software
catalog, you can add conversion variants to software entries. You can then use
the preferred software name in the license and any discovered variants are
counted against the license.

4.2.3 Software license management use cases

Software license management begins after the software catalog of knowledge
base data is imported into the Maximo database for SmartCloud Control Desk.

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This scenario demonstrates IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities for

software license management:

Acquisition
Allocation
Discovery
Audit

Software acquisition and deployment

The acquisition and deployment workflow for new software licenses using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk is depicted in Figure 4-11.

Figure 4-11 Software acquisition

For this scenario, a new purchase requisition is created for an already existing
software license. The purchase requisition is approved, and a purchase order is
created. The ordered software items are then received so that capacity is added
to the license record.

Software purchase requisition

The license record for which the purchase requisition is created already exists,
but more capacity is required.
The license record is associated to a software catalog product. An orderable
software item, approved by companys policies, is defined in the item master, and
is associated to the same software catalog product as the license. As explained
previously, the software catalog product acts as a link between the license and
the software item. Therefore, the purchase requisition (PR) created from the
license is on this software item.

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Figure 4-12 shows an example of a software item.

Figure 4-12 Software item

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The acquisition of this software item is initiated from the License record by
selecting the Create a PR action. The software lines table is prepopulated with
the software items associated to that software catalog product as shown in
Figure 4-13. The quantity must be entered.

Figure 4-13 Creating a PR from a license

After the purchase requisition is approved, a purchase order can be created

directly from the purchase requisition record by clicking Select Action Create
PO.

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To view the purchase order, click Go To Purchasing Purchase Orders.

The default status is waiting for approval, with all fields populated as per the
purchase requisition, including the PO Lines table that is populated as per the
items selected in the purchase requisition, as shown in Figure 4-14.

Figure 4-14 Software purchase order

Receive software licenses

After the purchase order is approved and the software is received or downloaded
from the vendor, the ordered items must be allocated to the license record. This
can be done by using the Receiving application, which is opened by clicking Go
To Purchasing Receiving.
In the Material Receipts tab, select the ordered Items to be received from the PO.
After saving, the status of the purchase order changes to COMPLETE.
License Required flag: The License Required flag indicates that the software
must be associated with a license. This flag is automatically set for every
software material receipt in these circumstances:
Inspection status becomes COMP
Line points to a software item
Line has not been associated to a license
In this scenario, the License Required flag is not set because the receipt line item
is already associated with the license from where the purchase requisition was
initially created.

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As shown in Figure 4-15, by clicking Receive Software Licenses, a window

opens that provides the capability to perform the following actions:
Create a license record for the received software items. To do so, click Create
Licenses
Add the received software items as extra capacity to the associated license
record by clicking OK. This is the option that is selected to complete the
allocation phase of this scenario.

Figure 4-15 Receiving software licenses

As a result, extra capacity, in the quantity of software items ordered and received,
is added to the authorized license record.

Software license allocation

The license application allows you to define your license entitlements by defining
the scope of the licenses, and allocating the licenses to locations, computer
assets, partition assets, or application users, and to general ledger accounts.

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This scenario focuses on managing the capacity of the license according to the
software items purchased and how it is allocated to computers. Figure 4-16
shows the license record, its authorized capacity as per the previous
procurement use case, and the computer assets to which the license is
allocated.

Figure 4-16 Software license allocation

Note that the Allocated Capacity field matches the number of computer assets in
the Allocations table. When a new row is added to the Allocations table, the
Allocated Capacity is incremented as per the capacity allocated.

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License over allocation: You can over-allocate license capacity. However,

over-allocation is not recommended unless the license is subject to capacity
realignment later, based on an evaluation of capacity growth. Saving a license
record with over-allocated license capacity results in a negative value in the
Available Capacity field. You also receive a message warning of the
over-allocation.

View deployed software

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides different ways to see the software
discovered in your infrastructure and imported into the product. This use case
demonstrates how to view deployed software from the deployed software
application and from the computers application.

Deployed software application

You can browse deployed software by opening the deployed software application.
Click Go To Assets Deployed Assets Deployed software. You can
then see all deployed software records as imported from your discovery tools
and the computers on which the software is installed as shown in Figure 4-17.

Figure 4-17 Viewing deployed software

Open the records to see detailed information about the deployed software. This
information includes information about the software product as defined in the
software catalog, software installation details, and details about the computers
and associated authorized assets where the software is installed.

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From the deployed software application, you can also define software that is
running on a specific computer as exempted from the audit reports by using the
Modify Software Use Exemption action. In this scenario, the computer
Mobile06 is a development computer and all software that is installed on it is
excluded from license audit reports as shown in Figure 4-18.

Figure 4-18 Modify software use exemption

Computers application
The Computers application displays information about hardware and software
that is installed on computers that are deployed throughout your enterprise. The
data is gathered by a discovery tool and imported into the database.

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To easily find the software product used in this scenario in the output from
discovery, use the advanced search feature to filter the results on computers
where the software product was actually discovered, as shown in Figure 4-19.

Figure 4-19 Computer application advanced search for software applications

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This query returns the same Computers list as seen previously in the deployed
software application. Open a computer record to see all details as discovered
and imported from your discovery tools. The list of applications discovered as
installed on the computer is in the Software tab, under the Applications subtab,
as shown in Figure 4-20.

Figure 4-20 Software applications that are installed on a computer

Running and analyzing the license audit report

This use case demonstrates how to run the install based audit report, and
provides guidance on how to analyze the result to ensure compliance.

Run license install based report

From the license application, select Run reports, then select the type of report
that corresponds to the software product licensing model. This scenario is based
on an Installed based license. The results of the report display the associated
product from the software catalog, the total license capacity that represents the
purchased or authorized capacity, the discovered capacity that represents the
actual software instances deployed in the infrastructure, and the variance.
Figure 4-21 shows the result of the install based audit report.

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Figure 4-21 License install based audit report

By clicking the number reported for discovered capacity, another report window
opens that displays details of the discovered system on which the software is
discovered, as shown in Figure 4-22.

Figure 4-22 Software install based deployed details

Analyze audit report

The license application provides information about the authorized use of a
specific software product. The audit report provides information about the actual
use of the same software product. With both reports, the software management
team can compare data, and ensure the software product as used in compliance
with the companys policies.
In this scenario, it is first identified that the authorized allocated capacity does not
match the discovered capacity, as shown in Table 4-4.

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Table 4-4 Allocated capacity versus discovered capacity

Authorized allocated capacity (as
shown in the license record)

Discovered capacity (as shown in the

audit report)

A further analysis, comparing license allocation and discovered capacity details,

shows that the discrepancies represent typical issues that can be encountered:
The license is allocated to deployed computer asset hostname1, but it is not
reported. The software product is probably not installed yet.
Deployed computer asset hostname2 is shown on the report, but the license
is not allocated to it. The software product was probably installed on the
computer without permission.
Deployed computer asset Mobile06 is not shown on the report because it was
exempted by using the Modify software use exemption for development
reasons.
Based on the results of your analysis, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides
the capabilities to create work orders or tickets to resolve the issues.

4.2.4 Hardware assets management use cases

This scenario demonstrates IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities for
hardware assets management.
View discovered assets, either virtual or physical hardware
Promote a deployed asset to an authorized asset
Reconcile deployed assets and authorized assets

Viewing discovered assets

The Computers application, in the Deployed Assets submodule, provides a view
of the discovered data that has been imported. There are several types of
deployed computer assets. The asset does not have to be a physical computer. It
can also be a virtual machine (VM) or a logical partition (LPAR). The Role field
identifies the type of deployed computer asset. The role that is assigned can
depend on the discovery tool used to discover the system.

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Viewing discovered virtual environment

As an example, Figure 4-23 shows the Drilldown feature of IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk that provides you a practical view of a virtualized environment. The
deployed computer asset is a VMWare ESX server on which 20 virtual machines
are running.

Figure 4-23 Deployed computer asset drilldown

By clicking any of the virtual machine in the drilldown, the asset management
team can navigate to the VM deployed computer asset records and see their
details.

Viewing discovered hardware assets

The Computers application displays information about the computer itself. This
includes the computers software, storage devices, processors, media adapters
(such as sound and video cards), communication devices (such as modems and
network adapters), network settings for TCP/IP and IPX, image devices (such as
printers and scanners), monitors, users, and partitions.
The data that are displayed in this application are gathered by a discovery tool
and imported into the database.
Note: Data that the Computers application shows varies depending on the
discovery tool that is used to collect the data. An empty field indicates that the
discovery tool did not collect the data or that administrators did not map the
data for import into the database.

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Figure 4-24 shows an example of a deployed computer asset as seen from the
main tab of the Computers application.

Figure 4-24 Deployed computer asset

The deployed computer asset that is shown in Figure 4-24 will be promoted to an
authorized asset in the next use case.

Promoting a deployed asset

When following the IT asset lifecycle, an authorized asset record is typically
acquired and created before it is deployed. However, in some cases it is possible
to have assets that were deployed without going through the correct channels or
deployed before the acquisition process was in place. When you find deployed
assets that do not have a matching authorized asset, you can use the promote to
asset feature to create an authorized asset record.

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Promote to asset feature: To manage the lifecyle of an asset, it must have an

authorized asset. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides a promote to asset
feature to create authorized assets records from deployed assets that do not
have a matching authorized asset.
With IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, you can promote deployed assets
automatically through scheduled escalations or manually through an action in the
Computers application. You can define default promotion values to use for
scheduled and manual promotions. You must provide default values for Site ID
and asset class, or the promotion will fail. A classification must be provided so
that the asset generated is classified as an IT asset.
For this scenario, the deployed computer asset hostname1.example.com does not
have a matching asset record, so the promote to asset feature is used to create
one.
First, open the deployed computer asset in the Computers application, which is
opened by clicking Go To Assets Deployed Assets Computers.
The View Asset action under More Actions in the navigation bar shows whether
an asset is associated with the deployed asset. Figure 4-25 shows that there is
no asset for this deployed asset.

Figure 4-25 View Asset window

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To create an authorized asset record for this deployed computer asset, select
Promote to Asset to open the Promote to Assets window. Click Apply Defaults
for the promotion values, then overwrite or complement these values for the
deployed asset selected, as shown in Figure 4-26.
Promote parent and child assets: You can use the IBM SmartCloud Desk
feature to promote parent and child partitions at the same time, which can be
useful for managing virtualized environments. This can be enabled by
selecting Promote partitions in the Promote Asset window. In that case, the
item and classification that are specified for the parent computer or parent
partition is assigned to the children.

Figure 4-26 Promote to Assets window

Click OK to initiate the promotion. A system message about the newly created
asset record number is shown as in Figure 4-27.

Figure 4-27 Promotion complete

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The deployed asset Promoted field now indicates that it was promoted to an
authorized asset that can be viewed by opening the View Asset window.
Figure 4-28 shows the asset that was promoted in this example.

Figure 4-28 View promoted asset

Consideration: When assets are promoted from discovered information

instead of creating authorized asset records through the procurement
process, there is no verification that the data in the discovered records actually
matches the data in procurement records. You must have a business process
that reconciles procurement records with discovered data to ensure that your
authorized asset data is complete and accurate.

Asset reconciliation
Asset reconciliation is an important part of asset management. Reconciliation is
the process of matching sets of information, and finding and investigating the
differences. It is the capability of reconciling the differences between a physical
inventory of what actually exists and the database accounting system of what
you believe exists. This reconciliation is important for support reasons and,
perhaps, even more important for financial and compliance management.
The reconciliation process identifies successful matches as well as
discrepancies and variances between the two sets of data. You can use the
results of a reconciliation to determine whether the objects deployed comply with

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corporate plans. You can also use the results to determine whether the changes
over the lifecycle of an object are in compliance with corporate policies.
Discrepancies can be caused by these factors, among others:

Incorrect data entry

Modified equipment
Retired equipment
Theft
Unauthorized use of hardware and software in the enterprise

To define the parameters for a reconciliation, create a reconciliation task. The

reconciliation task combines the elements required for the reconciliation into a
specific task and schedules the task for execution. A reconciliation task consists
of the following components:
A task filter (optional), which defines a subset of either deployed assets or
assets to reconcile.
One or more link rules (required), which establish a relationship between the
top-level IT asset and a deployed asset.
One or more comparison rules (optional), which identify objects or attributes
of a child or parent IT asset to compare with objects or attributes of a child or
parent deployed asset.
For this scenario, the reconciliation task provided with IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk ITAMHardwareReconTask is described and run.

Link rules
A link rule is a required component of a reconciliation task. When a reconciliation
task is processed, a link rule establishes the basis for reconciliation by identifying
an attribute of a partition or top-level object in one data set to match with a
specific attribute of a partition or top-level asset in another data set. The
attributes that are most commonly used to link authorized IT assets with
deployed assets are serial numbers and asset tags.
A link rule is defined in the Link Rules application, and associated to the
reconciliation task in the Link Rules table.

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ITAMHardwareReconTask in this scenario is associated to link rule

ITAMHardwareLink as shown on Figure 4-29.

Figure 4-29 Hardware link rule

This rule links an asset to a deployed asset if the serial numbers attributes match
or if the ASSETTAG attributes match. If a successful link is found, the
reconciliation task compares the two records based on the comparison rule
defined.

Comparison rules
A comparison rule is an optional component of a reconciliation task. It defines
how to compare objects or attributes of a child or parent object in one data set
with a child or parent object in another data set.
For example, you can define a comparison rule that evaluates whether the
amount of RAM on the authorized asset matches the RAM on the deployed
asset, or if the number and speed of processors are the same on authorized and
deployed assets.

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ITAMHardwareReconTask in this scenario is associated to the link rule

ITAMHardwareLink as shown on Figure 4-30.

Figure 4-30 Comparison rule

As an example, this comparison rule is based on attributes equality comparison.

It specifies that the attribute in Data Set 1 (MACHNAME) must equal the attribute
in Data Set 2 (NODENAME).

Scheduling reconciliation tasks

After you use the reconciliation module applications to define a reconciliation
task, a cron task can be set up to process it on a scheduled basis.
Caution: Because reconciliation tasks process data imported into the system
from external sources, you must exercise caution when scheduling
reconciliation tasks. The timing of deployed asset data migration must be
carefully coordinated with the reconciliation process. For example, do not
attempt to reconcile data about deployed objects against authorized objects if
you have not yet imported the deployed object data.
The follow steps are the high-level procedure for scheduling and running your
reconciliation-related cron tasks:
1. Set up your cron tasks for reconciliation.
2. Collect data about actual deployed objects by using a discovery tool.
3. Import collected data into the database by using Integration Composer.

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4. Optional: If you use the Deployed Assets Administration module applications

to standardize naming conventions, set up software suites, or define software
usage display options, make any changes necessary in those applications.
5. Run the cron task that processes reconciliation tasks.
In this scenario, the reconciliation task is scheduled to run every day. The
reconciliation results are updated after each execution of the cron task.

Reconciliation results
After a reconciliation task is run, you can view the results and resolve
discrepancies or problems that you found. For IT assets, you can view and act
upon results from reconciliation tasks in the Asset Link Results and Asset
Reconciliation Results applications. An inventory administrator can review the
results of the reconciliation, search on failed results, and create work orders as
needed to synchronize the information or correct problems. After the
reconciliation failure is investigated, the administrator can mark the record as
resolved.
The Asset Link Results application lists all successfully linked assets by link rule
name along with the link date and time. The linked node, or deployed asset, is
displayed with the linked asset as shown in Figure 4-31.

Figure 4-31 Asset link result

In this scenario, the reconciliation task found a successful match for the assets
that are listed in Table 4-5. This information is used in later use cases of this
book.
Table 4-5 Asset matches
Asset

Deployed asset

PULSE2077

CS1

PULSE2078

CS3

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Asset

Deployed asset

PULSE2079

CS0

PULSE2080

CS4

PULSE2081

CS2

You use the Asset Reconciliation Results application to view and manage result
records that are produced when the system runs a reconciliation task. In this
application, you can view and manage two different kinds of results:
Link rule failure results
A link failure occurs when the system processes a link rule and does not find
a successful one-to-one link between the object in Data Set 1 and the object
in Data Set 2. Link rule failures occur when the reconciliation process finds no
links or finds multiple links. If multiple links are found, click Select Action
View Multi-Link Failures on the Asset Reconciliation Result tab to view a list
of links that were found.
In this scenario, the deployed asset hostname1.example.com, which was
manually promoted to asset 2077, previously created a link rule failure result.
Because an authorized asset already existed with a matching serial number,
the manual promotion created a duplicate on the authorized level.

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This was resolved by deleting the asset that was created during promotion,
and documented in the Asset Reconciliation Results application as shown in
Figure 4-32.

Figure 4-32 Asset link rule failure: More than one asset links to this deployed asset

Comparison rule results

The system produces comparison rule results when it processes a
comparison rule. The specific comparison rule data depends on a parameter
that is set in the Reconciliation Tasks application, which lets you select one of
the following options for comparison results when you define a reconciliation
task:
All results, both successful and failed matches.
Instances where the object from Data Set 1 failed to reconcile against the
object from Data Set 2.
Instances where the object from Data Set 1 successfully matched the
object from Data Set 2.

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The reconciliation task run in this use case was defined to report all reconciliation
results. In case of failure, the Asset Reconciliation task application displays
information from the authorized asset and the deployed asset side by side to
allow further analysis as shown in Figure 4-33.

Figure 4-33 Asset reconciliation failed result

To manage remediation in case of reconciliation failure, you can use the Asset
Reconciliation Results application to create tickets. Do so if a review of the
reconciliation result indicates that an action is required to address a discrepancy
between an authorized IT asset and a deployed asset. You can create the
following kinds of tickets:

Service requests
Incidents
Problems
Work orders
Changes
Releases

If appropriate, you can create escalations to generate tickets automatically. To

create escalations, first create an action for the escalation in the Actions
application, then define the escalation in the Escalations application.
Caution: Use caution when you create escalations for asset reconciliation
results. Large numbers of asset reconciliation results might result in many
tickets or work orders.

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Reconciliation results are also displayed in other applications:

Reconciliation failure flags are displayed in these locations:
Detail section of the asset application
Asset lookup for work orders and contracts
Reconciliation results are displayed the reconciliation results section of the
asset IT details tab.
Reconciliation differences are displayed in the view asset window of the
deployed asset.
The linked computer asset section identifies the corresponding authorized
asset in the deployed software authorized tab.

4.2.5 Assets and configuration items linkage use cases

The following use cases demonstrate IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities
in terms of assets and CIs linkage as described in Assets and configuration
items on page 140.

Manual linking of assets and CIs

Before describing the automated creation of the link between assets and CIs
using reconciliation tasks, this use case shows how to create the link manually.
Considering the quantity of CIs and assets that compose a typical IT
infrastructure, a manual creation of asset and CI link might not be feasible.
However, it helps to better understand the process. Also, it can be useful if the
automated creation of the link cannot be established or if unmanaged resources
have not been discovered yet. When manually linking resources, you are in total
control of the process. You can apply your own rules for deciding which asset is
linked to which CI, eliminating the need to match attributes.

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The manual creation of the link can start either from the CI side, or from the
authorized asset. In the latter case, the CI that you want to link is selected from
the IT Details tab of the Assets application, as shown in Figure 4-34.

Figure 4-34 Manual selection of the CI to link with the asset

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To verify that a similar link has been created from the CI to the asset, navigate to
the CI application. Open the Configuration Item record, and notice that the
Associated Asset field is populated with the ID and name of the asset, as shown
in Figure 4-35.

Figure 4-35 Viewing an associated asset

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From the CI application, you can use IBM SmartCloud Control Desk to see when
and who performed the linkage by using the View Asset-CI Link Details action as
shown in Figure 4-36. The link method, User Interface in this case, provides
helpful information as to how the link was created. If the link was created
automatically, you also see information in the Link Rule field that helps you
identify the definitions that led to the creation of the link. This information is
valuable when you are investigating why, or why not, links are created.

Figure 4-36 View Asset-CI link details

The benefits of linking resources are described in Benefits of linking assets and
CIs on page 145. When you have the link directly available in the console, you
can easily navigate between CIs and assets. The linkage provides higher
productivity and ease-of-use when using the console. With it, you can automate
processes and prevent actions based on events and the status of the related
resources.
From the Configuration Item record, you can use IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
to access information about the asset by expanding the detail menu beside
associated asset:
Open Drill down
Classification

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Attributes
View Contracts
View Work Details
View Asset Details

Automated linking of assets and CIs

As seen previously, you can create a manual link between assets and CIs in
unusual scenarios where unmanaged resources have not been discovered yet or
the reconciliation task cannot establish the link. However, when you import the
latest set of discovered information related to both actual CIs and deployed
assets, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk automatically links assets and CIs based
on the relationships between the managed and unmanaged resources, and the
relationship between the unmanaged siblings.

Asset-CI reconciliation task

To enable and facilitate this automated linkage, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
provides a reconciliation task between asset and CI: CCILinkAssetsAndCIs.
The reconciliation between asset and CI is defined in the Reconciliation Task
application. To access this application, click Go To Administration
Reconciliation Reconciliation Tasks. This is the same application that was
used in previous examples to establish a link between assets and deployed
assets.
The match between assets and CIs is determined by running multiple
comparisons. These can use either the discovered data of deployed assets and
actual CIs (in particular, a universal identifier called a DIS GUID), or by using
authorized data (such as a serial number) specified in the reconciliation tasks
link rules.
The default asset-CI reconciliation task, CCILinkAssetsAndCIs, does the
asset-to-CI linking. The reconciliation task runs its automated tasks in the
following order:
1. Discovered-data matching and linking
The asset-CI reconciliation task run a background operation to try to match
authorized assets to authorized CIs by matching the universal identifier on
their unmanaged deployed asset and actual CI. The universal identifier is a
DIS GUID, which is imported, discovered data.
2. Attribute matching and linking
The reconciliation task processes its link rules. It can use the sample link rule,
CCIAssetCISerialNum, if you include it, to match authorized assets and CIs
by their serial number.

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If you added your own customized link rules that use one or more other
attributes to identify matches, the reconciliation task tries to find and match
assets and CIs that uniquely have those attributes and their values in
common.
After processing all the link rules, successful matches are linked.
3. Generic asset and CI creation
Optionally, the asset-CI reconciliation task creates any generic assets or CIs
needed to link any unmatched CIs and assets from the previous steps.
Creation of generic CIs is described later in this use case.
The link rule that is used by CCILinkAssetsAndCIs reconciliation task identifies
common attribute between assets and CIs. Such an attribute can be the serial
number, as shown in Figure 4-37 on page 191, but any attribute unique to the
resource can be used.
Activation: The default reconciliation that links assets and CIs is not activated
by default. You must enable the task before CIs and assets are linked
automatically.

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Figure 4-37 Asset-CI link rule

The default reconciliation task that links assets and CIs uses the
CCIAssetCISerialNum that has 11 link clauses that are defined as shown in
Figure 4-37. They all look alike, but the details of each clause show that each
one compares the COMPUTERSYSTEM_SERIALNUMBER for a specific
computer system architecture CI Classification to the SERIALNUM attribute of
the asset. Because the CIs are classified according to architecture, a link clause
must be provided for each classification you want to include in the analysis.
When an asset and CI are linked for the first time, their common attributes are
synchronized based on the settings that are specified in the organization.

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Identify linked assets

When the linkage Reconciliation Task is active and has run at least once, you can
see which assets are linked to which CIs, and which rules were used to match
them up. To find the resources that have been linked to one another by a
reconciliation task, you normally use the Link Results application. However, this
application only provides information about the linkage between authorized and
unauthorized resources, such as links between deployed assets and assets, and
links between actual CIs and CIs. To see the results of the asset and CI linkage,
you must instead use the reports that are provided with IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk:
If you are in the Assets application, you can select from these options:
Assets Linked to CIs
Assets Linked to Generic CIs
Assets with Missing Generic CIs
If you are in the Configuration Items application, you can select from these
options:
CIs Linked to Assets
CIs Linked to Generic Assets
CIs with Missing Generic Assets

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Figure 4-38 shows the result of the Assets Linked to CIs report initiated from the
Assets application.

Figure 4-38 Assets Linked to CIs report

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The results of the report show which assets are linked to which CIs, when they
were linked, who linked them, and why they were linked. There are three different
link methods that are shown in this report:
Reconciliation CCIAssetCIDISGUID: This applies to assets and CIs linked
automatically by the reconciliation task based on their universal identifier, a
DIS GUID, which is imported, discovered data.
User Interface: This applies to assets and CIs linked manually, as shown
previously.
Reconciliation CCIAssetCISerialNum: This applies to assets and CIs linked
automatically by the reconciliation task based on link rule defined.

Creation of generic CIs

Previous use cases have demonstrated how existing assets and CIs can be
linked, either manually or automatically, to integrate the tasks that are performed
by the asset management team and the configuration management team.
However, if one of the resources does not exist. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
allows you to automatically create a CI when the asset is created, or to
automatically create an asset when a CI is created. It populates the newly
created record with core attributes that apply to both the asset and the CI.
For example, when planning for the addition of a server, you manually created an
asset to manage ownership, status, accounting information, and location. This
asset is also used to assign software licenses. To assign the server as the target
of a change, the configuration item must exist. To create it, the configuration
management team needs the basic information, which happens to be recorded in
the asset.
With IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, you can configure the solution to
automatically create siblings for these unlinked assets and CIs. When the
Asset-CI linkage task finds an unlinked asset or CI, it can create the sibling and
populate the attributes for the sibling based on information from the target
unlinked asset or CI. The link between the two is created as part of this process.
The newly created sibling is referred to as a generic asset or CI because it most
likely is missing important details. It is the responsibility of the Asset or
Configuration Manager to ensure that the generic resource is properly registered
and classified. When this process is complete, the generic resource becomes a
normal managed resource.

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Enabling the creation of generic resources

Generic resources are created only for resource types for which this feature is
enabled. Therefore, you use the classification of the unlinked asset or CI
resource to control whether the CCILinkAssetsAndCIs task creates generic
sibling resources or not. By controlling the creation of generic resources through
the classifications, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk allows for fine-grained control
by allowing you to enable the creation of generic resources only for certain
specific types of resources.
In this scenario, the automatic creation of a generic CI is enabled for new assets
classified as IT \ COMPUTER SYSTEM. A generic CI is then created
automatically and linked to the asset in these circumstances:
1. No matching CI can be found for the new asset
2. Enough information is available to create the generic CI

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Figure 4-39 shows the Classifications application configured to enable creation

of generic CIs to assets classified as IT \ COMPUTER SYSTEM.

Figure 4-39 Enabling creation of generic CI

In this example, a new computer system is acquired as per the hardware asset
lifecycle. Upon reception and inspection of the ordered item, the serial number is
entered, and a new asset record is created and classified as a computer system.

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Important: To successfully create the generic CI, the reconciliation task

requires that you provide the attributes that support at least one link rule that is
associated with the task. In this example, because the link rule associated with
the task uses serial number, a serial number must be entered in the asset.
Otherwise, the generic CI will not be created.
During the next execution of the CCILinkAssetsAndCIs reconciliation task, no
matching CI is found. Therefore, because the Autocreate Generic CI option is
enabled for the classification of the asset, an attempt to create a generic CI is
made.
As a result, an autonumbered generic CI is created. Its name and description can
be viewed from the asset application in IT Details. For more details, such as link
method and link rule that was used to link the resources, open View Asset-CI
Link details window from the Select Action menu, as shown in Figure 4-40.

Figure 4-40 View Asset-CI Link Details window

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The generic CI that was created automatically can also be seen in the Assets
linked to CIs report, as shown in Figure 4-41.

Figure 4-41 Assets Linked to CIs report

When IBM SmartCloud Control Desk creates generic CIs, a special classification
is used. In this example, the generic CI was automatically classified as
CI.GENERIC_COMPUTERSYSTEM.
Using these special classifications makes it easy for the configuration manager
to find the generic resources. Typically, it is the configuration management teams
responsibility to rename and reclassify the generic configuration item so that it is
represented correctly in the CMDB.

Synchronizing assets and CIs

Assets and CIs both have attributes that specify which organization they belong
to, their location, their asset tag and similar administrative information. In
addition, you can add your own attributes to the relevant classifications to
represent your own information.
Assets and CIs can be updated independently of each other. For example, if you
issue a Move/Modify for the asset, the common attributes in the corresponding CI
are not updated. However, the attributes are changed if asset-CI synchronization
is enabled.

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If synchronization between assets and CIs is enabled, it is run in the following

situations:
At the time a key attribute is updated:
In the Assets, Configuration Items, or Changes application
From the integration framework
By promotion
When an asset and CI are linked:
Manually, in the assets of configuration items applications
From the asset-CI reconciliation task
When a new specification is added to an asset or a CI classification
If an asset and CI are not linked, they are not synchronized.
Remember: The synchronization feature does not create attributes for the
resources involved. Synchronization only ensures the consistency of values
for attributes that exist in both the asset and the CI in a linked asset-CI pair.
Also, the synchronization operates independently of the
CCILinkAssetsAndCIs reconciliation task. Synchronization takes place
whenever updates to common attributes are detected, no matter if these
updates originate from the console or a background task.
When the asset-CI synchronization is enabled, it ensures that the values for the
attributes listed in Table 4-6 are the same for assets and CIs in linked asset-CI
pairs.
Table 4-6 Attributes that are synchronized between assets and CIs
Asset

CI

SITEID

ASSETLOCSITEID

ORGID

ASSETLOCORGID

LOCATION

CILOCATION

SERIALNUM

COMPUTERSYSTEM_SERIALNUMBER

<ASSETATTRID>

<CIATTRID>

The last line in Table 4-6 represents equally named attributes that exist in both
the CI and asset in an asset-CI pair.

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Enabling asset to CI synchronization

The enablement of the synchronization feature is controlled at the organization
level. From the organization record, select the action CI and Asset
synchronization to open the CI and Asset synchronization window as shown in
Figure 4-42.

Figure 4-42 CI and Asset Synchronization window

From the CI and Asset synchronization window, the synchronization is enabled

by selecting Synchronize information between assets and CIs that are
linked. This allows key attributes and equally named attributes to be replicated
between assets and CIs, in both directions, upon modification.
To specify the direction of the copy from the asset to the CI upon creation of a link
between the resources, select Copy the asset information to the linked CI.
The settings also enable a button in the UI that allows you to immediately
synchronize already linked assets and CIs from the Organizations application.
The asset-CI reconciliation task does not have to be active to use this button.

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For this scenario, the synchronization is enabled, and the direction of the copy is
configured to copy attributes from the asset to the IC when a new link is created.
Direction of synchronization: When a new link between an existing asset
and an existing CI is established, the direction of synchronization must be
configured. The attributes are either copied from the asset to the CI, or from
the CI to the asset. When both resources exist and are linked, a decision must
be made on whether to synchronize common attributes. Enablement of
synchronization and the direction the first time assets and CIs are linked is
determined on the organization level.

Copying asset attributes to the CI upon creation of a new link

In this example, CI data has been entered manually or by using a spreadsheet
and is not up to date. Then, asset data begins to be discovered and promoted to
authorized assets. If the serial number is specified on both the asset and CI
resources, the link is created during the next execution of the reconciliation cron
task, and the outdated CI data will be updated.
For example, the location was out of date on the CI. That is, before the execution
of the reconciliation task, the location of the asset does not match the location of
the CI. After the reconciliation task is run, the link is created because the link rule
finds a match on the serial numbers. The location of the CI is then populated as
per the assets location because the synchronization is enabled and the copy is
configured from asset to CI.

Synchronizing information between assets and CIs

The previous use case showed how the synchronization works when assets and
CIs are linked together. Later in the lifecycle of the resources, changes are made
either on the asset authorized record or on the CI authorized record.
When synchronization is enabled between assets and CIs, any changes that are
made on key attributes or equally named attributes are replicated to the linked
sibling.
For this example, an attribute is created on the CI with the exact same name as
an attribute that exists on the asset: CUSTOM_MACHINE_TAG. This attribute is
created without a value, but is automatically populated upon saving.
The additional attribute was created on the linked CI itself for this example, so it
is not associated to any other CI. It could have been created in the classification
application so it is associated to all CIs using the classification.

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After the attribute exists with the exact same name on both resources, any
changes that are applied to the attribute are replicated on the linked resource.
This process works in both directions.

4.3 Integrations
This section provides more information about the IBM tools and products that
contribute to an integrated IT asset management architecture. Figure 4-43 on
page 203 provides an overall view of the following components of the IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk family from an IT asset management point of view:
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, which provides IT asset management
capabilities
Software Knowledge Base Toolkit, which provides software catalog
customization capabilities
IBM Tivoli Integration Composer, which is used to import discovered data into
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed, which provides discovery tools that
are focused on software in a distributed environment
IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS, which provides a discovery tool that is
focused on software in a mainframe environment

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Figure 4-43 Discovery and Integration architecture

The family of products and tools together provide the full software license
management. The products are tightly integrated by product provided adapters,
launch-in-context capabilities, and a common software catalog.

4.3.1 IBM discovery tools for IT assets

IT asset management has two parts. First, you must track what you have
purchased. Second, you must verify what was actually deployed. Often, there is a
discrepancy between the two. This difference can be caused by many factors
such as users installing software or assets being removed from service without
permission.
To verify what is actually deployed, you must implement a discovery tool. This
section describes the discovery process. It focuses on IBM Tivoli Asset

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Discovery for Distributed and IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager because of their tight
integrations with IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.
Discovery tools run the audit operation of the IT infrastructure to harvest IT asset
details such as:
Asset location and current configuration
Changes to the assets that have taken place over time
Software installed on the assets
The discovery is typically scheduled, but they can also be run on demand. The
discovered assets can be reviewed before importing them into IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk. After the discovered assets are loaded into the products database,
they can be compared with authorized assets and licenses by using
reconciliation tasks or audit reports.

Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed

IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed consists of agents for various
platforms. These agents collect hardware and software inventory and software
use data from distributed networks. These data are then placed in a database.
IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed provides inventory validation and
management of bundled products. IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed
runs on the IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery Server and has a separate user interface.
IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed uses the same software catalog as
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. By using the same catalog, it ensures that the
discovered software is using the same software product names as the licences.
Therefore, the link between licences and deployed software is established with
minimal work.
If you have agreed to IBM subcapacity pricing, you must use a discovery that
supports the collection of PVU data. The only tools that collect this data are IBM
Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed and IBM License Metric Tool. These tools
share the code base. Therefore, deployment steps and administration tasks are
the same. IBM License Metric Tool is a tool available at no extra fee that you can
use to monitor your subcapacity PVU usage. However, it only supports IBM
software monitoring. IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed is a charged
product that includes the following extra functionality:
Discovery of non-IBM software. The IBM License Metric Tool can only scan
for IBM software
Discovery of unmatched registry entries. IBM License Metric Tool can only
discover software that is included in the software catalog. IBM Tivoli Asset
Discovery for Distributed can scan the operating system registry for unknown
software that is not included in the software catalog. You can view the raw
discovered data to identify software that you want to monitor. You can launch

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the Software Knowledge Base Toolkit in context to add the missing software
product and signature. Software must be added to the software catalog to be
managed.
Use data collection. IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed can monitor
when a software product is used. To be monitored, the software product must
have a signature defined in the software catalog.
Integration with IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. The IBM License Metric Tool
data cannot be imported into IBM SmartCloud control Desk. You must
upgrade to IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed to import discovery
data.
Software data collection in IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed is a
multi-step process:
1. The product is added to the software catalog.
2. The software catalog is imported into IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for
Distributed.
3. The catalogBuilder tasks prepare the catalog in a format that is consumable
by the agents.
4. The agent downloads the catalog. The catalog downloaded to the agent
contains the software signatures, and is platform specific. A catalog
downloaded to a Linux agent contains Linux specific signatures.
5. The agent runs the software scan.
6. The agent uploads the inventory by component.
7. The inventoryBuilder task transforms the inventory by component into
inventory by product. Software inventory for a product is not viewable until the
inventoryBuilder task has run against it.
8. Once a day, aggregation runs to calculate PVU and use data. By default,
collected PVU data must be at least two days old to be aggregated.
9. Bundle management is performed to refine the associations determined by
the inventoryBuilder task. Bundle management is a manual process
performed by a software asset manager.
10.The PVU audit report is reviewed for accuracy and signed.
11.Discovered data is imported into IBM SmartCloud Control Desk using IBM
Tivoli Integration Composer.
There are two types of hardware scans: Capacity and full.
On a regular basis, the agent scans for changes in processor information.
This scan is called a capacity scan. A capacity scan is required to ensure that
PVU calculations are accurate. The agent can also perform a full hardware

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scan to gather details about the asset. By default, a capacity scan occurs
every 30 minutes.
A full hardware scan collects information such as network adapter, monitor,
video card, and printer. For a full list of hardware information that is collected,
see this website:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v54r1/topic/com.ibm.tad4d
75.doc/com.ibm.license.mgmt.admin.doc/r_hardware_scan.html
Full hardware scans are scheduled by using scan groups. The default frequency
for hardware scan is once a month. You can change this frequency at the scan
group level. However, because hardware does not change frequently, once a
month is normally sufficient.
Software scans use the software catalog to discover installed software instances.
You must ensure that the agents have the latest catalog so that it can discover all
software that you want to monitor. You can verify the catalog version for agents in
the IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed console.
Software scans are also scheduled by using scan groups. The default frequency
for software is once a week. You can change this frequency at the scan group
level. You might consider increasing the frequency if you are planning to install
new software in your environment.
Virtualization scans are run when an agent is installed on a guest system in a
virtual environment such as VMWare. To properly calculate PVU data, IBM Tivoli
Asset Discovery for Distributed must have visibility into the underlying physical
infrastructure. When an agent is installed in a virtual machine, it does not have
access to the physical system. Therefore, it must be able to communicate with
the virtual machine manager of the virtual environment to gather that data. In a
VMware environment, this manager is typically the vCenter. In a Microsoft
environment, this manager is the Hyper-V server. A virtualization scan occurs
every 30 minutes by default. It connects to the virtual machine manager and
gathers data about the processor and processor count. The scan frequency can
be changed by setting the vmManagerPollingInterval server setting.
A use scan is only run if you enable use data collection for a software product.
The use scan collects use data at different levels. The default frequency is every
5 minutes. This frequency can be changed at the agent level.
For more information about scan management, see the following website:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v54r1/topic/com.ibm.tad4d75.
doc/com.ibm.license.mgmt.admin.doc/c_software_scan_management.html

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Software Knowledge Base Toolkit

The Software Knowledge Base Toolkit has two primary components:
The server: The server allows you to manage the knowledge base that is
used by IBM SmartCloud Control Desk and IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for
Distributed. You can import the published IBM software catalog and add
entries for software that is not in the IBM catalog.
The raw data collector: This component is optional. It allows you to collect raw
signature data from a distributed environment. This data can be used to add
signatures to the knowledge base for unknown software.
The Software Knowledge Base Toolkit allows you to build and customize a
software catalog to meet the needs of your organization. You can import the IBM
catalog as a starting point. You can then manage the different software
definitions in the knowledge base. After you have finished with the knowledge
base, you can export it as a software catalog that can be used by other products.
After you install the Software Knowledge Base Toolkit, import the latest IBM
catalog. This step ensures that you have the latest software signatures and
details from IBM. If you have software in your environment that is not included in
the IBM catalog, you can add that information in the toolkit. The goal is to
populate the software catalog so that it supports all of the software that you want
to monitor.
After you add all of the appropriate software, publish the catalog. Publishing the
catalog makes it available to products such as IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
and Tivoli Asset Discovery Asset for Distributed.
When the catalog is published, you must import it into IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk and IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed. IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk imports the software catalog through a cron task, and uses it to create
software records (software items and licenses). IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for
Distributed uses the catalog to discover software instances and associate
software bundles.

Tivoli Endpoint Manager for Software Use Analysis

The IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager for Software Use Analysis is a relatively new
product in the IBM portfolio. It uses IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager to gather asset
and software inventory information. These data can be used for software license
compliance monitoring. IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager for Software Use Analysis
provides the following capabilities:
Harvests software inventory and usage data from the endpoint inventory data
available in a Tivoli Endpoint Manager
Identifies licensed and unlicensed software with a drill-down granularity

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 Includes an embedded software catalog for software identification

Has broad software identification support in an endpoint environment
IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager for Software Use Analysis includes similar features
to IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed. However, it is not as tightly
integrated with IBM SmartCloud Control Desk because it does not use the same
software catalog. This integration will be improved over time.

IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager

The strength of IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager is its
ability to gather information about processes that are running during discovery
and the relationship between those processes. With IBM Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager, you can see exactly what services and
applications are in use. You can also see how the applications and services are
being deployed in the network.
The IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager discovery process
automatically determines the relationships among running applications or
services. With this information, IT administrators can confirm what is running on
their network. The discovery process does not operate under any assumptions
about what it is supposed to find when it runs.
Based on what it discovers, it presents the applications that are running and how
they are related. This process provides an accurate picture of the computing
environment. After that information is known, IBM Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager can begin tacking changes to the environment over time.
These functions make IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager a
key part of configuration management. Although the IBM Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager discovered data can be imported into the
deployed assets table and used for IT asset management in IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk, it is not as strong as other tools for software license management.
The basic discovery methods only find software that is running. Because of that
fact, it does not always discover all the software that is installed. It also does not
support licenses capacities such as PVU.
Note: IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager is the supported
tool for the actual configuration item discovery for IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk.

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IBM Discovery tools comparison

Table 4-7 provides a comparison of previously described discovery products
based on business goals.
Table 4-7 IBM Discovery products comparison
Business Goals

IT Discipline

Discovery
inventory
use

High-level capability

Software audit
readiness
Reduce software
license costs
Lower total cost of
ownership

IT and
software
asset
management

Software
audit
readiness

Software audit
readiness
Reduce software
license costs

Software
asset
management

Software
audit
readiness

Software audit
readiness
Reduce software
license costs
Lower total cost of
ownership

IT and
software
asset
management

Software
audit
readiness

Provisioning
physical and virtual
servers from OS to
applications
Base of cloud
computing
Optimize test
environments

Infrastructure
operations
management
Provisioning
management
Server
configuration
management

Hardware
configuration

Products

Provides software
inventory and use
Provides license use to
support license
compliance, especially in
virtualized environments
Hardware asset
management
Strong in the data center
environment

Tivoli Asset
Discovery for
Distributed

Provides software
inventory and use
Provides license use to
support license
compliance

Tivoli Asset
Discovery for
z/OS

Provides software
inventory and use
Strong in the endpoint
environment

Tivoli Endpoint
Manager
Software Use
Analysis

Provisioning
Software distribution
Patch management
Configuration
management

Tivoli
Provisioning
Manager

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Business Goals

IT Discipline

Discovery
inventory
use

High-level capability

Fill the visibility gap

between
infrastructure and
the services
provided
Proactively assess
the potential
impacts of problems
and changes on the
infrastructure

Infrastructure
Configuration
Discovery

Application
relationship
mapping

Discover what exists with

agentless, credentialless
capability
Discover relationships
between applications,
middleware, servers, and
networks components
Detailed operational
configuration information

Products

Tivoli
Application
Dependency
Discovery
Manager

Other discovery tools

You can use various other IBM and non-IBM discovery tools to collect hardware
and software data.
Independent of the discovery tool, you must use IBM Tivoli Integration Composer
to import discovered data into IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. For a list of
supported adapters, see this website:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v51r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/int_comp/c_ic_adapters.html
To integrate data from other discovery tools, use the Create Data Schema
feature in IBM Tivoli Integration Composer to create a data schema for the
discovery tool. After you create the data schema, you can create a mapping
based on the new data schema. You can then use the mapping to import data
into the target database. This requires specific database skill.

4.3.2 IBM Tivoli Integration Composer

After IT asset data is discovered, the data must be migrated into the IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk database. IBM Tivoli Integration Composer is used to
import these data. After the data are imported, you can view it in the Deployed
Assets module through the Computers, Network Devices, Network Printers, and
Deployed Software applications.
Note: Tivoli Integration Composer is also used to import configuration items
that are discovered by IBM Tivoli Application Dependency and Discovery
manager. The imported CIs can be seen in the Actual Configuration Items
application. For more information, see Chapter 5, Configuration
management on page 227.

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Enterprise can aggregate data collected by disparate asset discovery tools and
integrate it into IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. This integration provides a central
repository for enterprise IT asset management, reporting, and decision support.
The following terms describe features of the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer:
A data schema is a structure for organizing and classifying data in a database.
It defines both the data contents and the relationships. Integration composer
interprets data and changes it to the format required for the target database.
These changes are based on the structures that are defined in the data
schemas stored in the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer repository.
A data source is the actual data in a database that is organized in the
structure defined by a data schema.
In IBM Tivoli Integration Composer, data schemas organize data into classes.
A class is a group of data that has the same characteristics or properties. For
example, you can define a class called Computer because computers share
many characteristics or properties.
A property is an attribute or feature that characterizes a class. The collection
of properties that are assigned to a class defines the class. A class can have
multiple properties. For example, objects classified as computers have the
following properties: Hardware ID, Manufacturer, Model, and Serial Number.
An instance is a specific object that belongs to a class. For example, the class
Computer is characterized by the properties Hardware ID, Manufacturer,
Model, and Serial Number. In this case, a specific instance of the class, the
computer HQL2310, is characterized by the properties 0399433 (Hardware
ID), IBM (Manufacturer), Pentium 4 (Model), and BAR445783 (Serial
Number).
A mapping is a set of expressions that transform data when IBM Tivoli
Integration Composer imports it from an external source into a target.
The Expression field contains the instruction that IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer uses to transform data from the source format to the target format.
Many adapters are provided with IBM Tivoli Integration Composer. For a list of
supported adapters, see this website:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v51r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/int_comp/c_ic_adapters.html
You can also create adapters for more discovery products, or refer to the
Integrated Service Management Library open source repository where extra
adapters are available:
https://www-304.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/ismlibrary/

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The IBM Tivoli Integration Composer user interface is used for these tasks:

Define data sources

Browse the source data
Define data schemas
Create mappings to transform
Import data

The command-line interface is used to start IBM Tivoli Integration Composer and
run mappings.
The IBM Tivoli Integration Composer engine processes mapping expressions
that transform data and integrate it into IBM SmartCloud Control Desk database.
IBM Tivoli Integration Composer connection methods uses a JDBC driver or an
API to establish connections to the source data location and target database.
The following JDBC drivers are included:

IBM DB2 JDBC Driver

Microsoft SQL Driver
i-net OPTA JDBC Driver
Oracle JDBC Thin Driver

The IBM Tivoli Integration Composer repository contains the following data:
Metadata for read only data schemas that are delivered with IBM Tivoli
Integration Composer. This metadata defines the structure of the data.
Metadata for data schemas that you create in IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer
Data source definitions that provide data connection parameters
Mappings that define how to transform data instances and import them from a
source to a target.
The time stamp of the most recent scan for top-level objects in the source
data of the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer repository, if such a time stamp
exists.
If you accept the default installation patch when installing IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer, the installer creates an installation directory and installs the product
using the file structure that is shown in Example 4-1.
Example 4-1 IBM Tivoli Integration Composer file structure

Integration Composer
bin
data
dataschema

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mappings
properties
provider
nrs
etc
genrules
help
lib
log
Uninstall_Integration_Composer
The subdirectories in Example 4-1 on page 212 have these functions:
etc stores files that are used by the IBM Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager software development kit. Do not modify any files in this
subdirectory.
genrules stores Java sources files that IBM Tivoli Integration Composer
creates when you run a mapping. Do not modify any files in this subdirectory.
help stores the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer online help files. Do not
modify any files in this subdirectory.
lib stores JDBC drivers and application programming interfaces (APIs) that
IBM Tivoli Integration Composer uses. Do not modify any files in this
subdirectory.
log stores IBM Tivoli Integration Composer log files.
Uninstall_Integration_Composer stores the files that remove IBM Tivoli
Integration Composer from your computer. Do not modify any files in this
subdirectory.

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Figure 4-44 shows the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer main menu. Adapter
setup and definition of data sources, schemas, and mappings must be completed
before you import the data into IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. A system
administrator performs the initial setup of IBM Tivoli Integration Composer.

Figure 4-44 IBM Tivoli Integration Composer main menu

The menu provides access to the following functions:

Define new data source: Define a data source and set the database
connectivity information
Browse data source by structure: Navigate the data schema using a tree and
associated table view. If data exists, IBM Tivoli Integration Composer displays
property or instance data in the table view.
Delete data source: Delete a data source if it is no longer needed and if no
mapping currently uses it.
Close data source connection: Close a data source connection if it is no
longer needed in the current session.
Create new mapping: Associate a source data source and target data source
with a mapping.
Open existing mapping: View or modify an existing mapping. Create mapping
expressions.
Delete mapping: Delete a mapping if it is no longer needed.

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 Delete mapping last scan history: Delete the last scan dates for each system
in the selected data source. If a mapping is modified, the last scan history
must be deleted for changes to take effect.
Define new data schema: Define a new data schema and specify its data
source connection parameters. Add classes, properties, and relationships to
a data schema. Import and export data schemas.
Open existing data schema: View or modify an existing data schema. Export a
data schema file.
After you define the data source, schema, and mapping in the tool, run the
mapping from a command line or batch file. The .bat and .sh files are in the bin
directory. To update data in the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk deployed assets
tables, run an existing mapping as often as needed.
Whenever IBM Tivoli Integration Composer runs a mapping, it provides
information about mapping executions, dat transactions, and errors in the
fusion.log file, which is in the log directory.
In Example 4-2, the executeMapping.bat file is used to run a mapping. The file is
in the bin directory. You can modify the file with the parameters required, or the
parameters can be provided when you run the file. The parameters have the
following sources:
Mapping Name: The mapping is created within IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer. If an adapter is used, import the adapter and modify the mapping
expressions if needed.
Repository user and password: IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is used to
store all the adapter, data source, and last scan information.
Source user and password: This user and password is for the source
discovery tool database.
Target user and password: This IBM SmartCloud Control Desk database
contains the deployed assets.
In addition, you can set the delete last scan history flag to refresh all of the data.
Otherwise, the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer process compares the last scan
date that is stored in the repository against the data from the source discovery
tool. It then decides whether to skip, update, or insert records.
Example 4-2 executeMapping.bat parameters

REM =======================================
REM CHECK FOR DELETE LAST SCAN HISTORY FLAG
REM =======================================
set DELETE=
if not {%1} == {-delete} goto setPropFile

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set DELETE=%1
shift
REM ============================
REM CHECK FOR PROPERTY FILE FLAG
REM ============================
:setPropFile
set FLAG=
if not {%1} == {-f} goto setMappingParams
set FLAG=%1
set PROPFILE="%~$PATH:2"
if '%PROPFILE%' == '' goto error8
if not '%PROPFILE%' == '' goto runMappingWithf
:setMappingParams
set MAPPINGNAME=%1
set REPOSITORYUSER=%2
set REPOSITORYPWD=%3
set SOURCEUSER=%4
set SOURCEPWD=%5
set TARGETUSER=%6
set TARGETPWD=%7
REM ==============================
REM CHECK THE COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
REM ==============================
if '%MAPPINGNAME%'
== '' goto error1
if '%REPOSITORYUSER%' == '' goto error2
if '%REPOSITORYPWD%' == '' goto error3
if '%SOURCEUSER%'
== '' goto error4
if '%SOURCEPWD%'
== '' goto error5
if '%TARGETUSER%'
== '' goto error6
if '%TARGETPWD%'
== '' goto error7
goto runMapping
REM ===========================
REM INVOKE INTEGRATION COMPOSER
REM ===========================
Naming and Reconciliation Service (NRS) is an optional content that is
implemented with IBM Tivoli Integration Composer. You can use NRS to uniquely
identify deployed assets and avoid duplication of asset records in your database.
By default, IBM Tivoli Integration Composer is configured to use this component.

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NRS assigns a globally unique identifier, the NRS GUID, to a deployed asset
based on defined naming rules. Each naming rule consists of one or more
attributes that are required to identify the asset. For example, there is a naming
rule that is based on manufacturer, model, and serial number.
NRS provides a way to centralize asset identification across multiple products
that share a IBM SmartCloud Control Desk database.

4.4 Reports and KPIs

For all phases of the asset management lifecycle, the ability to create reports or
otherwise view the status of various assets is important.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk has a powerful reporting engine that enables
administrators to schedule large batch reports, which can be automatically
emailed to multiple recipients. Reports can be created in multiple formats such
as PDF, DHTML, and XML, and revisions of past report output can be archived.
You can use IBM SmartCloud Control Desks powerful reporting tool to define
and display key performance indicators (KPIs), which are active monitoring
measurements that explain what is happening in the business environment. KPIs
are available through the user interface, so users can quickly see how their
day-to-day activities affect the KPI performance. KPIs can be displayed
graphically and are color-coded according to customized targeted values or
benchmarks.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk includes a set of built-in reports and key
performance indicators (KPIs) specific to IT asset management.
For the list of reports that are provided with IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, see
Appendix B, SmartCloud Control Desk Reports on page 727.

4.4.1 KPIs
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk includes a set of built-in KPIs that can be used to
customize your start centers. KPIs provide graphical views that enable you to
track critical performance variables over time. For example, an Asset Manager
Start Center displays KPI graphs that show outstanding RFCs; the deployed
assets updated within the last seven days; assets disposed of in the current year;
and other KPIs that provide an overview of the assets in the environment. A KPI
is a process-specific item that supports a particular business process.

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Table 4-8 describes the KPIs that are available as optional content.
Table 4-8 IT asset management KPIs
KPI

Contents

HAMKPIOAUTH

Deployed Asset without Authorized Asset

HAMKPINOAUTHPER

Percentage Deployed Asset without Authorized Asset

HAMKPINODPA

Authorized Asset without Deployed Asset

HAMKPINODPAPER

Percentage Authorized Asset without Deployed Asset

INVDPA7

Deployed Assets updated within last 7 days

ITAMNONREPORT30

Deployed Assets not reporting in last 30 days

ITAMADMINUSERS

ITAMADMIN Logged in Users

ITAMACCTSPECUSE

ITAMACCTSPEC Logged in Users

ITAMFINMGRUSERS

ITAMFINMGR Logged in Users

ITAMENDUSERS

ITAMENDUSER Logged in Users

ITAMHAMUSERS

ITAMHAM Logged In Users

ITAMINVADMINUSE

ITAMINVADMIN Logged in Users

ITAMRECEIVERUSE

ITAMRECEIVER Logged in Users

ITAMSAMUSERS

ITAMSAM Logged in Users

ITDISPOSED

IT Assets Disposed in Current Year

ITWAITDISP

IT Assets waiting for disposal in a location

4.5 IT asset management for service providers

As explained in 2.3.1, Editions on page 65, IT asset management capabilities
are not included in the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Entry Edition. The
following modules and included applications, related to IT asset management,
are not available in the entry edition:

218

Assets
Purchasing
Contracts
Inventory

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

The IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Advanced Edition and Service Provider
contain the full IT asset management capabilities. Within the Service Provider
edition, the IT asset management applications add functional enhancements and
improve usability. The following sections address these enhancements.

4.5.1 Customers and assets

When you create customer records, you create detailed agreement and pricing
information for the customer and the services that you expect to provide. As a
result, you can ensure timely and accurate billing for services. After you create a
customer record, you associate the customer with assets by using the Assets
application.
Primary customer: The Assets (SP) application, which was rewritten for the
Service Provider edition, adds a new Primary Customer field. It provides the
capability to associate an asset with a particular customer. Note that you can
associate an asset with multiple customers, but only one is the primary.
By associating customers with assets, you keep the asset records restricted to
users who have permission to access the data that belongs to that customer. You
associate customers with users in the Security Groups (SP) application.
You can associate more than one customer with an asset, but one customer
must be the primary customer. The primary customer can then be used to find
records for the customer. When a ticket or work order for the asset is created,
information about the primary customer is copied to the ticket or work order. The
combination of location, asset, and customer for these objects is used to
determine the best matches when a service desk agent or workflow process
searches for service level agreements, price schedules, and response plans.
The primary customer of an asset determines the classifications and the
attributes of classifications that an asset can use. All assets can use global
classifications and global attributes that apply to the asset. If you want to use
customer-specific classifications or customer-specific attributes, the primary
customer of the asset (or parent of the primary customer) must match the
customer on the classification or attribute.
By default, the first customer that you associate with an asset is the primary
customer. If you associate multiple customers with an asset at one time, the first
customer alphabetically becomes the primary customer.
When you associate a customer or primary customer with an asset, child assets
do not inherit the association.

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You can change the primary customer for the asset at any time. If the asset is
associated with a CI, and the Synchronize option in the Organizations (SP)
application is selected, any change that you make to the asset customers is also
made to the customers of the associated CI. That is, the CI customer
associations are synchronized with the asset customer associations.
Adding, changing, or removing a primary customer of an asset can affect the
classification and attributes of the asset when the asset is classified. For
example, as a result of a change, the classification of one or more attributes
might no longer be relevant to the new primary customer. The classification might
include attributes that are now relevant to the new primary customer. However,
classifications and attributes are never automatically removed from an asset (or
added to an asset) when a customer association is changed.

4.5.2 Asset classifications

Within the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk for Service Provider edition, there are
two types of asset classifications:
Global classifications: Can be added to any asset, including assets with no
customer associations.
Customer-specific classifications: Relevant only to certain customers. An
asset can use customer-specific classifications only if the primary customer of
the asset (or parent of the primary customer) is associated with the
classification.
Attributes define the characteristics of a classification. When you classify an
asset, attributes of the classification are copied to the Specification tab as
determined by the primary customer of the asset. There are two types of
attributes:
Global attributes: All assets can use global attributes, including assets with no
customer associations.
Customer-specific attributes: Relevant only to certain customers.
Customer-specific attributes are copied to the Specification tab when the
primary customer of the asset (or parent of the primary customer) is
associated with the attribute.
Customer and asset matches indicate whether an attribute is appropriate for the
primary customer or the parent of the primary customer. The attributes that are
copied from the classification to the asset specification are global attributes and
customer-specific attributes that match the primary customer of the asset or the
parent of the primary customer. If there is no primary customer when you classify
the asset, only global attributes are copied.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

After you add a classification to an asset, several events can occur that might
cause the asset specification to be unaligned with the attributes on the
classification:
The primary customer is changed and the classification of the asset is not
associated with either the customer or its parent.
The primary customer is changed and one or more of the attributes on the
asset specification are not associated with the customer or its parent.
All customers that are associated with the asset are removed so that there is
no longer a primary customer, but the classification of the asset is specific to
the customer. Only global classifications must be referenced to the asset.
All the customers that are associated with the asset are removed so that there
is no longer a primary customer. There are, however, one or more attributes
on the specification of the asset that are inappropriate because they are
specific to the customer. The specification of the asset must reference only
global attributes.
An attribute is entered on the specification of the asset and this attribute does
not belong to the specification of the classification.
The definition of the classification, attributes of the classification, or the
customers associated with either the classification or the attributes of the
classification might have changed.

4.5.3 Customer synchronization

Synchronization of customers for assets and configuration items (CIs) that are
linked means that the customer records on the asset and the customer records
on the configuration item must match exactly. For configuration items and assets
that are linked, you can specify that their primary customer and any associated
customers are to be synchronized. To achieve synchronization, asset customers
are copied to the configuration item and replace the configuration item
customers, or configuration item customers are copied to the asset and replace
the asset customers.
The Synchronize Customers Between Assets and CIs That Are Linked
option on the Asset and CI Customer Options window in the Organizations (SP)
application is selected by default. The default copy direction is from the asset to
the configuration item. You can change the default copy direction so that it is from
the configuration item to the asset.

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When Synchronize is selected, customer synchronization can occur in multiple

scenarios:
When you click Synchronize Assets and CIs on the Asset and CI Customer
Options window.
When you run background processes, such as cron tasks or workflows, that
associate assets with configuration items.
When you link an asset to a configuration item in the Configuration Items
application or the Assets application.
When you modify the customer or customers of an asset, and the asset is
linked to a configuration item.
When you modify the customer or customers of a configuration item, and the
configuration item is linked to an asset.

Synchronization of customers for multiple linked assets and

configuration items
When you click Synchronize Assets and CIs, the Asset and CI Customer
Options window operates on customers for all configuration items and assets
that are linked. An administrator typically runs the Synchronize Assets and CIs
action as a one-time operation for data cleanup. The action can be used to
synchronize customers for linked assets and configuration items that have
customers that became out of sync before the introduction of the synchronization
feature. Depending on the specified direction of copy, configuration item
customers are copied to the linked assets, or asset customers are copied to the
linked configuration items. The copied customers replace the existing customers.
Background processes such as cron tasks and workflows also can associate
assets with configuration items. If the Synchronize option is selected, asset and
configuration item customers are synchronized based on the direction of copy
that is specified in the Asset and CI Customer Options window.

Synchronization of customers when you associate an asset

with a configuration item
You can link or associate an asset with a configuration item in the Configuration
Items application or in the Assets application. If Synchronize is selected, the
asset and configuration item customers are synchronized when you link the
asset and the configuration item. Customer synchronization occurs based on the
direction of copy that is specified on the Asset and CI Customer Options window
in the Organizations (SP) application.

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Synchronization when asset or configuration item customers

are modified
You can add or modify the primary customer and any associated customers for a
single asset or configuration item on the asset record or the configuration item
record. You can make three types of modifications to asset or configuration item
customers:
Add one or more customers to the asset or configuration item.
Change the primary customer for the asset or configuration item.
Remove one or more customers from the asset or configuration item.
You also can add or remove a customer for multiple assets or configuration items
from the List tab of the Assets application or the Configuration Items application.
If Synchronize is selected in the Organizations (SP) application, any customer
revisions that you make are copied to the linked record or records. If you modify
customers for an asset that is linked to a configuration item, the same
modifications are made to the configuration item customers. The asset primary
customer and any associated customers are copied to the configuration item and
replace the configuration item customers. If you modify customers for a
configuration item that is linked to an asset, the configuration item customers are
copied to the asset and replace the asset customers. The copy direction is from
the record that you modify to the linked record. The copy direction in these
scenarios is not controlled by the copy direction that is specified on the Asset and
CI Customer Options window in the Organizations (SP) application.

4.5.4 Customers, locations, and service addresses

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Service Provider Edition allows you to associate
customers to location records. When you associate customers with locations,
you can keep the location records restricted to the users who have permission to
access the data of that customer.
You can associate more than one customer with a location, but one customer
must be the primary customer. When a ticket or work order is created for the
location, information about the primary customer is copied to the ticket or work
order. The combination of location, asset, and customer on the ticket or work
order is used to determine the best matches when a service desk agent or
workflow process searches for service level agreements, price schedules, and
response plans.
The primary customer of a location determines the classifications and attributes
of classifications that a location can use. All locations can use global
classifications and global attributes that apply to the location. When you want to
use customer-specific classifications or customer-specific attributes, the primary

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customer of the location (or parent of the primary customer) must match the
customer on the classification or attribute.

4.5.5 Service addresses

A service address is the address where you provide support or services to a
customer. The service address can represent one or more physical locations for
a customer. Service addresses contain detailed location information that helps
you assign the correct resources to a location.
When a service desk agent creates a ticket or work order for a location, the
service address of the location is copied to the ticket or work order.
If the location does not have an associated service address, the service address
of the closest ancestor in the address hierarchy is copied. An ancestor is any
location that is higher in the location hierarchy than the current location. In
addition to a standard street address, a service address can contain detailed and
varied location information, such as the following values:
300 feet behind large red outbuilding
Mile marker 584
+4230'39.57N -7114'39.96W

4.5.6 Charge-back costs

On a location record in the Locations (SP) application, you can enter a customer
cost center and charge back account to use with billing transactions. Customers
use this information to process internal charge backs.
Enter charge back information in the Customer Charge Account and Customer
Cost Center fields on the Location tab of the Locations (SP) application. When
you create a ticket or work order for this location and customer, the charge
account and cost center are copied to the ticket or work order. The charge
account and cost center are then added to the customer billing statement when
you bill the work.

4.6 Conclusion
This chapter provided a view of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk features that can
help you achieve effective IT asset management in todays complex IT
environments. From inventory management to asset and CI management,
through software license management, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk facilitates
the management of IT assets through their entire lifecycle.

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Typical use cases were provided in this chapter to demonstrate the use of IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk for software license management and hardware asset
management. They provided a detailed description of the assets and
configuration items are managed together.
The next chapter takes a closer look at configuration management.

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Chapter 5.

Configuration management
This chapter focuses on best practices to populate SmartCloud Control Desk
with the necessary data to manage business systems and devices within your
organization.
Configuration management focuses on the specific part of a devices lifecycle
when it is supporting the operations of your business. In SmartCloud Control
Desk, configuration management provides the following capabilities:
Control the configuration of logical and physical aspects of a device.
Define a managed state for each device.
Audit the consistency between a device's expected configuration and its
actual configuration.
Determine the risk that is associated with a device if it performs poorly or is
taken offline.
This chapter includes the following sections:
Configuration management overview
Using SmartCloud Control Desk with configuration management
Configuration management for service providers

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

227

5.1 Configuration management overview

In some organizations, the configuration of key business systems and devices
are stored in spreadsheets and are updated and maintained by manual
processes. These processes might include lengthy, redundant, and tedious
manual steps that, even with considerable effort, might not be able to keep up
with day to day operations.
Configuration management provides tremendous value by establishing an
information repository to track your IT systems. This consists of information
about a server such as memory, storage, and processors. It also includes
relationships that show dependencies between IT components, and can help
determine which of these components are critical to maintaining your key
business systems and daily operations.
Configuration Items (CIs) represent IT resources, and their components, that
contribute to a business service. Configuration Management is required to
ensure that the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) represents them
accurately, controls changes to them, audits them, reports on them, and so on.
The main goal is to ensure that business service that they are contributing to is
always up and running (or more realistically to minimize outages and ensure that
outages are planned for). The CIs role is to provide configuration details, status
and security for any updates and changes made to it to ensure correct change
control.
SmartCloud Control Desk serves as an information repository to establish
processes and controls around your key IT components.

5.2 Using SmartCloud Control Desk with configuration

management
This section focuses on the planning and deployment steps to use configuration
management function within SmartCloud Control Desk.

5.2.1 Actual and authorized CIs

A key configuration management feature of SmartCloud Control Desk is the
ability to audit the expected configuration of an IT device versus its actual
configuration. To achieve this in SmartCloud Control Desk, you need both
Configuration Items (often referred to as authorized CIs) and Actual
Configuration Items.

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A Configuration Item object in SmartCloud Control Desk is a representation of

how you want a particular device to be configured. This CI can represent either a
physical device such as a server, or a logical aspect of a device such as a
server's operating system or IP address. Attributes and relationships are used to
manage how you want a device to be configured in your environment.
Configuration Items are the main object used during configuration management
in SmartCloud Control Desk, and are critical to supporting other SmartCloud
Control Desk processes such as change management and service management.
The actual CIs are read only objects and are directly imported from Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager by using the Integration Composer
Actual CI adapter. The attribute values and relationships in the actual CI are
exactly as Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager discovered them
when they were brought into SmartCloud Control Desk. The main benefit of
actual CIs within SmartCloud Control Desk is to provide the real configuration of
a device so that it can be audited against the managed version, the Configuration
Item.
Each of these SmartCloud Control Desk objects has its own application
(Configuration Items application and Actual CIs application). They represent
different configurations of the same device (the real one versus the wanted one),
and can be linked together. The CI.ACTCINUM field points to the
ACTCI.ACTCINUM field to form this link. This link is used during the audit
process to decide which actual CI to compare with which authorized CI.

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The Actual CI application is where you view data that are imported from Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager, as shown in Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1 The Actual CI application

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The Configuration Item application is where you view managed data, as shown in
Figure 5-2.

Figure 5-2 The Configuration Item application

Figure 5-1 on page 230 and Figure 5-2 show how the actual CI and authorized
CI are linked by the Actual CI Number.
To audit the managed configuration of your devices versus their actual
configuration, you need both actual CIs and authorized CIs. However, you do not
need to start with both of these objects.

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There are two approaches to populating actual and authorized CIs to support
Configuration Management in SmartCloud Control Desk:
Load the discovered CIs into SmartCloud Control Desk as actual CIs and
then apply a template onto the actual CIs to create your authorized CIs. At
this point, you have both actual CIs and authorized CIs, and can perform
audits between them. This approach is called starting with actual CIs.
Use the integration framework, Quick Config application, or Manual CI
creation from the Configuration Item application to populate authorized CIs.
Later, you can load discovered CIs from Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager into SmartCloud Control Desk as actual CIs. Then, you
can use a linking process to establish the link between authorized CIs and
actual CIs. At this point, you can perform the audit between your actual and
managed configuration. This approach is called starting with authorized CIs.

5.2.2 Starting with actual CIs

This is the main path designed flow to populate authorized CIs into SmartCloud
Control Desk. The main advantage of this approach is that when the authorized
CIs are created from their actual CI counterparts, the two are linked together.
This allows you to begin auditing between your actual and authorized
configuration immediately. It is also the easier approach. The actual CI
application allows you to use a template-based function to create authorized CIs.
Therefore, you do not have to deal with manually creating all the authorized CIs,
their attributes, and the relationships between them. When you start with actual
CIs, you bypass the process of linking an authorized CI to its corresponding
actual CI. You also avoid the potential for creating duplicate CIs during the
promotion process.
To use this approach, you must first discover your CIs. If you need to manage the
configuration of your devices before they are discovered, start with authorized
CIs instead.
The steps to start with actual CIs can be logically divided into a plan and a

deploy section:
Plan

The planning section consists of these steps:

a. Discover your devices by using Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager or a Discovery Library Adapter.
b. Decide what type of authorized CIs that you want to manage.

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c. Review the ready for use classifications that define the types of Authorized
Configuration Items and the attributes that can be created in SmartCloud
Control Desk. Modify these classifications as needed.
d. Review the ready for use promotion scopes, which determine which
authorized CIs and Relationships are created when using the Actual CI
application's Create Authorized CI feature. Modify these promotion scopes
as needed.
e. Review the Relationship Rules that exist between the classifications of CIs
that you are managing, and modify these rules as needed.
f. Use the CI Type application to configure which type of devices the Tivoli
Integration Composer Actual CI adapter brings into SmartCloud Control
Desk as actual CIs.
g. Decide which CI lifecycle you want to use for your authorized CIs.
Deploy
The deploying section consists of these steps:
h. Run the actual CI type adapter to load actual CIs into SmartCloud Control
Desk if you discovered your devices using Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager. Use the IdML loader if you discovered your devices
using a Discovery Library Adapter.
i. Run Create Authorized CIs from the Actual CI application to populate
authorized CIs into SmartCloud Control Desk.
Promotion: You often hear this process of creating authorized CIs from
actual CIs referred to as promotion. When you hear someone say, I
need to promote my CIs, they mean that they need to run the Create
Authorized CI function from the Actual CI application to populate
authorized CIs.
j. Use the CIs to support configuration management functions, such as
viewing, modifying, or auditing CIs.
k. Repeat this process regularly as Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager discovers changes in your environment.
The next sections take a closer look at each individual step of the process.

Step 1: Discovery
You can use Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager to discover your
infrastructure, or you can discover it directly by using discovery library adapters
(DLA). If you use Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager, your
infrastructure is imported into SmartCloud Control Desk as Actual CIs using the

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Tivoli Integration Composer Actual CI Adapter. Otherwise, you can use the IdML
Loader to import the IdML books that are created by your Discovery Library
Adapters as Actual CIs. Your Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
and DLA configuration directly affect what data is available to be imported into
SmartCloud Control Desk. The rest of this step covers Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager settings. Refer to your DLA documentation for
settings specific to that discovery product.
Before you begin, upgrade Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager to
version 7.2.1, and to the latest fixpack. This ensures integrity and compatibility
between the common data model contained in SmartCloud Control Desk and the
one contained in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager.
Discovery is a multilevel process that collects CI data using specialized sensors
for the different components that are found in the data center. Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager provides three levels of pre-built profiles. These
profiles cannot be changed, but they can be cloned.

Level one discovery

This type of discovery scans the TCP stack to discover computer systems and
network devices. This is a shallow discovery to identify host name, OS, IP
interface, and FQDN (for Windows and Linux for System z, it also discovers the
MAC address).
Level one is credential-free and provides a basic blueprint of the environment.
However, move on to level two discovery before using Tivoli Integration
Composer to import Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager data.
Warning: The use of level one discovery is discouraged if you will be
importing this Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager data into
SCCD because of the lack of identifying information. If the CIs are discovered
later using level 2 or level 3, different naming rules will be used. This causes
the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager GUID to be modified,
which leads to duplicate actual CIs in the SmartCloud Control Desk database.

Level two discovery

Level 2 sensor scanning discovers detailed information about each host
configuration and does a shallow application discovery. The application discovery
captures the application name, ports, and computer systems it is running on.
Application dependencies can also be discovered if there is a TCP session
established. This scanning requires computer system credentials, but not
application credentials.

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Level three discovery

This is a deep-dive discovery of Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager data. It captures network devices, host configurations, application
configurations, virtual systems, and Web Services.
Level 3 discovery profile is used by default if no profile is specified (the profile
default setting can be changed in the Discovery Management Console.)
Although Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager provides four
discovery profiles, level 1-3 and the Utilization profile, you can create your own
specific discovery profiles.
This flexibility allows you to specify these aspects:

What you want to discover

Where you want to discover it
How deep you want to go

Based on your business needs, it is likely that you will want frequent depth two
discoveries, and follow up with some depth three discoveries for other
components.
Available Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager sensors:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v46r1/topic/com.ibm.taddmsen
sors.doc_721fp3/welcome_page/welcome.html
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager level 1 discovery overview:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v46r1/topic/com.ibm.taddm.do
c_721/AdminGuide/t_cmdb_configure_l1discovery.html
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager level 2 discovery overview:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v46r1/topic/com.ibm.taddm.do
c_721/AdminGuide/t_cmdb_configure_l2discovery.html
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager level 3 discovery overview:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v46r1/topic/com.ibm.taddm.do
c_721/AdminGuide/t_cmdb_configure_l3discovery.html

Step 2: Deciding what type of CIs to manage

Before bringing data from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager into
SmartCloud Control Desk, decide which type of devices and which logical
components of these devices that you want to manage. It is not likely that you
really care to make a change request on a low-level CI such as a Network
Interface Card. The more CI types that you try to manage, the more difficult it is

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235

to focus on and work with the most important components in your environment.
These low-level components can show up in topology reports and audit results.
While it is possible to filter them out, if you do not intend to manage a CI type, it is
best to leave it out. You can always look at the actual CI or launch-in-context to
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager to view lower-level details if
needed
When choosing your CI types to manage, the best place to start is with the ready
for use classifications that are called the best practices. These are classifications
that have CIROOT as the parent classification as shown in Figure 5-3.

Figure 5-3 Filter using CIROOT as the Classification Path

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Click Find to display all classifications with CIROOT as the parent classification,
which all have a prefix of CI, as shown in Figure 5-4.

Figure 5-4 All CIROOT classifications

The best practice classifications are a subset of the actual CI Classifications,

which are available with the software. The Actual Classifications are often
referred to as the Common Data Model (CDM). This is because they are based
on the common data model that is used to form the Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager CI Types. Because actual CIs represent data
that are discovered in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager, it

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makes sense to have classifications that are based on the same data model as
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager.
Figure 5-5 shows the filter using ACTUALCIROOTCLASS as the Classification
Path to view the Common Data Model classifications.

Figure 5-5 Filter using ACTUALCIROOTCLASS as the Classification Path

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Click Find to display all classifications with ACTUALCIROOTCLASS as the

parent classification (Figure 5-6).

Figure 5-6 All ACTUALCIROOTCLASS classifications

Because the best practice classifications are for Authorized Configuration Items,
they only represent the CIs that you want to manage. The best practice
classifications are a set of CI Classifications that are designed by SmartCloud
Control Desk architects using experience and feedback as the starting point.
Each best practice classification has a corresponding actual CI Classification.

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239

Look through the best practice classifications to decide whether there are any CI
types that you never want to manage. Record the CI types that you do not need,
and save them for step 4.
Also, look at the Actual Classifications to see whether there are any CI types that
you know Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager has discovered and
you want to manage. Again, record this information down and save it for step 4.
As you plan for step 4 and step 6, it is important to understand what a top-level CI
is. Although the Common Data Model and Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager do not recognize the term top-level CI, it is important in
SmartCloud Control Desk. Because CIs can be related to each other, you need a
starting point for selecting a group of CIs that are all related to each other in a
hierarchy. The top-level CI is the root of this hierarchy. For example, you can have
a computer system, its operating system, its file system, its IP interfaces, and its
IP addresses. The computer system is considered the top-level CI because that
is the starting point if you were to select all of these related CIs. In this case, the
computer system contains all of those other CIs.

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In SmartCloud Control Desk, a top-level CI is any CI whose classification has the

attribute toplevel set to true, as indicated with the Top Level check box in
Figure 5-7.

Figure 5-7 The Top Level field determines whether a classification is designated as top level

The following CI types are designated as top level in the best practice authorized
classifications:
CI.AIXCOMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.APPSERVER

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241

CI.BUSINESSAPPLICATION
CI.BUSINESSPROCESS
CI.BUSINESSSERVICE
CI.CITRIXSERVER
CI.COMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.DATABASESERVER
CI.DB2SYSTEM
CI.EXCHANGESERVER
CI.HPUXCOMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.IISWEBSERVICE
CI.IPLANETSERVER
CI.JBOSSSERVER
CI.J2EEDOMAIN
CI.J2EESERVER
CI.LDAPSERVICE
CI.LINUXCOMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.LOTUS.DOMINOSERVER
CI.MQQUEUEMANAGER
CI.MYSAPAPPSERVER
CI.ORACLESERVER
CI.SERVICE
CI.SOFTWAREIMAGE
CI.SMSSITESERVER
CI.SQLSERVER
CI.SUNCOMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.SYSTEMPCOMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.UNITARYCOMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.VMWARECOMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.WEBLOGICSERVER
CI.WEBSERVER
CI.WEBSERVICE
CI.WEBSPHERESERVER
CI.WINDOWSCOMPUTERSYSTEM
CI.ZSERIESCOMPUTERSYSTEM

During this planning phase, when you are working on CI types that you want to
manage, you might want to rename the best practice classifications. For
example, you might decide to change CI.COMPUTERSYSTEM to CI.CS, or
change the prefix to the initials of your company. Although SmartCloud Control
Desk allows you this flexibility, these changes require a large amount of
configuration changes. Consider this additional workload when making your
decision.
To help you take advantage of SmartCloud Control Desk immediately, ready for
use configurations are provided for many functions. In many cases, these

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configurations are based on the best practice classifications. Unfortunately, if you

modify the name of a classification, you must create a new internal ID for that
classification. You must therefore reconfigure many of the ready for use best
practices. The following are functions that have ready for use configuration and
require extra configuration if the classification names are altered:
CI Summary views on the Configuration Item application. This refers to the
tabs that show the related CIs and key attributes on the CI Summary Tab.
Refer to the InfoCenter to learn more about configuring these views:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.
doc/config/c_simplified_ci_views.html
Topology Swim Lanes allow you to group your CIs into a logical order when
viewing the topology of a CI. Refer to this InfoCenter link to learn more about
configuring topology swim lanes:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.
doc/ticket/sd_navigatetopo.html
Impact Analysis has rule to configure which related CI is impacted if a CI
performs poorly or is taken of line. Refer to this InfoCenter link to learn more
about configuring impact analysis rules:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.
doc/change/r_iaconfig_app.html
Link to Actual Has Naming Rules that determine how to link actual and
authorized CIs. Refer to this InfoCenter link to learn more about configuring
naming rules for Link to Actuals:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.
doc/config/c_autolink_naming_rules.html
Create authorized CIs uses promotion scopes that are based on the best
practice classifications. Refer to this InfoCenter link to learn more about using
Deployers Workbench to configure your promotion scopes:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.dw.do
c_75/dw/t_dw_create_scope.html

Step 3: Keeping or modifying authorized attributes

After you decide what CI types you want to manage, you must consider which
attributes to keep. The attributes on the authorized CI classification are one of
the ways that you scope the discovered data from Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager. If an attribute is not defined on an authorized classification,
its value is not brought over to the authorized side, even if that attribute was
discovered.

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The choices that you make here also affect the attributes that are created for
each actual CI that Tivoli Integration Composer loads if Tivoli Integration
Composer filtering is turned on. This is addressed in Step 6.
It is important to consider which attributes you need on your authorized CI
classifications. The best practice classifications are configured with a set of
attributes that are chosen by SmartCloud Control Desk architects based on
experience and feedback. You can use the Classification application to modify,
remove, or to add attributes as shown in Figure 5-8.

Figure 5-8 Add, remove, and modify attributes in the Classification application

Look through the best practice classifications to decide whether there are any
attributes that you never want to manage. If you decide to remove attributes, you
can use the classification application or Deployers Workbench to do so.
Also, look at the Actual Classifications to see if there are any additional attributes
that you know Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager will discover
and you want to manage on your authorized side. Again, you can use the
classification application or Deployers Workbench to do so.

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When you make these decisions, your choices affect many aspects of
configuration management using SmartCloud Control Desk. The fewer the
attributes on a CI, the easier it is to maintain your authorized CI space:
It makes viewing and saving a configuration item easier because there are
fewer attributes to manage.
It also helps when you start to analyze the auditing results. The more
attributes that you have, the more audit records you can see, which makes it
harder for you to find the attributes that you really care about.
The number of attributes you have also affects the performance of Tivoli
Integration Composer, promotion, and the audit process.

Step 4: Configuring promotion scope and relationships

The promotion scope is what maps an actual CI to an authorized CI during the
promotion process. As mentioned earlier, promotion is the term used to define
running the Create Authorized CI function to create authorized CIs out of actual
CIs. This mapping is the key to deciding which type of authorized CI is created for
a particular actual CI.
The Top Level CI classification is important to promotion because a promotion
scope starts with a top level authorized CI Classification. Figure 5-9 shows an
example of a promotion scope.

Figure 5-9 Promotion scope for CI.COMPUTERSYSTEM

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Figure 5-9 on page 245 shows the Authorized Classification on the left and the
actual CI Classification on the right. CI.COMPUTERSYSTEM is a top-level CI
and is the start of this promotion scope.
If you promote an actual CI of type SYS.COMPUTERSYSTEM, you get an
authorized CI of type CI.COMPUTERSYSTEM.
In addition to the top-level CI type, each promotion scope also provides a
template for the related CIs as well. In this case, CIs of type
SYS.OPERATINGSYSTEM, NET.INTERFACE, and NET.IPADDRESS are also
included in the promotion scope. If you promote a SYS.COMPUTERSYSTEM
actual CI and that actual CI is related to (directly or indirectly) an actual CI of type
SYS.OPERATINGSYSTEM, an authorized CI of CI.OS is created.
One more important configuration must be in place for CI.OPERATINGSYSTEM
in the example to be created during promotion. That is a relation rule. A relation
rule says that a CI of Type A and CI of Type B can be related by a certain
relationship. The relation rule also identifies which is the parent in the
relationship. Relation rules are defined for specific classifications, so there is a
set of relation rules for actual classifications and a set of relation rules for
authorized classifications. Relation rules are predefined for both the CDM actual
CI Classifications and the best practice authorized classifications. For more
information about relation rules, see Step 7: Reviewing the CI Lifecycle on
page 249.
You can use either simple best practices or comprehensive best practices. The
best practice that is predefined in SmartCloud Control Desk is the simple one.
Both best practices include the same classifications, relation rules, and
attributes. The comprehensive best practice includes extra promotion scopes so
that during promotion, more authorized CIs can be created.
If you want to load the comprehensive best practice promotion scope, use the
Deployers Workbench. For more information, see the InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v51r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom
.ibm.dw.doc_75%2Fdw%2Ft_dw_scenario_default.html
Now, look at the list of CI types that you do not want to manage. Use Deployers
Workbench to remove promotion scopes of CI types that you do not want to
manage. Create promotion scopes and if needed create authorized CI
classifications for CI types that you need in addition to the simple best practices.
For more information about Deployers Workbench, see the InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.dw.doc_7
5/dw-homepage.html

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Step 5: Reviewing the relationship rules

It is important to understand and review the relationship rules before you
promote. You cannot actually modify a relationship rule if CIs are already related
to each other using that particular rule. If you promote authorized CIs and
discover that your relationship rules cause problems later on, you cannot modify
the rules using the user interface unless you remove all the relationships that
follow that rule. If you use the best practice classifications, you do not need to be
as concerned because the ready for use relationship rules are designed to be
adequate for most users. For an example of how relationship rules are used to
promote related CIs, shown in Figure 5-10, see Step 9: Running Create
Authorized CIs on page 258.

Figure 5-10 Use the Relationship application to view and modify relation rules

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Handling virtual systems: If you have virtual systems in your environment,

carefully examine the VIRTUALIZES relationship for the types of CIs you have
in your infrastructure. If you want to have the virtual systems promoted when
you promote the physical systems, inspect the relationship rule between the
virtual system and the physical system. If the physical system is the target in
the relationship, be sure that Is Target Parent is selected.

Step 6: Configuring CI Types for Tivoli Integration Composer

to load
In this step, set the CI Types that you want brought into SmartCloud Control Desk
through the Tivoli Integration Composer Actual CI adapter (Figure 5-11).

Figure 5-11 Selecting CI types

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To activate the CI Types, use the SmartCloud Control Desk CI Type application.
For more information, see the SmartCloud Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v51r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/int_comp/t_adapter_activating_ci_types.html
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager CI Types have a hierarchy of
subclasses. When you activate a CI Type, Tivoli Integration Composer imports all
of the CIs of the CI Type you activated, plus the CIs of any subclass.
For example, if the SYS.COMPUTERSYSTEM was set to Active, Tivoli
Integration Composer brings in actual CIs that include ZseriesComputerSystem,
LPAR, VirtualComputerSystem, AixUnitaryComputerSystem,
LinexUnitaryComputerSystem, WindowsComputerSystem, and so on.
Therefore, there is no need to set both the superclass ComputerSystem and the
subclass WindowsComputerSystem to Active. If you want to import a subset of
computer system types, set just those subclasses to Active, not the superclass.
See the Common Data Model documentation to determine the subclasses. This
is included in your Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager installation.
You do not need to set any non-top-level classifications to Active because Tivoli
Integration Composer imports the Active top-level classification and all related
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs based on the Tivoli
Integration Composer depth setting. For example, if Tivoli Integration Composer
is run with a depth of three, the ComputerSystem CIs are imported as well as two
levels of relationships. This includes the OperatingSystem, L2Interface,
IpInterface, IpAddress, IPV6Network, CPU, Memory, FileSystem, and so on.

Step 7: Reviewing the CI Lifecycle

An authorized CI has a status field that indicates the state of its usefulness. For
example, when the CI for a computer system is first created, the computer
system might not be ready to be used. At some point, it is put into production.
Eventually it reaches the end of its useful life and is put out of service. Having
information about what state a CI is in can be useful. For example, you might
want to put stricter controls around changes to a CI when it is in production.

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The list of possible states and transitions are defined by a lifecycle are shown in
Figure 5-12.

Figure 5-12 CI Lifecycle

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Before you create any CIs, think about what different states you want to support,
what state transitions you want to allow, and whether you want to enforce stricter
controls over changes to your CIs while they are in particular states. Also, decide
whether you can use the same set of states and transitions for all of your CIs, or
whether they need to differ based on the CI Type. Do this before you create your
CIs. You can use the CI Lifecycles application to define and work with CI
Lifecycles. For more information about lifecycles, see 5.2.4, CI lifecycles and
status on page 273.
Warning: If you change a lifecycle that is associated with a classification after
a CI with that classification exists, the status of the existing CI is set to the
default state of its new lifecycle if its existing status does not exist in the new
lifecycle. This might not be an appropriate state. Analyze your existing CIs to
see whether they need to have their status changed.

Step 8: Importing Actual CIs into SmartCloud Control Desk

Before SmartCloud Control Desk version 7.5.1, Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager was required to discover configuration items and the Tivoli
Integration Composer application was needed to import those discovered CIs as
Actual CIs into the SmartCloud Control Desk database. If you wanted to load
discovered CIs from a non-Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
source, you first imported the data into Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager. You then used Tivoli Integration Composer to load the data from Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager into the SmartCloud Control Desk
database.
Now, the ImportIDML tool provides a way to load data from non-Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager discovery engines, such as Atrium or
Spectrum, into the SmartCloud Control Desk database. The restriction is that the
data must be specified in IdML format. The Identity Markup Language (IdML) is
an Extensible Markup Language (XML) dialect that describes configuration items
and their relationships according to the Common Data Model. The Common
Data Model is used to describe Actual CIs in the SmartCloud Control Desk
database.
Using Tivoli Integration Composer to import Actual CIs from Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager is option 1. How to use the ImportIDML tool to
load non-Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager data is option 2. Do
not run both Tivoli Integration Composer and the ImportIDML tool at the same
time!

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Caution: Name reconciliation is only done for computer systems. If you use
both Tivoli Integration Composer and the IdML loader to import the same
configuration item, and it is not a computer system, you end up with duplicate
Actual CIs that represent the same configuration item. Duplicate Actual CIs
can also occur if you import the same configuration item (other than computer
systems) from multiple IdML sources.

Option 1: Using Tivoli Integration Composer to import Actual CI data

The Tivoli Integration Composer can import Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager discovered assets and CIs as actual CIs into SmartCloud
Control Desk. Tivoli Integration Composer creates and updates actual CIs based
on the active classifications, the type of filtering used, and the depth settings.
The Integration_Composer/data/properties/provider/ccmdb.properties file
contains the properties that are used to specify depth and filtering. Tivoli
Integration Composer supports two types of filtering:
ccmdb.actualci.filtering.level=0
If this property is set to 0, Tivoli Integration Composer excludes importing Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs that match the CI Types set to
-1 in the ccmdb.properties file.
For example, if a ComputerSystem was set to Active for a depth of 3, Tivoli
Integration Composer imports the ComputerSystem, then the related
OperatingSystem, and then follow the relationship to the SoftwareComponent. If
you have no need to manage software components, set that classification to -1 to
allow Tivoli Integration Composer to exclude those CIs.
If using this type of filtering, the exclude the following classifications:
APP.CONFIGFILE=-1
APP.DB.DB2.DB2DATABASECONFIGVALUE=-1
APP.DB.DB2.DB2INSTANCECONFIGVALUE=-1
APP.DB.DB2.DB2SYSTEMCONFIGVALUE=-1
APP.PROCESSPOOL=-1
CORE.LOGICALCONTENT=-1
DEV.DISKPARTITION=-1
DEV.MEDIAACCESSDEVICE=-1
DEV.MEDIAACCESSDEVICEDEV.STORAGEVOLUME=-1
SYS.AIXSOFTWARECOMPONENT=-1
SYS.DATAFILE=-1
SYS.SOFTWARECOMPONENT=-1
SYS.WINDOWS.WINDOWSSERVICE=-1
SYS.ZOS.ZREPORTFILE=-1

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When you exclude a CI class from being imported, the relationships between the
CIs above and below it in the tree are not imported. Only relationships between
CI classes that are contiguous from the top level down are included.
If Tivoli Integration Composer was upgraded to the 7.5.x release from a prior
Tivoli Integration Composer release, filter level 0 is the default filter setting. This
is not the recommended filter level, but up front planning must occur before
moving from this exclusion filtering model to the promotion scope filtering option.
If you are unfamiliar with Tivoli Integration Composer filtering, see the
SmartCloud Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/config/c_ci_type_depth.html
The second type of filtering is:
ccmdb.actualci.filtering.level=2
If the filtering level is set to 2 (the preferred setting), Tivoli Integration Composer
follows the Promotion Scope to determine which Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager CIs to include while importing. This filtering affects not only
the types of actual CIs imported, but also which attributes are imported. The
result is that Tivoli Integration Composer imports only actual CIs and their
attributes that you want to manage.
This filtering is the default for environments where Tivoli Integration Composer
was not previously installed.
Using the promotion scope filtering does not ensure that Tivoli Integration
Composer will import all of the CI Types listed in the promotion scope. That is
because Tivoli Integration Composer will still only follow the Active classifications
to the depth setting.
For example, a promotion scope starts at WindowsComputerSystem with a
topology that includes WindowsFileSystem.You have the Tivoli Integration
Composer depth set at two. Tivoli Integration Composer does not follow the
relationship down to the FileSystem level because a depth of three is required to
reach the WindowsFileSystem CIs.
Another example is the relationship between IISWebService and
ComputerSystem. If only ComputerSystem is set to ACTIVE, the IISWebService
actual CI is not created because the RunsOn relationship between Computer
System and IISWebService is only found on IISWebService. If Tivoli Integration
Composer is only following the ComputerSystem instance, it never reaches the
IISWebService. Instead, activate IISWebService for Tivoli Integration Composer
to be able to follow the relationship to the ComputerSystem.

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For more information about promotion scope filtering, see the SmartCloud
Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v51r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/config/c_ci_type_depth_auth_space_promotion_filtering.html
Understanding the depth settings is one of the three critical concepts that
determines what Tivoli Integration Composer will actually import. As with the
filtering option, the depth setting is controlled by properties in the
ccmdb.properties file. The default depth property is:
ccmdb.classification.default.depth=3
For the active top-level CI Types, Tivoli Integration Composer imports Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CI data up to a specified depth. The
default depth setting is used unless this setting is overridden with a
ccmdb.classification.depth property, for example:
ccmdb.classification.depth.APP.APPSERVER=4
If a top-level CI Type has a depth setting other than the default value, the
subclasses are also processed with that same depth setting unless specifically
overridden.
For example, if SYS.COMPUTERSYSTEM was set to a depth 4 and
SYS.WINDOWS.WINDOWSCOMPUTERSYSTEM was set to a depth 2, Tivoli
Integration Composer imports all computer system type CIs at depth 4 except for
Windows computer systems, which are imported using a depth of 2. This is true
for Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0.1 Hot Fix 3 and above. Tivoli Integration
Composer 7.5.0 can be upgraded to Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0.1 without
having to upgrade SmartCloud Control Desk to 7.5.0.1.

Option 2: Using the IdML loader to import Actual CI data

The ImportIDML tool is used to import IdML formatted data into SmartCloud
Control Desk. There are no special install options. This tool is automatically
available after Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.1 is installed. The ImportIDML tool
is run from the /bin directory, under the Integration Composer root directory. The
tool inserts ImportIDML as the ChangeBy value of the ACTCI table to distinguish
how the CI was imported. Use the following command to run the tool:
importIDML -f<filename> -c<prefix> -p<prefix> -s<customer>
Provide the following input parameters;
-c<prefix>

254

Optional. Used to delete Actual CIs that were created by

using the ImportIDML tool and whose ACTCINUM value
starts with the specified prefix. A prefix value is required.
The deletion takes place immediately. This process does

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

not use the CCIDELETEDACTCI table to mark the Actual

CI for deletion. There will be no history trail other than the
log files.
-f<filename>

This parameter is required unless the -c option is used.

The IdML file name must be provided and, if a full path is
not specified, the file must be in the directory <ITIC
root>/data/idml
If both the -c and -f options are provided, only the -c
option is processed.

-p<prefix>

Optional. This prefix is used as part of the ACTCINUM

value when creating CIs.

-s<customer>

Optional. The primary customer name to set for each

Actual CI created.

-m<filename>

Optional. The property file name for db connection

password. The default is the executeMapping.properties
file.

The ImportIDML tool reads the fusion.properties file to find the location of the
SmartCloud Control Desk database. Properties mxe.db.url, mxe.db.usr,
mxe.db.driver, and mxe.db.schemaowner are used to create the database
connection.
The database password is taken from the executeMapping.properties file (the
same file that the actual CI Tivoli Integration Composer processing uses.) The
ImportIDML tool first uses the value of TARGETPWD as the database password,
but if that is blank, the value in REPOSITORYPWD is used. Tivoli Integration
Composer and the ImportIDML tool support the passwords being encrypted. You
can use the encryptExecuteMappingProperties.bat or .sh scripts to encrypt the
passwords in the executeMapping.properties file.
All error messages and debug statements are written to the <ITIC
root>/log/fusion.log
The debug levels of ERROR, INFO, WARN, DEBUG can be used. Track IdML
loader processing with the following three debug options in the <ITIC
root>/data/properties/logging.properties file:
log4j.logger.idml=INFO
log4j.logger.idml.detail=ERROR
log4j.logger.maximo.sql=ERROR
The log4j.logger.idml.detail provides much lower-level details such as entry
and exit logging.

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When you use the ImportIDML tool to import IdML data, it either creates Actual
CIs or modifies existing ones. This tool cannot be used to delete imported Actual
CIs that no longer exist in the source database. Also, this tool does not recognize
the IdML extended attributes syntax. The only way that you can import extended
attributes is to add them to the IdML file as normal attributes and update the
SmartCloud Control Desk ASSETATTRIBUTE and CLASSSPEC tables.
When the tool processes an IdML file, it processes each entry in the same way,
regardless of whether the entry is in a create section or a modify section. The
tool uses the specified ID tag, and a prefix if one is entered, to create an
ACTCINUM for the CI. The tool then queries the database for an actual CI with
that ACTCINUM value. If one is found, the CI entry is processed as an update.
Otherwise, a new CI is created.
Caution: Remembering the prefix that you use is important. If you import the
same actual CI more than once but use a different prefix, the ACTCINUM
values will not match, and the second import creates a new Actual CI rather
than an update.
After all the entries in the file are processed, the tool uses the Naming and
Reconciliation Service to create a unique identifier for each newly created Actual
CI that represents a computer system. This processing uses the same Naming
and Reconciliation Service (NRS) APIs that Tivoli Integration Composer uses
and sets the ACTCI.DISGUID to the generated GUID just as Tivoli Integration
Composer Actual CI processing does.
For each Computer System entry, if an existing Actual CI is found with the same
generated DIS GUID identifier, the older Computer System is marked for deletion
by adding a record to the CCIDELETEDACTCI database table. The tool assumes
that the new information must replace the old record.
Caution: This NRS processing does not take the prefix into consideration
when generating the unique identifier. Therefore, if two discovered resources
exist with different prefixes, the one with the most recent create/update time
stamp remains. This reconciliation processing includes the entries that are
created by the Actual CI Tivoli Integration Composer adapter as well.
Therefore, if both Tivoli Integration Composer and ImportIDML are used to
import identical CIs, the generated DIS GUID is identical and one of the CIs
will be deleted.
This processing can be turned off with the following property in the
fusion.properties file:
mxe.fusion.mapping.nrs.enable=false

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The property is set to true by default, and affects both Tivoli Integration
Composer and ImportIDML processing.
The IdML specification says that the ID tag is optional, but this tag is required for
importing CI data and is assumed to be unique. The ID is used, along with an
optional prefix, to create the ACTCINUM attribute for the actual CI. Be sure that
your IdML files have this tag specified for each actual CI. If the tool encounters a
CI record without an ID, a warning message is written to the log file and the CI
record is skipped. If the IdML file contains duplicate IDs, the first one is inserted
and the others are treated as duplicates and the Actual CI is updated.
If you need to create relationships between Actual CIs that were loaded with
different prefixes or between an Actual CI that was loaded without a prefix (for
example if it was loaded through Tivoli Integration Composer) and an Actual CI
that was loaded using a prefix, specify those relationships in a separate IdML file.
Then complete these steps:
Manually add the prefix that you used to either the source or target of the
relationship in the IdML file for any Actual CIs that were loaded with a prefix.
Run the importIDML command with this file as input, and do not specify the
prefix (-p) option.

The createIDMLMetaCache tool

SmartCloud Control Desk version 7.5.1 is included with version 2.10.18 of the
Common Data Model. The CDM version that is used to export into the IdML input
file must match. To check the version that is used to generate your IdML file, look
at the top line of the IdML file. The CDMSchemaVersion parameter shows the
version of the Common Data Model against which this IdML file was validated. If
this schema version is newer than the version included with the SCCD release
you are using, use the createIDMLMetaCache tool to update the files that are
used to process through the IdML input file.
The createIDMLMetaCache tool is in the <ITIC root>/bin directory. It reads a
CDM.xsd file, and outputs three text files into the <ITIC
root>/data/idml/cdm_metadata directory:
cdmdatetimes.txt
This file contains a list of CDM names that have a datetime format that must
be converted to a time stamp to be loaded.
cdmenumerationmap.txt
This file contains a list of enumerations that are used to convert the
alphanumeric enumerations to appropriate integer values that the product
recognizes.
cdmnames.txt

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This file contains a list of valid CDM names that are used to recognize
improper CDM names and issue warnings. If the Idml file contains CI Types
that are not in this file, they are not imported.
If any of these files exist, the tool renames the existing file by appending the
current time stamp and creates a new file. These files can be manually modified
as needed.
The createIDMLMetaCache tool accepts one parameter, which is the name of an
xsd file. Specify the location of the xsd file that contains the schema that is used
to generate your IdML file. If no file name is specified, the tool runs against <ITIC
root>/data/idml/cdm_metadata/CDM.xsd.

Step 9: Running Create Authorized CIs

The Create Authorized CIs menu item in the Actual CI application is used to
select actual CIs and apply a template to them that results in newly created
authorized CIs. This concept of copying actual CIs to authorized CIs while
including only what you are interested in managing is called promotion. The
following are the key points to understand when promoting:

Start with Top Level

Promote One CI Type at a time
Key promotion factors
Promotion example
Promotion strategy
Copying attributes
On-demand attributes

Start with Top Level

Promotion applies a template that determines whether to include related CIs, and
that template needs a starting point. That starting point is a top-level CI, so you
can only promote top-level CIs. For more information about top-level CI types,
see Step 2: Deciding what type of CIs to manage on page 235.

Promote One CI Type at a time

You can promote only one top-level CI Type at a time. If you select actual CIs of
more than one CI type, you receive an error message. The Create Authorized
CIs window is not displayed. You need to select CIs of a single CI type.

Key promotion factors

There are three factors that contribute to creating authorized CIs during
promotion. They are promotion scopes, relation rules, and the attributes defined
on an authorized classification.

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The promotion scope determines which type of authorized CI is created for a

particular actual CI type. It also determines which related CI types are
considered when promoting a top-level CI. If you promote one top-level Actual CI,
you can directly or indirectly create several authorized CIs: The top level and CIs
that are related to the top level. The promotion scope is configured using the
Deployers Workbench. For more information, see Step 4: Configuring promotion
scope and relationships on page 245.
Relationrules are required to promote related CIs. Missing relationrules are often
the cause for expected CIs not actually being created. In respect to promotion,
relationrules have four parts:
The source CI type

The classification of the CI that is the source of the

relationship.

The target CI type

The classification of the CI that is the target of the

relationship.

The relationnum

The identifier of the type of relationship (for example,

runson, virtualizes, and so on).

IsTargetParent flag

Specifies if the source or the target is considered the

parent. This determines the direction of a relationship.
Often, the wrong isTargetParent flag is the reason that a
CI that you expected to be promoted was not in fact
promoted. The direction starts at the parent and goes
down to the child. If you do not know the isTargetParent
flag of the relationrule between the two classifications of
CIs, you do not know whether the related CI is promoted
or not.

The relationrule must be defined for the authorized classification. If the

relationrule for the authorized classifications is missing, the related CI is not
created.

Promotion example
Promotion scopes and relationrules can be confusing. Consider the following
example, which includes two actual CIs: CI_A and CI_B:
ACTCI_A
The ACTCINUM (the unique identifier) is CI_A.
The classification for the CI is ACTCICLASSA.
The classification ACTCIROOT.A is designated as a top level.

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 ACTCI_B
The ACTCINUM (the unique identifier) is CI_B.
The classification for the CI is ACTCICLASSB.
CI_A is related to CI_B with a dependson relationship.
The relationnum (the identifier for the type of relationship) is
RELATION.DEPENDSON.
CI_A is the source of the relationship.
CI_B is the target of the relationship.
In this example, it takes the following to promote CI_A, a top level actual CI, and
have two authorized CIs, CI_A and CI_B created and related to each other with a
dependson relationship?:
You need a promotion scope for ACTCICLASSA. This promotion scope maps
ACTCICLASSA to CICLASSA (the authorized classification).
The ACTCICLASSA promotion scope includes ACTCICLASSB being
mapped to CICLASSB.
You need a relationrule between the authorized classifications. The source
classification is CICLASSA. The target classification is CICLASSB. The
relationnum is RELATION.DEPENDSON. In addition, isTargetParent is false
(meaning CI_A is the parent and you are starting with CI_A and moving down
to CI_B).
If you promote the actual CI identified as CI_A, you have two newly created
authorized CIs. They are CI_A and CI_B. Notice that promotion copies the
ACTCI identifier to the CI identifier. These authorized CIs are related by a
dependson relationship. Also, the two new authorized CIs are linked back to the
actual CIs that they were created from.
Important: With promotion, if related CIs are not getting created, you almost
always need to carefully consider the promotion scope and the relation rules.

Promotion strategy
Now that you understand how the promotion scope and relation rules determines
which related CIs are created, consider a promotion strategy. As an example,
consider promoting Computer Systems and Business Systems. Both of these are
top-level CI types and are related to each other. If you promote a business
system, the relation rule considers the business system the parent, and directs
its way down to the computer system. Thus, if you promote the business system,
you also get the computer system that is part of the business system promotion
scope.

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The reverse is not true. If you promote the computer system, the relation rule
does not specify the computer system as the parent, the relation rule does not
match, and the business system is not promoted.
You might think that you just need to promote the business system and then you
get the computer system too. This is true, but you might not get everything else
that is specified in the computer system promotion scope.
In this case, it is best to promote the business system and also promote the
computer system. By doing this, you get all of the related CIs on the business
system and computer system promotion scope. Note that if you promote an
actual CI that has already been promoted, it does not create another CI.

Copying attributes
When you check the Copy Attributes option during promotion, the value from the
actual CI is copied to the authorized CI. However, an attribute of the same name
must be created in the authorized CI classification of the CI that is created. Thus,
if the authorized classification does not include a particular attribute, that
attribute's value is not copied to the authorized side. If you choose the update
promotion option when using Create Configuration Items, the attribute values
from the actual side override the attribute values on the authorized side as shown
in Figure 5-13 on page 262.
Attributes or specifications: You might hear CI attributes referred to as
specifications. In SmartCloud Control Desk, both terms are used
interchangeably.

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Figure 5-13 Creating an authorized CI

If you want to promote an actual CI a second time without overriding attribute

values, leave Update Existing CIs cleared on the Create Authorized
Configuration Item window, or use Synchronize CIs in the Configuration Items
application for more granular options.
Tip: The Configuration Item name is treated like an attribute. The actual CI
name is copied to the CI name when the CI is first created. It is updated from
the actual CI name on a subsequent promotion only if Update Existing CIs is
selected on the Create Authorized Configuration Item window.

On-demand attributes
Before IBM Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database 7.2.1, when
promotion created a CI, all attributes that were defined on the CI's classification
were created. The attribute had a blank value if copy attributes was not selected
during promotion or if the attribute had no discovered value on the actual CI.

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However, in Change and Configuration Management Database 7.2.1, a

performance driven behavior change was made to the way attributes are created
during promotion. An attribute is only created if Copy Attributes is checked and
the attribute on the actual side had a non-blank value or if the attribute has a
default value defined. Thus, since 7.2.1, CIs created by promotion often do not
have every attribute that is defined by its classification.
There is no longer the same performance concern that prompted this change.
However, the behavior remains changed and might cause usability issues. In
SmartCloud Control Desk, there is a system property to return the behavior to
before 7.2.1 so that the system creates every attribute that is defined on the
authorized classification.
Generally, turn on this system property, which is cci.promotion.keepallblanks.
Use the System Property application to set the value to 1 to turn on the property.
The default is 0. After you enable the property, you can rerun promotion or use
Synchronize CIs, and any missing attributes are created as shown in
Figure 5-14.

Figure 5-14 Setting system properties

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Tip: Some other system properties can also affect promotion. For more
information, see the following IBM developerWorks article:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/tivoliccmdb/System+P
roperties+Used+by+Actual+CI+Promotion

Step 10: Starting to use CIs to support configuration

management
After using promotion to create authorized CIs, you are ready to use SmartCloud
Control Desk to manage the configuration of your devices. You can view and
modify your CIs, understand the risk of changing a CI, and audit the configuration
of how you are managing your device versus how the device is actually
configured. In SmartCloud Control Desk, the auditing function is called
reconciliation. For more information about auditing actual and authorized CIs,
see 5.2.5, Reconciliation (audit) best practices on page 277.

Step 11: Repeating the entire process

As you continue to practice configuration management, you can schedule Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager to discover the most up-to-date
information about your devices. After each discovery, rerun the Tivoli Integration
Composer Actual CI adapter and promote any extra CIs that have been
discovered and that you want to manage.
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager discovery and running the
Tivoli Integration Composer Actual CI adapter can be automated and scheduled
on a nightly basis or at a chosen interval. The Tivoli Integration Composer Actual
CI adapter runs a delta load to update the existing actuals with the most current
discovered information, and import newly discovered CIs and relationships.
In SmartCloud Control Desk, you cannot automate promotion. You must carefully
consider how you want to promote actual CIs after your initial discovery and
actual CI load. If you run Create authorized CIs on actual CIs that have already
been promoted, extra CIs that were discovered are created and the attributes are
overridden if you chose to update existing CIs.
Synchronize CIs in the Configuration application also allows you to rerun
promotion on an authorized CI to create any other related CIs that were
discovered as shown in Figure 5-15 on page 265. There are more granular
options so that you can avoid overwriting your attributes. See the SmartCloud
Control Desk InfoCenter for more information:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/config/c_db_sync_ci.html

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Figure 5-15 Synchronize CIs

Generally, use Synchronize CIs to update existing authorized CIs, and use
Create Authorized CIs only for top level actual CIs that are not linked to an
authorized CI yet.
If you prefer to use Create Authorized CIs to update actual CIs that have
already been promoted, clear Update Existing CIs so that your attribute values
are not overridden. Then, you can update all your authorized CIs to copy values
from the actual side if the authorized side is blank, but not overwrite any existing
authorized value.
Predefined queries and extra filtering on the List tab of the Actual CI and
Configuration Item application are often useful when promoting after each
discovery. You might want to know which actual CIs are not promoted yet. There
is a predefined query for that. However, with the Where Clause, you can create a
query that lists, for example, all of the Windows servers, but shows you only the
ones that do not have an authorized CI associated with them yet. If you take the
time to set up some queries for all of the top-level types that you need to
promote, it might make it easier to promote after each Tivoli Integration
Composer load. You can filter with a query and then promote the entire set of
actual CIs. A short cut is to select no rows and then click Create Authorized CI.

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A dialog then asks you if you want to promote all of the records that you filtered
on.
To avoid out of memory errors, SmartCloud Control Desk enforces a fetch limit
for the number of records it can process at a time. The default fetch limit for
business objects is 5000. However, because it is not uncommon for customers to
want to promote more than 5000 actual CIs at a time, an actual CI-specific
property has been defined. This system property is called
mxe.db.fetchResultStopLimit.ACTCI as shown in Figure 5-16. The predefined
limit is set to 50000. You cannot promote more than this number of actual CIs at a
time. You might need to filter your list of actual CIs so that the resulting set
contains fewer than this limit. If this is not possible, increase the fetch limit by
using the System Properties application. However, your system must have
sufficient resources, specifically memory, to handle the specified number of
objects. A similar system property exists for CIs, called
mxe.db.fetchResultStopLimit.CI.

Figure 5-16 Defining fetch limits

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5.2.3 Starting with authorized CIs

Although it is easier to start with actual CIs, you might decide that you want to put
your IT devices into configuration management before they are discovered.
There are many reasons for this, such as:
You might have a spreadsheet of CIs to load, and some of these CIs are not
online at the moment. You want to manage them but if they are not online,
they cannot be discovered and thus you cannot start with actual CIs.
You might want to manage your CIs before they even arrive to your data
center. Perhaps you will use a change request to bring them online.
There are some drawbacks to this approach. It is more complicated and requires
careful planning and review to ensure that your IT devices are correctly linked
when the actual CIs are eventually discovered and imported.
Important: The biggest concern is configuring your link rules incorrectly so
that after you start discovering CIs and running promotions, you introduce
duplicate authorized CIs into the system. It can be challenging to correct and
remove the duplicate CIs. The worst case scenario is that you have multiple
CIs that represent the same device, and each one has a process artifact such
as a change request or an incident associated with it. This requires a
considerable amount of effort to fix. This section provides you with a best
practice approach to avoid this.
Here are the steps to start with authorized CIs:
1. Decide whether you need related CIs before discovery occurs.
2. Decide how to populate your authorized CIs (integration framework, Quick
Config, manually).
3. Use your authorized CIs with many SmartCloud Control Desk functions such
as change management, impact analysis, and topology.
4. When your devices come online, have Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager discover them.
5. Use the CI Type application to configure which type of devices the Tivoli
Integration Composer Actual CI adapter brings into SmartCloud Control Desk
as actual CIs.
6. Run the Actual CI Type adapter to load actual CIs into SmartCloud Control
Desk.
7. Run Link to Actuals in the CI application using preview mode to make sure
that naming rules that link actual and authorized CIs are correct.
8. Run Link to Actuals or promote with the link to actual option turned on.

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9. Synchronize CIs.
10.Your actual CIs and authorized CIs are now linked together, and you are
ready to run audits on the configuration of your devices.
11.Repeat this process regularly as new devices that you are already managing
as authorized CIs are brought online and Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager discovers them.

Step 1: Determining whether related CIs are required

When starting with authorized CI, only create top level authorized CIs unless you
need the relationships and related CIs before discovery. This can greatly reduce
the complexity of linking your authorized CIs to actual CIs later on. The reason is
that top-level CIs have easy naming rules that mostly consist of attributes.
Related CIs have naming rules that include other related CIs as part of the
naming criteria. This is defined in the common data model that Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager is based on. The more complicated a naming
rule is, the more chances there are for incorrectly linking an actual and an
authorized CI.
If you can increase the likelihood that your authorized CIs can be correctly
matched to an actual CI when they are brought into the system, you can
minimize the risk of creating duplicate authorized CIs using the promotion
process.

Step 2: Populating authorized CIs

There are three ways you can create authorized CIs without using actual CIs.
You can use the integration framework and the predefined CI object structure
to define CIs, attributes, and relationships in XML or CSV format. For more
information on importing CIs using the integration framework, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.mbs.d
oc/gp_intfrmwk/c_intfrmwk_overview.html
You can also use the Quick Configuration application to load CSV files to
define CIs, attributes, and relationships. For more information, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.sccd.
doc/import/t_importing_data_container.html
CIs can be created manually by using the CI application. This is a good option to
add one or two CIs, but it is time consuming to create a large number of CIs this
way. For more information about using the Configuration application to create
CIs, attributes and relationships, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.sccd.doc
/config/t_create_cis.html

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Step 3: Using authorized CIs brought directly into SmartCloud

Control Desk
After the authorized CIs are created using one of these methods, you can use
the CIs in many SmartCloud Control Desk functions.
Even if you chose to create only top-level CIs, you can put them into a protected
state, maintain their attributes, and associate them to other SmartCloud Control
Desk process artifacts, such as a service request, an offering, or a change
request.
If you do choose to bring in the related CIs, you can also use topology and
impact analysis.

Step 4: Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager

discovers devices
These same devices that you are managing can eventually be discovered by
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager. For more information about
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager discovery levels, see Step 1:
Discovery on page 233.

Step 5/Step 6: Configuring CI Types and running Tivoli

Integration Composer adapter to bring actual CIs into
SmartCloud Control Desk
For information about activating CI types and using the Tivoli Integration
Composer Actual CI adapter to import CIs discovered by Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager into SmartCloud Control Desk as actual CIs,
see Step 5: Reviewing the relationship rules on page 247 and Step 6:
Configuring CI Types for Tivoli Integration Composer to load on page 248.

Step 7: Reviewing naming rules for linking authorized and

actual CIs
As new CIs are discovered in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
and brought into SmartCloud Control Desk as actual CIs, you must link an
authorized CI to its corresponding actual CI. This match is done by using Naming
Rules that are pre-populated into SmartCloud Control Desk and are defined for
the best practice classifications. These predefined naming rules are based on
the ones that are defined in the CDM and included with Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager. The naming rules control how an authorized CI
is matched to an actual CI. Similar to the CDM, SmartCloud Control Desk
naming rules match attributes and relationships. For example, you can use the
attribute Serial Number to match a computer system to its actual CI, or you can

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use an operating system's relationship to its computer system as shown in

Figure 5-17.

Figure 5-17 Using naming rules in the Configuration Items application

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Linking an authorized CI to the wrong actual CI can create issues within the
system such as inaccurate audit results. Also, failing to find a match for an
authorized CI when the corresponding actual CI exists can introduce duplicates
into the system during promotion. If the actual CI is not linked to an authorized CI
and the naming rules cannot find a match, a duplicate CI is created.
Therefore, before you attempt to link an authorized CI to an actual CI, go to the
Configuration application and run Link to Actuals in preview mode first, as
shown in Figure 5-18. Preview mode allows you to see how the naming rules
configured in your system will link authorized and actual CIs without linking them.
You can receive an email summary of what authorized and actual CIs are linked.
To review, take a sample of authorized CIs from each classification and verify that
they find the correct corresponding actual CI if it is available.

Figure 5-18 Running Link to Actual CIs in preview mode

After you review the preview email, modify the naming rules as needed and rerun
Link to Actuals in preview mode to test your naming rule updates. You can also
choose to leave out CIs that are not linking correctly.
Warning: If you modify the authorized CI classifications from the best
practices, you must update the naming rules with the correct
classstructureids (internal ID for a CI Type)
For more information about running Link to Actuals in preview mode, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/config/t_create_cis.html

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For more information about SmartCloud Control Desk naming rules and how to
modify them using object structures and the integration framework, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/config/t_import_naming_rules.html
For background information about the Common Data Model naming rules, see
the Common Data Model documentation that is included with Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager.

Step 8: Linking authorized CIs to actual CIs

After you are confident that your naming rules are configured correctly, you have
two choices to link authorized and actual CIs. You can either use the Link to
Actuals function in the Configuration Items application, or you can run Create
Authorized CIs (promotion) from the Actual CI application using the Check For
Existing CIs option.
Both of these options use the SmartCloud Control Desk naming rules to try to
match actual CIs and authorized CIs.
Using promotion can be convenient because you can choose a set of actual CIs
and promote them. If the naming rules match an authorized CI, the authorized
and actual CIs are linked. However, promotion only attempts to link the actual CIs
that you select. It does not attempt to link any of the related actual CIs that it
processes unless the Naming Rule for the selected actual CI type uses a
relationship. If you have created related CIs that you need to link, use the Link to
Actual CIs action from the Configuration Items application.
Using the Link to Actuals action from the Configuration Items application has
some additional benefits. You can choose to get an email summary of the
authorized and actual CIs that were linked and which naming rule was used in
each case. You can also choose to link multiple CI Types at the same time.
For more information about using Link to Actuals, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/config/c_linkauthtoactual_overview.html
For more information about promoting actual CIs with the Check for Existing
CIs option, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/config/c_prevention_duplicate_cis.html

Step 9: Synchronizing CIs

After you link an authorized CI to its corresponding actual CI, you can use the
Synchronize CI function in the Configuration Item application to populate the CI

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with the discovered data. If you only created the top level authorized CI, you can
bring over all of the related CIs now. Even if you created some related CIs
manually, Synchronize CIs can bring over more related CIs.
Synchronize CIs follows the same logic as promotion does, and uses the
promotion scope, relation rules, and classifications in the same way. You get the
same results if you run Synchronize CI on the authorized CI or Create
Authorized CIs on the actual CI. However, Synchronize CI has more granular
options and can be run from the authorized CIs. Also, with Synchronize CIs, you
can select CIs of different CI types at the same time, which provides more
flexibility over Create Authorized CIs.

Step 10: Auditing authorized CIs

After you link authorized CIs to actual CIs, you are ready to use SmartCloud
Control Desk to audit the configuration of how you are managing your device
versus how the device is actually configured. In SmartCloud Control Desk, the
auditing function is called reconciliation. For more information about auditing
actual and authorized CIs, see 5.2.5, Reconciliation (audit) best practices on
page 277.

Step 11: Repeating the entire process if needed

In SmartCloud Control Desk, you cannot automate promotion or linking using
naming rules. You must consider how you want to promote actual CIs after your
initial discovery and actual CI load. If you start with authorized CIs, you can use
promotion with the check for duplicates option to link an authorized CI to the
actual CI before promoting. However, if you manually created or imported related
authorized CIs, use the Link to Actuals function before promoting because this
tries to link the related CIs as well.
For more information about how to repeat the process as new CIs are created
and Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager continues to discover
new data, see Step 11: Repeating the entire process on page 264.

5.2.4 CI lifecycles and status

Configuration Items have a status field that defines what operational state it is in.
The set of valid states is defined by a CI lifecycle. The classification of the CI
determines what its CI lifecycle is.
The CI Lifecycles application can be used to manage CI lifecycles. Using this
application, you can define the set of states that are associated with the lifecycle
and the valid transitions between them. You can associate a list of authorized CI
classifications with a lifecycle. Each classification can only be associated with a
single lifecycle. One lifecycle can be designated as the default lifecycle. This

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means that it is used as the lifecycle on any CIs whose classification is not
specified elsewhere.
A lifecycle must include a default state. The default state is assigned to any new
CIs that use this lifecycle. When an unclassified CI is classified, its status is
initialized to the default state defined for its lifecycle.
States can be protected or unprotected. A CI must be associated with an
approved Change Request to change into or out of a protected state. A
Configuration Item in a protected state requires a Change Request to be
modified. This includes changes that are made by update promotion. Defining a
state as protected provides tighter control over changes that are made to the CI
while it is in that state.

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SmartCloud Control Desk contains two predefined lifecycles, Default and ITIL,
as shown in Figure 5-19.

Figure 5-19 The predefined lifecycle states that are available

As its name implies, the Default lifecycle is designated as the default lifecycle. It
consists of three states: NOT READY, OPERATING, and DECOMMISIONED.
None of these states are protected. The NOT READY status is the default status

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and is used when a CI is not yet in operation. During its useful life, a CI is
typically in the OPERATING status. The DECOMMISSIONED status is used
when the CI is no longer in use. Many business rules prevent CIs from being
deleted. Instead, change the CIs to the DECOMMISSIONED status when they
are no longer being used. Some special business rules apply to CIs in the
DECOMMISSIONED status. For example, some of the Select Value filters used
within SmartCloud Control Desk filter out CIs that are DECOMMISSIONED.
The default lifecycle is sufficient most of the time. However, you might want to
see more granular states on your CIs, or provide tighter control over changes to
your CIs at certain times. The ITIL lifecycle that is also included as a predefined
lifecycle contains 10 states, some of which are protected. You might want to use
this lifecycle as-is, or modify it to meet your needs. In its predefined state, no
classifications are associated with this lifecycle, so the Default lifecycle is used
for all CIs.
When you change the status of a CI, its lifecycle determines the states that it can
change to. If the current or new state is protected, you must specify the Change
Number for a change work order that is approved or in progress and whose
targets include the CI. In addition, when you change the status of a CI,
SmartCloud Control Desk changes the status of all its child CIs.
A contained child CI is a CI that is related to the selected CI where the
relationship rule that governs the relationship meets certain criteria. To
determine whether a related CI will have its status changed, find the relationship
name, the classification of the Source CI, and the classification of the Target CI
on the relationship. Go to the Relationships application and filter on the
Relationship name. In the Relationship Rules table, locate the rule where the
Source Classification matches the class of the Source CI and the Target
Classification matches the class of the Target CI. If the Containment flag is not
set, the child CI will not automatically have its status changed. If the Containment
flag is set, look at the Is Target Parent flag. If the CI selected to have its status
changed is the Source Class and Is Target Parent is not set, the child will have its
status changed as well. If the CI selected to have its status changed is the Target
Class and the Is Target Parent flag is set, the child will have its status changed.
Tip: The child's status change is subject to all of the same business rules as
the parent. It must be a valid status change for the child CI's status to be
modified. The status change on the parent fails if the status change on any of
the child CIs fails.

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5.2.5 Reconciliation (audit) best practices

To audit an authorized CI against the discovered data in SmartCloud Control
Desk, use the reconciliation cron task. To audit all of the top-level CIs, the related
CIs, the attributes, and the relationships between CIs, use the Full CI Recon
option when setting up your reconciliation task. Full CI reconciliation uses the
relationrules to follow relationships for authorized CIs and compare each CI to
the actual CI it has been linked to. For more information about full CI comparison
rules, see the SmartCloud Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.mbs.doc/
gp_recon/c_full_ci_comparison.html
Depending on the volume of actual and authorized CIs, reconciliation can require
intensive processing on your processor and memory. With extra large data sets,
there are ways to break up reconciliation into multiple tasks so that you can
stagger the processing of certain CI types. You can use a task filter and specify
the CI Type to run reconciliation against using the classstructureid filter. See the
SmartCloud Control Desk InfoCenter for information about how to add a task
filter:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.mbs.doc/
rcntskfltr/t_crt_task_filters.html
By creating multiple reconciliation tasks, each with a classstructureid task
filter, you can avoid processing all CI types at the same time.
When setting a classstructureid filter with the UI, you are only filtering the
authorized classifications that are processed. However, you can also apply a
task filter to the actual side. When reconciliation runs, it tries to link each
authorized CI to all of the actual CIs. If there is a large volume of actual CIs, you
can specify which actual CIs are considered. For example, if you set up a task
filter to only process CI.WINDOWSCOMPUTERSYSTEMS, you can probably set
the actual CI filter to only include SYS.WINDOWSCOMPUTERSYSTEM CIs.
To specify an actual CI filter, create a system property that identifies the
classifications of the actual CIs that are included during the comparison. During
the reconciliation, only actual CIs with the specified classifications are brought
into memory and used for comparison. Filters are specified by reconciliation task,
so each task can use a different filter.
The actual CI filter is configured by using the System Properties application by
adding a system property. For the Property Name, specify
recon.actualci.filter.<yourReconTaskName>. In place of
<yourReconTaskName>, substitute the name of the reconciliation task this filter is
to be used with. For the Global Value, specify a comma-separated list of the
classstructureids for the actual CI classifications that are included in the

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comparison. For example, if your reconciliation task is comparing authorized

Windows computer systems, you might want to limit your actual CI data sets to
the actual CI classifications for Windows computer systems. To determine the
classstructureid value for a classification hierarchy path, use the CI Types
application. You do not need to restart your server for these settings to take
effect, but you must refresh the property by using Live Refresh as shown in
Figure 5-20.

Figure 5-20 Define a reconciliation filter

Using task filters is very useful when you are running reconciliation on large
amounts of CI and actual CI data.

5.2.6 Impact analysis

You can use the Configuration Item application to analyze the effect that a
change will have on related Configuration Items. The CI Topology tab shows the
hierarchy of related Configuration Items. If you click the Show Impacted check
box, you can see which of its related CIs will be impacted if the current
Configuration Item is changed.

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Figure 5-21 shows the Detail View of a Linux Computer System with Show
Impacted selected. The yellow fill color and triangle icons indicate the related
Configuration Items that will be affected by a change to the Linux Computer
System. The two Configuration Items that are not shaded in yellow and do not
have the triangle icon will not be affected.

Figure 5-21 Impact analysis for a Linux Computer System

5.2.7 Baselines
So far, this chapter has focused on using actual and authorized CIs to maintain a
managed state of CIs and notify you through auditing if the configuration of your
devices veers from that state. However, you might change your system and find
that the managed configuration you chose is causing issues. To troubleshoot this
problem, it is useful to know what your configuration was like at a point when your
configuration was running smoothly. You can make this comparison using CI
Baselines.

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You can use baselines to take a snapshot of your authorized CI space at a

particular point in time as shown in Figure 5-22. You typically do this when you
have a configuration that you know is good and working as planned. As you
move forward and make configuration changes to your authorized space, you
have this baseline to refer to. Using the baseline application, you can compare
your baseline to the actual CI space. This gives you some insight into what is
different from the time when things were operating correctly.

Figure 5-22 Capturing an active CI baseline

Baselines contain a set of member CIs. The more members that you have in a
baseline, the longer it takes to run a comparison.Therefore, avoid including too
many members in a baseline. For example, including all of the CIs owned by your
sales division might be a bad idea. Instead, you can create a baseline to capture
each business system that you use, such as one baseline for the CIs that
comprise your payroll system, and one for the CIs that make up your conference
room reservation system.

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When you compare a baseline to your actual CI space, it compares the attribute
values and relationships that existed for its member CIs at the time you activated
your baseline as shown in Figure 5-23. It compares the historical value of the CI
to the current value of the actual CI to which it is linked. The resulting window
shows discrepancies in attributes, relationships, and also whether the actual CI
has been deleted. By including all of the CIs that make up the system, you can
detect anything that has changed in that system. For example, you can see
whether memory has been removed, or software has been updated, which can
narrow down the scope of your troubleshooting when something is not working.

Figure 5-23 Use Compare with Actual CIs to see baseline comparison results

When creating your baseline, generally start with all of the top-level CIs (for
example computer systems) that are used by the business system. The CI
Baselines application provides a way to select CIs for a baseline by choosing
from all available CIs. Click Select CIs from the All Available CIs window to apply
filters to search for CIs that meet your criteria. After you specify the search
criteria, click Refine and select one or more of the resulting CIs to add to the
baseline. The results table contains a filter as well, and you can use that to
provide more filtering, such as limiting the results to those that are Top-Level.
After you add your top-level CIs to the baseline, you can add related CIs. If a
top-level is used solely for the business system, you probably want to add related
CIs that were created when it was first promoted. The Select CIs menu has an
option to select From Child CIs of Selected Top-Level Member CI. Select each
of your top-level member CIs (for example, computer systems) in turn, and then
choose this option from the menu. The system then displays an informational
message that this process might take a few minutes. The resulting window shows

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you all of the CIs that were created by using the promotion of the selected
top-level CI. You can select some or all of these to add to the baseline. Select
whichever ones are used by your business system or that you feel you want to
compare if a problem occurs. If the top level is used solely for the business
system, you probably want to add all of them. It is safer to have a few too many
members in a baseline than to omit some that you might need later on.
After you add all of the CIs that are used to implement the system, and you know
that your business system is working correctly, activate the baseline. This
effectively takes a picture of the member CIs as they currently exist. If you update
any of the CIs in your system, for example if you add more memory, another
processor, or different software, create a new version of the baseline. Add or
remove any member CIs to reflect what is being used by your system. When you
know that the system is working correctly, activate this new version of the
baseline.
If a problem is detected with the business system, you can run a baseline
comparison using the version of the baseline that represents its most recent
good configuration. This compares all of the CIs used by your business system,
and help you to quickly see any discrepancies.

5.2.8 Data cleansing and reconciliation

This section highlights the functions in the areas of data cleansing and name
reconciliation for assets and configuration items. It includes a conceptual
description that defines data cleansing and reconciliation, and highlights the
business value that is associated with these functions.
Following the conceptual discussion, this section delves into the details of the
following data cleansing and reconciliation functions that have been added to
SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1:
Detecting duplicates when computer systems are saved or updated.
Remediating duplicate asset and configuration item computer system data
already in your environment.
Reports for identifying duplicates.
Improvements to various linking processes that take advantage of the data
cleansing and reconciliation functions.
It also provides details about the configuration for these functions. If you are
using best practice data models for assets and configuration items, this
configuration is optional. If you are using other models or have customized the
best practice models, this is important information.

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Another section provides some troubleshooting guidance for common issues that
you might face when you implement the data cleansing and reconciliation
functions.

Data cleansing overview

In SmartCloud Control Desk, data about assets and configuration items (both
discovered and authorized) can be brought into SmartCloud Control Desk from
other data sources by using IBM Tivoli Integration Composer adapters or the
Maximo Integration Framework.
In some cases, the source product that discovers the asset or configuration item
formats the attribute information about the object in slightly different ways. For
example, consider how the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
and Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed source products format the serial
number attribute for virtual machines.
Note the serial number format in Figure 5-24 on page 284 as it is passed into
SmartCloud Control Desk from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager and Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed. Serial number is an example
of an important naming attribute for a computer system. Naming attributes are
attributes that uniquely identify a resource. A naming rule combines one or more
naming attributes such that the unique combination of those attributes uniquely
identifies the asset or configuration item.
Because naming attribute values are used to determine uniqueness of assets
and configuration items, slight variances in the format of those naming attributes
for the same computer system (coming from different discovery sources) can
result in multiple, duplicate representations of the same computer system.
Data cleansing provides a solution to these duplicate issues. It is the process
whereby naming attribute values are normalized by using a set of data
transformation rules.

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In Figure 5-24, note that, after the process of data cleansing, the serial number
attribute values for the same computer system (coming into SmartCloud Control
Desk from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager and Tivoli Asset
Discovery for Distributed), have been normalized. The leading Vmware- literal
and the underscores inserted into the serial number by Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager are removed. As a result, only a single instance
of that computer is brought into the SmartCloud Control Desk, avoiding the
issues of duplicate data in the system.

Figure 5-24 Overview of data cleansing process

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Name reconciliation overview

Name reconciliation is a technology that computes unique identifiers (referred to
as integration identifiers) using the cleansed naming attributes and naming rules.
Figure 5-25 shows an overview of the reconciliation processing.

Figure 5-25 Name reconciliation overview

Multiple discovery sources might know different naming attributes associated

with the same computer system. For example, one tool might only have visibility
to the IP address for a computer. Another tool might have access to the IP
address and to the manufacturer, model, and serial number for a computer.
Name reconciliation uses these overlapping naming attributes and naming rules
and assigns unique identifiers. Computer systems with the same unique
identifiers (also referred to as data integration service GUIDs or integration
identifiers) are considered to be the same computer. Therefore, these unique
identifiers are ideal for identifying duplicate computer systems already in your
database and for ensuring that new duplicates never enter your environment.
The naming reconciliation function in SmartCloud Control Desk is handled by an
internal component, the naming and reconciliation service. As illustrated in
Figure 5-25, the input to the naming and reconciliation service is a class type and
a set of naming attributes for the resource. The naming and reconciliation service
uses this input along with a set of naming rules to compute the unique identifiers

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and to manage the different aliases by which a single resource is known in

different discovery sources. In this fashion, the naming and reconciliation service
can be viewed as a black box that handles the internal details associated with
uniquely identifying resources.
Although the naming and reconciliation service supports any of the class types
defined in the common data model, data cleansing and reconciliation is only
currently supported in SmartCloud Control Desk for computer system class
types.

Importance of duplicate detection

The presence of duplicates in the SmartCloud Control Desk environment creates
challenges. This section illustrate a scenario whereby the presence of duplicate
computer systems introduces confusion when associating a change to the
affected computer system. Without data cleansing and name reconciliation, a
user might import three different representations of the same computer system.
The impact analysis and scheduling of the change can have dramatically
different results based on which of the three duplicates is selected. This results in
user confusion and potentially failed implementation of the change, as depicted
in Figure 5-26.

Figure 5-26 Potential impacts of duplicates on change management

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Previous releases of SmartCloud Control Desk had gaps in this area of data
cleansing and reconciliation. These gaps and the associated customer
challenges are highlighted in Table 5-1.
Table 5-1 Gaps and challenges
Gap

Challenges

Data cleansing and reconciliation is not

consistently performed when assets and
configuration items enter the system
through the UI or integration framework.

Customers can create duplicates

assets and configuration items (with
the same naming attributes), which
reduces integrity of the configuration
management database.

Customer confusion about what

instance of a duplicate asset or
configuration item needs to be
referenced in changes or tickets.

No help given to the customer in

identifying existing duplicates so they
can clean up their database.

Incorrect or missing links between

assets and configuration items.

Incorrect or missing links between

deployed assets and authorized
assets.

Incorrect or missing links between

actual configuration items and
authorized configuration items.

Uncleansed and unreconciled IT assets

and configuration items already exist in
the system and must be remediated.

Existing processes such as link-to-actuals

and reconciliation correctly function only
with cleansed data.

Data cleansing and reconciliation enhancements

To address the gaps and customer challenges detailed in Table 5-1, several data
cleansing and reconciliation enhancements are incorporated into SmartCloud
Control Desk.
In SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5.0, data cleansing and reconciliation was
incorporated into IBM Tivoli Integration Composer:
IBM Tivoli Integration Composer reconciles actual configuration item
computer systems and deployed assets during import with data integration
service/naming and reconciliation service. It stores data integration service
integration identifiers on those objects.
A new data cleansing service is embedded in IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer engine with configurable cleansing rules. This cleansing service
normalizes naming attributes of computer systems before they are reconciled.

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SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5.1 adds extra enhancements in this area:

A shared naming and reconciliation service-based reconciliation and
cleansing service (function extracted out from V7.5.0 of IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer engine) is now used across IBM Tivoli Integration Composer, the
Maximo business object layer for assets and configuration items, and a new
cleansing and reconciliation tool.
Data cleansing and reconciliation are extended to support authorized IT asset
computer systems and authorized configuration item computer systems.
Updates to the authorized IT asset and authorized configuration item Maximo
business object layer have been made to store data integration service
integration identifiers and to perform cleansing and reconciliation whenever a
computer system is saved or updated.
Provides a new data cleansing and reconciliation tool to
remediate/cleanse/reconcile existing computer systems already in the system
by storing data integration service integration identifiers on all computer
systems.
Ready for use reports to identify duplicates based on data integration service
integration identifiers (now stored in deployed assets, actual configuration
item computer systems, and authorized IT asset and configuration item
computer systems).
Updates to linking processes that depend on cleansed naming attribute to
use data integration service integration identifiers when linking assets to
configuration items, and when linking authorized configuration items to actual
configuration items.

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Architecture overview of data cleansing and reconciliation

Figure 5-27 illustrates the component architecture for the data cleansing and
reconciliation enhancements in SmartCloud Control Desk.

Figure 5-27 Data cleansing and reconciliation architecture

A common rules-based data cleansing service is shared between the IBM

Tivoli Integration Composer and SmartCloud Control Desk Maximo
components. This service normalizes naming attributes using a set of data
transformation rules.
Another common component, the naming and reconciliation service,
computes unique identifiers for computer system assets and configuration
items. The naming and reconciliation service is also shared and is used within
IBM Tivoli Integration Composer and the SmartCloud Control Desk
applications that run in Maximo.
The IBM Tivoli Integration Composer engine uses the data cleansing service
and naming and reconciliation service to cleanse and reconcile any computer
systems imported into SmartCloud Control Desk using IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer. These include actual configuration item computer systems and
deployed assets.
The unique naming and reconciliation service-generated integration
identifiers are now stored on deployed assets, actual configuration item

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computer systems, authorized IT asset computer systems, and authorized

configuration item computer systems. Storing these unique identifiers on
SmartCloud Control Desk objects provides improved detection of duplicates
and more accurate linkages to be established between these items:
Authorized IT asset computer systems and configuration item computer
systems
Deployed asset computer systems and authorized asset computer
systems
Deployed asset computer systems and actual configuration item computer
systems
Actual configuration item computer systems and authorized configuration
item computer systems
On the Maximo application side, the asset and configuration item Maximo
business object layers are updated to cleanse data, perform reconciliation,
and detect duplicates anytime that an authorized asset computer system or
authorized configuration item computer system is created or updated.
A new cron task, named the cleansing and reconciliation tool, can cleanse
data and generate unique identifiers for assets and configuration item
computer systems that have already been created in SmartCloud Control
Desk. This tool helps remediate existing duplicates in your system.
Finally, we a set of ready for use reports is provided that can be used to
identify duplicate computer systems.

Data cleansing service

The data cleansing service is a common component that normalizes the values
of naming attributes using a configurable set of cleansing rules. The data
cleansing service is started to cleanse data anytime a computer system is
created or updated in SmartCloud Control Desk. This includes computer
systems with these characteristics:
Created by IBM Tivoli Integration Composer from discovery sources.
Created or modified by users using the asset and configuration item
applications.
Created or modified using the Maximo Integration Framework.

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The data cleansing service is illustrated in Figure 5-28.

Figure 5-28 Data cleansing service in SmartCloud Control Desk

1. The data cleansing service is given input in the form of dirty naming attribute
values. In the example, the serial number, manufacturer, and model attributes
are presented to the service.
2. The data cleansing service provides a simple application programming
interface that allows IBM Tivoli Integration Composer and SmartCloud Control
Desk to initiate the cleansing function.
3. For each naming attribute, a set of data transformation rules can be defined.
The data cleansing service looks up the rules and runs the rules for the
particular attribute.
4. The rules are defined in an XML file that you can modify based on your
specific data sources. A rule set is included with SmartCloud Control Desk.
5. The output from data transformation is returned in the form of a collection of
normalized naming attribute values. These values are used in the
reconciliation processing that is performed by the naming and reconciliation
service.

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Using integration identifiers to detect duplicates and improve

linkages
The terms integration identifier, naming and reconciliation service GUID, and
data integration service GUID all refer to the unique identifier generated by the
naming and reconciliation service component. An integration identifier is
computed for each computer system in SmartCloud Control Desk based on the
collection of naming attributes that are associated with the computer system.
These integration identifiers are used for two important purposes in SmartCloud
Control Desk 7.5.1 as illustrated in Figure 5-29.

Figure 5-29 Integration identifiers are stored on computer system assets and configuration items

Perform duplicate detection

The integration identifiers support the detection of duplicates. For example,
two configuration items with the same integration identifier are duplicates of
each other. SmartCloud Control Desk provides standard reports that use
these integration identifiers to help clean up duplicate data already in the
system. When new computer systems are imported or created in SmartCloud
Control Desk, generate the integration identifier for the new computer system
and try to find an existing computer system with that identifier. In this way,

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SmartCloud Control Desk is able to detect duplicates before they enter the
system.
Improve linkages between objects
The integration identifiers also allow you to link assets and configuration item
computer systems more accurately. For example, an IT asset computer
system and authorized configuration item computer system that share an
integration identifier represent the same computer system. Use these
integration identifiers in the process that links authorized assets and
authorized configuration items, and in the process that links actual
configuration items and authorized configuration items.

Cleansing and reconciliation tool

Because previous releases of SmartCloud Control Desk lacked data cleansing,
reconciliation, and detection of duplicate computer systems, customers might
already have duplicate data in the system. A new tool in SmartCloud Control
Desk V7.5.1, named the cleansing and reconciliation tool, is provided to help
cleanse existing computer systems and generate integration identifiers so that
duplicate computer systems can be identified and remediated.
This tool processes computer systems (authorized configuration item, actual
configuration item, deployed assets, and IT assets). It cleanses naming attributes
and generates data integration service integration identifiers for each computer
system. It then stores the data integration service integration identifier in the
object in the database.
There are two main scenarios in which you would use the tool:
When upgrading, to reconcile and clean objects that are already in the
system.
Reconciliation was introduced only for actual configuration item computer
systems and deployed assets in V7.5. Existing authorized IT assets and
authorized configuration items must be fixed up. They do not have data
integration service integration identifiers already computed. The tool
remediates data that were imported or created in the system before the
reconciliation and cleansing functions were incorporated into SmartCloud
Control Desk.
Cleansing or naming rules are changed.
Data integration service integration identifiers are computed from the values
of naming attributes and from naming rules that reference those naming
attributes. When cleansing rules or naming rules are modified, the data
integration service integration identifiers must be reprocessed for correct
linking and for identification of duplicate objects.

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The tool runs as a cron task in the MXServer. Tool input parameters are delivered
as cron task parameters. The cron task name for the cleansing and reconciliation
cron task is CCIGuidLoader. It is shown in Figure 5-30.

Figure 5-30 CCIGuidLoader cron task

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Cleansing and reconciliation cron task parameters

The new cron task supports four parameters. These are illustrated in
Figure 5-31.

Figure 5-31 Cleansing and reconciliation tool parameters

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The cron task parameters are detailed in Table 5-2.

Table 5-2 Summary of cleansing and reconciliation tool parameters
Parameter

Value

load

Action

reload

296

Notes
Cleanse naming attributes, and compute
and load data integration service
integration identifiers for any objects that
do not currently have data integration
service integration identifiers loaded.
Output includes summary results: Count
of objects processed, count of objects
assigned data integration service
integration identifiers, and count of
objects that did not satisfy any naming
rules.
Cleanse naming attributes and compute
and load data integration service
integration identifiers for all targeted
objects even if those objects currently
have data integration service integration
identifiers loaded. Output includes
summary results: Count of objects
processed, count of objects assigned
data integration service integration
identifiers, count of objects whose data
integration service integration identifiers
were replaced, and count of objects that
did not satisfy any naming rules.

ObjectList

All or a list of
comma-separated
values from CI, actci,
deployedasset, or
asset.

Specify the type of object that is to be

processed by the specified action
parameter. Optional. Default value is all.

WhereClause

SQL where clause.

Used to filter the set of target objects that

are processed. Optional. No default. If not
specified, all objects of the types that are
specified by ObjectList are processed.

TimeLimit

Number of minutes
that tool runs.

This argument can be used to limit the

run time of the tool. For example, when
processing many objects within a set
maintenance window. Optional. Default is
no time limit.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Key tool messages

When the cleansing and reconciliation tool is run, it generates messages in the
MXServer log. There are two classes of messages that are issued:
Summary messages
These are a block of messages that are issued for each type of object that is
processed by the tool: ACTCI, CI, ASSET, DEPLOYEDASSET. These
messages summarize the results of the cleansing and reconciliation that is
run for each type of Maximo business object. Included are messages that
identify:
How many objects of that type were processed?
How many objects were assigned an integration identifier?
How many objects were assigned a different or the same integration
identifier during recleansing?
How many objects were unable to be assigned an integration identifier
because those objects have insufficient/missing naming attributes?
A sample listing of the summary messages is shown in Example 5-1.
Example 5-1 Summary message sample

CTGCC1228I - CCIGuidLoaderCronTask Summary for Type CI: 94 objects

processed.
CTGCC1229I - CCIGuidLoaderCronTask Summary for Type CI: 92 objects
assigned a Guid that previously had no Guid.
CTGCC1230I - CCIGuidLoaderCronTask Summary for Type CI: 0 objects
were assigned a different Guid.
CTGCC1231I - CCIGuidLoaderCronTask Summary for Type CI: 0 objects
were assigned the same Guid that the object previously contained.
CTGCC1232I - CCIGuidLoaderCronTask Summary for Type CI: 2 objects
were not assigned a Guid because those objects did not satisfy any
naming rule.

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 Instance messages
For each object that is processed by the cleansing and reconciliation tool, a
message is issued that identifies the result of the process for that object.
These messages are summarized in Table 5-3.
Table 5-3 Instance messages
Message purpose

Sample message

Identifies objects that were

reconciled that previously had no
integration identifier. This message
indicates that the object has a usable
set of naming attributes and is
well-formed.

CTGCC1234I - Reconciled CI object with

key KEYSTONE.IBM.COM_: Previously
had no GUID and was assigned new GUID
42A7B1B4C630386A9021E50BE68C882
C.

Highlights objects that do not have

sufficient naming attributes.
Investigate these objects further
because you should only allow
objects into the system if they have
enough identifying attributes to
satisfy at least one naming rule.

CTGCC1237W - Reconciled CI object with

key KEYSTONE.IBM.COM~: Object was
not assigned a GUID because the
attributes on the object did not satisfy any
naming rule.

Highlights objects which integration

identifiers did not change as part of
recleansing.

CTGCC1236I - Reconciled CI object with

key KEYSTONE.IBM.COM: No changes
made to the previously assigned GUID
42A7B1B4C630386A9021E50BE68C882
C for the object.

Highlights objects whose integration

identifiers changed as part of
recleansing. This is the case if the
cleansing or naming rules were
changed.

CTGCC1235I - Reconciled CI object with

key SOMECINUM: Previous GUID old
GUID was replaced with a different GUID
new GUID.

Duplicate detection when asset and configuration item

computer systems are saved
The SmartCloud Control Desk IT Asset and Configuration Items applications
have been updated in SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1 to use the cleansing and
reconciliations functions to run duplicate detection. Whenever an asset or
configuration item computer system is initially saved or when any of its naming
attributes are modified, SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1 performs these tasks:
Cleanse the naming attributes of the object being saved.
Generate a data integration service integration identifier for the object using
the naming and reconciliation service component.

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 Check to determine whether there is already an asset or configuration item

computer system with that same data integration service integration identifier
before saving the asset or configuration item.
The intent is to not permit duplicate computer systems to ever enter into the
system. The duplicate detection logic is run whether the computer system is
saved or updated by using the IT Asset and Configuration Item application user
interfaces or by using the Maximo Integration Framework.
Error messages are issued if the user attempts to save an asset or configuration
item computer system with an identical integration identifier as an existing asset
or configuration item computer system.

Improvements to linking processes

Because the integration identifiers that are assigned to computer systems
represents unique identification for computer systems, they are ideal for use in
the linking processes in SmartCloud Control Desk. These processes tie together
authorized IT assets and authorized configuration items, and tie together actual
configuration items and authorized configuration items.

Improving linking process for actual and authorized configuration

items
The link-to-actuals processing in SmartCloud Control Desk can associate
authorized configuration items with their counterpart actual configuration items.
This linking process is useful if a customer seeds their authorized configuration
item space before importing the discovered configuration item space into
SmartCloud Control Desk.
In SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1, an enhancement to the cleansing and
reconciliation support has been incorporated. With this enhancement, the
link-to-actuals processing logic first attempts to link an authorized configuration
item to an actual configuration item using the integration identifier available on
both actual and authorized configuration item computer systems.
There are two compelling advantages to using the integration identifier to link
actual and authorized configuration item computer systems:
The accuracy of links between authorized and actual configuration items is
improved by using the integration identifier because this unique identifier is
generated from cleansed naming attributes.
The performance of linking authorized and actual configuration items is
improved by eliminating costly comparison of multiple attributes and specs,
and navigation of relationships.

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Figure 5-32 illustrates how the link-to-actuals processing in SmartCloud Control

Desk V7.5.1 is improved by using the integration identifiers.

Figure 5-32 Using integration identifier when linking actual and authorized configuration items

Improving linking process for authorized IT assets and authorized

configuration items
The asset and configuration item linking function that was introduced in V7.5
uses the reconciliation engine and link rules. An improvement to this process in
V7.5.1 adds a reconciliation link rule that can link authorized IT assets and
authorized configuration item computer systems using the integration identifier.
As in the link-to-actuals process, the incorporation of integration identifiers
(generated from cleansed data) allows improvements to the accuracy and
performance when linking authorized IT asset computer systems and authorized
configuration item computer systems.

Reports for identifying duplicate computer systems

If you are upgrading to SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1 from earlier versions of
SmartCloud Control Desk or IBM Tivoli Change and Configuration Management
Database, you might already have duplicate computer systems in your
environment. Earlier versions allowed the creation of IT asset and configuration
item computer systems if the unique primary key rule was satisfied for those

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objects (for example, ASSETNUM for assets and CINUM for authorized
configuration items). These duplicates can have been imported from discovery
sources and promoted, can have been created using the IT asset and
configuration item user interface applications, or can have been imported using
the Maximo Integration Framework.
SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1 provides ready for use reports that group, by
integration identifier, duplicate IT assets, deployed assets, actual configuration
items, and authorized configuration items. A separate report is provided for each
Maximo business object type. These reports identify duplicate objects to be
cleaned up after an upgrade to SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5.1, or when
cleansing and attribute mapping rules are modified and objects are re-cleansed
and re-reconciled.
The new reports are standard Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools reports,
and are run using the standard Maximo report administration applications.
Figure 5-33 illustrates conceptually a scenario where three duplicates of the
same computer system authorized configuration item are created in the system.
Note the minor variations of the naming attributes that are normalized using data
cleansing.

Figure 5-33 Duplicate computer system configuration items

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After data cleansing, all naming attributes for the three configuration items are
identical. During reconciliation processing, those three configuration items are
assigned the same integration identifier. The standard reports can help you
identify these duplicates.

Report scenarios
There are two primary scenarios in which you use the new reports for identifying
duplicates.
After you upgrade to SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1, you want to determine
whether you have duplicate computer systems already in the database.
You might also need to modify the data cleansing rules or the mapping rules that
the cleansing and reconciliation functions depend on. Whenever you modify the
rules, test those modifications by using the new reports to ensure that your
changes had the wanted effect, and whether any new duplicates were surfaced
for remediation.
In either of these scenarios, you must run the cleansing and reconciliation tool
before you run the reports. The reports visually present the groupings of
integration identifiers that are assigned by the tool.

Manual remediation
The reports help identify duplicates in your system, but you must manually clean
up any duplicates by using existing interfaces and functions in SmartCloud
Control Desk. Drill down into the duplicate computer systems to determine which
one is the appropriate one to keep (by examining related records, for example).

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Details about the new standard reports in SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1 are
provided in Table 5-4.
Table 5-4 Standard reports as shipped
Report

APP

ci_duplicates.
rptdesign

Columns

CI

CINUM
CLASSIFICATIONID

actci_duplicates.
rptdesign

ACTCI

ACTCINUM
CLASSIFICATIONID

asset_duplicates.
rptdesign

ASSET

ASSETNUM
SITEID
CLASSIFICATIONID

deployedasset_
duplicates.
rptdesign

DPLD
ASSET

NODENAME
ASSETCLASS

Grouped by

CCIDISGUID

Report
parameters

To filter, can
optionally specify
StartDate and
EndDate to
process a range of
objects based on
CHANGEDATE

TLOAMNRSGUID

Sample report listing

Figure 5-34 illustrates a sample report listing. In this example, the duplicate
authorized configuration items report is shown. There are two sets of duplicates
shown here. The report is grouped by the integration identifier.

Figure 5-34 Sample duplicate authorized configuration item report listing

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Configuring the data cleansing and reconciliation functions

Three types of configuration are associated with the new data cleansing and
reconciliation functions introduced in SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1.
Several new Maximo system properties allow you to define the policies that
govern whether cleansing and reconciliation is enabled and how detected
duplicates are handled.
Data cleansing rules identify the data transformation rules that are used to
normalize naming attribute values.
Common data model mapping identifies which asset and configuration item
classifications are to be cleansed and reconciled, and map the data in those
classifications into common data model naming attributes.

Maximo system properties

The following list identifies the new properties that can be used to configure the
data cleansing and reconciliation functions. These properties are fully
documented in the product information center.
cci.dis.enable

Specifies whether the data cleansing and

reconciliation functions are enabled or
disabled.

cci.dis.dupe.policy.ui

Specifies whether the system allows the user

to save duplicates from the user interface
applications (for example, the authorized
configuration item application)

cci.dis.dupe.policy.background Specifies whether the system allows

background processes and tasks or programs
using the Maximo Integration Framework to
save duplicates.
cci.dis.poolsize

Specifies the size of the thread pool that is

internally used to start the naming and
reconciliation service component when
performing name reconciliation.

On a fresh install of SmartCloud Control Desk V7.5.1, the defaults are set up to
run data cleansing and reconciliation, and to not permit the saving of duplicate
computer systems through either the UI or through background processes. On
an upgrade, you must explicitly enable the new functions. No data cleansing or
reconciliation is run and duplicates are permitted to be saved.
These properties do not support Live Refresh. For changes made to these
properties to take effect, the MXServer must be restarted.

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Naming attribute cleansing rules

Naming attribute cleansing rules identify the common data model naming
attributes and the data normalization rules that are applied when those naming
attributes are cleansed. The rules are used by both the IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer engine and by the SmartCloud Control Desk components that run in
Maximo.
In SmartCloud Control Desk, the file is loaded out of the MAXIMO.EAR, and is on
the Administrative Workstation at:
<SmartCloud Control
Desk_HOME_DIR>\maximo\applications\maximo\properties\SmartCloud Control
Desk\cleansingRules.xml
In IBM Tivoli Integration Composer, the file is on the IBM Tivoli Integration
Composer Server at:
<ITIC_HOME_DIR>\data\properties\nrs\cleansingRules.xml
Standard cleansing rules are tailored to normalize naming attributes for data
sources that are imported using IBM Tivoli Integration Composer from Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager and Tivoli Asset Discovery for
Distributed into the actual configuration item and deployed asset space. If you
bring in data from other sources using other IBM Tivoli Integration Composer
adapters or the Maximo Integration Framework, you might need to configure the
standard default rules.
If you modify this file, be sure to use the XSD to validate the changes that you
make. The XSD is at the same location as the XML file, and is named
cleansingRules.xsd.
If you customize the file on SmartCloud Control Desk, you must run a rebuild and
redeployment of the MAXIMO.EAR for your changes to be picked up at run time.
This file is shared between IBM Tivoli Integration Composer and SmartCloud
Control Desk, but it is not synchronized. You must ensure that any changes made
to the IBM Tivoli Integration Composer instance of the file are made in the
SmartCloud Control Desk version as well.
The format of the file is fully documented in the SmartCloud Control Desk
Information Center.

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Figure 5-35 illustrates the structure of this configuration file.

Figure 5-35 Naming attribute cleansing rules

Common data model mapping

Common data model mapping identifies which asset and configuration item
classifications are to be cleansed and reconciled, and maps the data in those
classifications into common data model naming attributes. This file is only
applicable to SmartCloud Control Desk, not to IBM Tivoli Integration Composer.
In SmartCloud Control Desk, the file is loaded out of the MAXIMO.EAR and is on the
Administrative Workstation at:
<SmartCloud Control
Desk_HOME_DIR>\maximo\applications\maximo\properties\SmartCloud Control
Desk\CDMMapping.xml

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Common data model mapping rules are aligned with the best practices
authorized configuration item and asset classes. For the authorized configuration
item data model, these classes are included in the Deployer's Workbench best
practices, or automatically loaded during a fresh install of SmartCloud Control
Desk V7.5. For authorized IT assets, these classes are included with the IT asset
management content process manager product. If you are using these classes
for authorized IT assets and authorized configuration items, no changes are
required to this common data model configuration file.
If you have changed the best practices models or if you are using your own
model classes, you must configure this mapping to take advantage of the data
cleansing and reconciliation functions that have been added to SmartCloud
Control Desk in V7.5.1.
If you modify this file, be sure to use the XSD to validate the changes that you
make. The XSD is at the same location of the XML file and is named
CDMMapping.xsd.
If you customize the file on SmartCloud Control Desk, run a rebuild and
redeployment of the MAXIMO.EAR for your changes to be picked up at run time.
The format of the file is fully documented in the product information center.

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Figure 5-36 highlights the questions that the common data model mapping
answers.

Figure 5-36 Information provided by the common data model mapping configuration file

The common data model mapping file is structured into two main partitions.

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The first partition identifies, for each type of Maximo business object, the
classifications that are considered to be computer system classifications for that
business object. See Figure 5-37 for an example of the standard definitions.

Figure 5-37 Specifying computer system classifications in common data model mapping

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The second partition identifies, for each naming attribute, how to load that
attribute from the various types of Maximo business objects. See Figure 5-38 for
an example of the standard definitions.

Figure 5-38 Specifying Maximo business object attributes associated with naming attributes

Troubleshooting
This section provides troubleshooting information for the data cleansing and
reconciliation functions added to SmartCloud Control Desk in V7.5.1.
Enable and set to DEBUG level the Asset Management and pmpcci loggers
using the Loggers application in Maximo.
The log files to examine on the MXServer (under WebSphere) are
SystemOut.log, SystemErr.log, and trace.out. A large quantity of debug output

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is generated. Be sure that you configure logs to have a large capacity so that the
traces do not wrap.
On the SmartCloud Control Desk server, the naming and reconciliation service is
an important component that is used within the system. Use the WebSphere
Application Server administrative console to set the trace for naming and
reconciliation service as shown in Figure 5-39.

Figure 5-39 Setting the naming and reconciliation service and data integration service loggers in the
administrative console

Important trace points

This section describes some important trace points that are useful when
debugging data cleansing and reconciliation issues:
What cleansed naming attributes were sent to naming and reconciliation
service?
This trace point identifies the set of naming attributes and their values after
they are cleansed. These represent the naming attribute values from which
the naming and reconciliation service component computes the integration
identifier (Example 5-2 on page 312).

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Example 5-2 Trace point sample

[1/18/13 15:31:32:187 EST] 000000ee SystemOut

15:31:32:187 [DEBUG] [MXServer] [] class
psdi.tamit.app.common.DISService registerByCdm
NOTE About to register to CDM with Map:
{ Manufacturer=IBM,
ClassType=ComputerSystem,
PrimaryMACAddress=00016C858054,
Signature=9.26.70.41(00016C858054),
Model=8212,
SerialNumber=LKYR970 }

O 18 Jan 2013

No naming rule Satisfied Scenario.

This trace point indicates that no naming rule was satisfied and no integration
identifier was generated. Each naming rule is listed with an indication of the
missing attributes for each naming rule as shown in Example 5-3.
Example 5-3 Trace point sample

[1/18/13 15:31:35:171 EST] 000000ef SystemOut

O 18 Jan 2013
15:31:35:171
[INFO] [MXServer] [] class psdi.tamit.app.common.DISService
registerByCdm
INFO NrsNameException trying to register with NRS.
com.ibm.tivoli.namereconciliation.common.NrsApiException: 1002.
Insufficient identifying attributes were provided to construct a
valid name based on the naming rule.
NamingRule=sys/CDMComputerSystem_CSSignature,
MissingAttributes=Signature;
NamingRule=sys/CDMComputerSystem_CSProduct,
MissingAttributes=Manufacturer+Model+SerialNumber;
NamingRule=sys/CDMComputerSystem_CSUUID,
MissingAttributes=SystemBoardUUID;
NamingRule=sys/CDMComputerSystem_PrimaryMACAddress,
MissingAttributes=PrimaryMACAddress;

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 Before and After Values When An Attribute is Cleansed.

This trace point is issued whenever the cleansing process results in a change
to a naming attribute value. In this example, the <UpperCase/> rule on the
model naming attribute converts the model attribute value to all uppercase.
The example is shown in Example 5-4.
Example 5-4 Trace point sample

[1/18/13 15:31:36:093 EST] 000000ef SystemOut

O 18 Jan 2013
15:31:36:093 [DEBUG] [MXServer] [] NRS naming attribute Model got
transformed from [model2] to [MODEL2]

Information Center topics

The online SmartCloud Control Desk Information Center provides more details
associated with the new data cleansing reconciliation functions. Click the
following link to go to the section depicted in Figure 5-40:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.sccd.doc
/int_comp/c_intro_nrs.html

Figure 5-40 Data cleansing and reconciliation topics in the online product Information Center

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5.3 Configuration management for service providers

SmartCloud Control Desk allows configuration management for multiple
customers in a single instance deployment. With this function, one or more
customers can be associated with a CI or an actual CI. These customer
associations can be used to keep the CI and actual CI records restricted to users
who have permission to access the data that belongs to that customer. You can
associate customers with users in the Security Groups (SP) application.
All of the customers on a CI or actual CI are used to determine who can access
the data. One of the customers must be designated as the primary customer.
The primary customer of a CI or actual CI determines the classifications and
attributes of classifications that the CI or actual CI can use. All CIs and actual CIs
can use global classifications and global attributes that apply to its classification.
When you use customer-specific classification or customer-specific attributes,
the primary customer (or parent of the primary customer) on the CI or actual CI
must match the customer on the classification or attribute.
If you change the primary customer on a CI after it is classified, the current
classification or attributes might not be appropriate for the new primary customer.
SmartCloud Control Desk displays an informational message if this happens. Be
sure to reevaluate the classification and attributes that are defined for the CI.

5.3.1 Assigning customers to actual CIs

When actual CIs are imported through Tivoli Integration Composer, they are not
associated with any customer. Until they are associated with customers, they are
visible to any users who have access to data that have no assigned customers.
For this reason, assign customers to your actual CIs as soon as possible. You
can assign customers to actual CIs manually, by using the Actual CI application,
or by using a cron task. The cron task makes it easier to assign customers to
large numbers of actual CIs. For more information about assigning customers to
actual CIs, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v51r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/config/c_actci_intro.html
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager has a location tag that can be
used to identify which customer an actual CI belongs to in a multi-customer
environment. Dynamic location tagging is especially helpful. For more
information about location tagging in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v46r1/topic/com.ibm.taddm.do
c_721fp3/AdminGuide/r_cmdb_loc_tagging.html

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You can use this capability to tag all of the discovered CIs belonging to a
particular customer with the same location tag.
Integration Composer can then filter the CIs so that only the CIs with the
specified location tag values are imported. For more information about this
capability, see:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.doc
/int_comp/c_location_tag_filtering.html
Top-level filtering: This Integration Composer filtering only happens at the
top level. It assumes that all of the related actual CIs belong to the same
customer, and imports related actual CIs to the configured depth.
This location tag becomes an attribute on the actual CI when it is imported
through Integration Composer. If you used the Integration Composer CI Types
adapter to load the Common data model classifications, the name of the attribute
is MODELOBJECT_LOCATIONTAG for all classifications. However, if the
Common Data Model classifications were loaded when SmartCloud Control
Desk was installed, the name of the attribute depends on the type of actual CI. If
you plan to use the MODELOBJECT_LOCATIONTAG on the actual CI customer
mapping cron task to identify and associate actual CIs with customers, use this
attribute in the Customer Mapping XML as shown in Example 5-5.
Example 5-5 Customer mapping XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

< actcicustmap completionEmailTo="[email protected]"
completionEmailSubject="optional subject"
preview="true"
requireItic="true"
>
<!-- this is the section for customer ACCOUNT1 -->
<customer name="ACCOUNT1"
completionEmailTo="[email protected]"
completionEmailSubject="optional email subject for ACCOUNT1 "
>
<!-- starting with actual CIs whose MODELOBJECT_LOCATIONTAG equals
CustomerA-->
<AND>
<attribute name="MODELOBJECT_LOCATIONTAG" type="alnvalue">
<equals value="CustomerA" />
</attribute>
</AND>

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</customer>
<!-- END OF ACCOUNT1 customer definition -->
To omit any traversal of relationships in the Mapping Control XML, see
Example 5-6.
Example 5-6 Mapping Control XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<relationsToFollowRules>
<relationsToFollowRule
fromClassification="*"
includeAllRelatedAsContainment="false"
includeAllRelatedByRelation="" >
</relationsToFollowRule>
</relationsToFollowRules>
This precisely associates customers with all of the actual CIs that have a
particular MODELOBJECT_LOCATIONTAG attribute and are not already
associated with any customers. It performs better than using relationships to
traverse related actual CIs.
If you want to use the MODELOBJECT_LOCATIONTAG, but your CDM
classifications were created during product installation, you can still run the
Integration Composer CI Types adapter to create the
MODELOBJECT_LOCATIONTAG attributes on your CDM classifications and
remove the class-specific ones. If you must have
MODELOBJECT_LOCATIONTAG attributes on your authorized classifications,
you need to add them.
Another option is to assign customers starting with top-level classifications that
you care about, and have the cron task assign the same customers to related
actual CIs. As an example, you can use the cron task to assign customers to all
of your computer system types, and any related actual CIs. The location tag for
all classifications of computer systems is called
COMPUTERSYSTEM_LOCATIONTAG, so you can use Customer Mapping XML
similar to the one shown in Example 5-7.
Example 5-7 Customer mapping XML

<AND>
<attribute name="COMPUTERSYSTEM_LOCATIONTAG" type="alnvalue">
<equals value="CustomerA" />
</attribute>
</AND>

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To traverse all of the relationships, use a Mapping Control XML similar to the one
shown in Example 5-8.
Example 5-8 Mapping Control XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<relationsToFollowRules>
<relationsToFollowRule
fromClassification="*"
includeAllRelatedAsContainment="true"
includeAllRelatedByRelation="*" >
</relationsToFollowRule>
</relationsToFollowRules>
That particular Mapping Control XML associates the customer with all of the
related actual CIs, some of which might be owned by another customer. For
example, you have a physical computer system that you, the service provider,
own that contains virtual computer systems that you supply to different
customers. You do not want to use that exact XML because it assigns all of the
virtual computer systems to the same customer as the hosting computer system.
In that case, consider using the stopClassifications tag on the cron task XML so
that it stops at the classifications of your virtual systems. You can then associate
those by using a separate mapping.
Always preview your results (preview=true) before actually assigning customers
using the actual CI customer mapping cron task.
Associating customers with CIs and actual CIs has implications on promotion,
reconciliation, and baselines.

5.3.2 Service Provider considerations for promotion

When you promote an actual CI, any customers that are associated with that
actual CI are copied to the CI that is created. The primary customer on the actual
CI is designated as the primary customer on the CI. Therefore, associate
customers with your actual CIs before you promote them. If the CI already exists
(that is, if you are updating an existing CI), the customers on the CI are not
updated.
Before a new CI is created by promotion, SmartCloud Control Desk verifies that
the authorized classification in the promotion scope is appropriate for the primary
customer on the actual CI being promoted. If it is not appropriate, no CI is
created for that actual CI. If it is appropriate, the CI is created and classified. Only
attributes that are appropriate for the primary customer on the CI are created.

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You can use this behavior to manage different types of CIs and attributes for
different customers.
To make it easier to assign customers to actual CIs, promotion propagates the
set of customers from the top level actual CI that is being promoted to any related
actual CIs that it processes that do not already have any associated customers. If
you assign customers to your top level actual CIs and then promote them, those
customers are associated with all of the child actual CIs in the promotion scope.
They are also associated with any authorized CIs that get created by promotion.
This is the default behavior, but the system can be configured to omit this
processing. The MAXVAR named CCIACTCICOPYCUST controls this action. By
default it is set to 1, which enables the copy. If you want to turn it off, use SQL to
update the MAXVAR to 0. The following SQL is an example that you can use to
update the MAXVAR to disable the copy:
update maxvars set varvalue='0' where varname='CCIACTCICOPYCUST'

5.3.3 Service Provider considerations for reconciliation

In a Service Provider environment where you manage large numbers of
configuration items for multiple customers, you must limit the configuration items
targeted on a reconciliation task to a single customer for performance and
security reasons. A customer field has been added to reconciliation tasks, task
filters, link rules, and comparison rules to allow you to do this.
A customer who is associated with any task filters, link rules, or comparison rules
that you apply to the reconciliation task must match the customer that you are
setting up the reconciliation task for. If you specify a customer, you can only
select task filters, link rules, or comparison rules that are associated with that
customer. If you do not specify a customer, you can only select task filters, link
rules, and comparison rules are not associated with a customer.
When the reconciliation task runs, the records in data set 1 and data set 2 are
limited to those that are associated with the specified customer. They are limited
to those that are not associated with any customer, if no customer is specified.

5.3.4 Service Provider considerations for baselines

No customers are associated with baselines. However, because baselines
consist of configuration items, and configuration items can be associated with
customers, baselines have different behavior in a multi-customer environment.
When you create a baseline, you can only add CIs that you have access to. If you
access a baseline that contains CIs that you do not have access to, those

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member CIs are hidden from you. A help text lets you know that some member
CIs are hidden.
If you create a new version of an existing baseline that contains member CIs that
you do not have access to, the inaccessible members are copied to the new
version. However, they remain hidden from your view.
If you create a new baseline from an existing baseline that contains member CIs
that you do not have access to, the new baseline will not contain the CIs that you
cannot access.
When you run a comparison, only those member CIs that you have access to are
compared. The comparison results will indicate that some members were not
compared. Also, the member CI are not compared if you do not have access to
its linked actual CI. The results indicate this condition.
It is a best practice for all CIs in a baseline to be associated with the same
customer.

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320

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Chapter 6.

Service catalog
management
This chapter describes the use of the Service Catalog applications with IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk, the customizations, and the options that can be used
when you create a catalog.
This chapter includes the following sections:

Service catalog management overview

Service catalog management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Offering design
Catalog design
Enterprise App Store scenario
Restricting access to Catalogs and Offerings
Approving a request

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

321

6.1 Service catalog management overview

Since the emergence of concepts connecting business with IT, most notably with
the publication of the first ITIL books in 1989, using IT as a strategic enabler has
gained strength. This trend has been a natural consequence of the increasing
presence of technology in the execution of various organizations strategic
objectives.
CEOs are inevitably asking CIOs and their IT services departments to help
achieve their companies strategic goals. This trend follows a maturity path that
originated with the technological approach of reducing costs and automating
tasks into an approach in which IT is part of both strategic planning and
execution.
Some initiatives to increase the involvement of IT have failed. A common reason
for this failure can be summarized as a misunderstanding by or an inability of
some IT environments to deliver value from the clients point of view. Moreover,
the search for value is so deeply attached to service provisioning that services
are even defined around the value concept.
A service can be defined as an offering, function, or activity that is delivered to an
internal or external customer that might contribute revenue or complete a
required task for an organization. Its output is created by using an organization's
human, intellectual, financial, and physical assets.
Value is achieved when the expert delivers a service that is a necessary and an
acknowledged part of the clients business goals. Defining and managing the
necessary services to achieve specific business outcomes is a fundamental
objective for any IT department that wants to be recognized as a business
enabler, not solely as a simple technological function of the organization.
The use of service catalog is defined as an ITIL process since ITIL V3. The goal
of the service catalog is to help an organization by creating a list of services
available for its internal or external users.

6.1.1 Capabilities
To manage the use of the Service catalog process, SmartCloud Control Desk
provides a complete end-to-end set of functions. These functions allow the
definition of different types of requests for services, a way to locate those
services, and a structured process that manages the delivery of these services. It
provides cost savings through the streamlining, automation, and quality
improvement of service delivery. Service Catalog can also be used to support
management decisions about improving effectiveness of services and their

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

delivery through assessment of service consumption patterns and the cost of

fulfillment.
The SmartCloud Control Desk Service Catalog provides the following
capabilities:

Service request management integration

Definition of services and service providers
Management of service definitions
Shopping and browsing for services
Service entitlement
Service approval
Service provider integration and management
Service requisition notification and status monitoring
Service requisition data logging and analysis

Organizations can choose to use all or some of these capabilities

6.1.2 Roles
The roles for service catalog management are defined in Table 6-1.
Table 6-1 Service catalog management roles
Role

Responsibility

Service Catalog
Administrator

The Service Catalog Administrator supports

the Service Catalog Manager by managing
records, tracking action items, and providing
process-related reports.

Service Catalog Designer

The Service Catalog Designer implements

the content and design of the Service
Catalog.

Service Catalog Manager

The Service Catalog Manager oversees the

day-to-day execution of Service Catalog
Management.

Self Service User

Users of service catalog, responsible for

ordering offerings.

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323

6.2 Service catalog management using IBM SmartCloud

Control Desk
An overview of the service catalog is shown in Figure 6-1 on page 325. It
summarizes the three main actions of SmartCloud Control Desk Service
Catalog:
Create the catalog and make it available for the users, which are provided by
the applications Catalog and Offerings.
Request offerings and track their fulfillment in the Self Service Center. In
addition to requesting offerings, users can also get self-help, make requests
against assets they are user or custodian of, and make requests of the
Service Desk. The original applications, Offering Catalog, Shopping Cart,
Cart Templates, and View Catalog Requests can also be used to request
Offerings and track the requests.
Fulfillment of service requests, which are provided in several applications,
such as Service Request and Work Order.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Figure 6-1 Service catalog usage in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Chapter 6. Service catalog management

325

6.2.1 Applications
The main applications that are used in the Service Catalog of IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk are described in Table 6-2.
Table 6-2 Application overview
Application

Description

Self Service Center

An integrated application where the service request user

can browse available offerings, create and track service
requests, make requests for their assets, and find
solutions to issues they might have.

Catalogs

The catalogs, which can contain one or more offerings,

are defined in this application. Catalogs are used by the
Self Service Center and Offering Catalog applications.

Offerings

In this application, service designers create offerings.

Creating an Offering entails defining the approval and
fulfillment processes, specifications, and presentation.

The security group of self service users can be configured to take the user
directly to the Self Service Center instead of the traditional start center. This
provides a better user experience and often saves the user from extra navigation.
Guideline: Self service users should use the Self Service Center instead of
the older applications that are listed in Table 6-3 on page 327. The Self
Service Center provides a better user experience and allows users to perform
all operations from a single application.

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Table 6-3 lists the older applications for Service Catalog for Self Service Users
requesting services from the Service Catalog.
Table 6-3 Older application overview
Application

Description

Offering Catalog

In this application, the Service Request User can see the

available offerings and add offerings to its shopping cart.

Shopping Cart

In this application, the Service Request User can

manage its offerings and submit the shopping cart.

View Catalog Request

The View Catalog Requests application allows users to

view specific information about submitted requests,
including service request details.

Cart Templates

Cart templates can combine several offerings that are

usually ordered together. This list of offerings can be
saved as a single cart template.
The Cart Templates application allows you to view the
list of offerings in a cart template, manage your cart
templates, create a copy of a cart template for another
user, add a selected cart template to the shopping cart,
and delete a cart template.

6.3 Offering design

Offerings are objects that are defined in SmartCloud Control Desk that
encompass all the details of a service that can be requested by self service
users. Offerings can be both IT specific (for example, provisioning a virtual
machine) and non-IT specific (for example, onboarding a new employee).
The following sections provide information about creating Offerings for a Service
Catalog. Creating Offerings can be broken down into three main topics that
include specifying high level Offering information, fulfillment, and attributes and
presentation.

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327

The service catalog designer user is responsible for creating Offerings and
managing their lifecycle. To create and manage offerings, use the Offerings
application, which is opened by clicking Service Request Manager Catalog
Offerings.
When a new offering is created, there are some common fields for all types of
offerings. The main fields are described in Table 6-4.
Table 6-4 Common fields in Offerings
Field

Description

Offering

Required field that is used as an identifier for the offering.

This value is unique within the item set.

Item Set

Identifies the item set for the Offering. Item sets can be
used to segregate data. This value is read only and is
derived from the Organization.

Offering description

Required field that provides a brief description or title of

the Offering. The description field is used as the primary
title shown to users browsing the Service Catalog by
using the Self Service Center or Offering Catalog.

Long description

Provides more details for the Offering. Rich text can be

used when you define the long description to include
links, graphics, font changes, and lists. A portion of the
long description is shown to users as they navigate. It is
shown in full in the Offering dialog.

Offering Type

Defines the type and fulfillment process of the Offering.

There are three types of offerings available for use:
Descriptive, Action, and Service Request.
For more information about the Offering types, see 6.3.1,
Offering types on page 332.

328

Attachments

Used to provide more information or forms to a user. To

add an attachment, click the attachment icon and select
Add New Attachment.

Image

Identifies the image associated with the Offering. It can

be changed by clicking Select Action Add/Modify
Image

Service Group

Service group is a method for grouping similar Offerings

based on the service offered. For example, you might
have an IT Service Group that has services for user IDs
and passwords, network support, and so on.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Field

Description

Service

Defines the service offered within the service group, and

is used to group similar Offerings based on the service
offered.

Classification

Classification is a required field. When the type is

defined as Action or Service Request, the classification
is copied to the resulting Service Request. Any
specification attributes that are defined on the
Classification are also copied to the Offering.
The classification is used as the default Offering Catalog
Taxonomy, and is the path self service users navigate to
find an Offering in the catalog.

Classification Description

The description of the offering classification is the text

that is shown to users as they are navigating the
Classification when browsing the available Offerings.

Fulfillment Time

A static value that is used to indicate approximate

fulfillment time on an Offering dialog. If a value is
present, the information is automatically shown on the
default dialogs.

Unit of Measure

Used with fulfillment time to indicate approximate time to

fulfill a request for an Offering.

Status

The status represents the current state of the Offering in

its lifecycle.
The status is initially set to the default item status defined
on the organization. This value must be planning or
pending. The primary Offering details can be edited only
if the status is planning or pending. Otherwise, they are
read only.
After an Offering is ready for users to begin requesting it,
the status must be made active.
Offerings that are no longer required in the system
transition to Pending Obsolescence, then finally to
Obsolete.

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329

Field

Description

Shipping Info Required

Mark this field when the service defined by this offering

requires a shipping address. For example, if the new
offering created is used to deliver an item to a customer,
this field must be marked.
When an Offering request is submitted that requires
shipping information, the user is prompted with an extra
dialog to provide the shipping details.

Display Initially

This field does not affect requests generated from the

Self Service Center.
Mark this field if you want the offering to be displayed in
the initial query when the user enters the Offering
Catalog. This option only applies when the user enters
the Offering Catalog application for the first time. This
flag is ignored for any subsequent accesses to the
application. Mark this field for the most important
offerings available on your system.

Offering Uses Quantity

Mark this field if the user can order more than one of this
service at one time. If this offering is used to order a
product, this field can be marked depending on the
availability of the product. If this offering is used to offer
a service, do not mark this field.
Without configuration, this flag applies only to Offerings
that use the default dialog.

Keywords

Keywords can be added to an Offering to increase

searchability for users. Meaningful keywords increase
the likelihood of users finding the Offering they intend to
request.

Service Desk Offering

This field determines how the user navigates to the

Offering. Checking this box indicates that this Offering is
used to solve Service Desk requests such as resetting a
password. Offerings that are marked as Service Desk
Offerings are found by following the Report an Issue link
in the Self Service Center navigator.
If this field is cleared, users can navigate to this Offering
under the Request a New Service link in the Self
Service Center navigator.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Field

Description

Frequent Request

Mark this field if the you want to provide a fast path for
finding this Offering in the Self Service Center. Users can
navigate to all Offerings marked as Frequent Request by
clicking Frequent Requests Systemwide Frequent
Requests.
This field does not apply to the Offering Catalog.

Allow Comments and

Ratings

This check box is used primarily by the default dialogs to

enable or disable the ability of users to add or view
comments and ratings for Offerings. If the box is
checked, users are able to add or view comments and
ratings.

Figure 6-2 shows a sample Offering definition.

Figure 6-2 Sample Offering definition

Follow these guidelines when you define an Offering:

Use Service Desk Offerings for common requests for service desk users,
such as resetting a password. Using Service Desk Offerings with a ticket
template provides a mechanism for quick ticket routing.

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331

 The classification of the Offering is used as the default taxonomy that self
service users use when browsing for offerings. The taxonomy that is used
when adding the Offering to a catalog can be changed, allowing the designer
to use a different classification path for user browsing. In addition, using a
different taxonomy across catalogs allows the user to navigate to the same
offering in multiple ways.
When you define the classifications used for the Offering Catalog Taxonomy,
keep in mind that the description for each node is shown in the breadcrumb
as the user navigates down the tree. If the description of each node has the
full hierarchy in the description, the data will look like they are repeated.

6.3.1 Offering types

Of the three types of Offerings, Service Request is most commonly used as it
provides the greatest flexibility for request tracking, approvals, and fulfillment
automation. This section covers the guidelines for Descriptive and Action
Offerings. Service Request Offerings are introduced and covered in greater detail
throughout the chapter.

Descriptive Offering
Use this type of offering to provide the self service user with general information
that can include links to services offered outside of SmartCloud Control Desk. A
description of the action that the user must take is typically described in this
offering. A service request is not generated for these types of Offerings.
An example of this type of offering is providing the user with a link to more
information, such as resetting their IBM developerWorks password.

Action Offering
Use this type of offering when the organization wants to integrate the new
offering with an external service, URL, or application. In this type of offering,
Launch in Context or a workflow must be used to define the access to the
integrated service or application.
Use Launch in Context if the action is to access an external URL.
Use workflows for stand-alone executable actions that do not require approvals
or when a work order is not created.
It is possible to access SmartCloud Control Desk using both Launch in Context
and workflows, depending on the organizations needs.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

When the user selects Action as the type, the Action Offering Information section
is displayed. This allows the service designer to select whether it is Launch in
Context or a Workflow.
There are two specific fields for this type of offering. The fields are described in
Table 6-5.
Table 6-5 Action Offering fields
Field

Description

Action type

Type of action that is used on the offering, which can be

Workflow or Launch in Context.

Launch in
Context/Workflow

Workflow/Launch in Context used for the action offering

to specify the workflow or Launch in Context to be run
when the Offering is requested.

Figure 6-3 shows the configuration for Action Offerings.

Figure 6-3 Action Offering Information window

To create a new Workflow, use the Workflow Designer application, which can be
opened by clicking System Configuration Platform Configuration
Workflow Designer.
To create a new Launch in context option, use the Launch in context application,
which can be opened by clicking System Configuration Platform
Configuration Launch In Context.
Action offerings can pass information, including attribute information, to a started
service. When an action offering is run, a catalog request and service request
are automatically opened and closed for accountability purposes.
Action offerings cannot be added to a cart.

Service Request Offering

Service Request is the most commonly used type of Offering. It is governed by
process workflows, some of which can be defined on a per Offering basis.

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333

SmartCloud Control Desk provides a set of best practice workflows that can be
used or modified based on the needs of the environment. The process workflows
and default approval workflows are configured at an Organization level.
All workflows used with Offerings must be enabled, active, and set to object SR.
To view, modify or create a new workflow, use the Workflow Designer application,
which can be opened by clicking System Configuration Platform
Configuration Workflow Designer.
Providing the configuration and input parameters for the process workflows is
covered in subsequent sections.
The following sections note the primary best practice process workflows that are
provided in SmartCloud Control Desk.

Initiate WorkFlow on Catalog Request submission

This is the default workflow used when a new catalog request is submitted and
the workflow type is default. It is the primary workflow that governs the entire
fulfillment process, and calls the approval workflows followed by the workflow to
set up the fulfillment processing.
Figure 6-4 shows the most recent ready for use workflow, PMSC_SR4, that
controls the request processing. Note that there are two sub processes: One for
managing the approval process and another for managing the fulfillment options.

Figure 6-4 PMSC_SR4 workflow

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Figure 6-5 illustrates the APP_WF sub process, PMSC_SR4A, which is

responsible for completing the approval process.

Figure 6-5 Workflow approval

The approval workflow runs the following actions:

1. Checks whether the offering requires the approval of a line manager.
2. Checks whether a line manager workflow has been specified on the Offering.
If it does not exist, the default line manager approval workflow is started.
3. Wait for the approval of the line manager. If the line manager approves the
request, the status is set to APPLM. If the line manager rejects the request,
the status is set to RESOLVED and the workflow stops.
4. Checks whether the offering requires the approval of a fulfillment manager.
5. Checks if a fulfillment manager workflow has been specified on the Offering. If
it does not exist, the default fulfillment manager approval workflow is started.
6. Wait for the approval of the fulfillment manager. If the fulfillment manager
approves the request, the status is set to APPR and the approval workflow
stops. If the fulfillment manager rejects the request, the status is set to
RESOLVED and the workflow stops.
Tip: Note the use of the @ symbol in the approval workflow nodes. The use of
this symbol is explained in greater detail in 6.3.3, Fulfillment on page 342.
If the status is set to APPR, the sub process OPTION_WF is started to complete
the fulfillment processing.

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The fulfillment workflow runs the following actions:

1. Applies a ticket template to the Service Request (Action: PMSC_APPLY_TT)
A conditional node checks to see whether a ticket template is specified on the
offering associated with the service request. If a ticket template exists, the
action applies it automatically. When the ticket template includes a job plan,
an activity work order is created, and a job plan is applied. The activity work
order is displayed on the Service Request Activities tab.
2. Create a standard work order (Action: PMSC_CREATE_WO)
A conditional node checks to see whether the Create Standard Work Order
flag is specified on the offering associated with the service request. If the flag
is enabled, a standard work order is created. If there is a job plan specified on
the offering, it is applied to the work order.
3. Create a change work order (Action: PMSC_CREATE_CH_WO)
A conditional node checks to see whether the Create Change Work Order
flag is specified on the offering associated with the service request. If the flag
is enabled, a change work order is created.
4. Copy the SR specification to the work order (Action:
PMSC_SR_COPYSPEC)
A conditional node checks to see whether the Copy SR Specification to Work
Order flag is specified on the offering associated with the service request. If
the flag is enabled, the custom action copies the service request specification
data (TICKETSPEC) to the work order specification (WORKORDERSPEC).
5. Copy the SR attributes to the work order (Action: PMSC_SR_COPY_WO)
A conditional node checks to see whether the Copy SR Attributes to Work
Order flag is specified on the offering associated with the service request. If
the flag is enabled, the custom action uses the TICKET2WO crossover
domain to copy service request attributes to the work order.
6. Copy the SR attributes to the work order and tasks (Action:
PMSC_SR_COPY2TASKS)
A conditional node checks to see whether the Copy SR Attributes to Work
Order and Tasks flag is specified on the offering associated with the service
request. If the flag is enabled, the custom action uses the TICKET2TASKS
crossover domain to copy service request attributes to the work order and
associated tasks.
7. Invoke a workflow on the change work order (Action:
PMSC_INVOKE_CH_WF)
A conditional node checks to see whether the Create Change Work Order
flag is specified on the offering associated with the service request. If the flag
is enabled, the custom action starts a workflow on the change work order that

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was previously created. To specify a workflow to start, update the

Parameter/Attribute field for this action.
8. Invoke a workflow on the change work order (Action:
PMSC_INVOKE_WO_WF)
A conditional node checks to see whether a workflow is defined to be started
after the Work Order is created. If the flag is enabled, the custom action starts
a workflow on the work order that was previously created. To specify a
workflow to start, update the Parameter/Attribute field for this action.
Figure 6-6 illustrates the OPTION_WF sub process PMSC_SR4B, which is
responsible for completing all of the fulfillment actions.

Figure 6-6 PMSC_SR4B workflow

Initiate WorkFlow for Service Request Line Manager Approval

This is the default workflow that is used when a catalog request is submitted and
a Service Request Line manager is required. This workflow seeks one level of
approval from the supervisor listed on the requesters person record.
Figure 6-7 illustrates the default line manager approval workflow, PMSC_LMD1.

Figure 6-7 PMSC_LMD1 workflow

Initiate WorkFlow for Service Request Fulfillment Manager Approval

This is the default workflow that is used when a catalog request is submitted and
a Service Request Fulfillment manager is required.

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Figure 6-8 illustrates the default fulfillment manager approval workflow,

PMSC_FMD1.

Figure 6-8 PMSC_FMD1 workflow

Initiate Apply Response Plan WorkFlow on Catalog Request

submission
This is the default workflow that is used when the catalog request submitted was
defined using a Response Plan as the workflow type. This workflow starts the
response plan engine that is used to find the best matching response plan.
Figure 6-9 illustrates the default response plan workflow, PMSC_SR2.

Figure 6-9 PMSC_SR2 workflow

To change or add a response plan, use the Response Plans application, which
can be opened by clicking Service Level Response Plans.
Using response plans allows for a way of dynamically fulfilling a request based
on user input. Response plans can be ranked and defined with criteria to match
incoming requests. However, take caution with this approach in that the
permutations can grow quickly.

Check supervisor prior to cart submission

This checks whether the user who is requesting the service has a supervisor
defined in the Users application
To view the set of workflows for an Organization, navigate to the Organizations
application. Select your organization and click Select Action Service
Catalog Options Workflow options for service catalog.

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The default workflows provided are shown in Figure 6-10.

Figure 6-10 Default workflows

6.3.2 Approvals
When the Offering is defined as a Service Request, the designer is able to
configure the approvals that are needed when the Offering is requested. The
default process workflow provides for both a line manager approval and a
fulfillment manager approval. The workflows that are used in these processes
were described previously.

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There might be instances where no approval is needed by either the line

manager or fulfillment manager. Examples can include simple automated
processes such as a password reset.
Conversely, there might be a need for multiple levels of management approval for
a user request. Examples can include large capital requests.
The Offerings application provides a simple method to configure the approval
processes that are needed. When an Offering is created, the approvals are set to
preapproved. The service designer can then choose to use the default workflow
from the requesters organization, or specify a custom approval workflow for the
Offering.
The fields that are used when configuring approvals are found in the Table 6-6.
Table 6-6 Fields to configure approvals

340

Field

Description

Line manager approval Preapproved

When this field is enabled, the default workflow

automatically approves the service request. The service
request status is set to APPLM, which indicates that the
line manager has approved the request.

Line manager approval Default Workflow

Indicates that the workflow used for line manager

approval processing is specified under the Service
Catalog Workflow Options for the organization and site.

Line manager approval Workflow

Specifies the workflow that is used during the line

manager approval process. This workflow overrides the
value specified under the Service Catalog Workflow
Options for the organization and site. The specified
workflow must set the service request status to APPLM if
the approval is granted, or RESOLVED if the approval is
denied.

Fulfillment manager
approval - Preapproved

When this field is enabled, the default workflow

automatically approves the service request. The service
request status is set to APPFM indicating that the
fulfillment manager has approved the request, or
RESOLVED if the approval is denied.

Fulfillment manager
approval - Default
Workflow

Indicates that the workflow used for fulfillment manager

approval processing is specified under the Service
Catalog Workflow Options for the organization and site.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Field

Description

Fulfillment manager
approval - Workflow

Specifies the workflow that is used in the fulfillment

manager approval process. This workflow overrides the
value specified under the Service Catalog Workflow
Options for the organization and site. The workflow that
is specified must set the service request status to APPFM
or RESOLVED.

An approval workflow configuration illustrating a custom line manager approval

and a preapproved fulfillment manager approval is shown in Figure 6-11.

Figure 6-11 Example approval workflow

Identifying approval tasks in custom approval workflows

Many workflows include task nodes that are used to require an individual to
approve or disapprove the requested work.
When you create a task node for an approval task, begin the title of the task node
with the @ symbol. This convention enables the node to be recognized as an
approval task. If the workflow is applied to a service request, identifying the
approval tasks enables the requester to view the current pending approval for the
service request. The requester can also view approvals that have been
completed.
Some workflows include automatic approvals that are not recorded in the
database, and therefore do not appear in the list of approvals for the service
request. If you are designing a workflow and it contains automatic approvals, and
you want the automatic approvals to appear in the list of approvals for the service
request, create an action group that includes the automatic approval task and
insert a new action type named AUTO_ASSIGN_ACCEPT after the automatic
approval. Otherwise, the approval is not recorded, but the workflow proceeds.

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After you add this action type, the approval task appears as having been
performed by the Maximo administrative user in the Self Service Center.
For an example of an action group that includes the AUTO_ASSIGN_ACCEPT
action type, see the PMSC_SR3A workflow.
The product currently displays approvals only in the Self Service Center. You can
use the AUTO_ASSIGN_ACCEPT action type in any type of workflow that
includes automatic approvals if you want to record them in the database so the
approval can be viewed in reports or (after modifying it) the user interface.

6.3.3 Fulfillment
The next step in defining an Offering is to configure the fulfillment details.
SmartCloud Control Desk is flexible in that it allows both manual and fully
automated fulfillment of requests. Depending on the requirements in the system,
activity, standard, or change work orders can be created and related back to the
original service request.
After the approval is complete, the fulfillment workflow completes the fulfillment
actions based on the configuration.
Table 6-7 lists the allowable configuration options when you are defining Offering
fulfillment.
Table 6-7 Fields to configure fulfillment

342

Field

Description

Ticket template

Allows you to identify the ticket template to apply to the

service request. The ticket template is applied after
approval processing is complete. When a job plan is
specified on the ticket template, an activity work order is
created.

Standard work order

workflow

Allows you to specify a workflow that gets initiated after

the workflow is created. This can be important for
initiating automated processes.

Create standard work

order

Allows you to create a standard work order for the

service request.

Create change work order

Allows you to create a change work order for the service

request.

Job plan

Allows you to specify a job plan that is applied when the

standard work order field is enabled.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Field

Description

Copy SR specification to
work order

This option copies the service request specification data

(TICKETSPEC) to the work order specification
(WORKORDERSPEC).

Copy SR attributes to work

order

This option uses the TICKET2WO crossover domain to

copy service request attributes to the work order.

Copy SR attributes to work

order and tasks

This option uses the TICKET2TASKS crossover domain to

copy service request attributes to the work order and
associated tasks.

Figure 6-12 illustrates the options with configuration for an Offering that creates a
standard work order, applies a job plan, then starts a workflow for the work order.

Figure 6-12 Options for a standard work order

Follow these guidelines when configuring fulfillment:

Create a standard work order and specify a job plan in the Offering instead of
adding the job plan to the ticket template to create an activity work order.
A ticket template can be used to specify an owner or an owner group to
quickly route new requests.
To reduce the amount of space used in the database, the copy options
provide the flexibility to copy data only to the objects that require it.

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 When using a ticket template, be careful not to specify a classification in the

template. The classification overwrites the value from the Offering and likely
will remove any specification data that has been entered by the user.

6.3.4 Scripting
When required, you can validate attributes, offerings, and shopping carts by
using Jython or JavaScript validation scripts (other scripting types are also
supported). Those scripts must be defined in the Automation Scripts application,
which you can open by clicking System Configuration Platform
Configuration Automation Scripts.
There are four types of script validation for the Service Catalog, add to cart,
submit cart, and attribute validation. These script types are described in the next
sections. In addition, a script can be used to prepopulate data in an Offering
dialog. All sample scripts are written in Jython with a log level of ERROR. Only
scripts that have a status of Active can be associated with an Offering.
Figure 6-13 illustrates an Offering configured with a prepopulation and submit
cart script.

Figure 6-13 Script configuration for an Offering

For more information about validation scripts, see the following documentation at
IBM developerWorks:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/
Tivoli%20Service%20Request%20Manager/page/Jython%20Scripts

Submit cart script

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk allows an organization to add validation as a part
of the shopping carts for its users. Cart validation can be useful when validating
data across multiple Offerings, starting a process to complete a request, or
setting values on the Service Request at the time of submission.
Submit Cart Scripts can be defined on a per offering basis or for an Organization
that runs every time that a cart is submitted. To define a global submit cart script,

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use the Organization application. Select your organization and click Select
Action Service Catalog Options Submit cart script for service catalog.
Then, select the script you want as shown in Figure 6-14.

Figure 6-14 Submit cart script

Submit cart scripts can be added to individual Offerings and are defined on the
Offering tab in the Offering application.
For example, if you have an offering to build a new server with middleware, one of
the options is to install a new database to the server. Selecting this option might
require that a second offering of adding a database to a server be added. A cart
validation script can be added to validate that both Offerings are present in the
cart before submitting the cart.
This example is included in the content available with SmartCloud Control Desk.
The first offering is named PMSC_2021A, and the attribute name that defines
whether a database is installed is named INSTDB. The second offering (adding a
database to the server) is named PMSC_2007A.
The script checks that offering PMSC_2021A is on the cart, and if it is, checks
whether INSTDB attribute is checked. With these conditions, the second offering
PMSC_2007A must be on the shopping cart too, or an error message is
displayed.

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The script that is used in this example is shown in Example 6-1.

Example 6-1 Cart validation script

rc = 1
errmsg = ''
foundPMSC_2021A = False
foundPMSC_2007A = False
numItems = len(itemsInCart)
for i in range(numItems):
item = itemsInCart[i]
if item != None:
itemnum = item.getString("PMSCITEMNUM")
if itemnum == 'PMSC_2021A':
attrs = itemAttributes[i]
dbyesno = attrs.getValue("INSTDB")
if dbyesno == '1':
foundPMSC_2021A = True
elif itemnum == 'PMSC_2007A':
foundPMSC_2007A = True
if foundPMSC_2021A == True and foundPMSC_2007A == False:
rc = 0
errmsg = 'If Build New Server with Middleware is in the cart and the
Install DB attribute is 1, then the Add Database To Server offering
must also be included in the cart'
print rc
print errmsg
A second example of a submit cart script is a request to deploy a new virtual
machine as shown in Example 6-2.
Example 6-2 Cart validation script - 2

from java.lang import Runtime

from java.lang import Process
hostname = offeringAttributes.getString("ALNVALUE1")
ipaddress = offeringAttributes.getString("ALNVALUE2")
sr = offeringAttributes.getMboSet("SR").getMbo(0)

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ticketid = sr.getString("TICKETID")
ticketuid = sr.getString("TICKETUID")
process2 =
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("/opt/IBM/scripts/automation/staf-deploy-vm.s
h" + " " + hostname + " " + ipaddress + " " + ticketid + " " +
ticketuid)
print 1

Add to cart script

This type of script is used when validation must be done as an offering is added
to the cart. A typical scenario is to validate all the data that has been input by a
user as the user adds the Offering to the cart. For example, a script can be used
to validate that a start date occurs before a requested end date.
Add to cart scripts are defined on the Offering tab in the Offering application.
An example script to solve this issue is displayed in Example 6-3. The attributes
PMSCSTARTDATE and PMSCENDDATE are used as the start and end date in
the offering.
Example 6-3 Add to cart script

# Check that end date comes after start date and add the data to the
long description on the sr
from java.text import SimpleDateFormat
from java.lang import StringBuffer
from psdi.mbo import MboConstants
fmt = SimpleDateFormat('MM/d/yy')
rc = 1
errmsg = ''
startdatestr = offeringAttributes.getValue("PMSCSTARTDATE");
#startdatestr="12/1/10"
enddatestr = offeringAttributes.getValue("PMSCENDDATE");
#enddatestr = "11/1/10"
if len(startdatestr) > 0 and len(enddatestr) > 0:
startdate = fmt.parse(startdatestr)

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enddate = fmt.parse(enddatestr)
if enddate.before(startdate):
rc =0
errmsg = 'The Start Date must occur before the End Date'
print rc
print errmsg

Attribute validation
Scripts can be associated with specific attributes to validate data that are entered
by the user, or to populate data in other fields upon a data change. To associate
a script with a specific attribute, set the validation script for the attribute on the
Specifications and Presentations tab of the Offering.
These validation scripts are started as the user enters data and tabs or moves
out of a field.
The first sample script illustrates validating an IP address that has been entered
as shown in Example 6-4.
Example 6-4 User input validation script

errmsg = ''
rc = 1
ipList = newValue.split('.')
if len(ipList) == 4:
for i in ipList:
try:
i = int(i)
except:
rc = 0
errmsg = i, ' is not a valid number. IP Addresses must contain valid
numbers'
break
if i > 255:
rc = 0
errmsg = i, ' is greater than 255. Valid IP Addresses are between 0
and 255.'
break
else:
rc = 0
errmsg = 'IP Addresses must be in the form nn.nn.nn.nn'
print rc
print errmsg

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The second example (Example 6-5) illustrates setting a default database

directory (DBDIR) and administrator (DBADMIN) if they currently do not have
values when the add database to server box is selected.
Example 6-5 Data update script

if (newValue == '1'):
dbdir = offeringAttributes.getValue("DBDIR")
dbadmin = offeringAttributes.getValue("DBADMIN")
if len(dbdir) == 0:
offeringAttributes.setNewValue("DBDIR", "c:/ibm/db2")
if len(dbadmin) == 0:
offeringAttributes.setNewValue("DBADMIN", "db2admin")
print 1

6.3.5 Presentation and specification attributes

Offering dialogs are the self service users view of an Offering. They use the
dialogs to view the details, complete any required information, and submit
requests for the Offering.
When an offering is created, there are two options for creating a dialog: Default
and custom. This choice is defined by using the Specifications tab in the Offering
application. Custom dialogs are required to be used when a Custom MBO is
used, attributes require special handling such as sigoptions for conditional UI, or
the dialog requires a special layout such as a wizard.
Tip: Use the default dialogs whenever possible to simplify the Offering
creation process.
Beginning with SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5.0.0, Offering dialogs were moved to
the PMSCOFFER application, and can be edited by using the Application
Designer application. Although dialogs can still be stored in library.xml, moving
them to the PMSCOFFER application removes the need for service designers to
write XML and modify a system library file.
To aid in dialog creation, a new action to clone an existing dialog has been
added. This action allows a service designer to use an existing dialog as a
template. A sample dialog in addition to dialogs for the sample content has been
included for this purpose.
The Specifications and Presentations tab in the Offering application includes a
Preview Dialog button that shows the currently configured dialog.

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Note: The preview of the dialog is shown in a read only mode. Any elements
that have sigoptions added are not shown.

Specification attributes
In most cases, Offerings are defined with a set of specification attributes. When
an Offering is classified, any attributes that are attached to the classification are
automatically added to the Offering. Attributes cannot be dynamically added
without being predefined in either the Classification application or in the Offering
application by using the Add / Modify Attribute action. After specification
attributes are defined in the system, they can be added to an Offering. Unneeded
attributes can be deleted from the Offering.
The Offerings application contains two views of an attribute. The first is the
attribute details, including type and description. The second view shows
presentation information for the attribute. This is covered in detail in the following
sections.

Default dialogs
Use a default dialog when the user is presented with zero or a simple list of
specification attributes. To use a default dialog, the Presentation Type field on the
Specifications and Presentation tab must be set to the default dialog. When this
is done, some additional configuration options are available. These options are
shown in Table 6-8.
Table 6-8 Configuration options for default dialogs

350

Configuration option

Usage

Display User
Attachments Link

Select this option when the user needs to add more

attachments. This can be useful in cases where a user must
attach a form, image, or similar data.

Display Add to Cart and

Order Now Buttons

There are instances where the Service Designer might not

want to allow the self service user to add the Offering to a
cart. When the box is checked, the user can submit the
request immediately or add the Offering to the cart. If the box
is cleared, the user can only submit the request.

Display Asset Field

This displays the asset field from the Service Request on the
dialog. This is useful in cases where the Offering is
requested for a specific asset. An example is deploying
software to a target asset.

Display Price

This optionally hides pricing information from an individual

Offering.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Figure 6-15 illustrates the default dialog configuration options.

Figure 6-15 Default dialog configuration options

After the high-level dialog options are configured, the next step is to add, remove,
or modify the specification attributes. A default set might have been added when
the Offering was classified.
Multiple configuration options are available with a default dialog to control how
the attribute is presented. Table 6-9 lists the presentation details for a
specification attribute in a default dialog.
Table 6-9 Presentation details for a specification attribute in a default dialog
Configuration
option

Usage

Sequence

This determines the order that the attributes are displayed in the
dialog.

Mandatory

The user is required to enter a value for this attribute.

Hidden

This attribute is not shown on the dialog. This is useful when data
must be passed to approvers or the fulfillment process.

Read Only

The attribute is not able to be edited by the user. This allows the user
to view data but not make any changes.

Checkbox

The user input method is a check box.

Calendar

This is used to allow the user to enter a date.

Multiline

This shows multiple lines of text for user input. The maximum length
is defined by the specification attribute, which has a system-wide
default of 255 characters.

Exclude From
Template

Mark this if the attribute should not be included in a cart template. Use
this for passwords, serial numbers, and similar data.

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Configuration
option

Usage

Validation
Script

This is the attribute-specific validation script.

Attribute Help

Provides some simple text when the user hovers over the label of the
specification attribute.

Remember: The sequence numbers of the attributes do not automatically

update. Use increments of 10 to make updates to the sequencing easier.
Figure 6-16 illustrates the default dialog attribute presentation configuration
options.

Figure 6-16 Default dialog attribute presentation configuration options

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Five default dialogs are provided with the product. The dialog that is used
depends on the configuration details of the Offering, as shown in Table 6-10.
Table 6-10 Configuration details for Offerings
Dialog ID

Offering Type

Service
Desk?

Number
of
Attributes

defaultDialogCr

Action /
Service
Request

>= 1

This dialog is used for

non-service desk
Offerings that contain
attributes.

defaultDialogNoAttributesCR

Action /
Service
Request

This dialog is used for

non-service desk
Offerings that have no
attributes.

defaultDialogCRSD

Action /
Service
Request

>= 1

This dialog is used for

service desk Offerings
that contain attributes.

defaultDialogNoAttributesCRsd

Action /
Service
Request

This dialog is used for

service desk Offerings
that have no attributes

Descriptive

N/A

N/A

descriptiveDialogCR

Remarks

This dialog is used for all

descriptive Offerings.

Note: Dialogs for Service Desk Offerings contain reported priority and
summery fields that can be filled in by the user and are not found on the non
Service Desk Offerings.

Custom dialogs
Use a custom dialog when custom MBOs are required, complex layouts such as
a wizard, or attributes must have sigoptions for specific behavior. To use a
custom dialog, the Presentation Type field on the Specifications and Presentation
tab must be set to custom dialog. When this is done, some extra configuration
options are available as shown in Table 6-11.
Table 6-11 Extra configuration options
Configuration
option

Usage

Custom Dialog Name

This is the ID of the custom dialog to be used. A lookup allows

the service designer to see the available dialogs that can be
selected. This is a mandatory field.

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Configuration
option

Usage

Display Add to Cart

and Order Now
Buttons

There are instances where the Service Designer might not

want to allow the self service user to add the Offering to a cart.
When the box is checked, the user can submit the request
immediately or add the Offering to the cart. If the box is
cleared, the user can only submit the request.
Note: This option is not used unless the same sigoptions from
the default dialog are migrated to the custom dialog. The
buttons can be configured directly on the dialog.

Display User
Attachments Link

Select this option when the user needs to add extra

attachments. This can be useful in cases where a user must
attach a form, image, or similar data.
Note: This option is not used unless the same sigoptions from
the default dialog are migrated to the custom dialog. The
attachments link can be configured directly on the dialog.

Display Price

This hides pricing information from an individual Offering

where showing the estimated price is not needed.
Note: This option is not used unless the same sigoptions from
the default dialog are migrated to the custom dialog. Display of
price information can be configured directly on the dialog.

Figure 6-17 illustrates the default dialog configuration options.

Figure 6-17 Default dialog configuration options

After the high-level dialog options are configured, the next step is to add, remove,
or modify the specification attributes. A default set might be added when the
Offering is classified.

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A small set of configuration options are available with a custom dialog. Table 6-12
lists the presentation details for a specification attribute in a default dialog.
Table 6-12 Presentation details for a specification attribute in a default dialog
Configuration option

Usage

PMSCCRSPEC Column

This is the name of the attribute in the PMSCCRSPEC

table that the specification attribute must map to in the
dialog. These values must be used when you define the
dialog to ensure that the values entered by the self service
user match the correct attribute.

Exclude From Template

Mark this if the attribute should not be included in a cart

template. Exclude passwords, serial numbers, and similar
data.

Validation Script

This is the attribute-specific validation script.

Figure 6-18 illustrates the custom dialog attribute presentation configuration

options.

Figure 6-18 Custom attributes for custom dialogs

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Important: Pay special attention to the PMSCCRSPEC mapping shown in the

attribute section. This is needed to ensure the correct mapping of data as they
are created from the offering to the service request.

Creating a custom presentation bean

When a custom dialog is created, it is also possible to create a new custom
presentation bean to be used with the dialog. A presentation bean is the Java
class that is used to define the actions available for the created presentation
dialog.
The new bean that is created must extend
com.ibm.ism.pmsc.webclient.beans.shoppingcr.PmScInputSpecBean, which is
the class used in the default presentation dialog. Extending ensures all actions
available for the default presentation offering are present in the new offering.
The following list notes some actions that can be done by using a custom
presentation bean:
Pre-populate attribute fields using application data or external data
It is necessary to change the initialize method inside the new
customPresentationBean class to fill the data you want to be pre-populated.
The method that is used to do this population is named setValue.
Extend current button functionality
There are five predefined buttons in the PmScInputSpecBean class available for
all default and custom presentation dialogs. The buttons are described in
Table 6-13.
Table 6-13 Buttons available for presentation dialogs

356

Action

Method signature

Function

Add to cart

int opencrdr() throws

MXException,
RemoteException

Insert the offering in the Shopping

Cart and starts the Shopping Cart
application

Execute/Launch

int execute() throws

MXException,
RemoteException

Used for Action Offerings only,

execute the workflow or the Launch
in Context action

Cancel

int cancelClicked()
throws MXException,
RemoteException

Cleans up records that were created

when offering was selected and
closes dialog.

Add to favorites

void addtofav() throws

MXException,
RemoteException

Adds the selected offering to the

Favorite Offerings list.

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Action

Method signature

Function

OK

int okClicked() throws

MXException,
RemoteException

Update the values that were

changed for the Offering. Not
available for the Offering Catalog
application.

The Service Designer user can extend the functionality of any of these
buttons by overriding the methods in the custom presentation dialog.
Add new button function
You can add buttons to the custom presentation bean. To do so, the Service
Designer user must create a new method to handle the new function.
An example of a custom presentation dialog bean is shown in Example 6-6.
Example 6-6 Custom presentation bean

package com.ibm.ism.pmsc.webclient.beans.shoppingcr;
import java.rmi.RemoteException;
import psdi.mbo.MboConstants;
import psdi.util.MXException;
// New class must extend PmScInputSpecBean
public class MyCustomPresentationBean extends PmScInputSpecBean {
//Change initialize method to have pre populated attributes
protected void initialize() throws MXException, RemoteException
{
// This calls the initialize method on the PmScInputSpecBean class,
// it is required
super.initialize();
// This calls setValue method and set John Doe to field defined as
// aln1 on the presentation
this.setValue("aln1", "John Doe", MboConstants.NOACCESSCHECK);
this.setValue("num2", "12345", MboConstants.NOACCESSCHECK);
moveTo(0);
}
// Override one of the existing methods. On this example, the method
//that will be overriden is execute
int execute() throws MXException, RemoteException
{
System.out.println("Executing service");

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// Calls the execute event from PmScInputSpecBean.

super.execute();
// Add here the required extra code required to add a new
// functionality for the class
return EVENT_HANDLED;
}
//Creates a new button functionality, in this case named email
int email() throws MXException, RemoteException
{
// Add here the required code for the new functionality
return EVENT_HANDLED;
}
}

6.3.6 Custom MBOs

There are many use cases in which users must add multiple entries when
requesting a service. Examples can include adding software to a newly
requested system, requesting access to a building, or requesting that ports be
opened in a firewall.
There are also cases where the standard ALN, NUMERIC, and TABLE
specification attributes do not adequately address the types or amount of data
that must be collected in an Offering dialog.
Support for Custom MBOs has been added to address these use cases. Maximo
business objects (MBOs) are the business objects used by SmartCloud Control
Desk. By using Custom MBOs, service designers can create offering dialogs that
contain a table control. The table control can be used to collect information about
the offering in a tabular format. This format allows users to request services with
multiple similar resources in a single request form.
This format minimizes the number of distinct items that the requester must order,
while providing the ability to use resource information for dynamic requests and
assignment workflows.
To generate this offering, the service designer must create a custom MBO to
handle the information provided in the offering by using the database
configuration application.
When you create a custom MBO, the new object must include the required
attribute TICKETID so that it can be associated with the service request

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generated by the user. The custom MBO must also have a specific class
(com.ibm.ism.pmsc.custommbo.PmScComplexItemSet).
An offering can have more than one custom MBO associated with it, but each
custom MBO must be unique in that offering. Similarly, custom MBOs can be
shared across multiple offerings.

Creating a custom MBO

To create an MBO in the database, use the Database Configuration application,
you can open by clicking System Configuration Database Configuration.
Complete the following steps to create the new object:
1. In the Database Configuration application, click the New Object icon.
2. Type a name in the Object field and a description of the object in the
Description field. The Entity field shows the value that you typed in the Object
field and becomes the name of the table in the database.
3. Change the value in the Class field to the following syntax:
com.ibm.ism.pmsc.offering.PmScComplexItemSet

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4. Select Main Object and Persistent as shown in the building access example
in Figure 6-19.

Figure 6-19 New MBO: Object tab

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5. Click the Attributes tab and add the attributes that are required for the tabular
data object. The attribute TICKETID must also be added because it is the
required attribute used to relate the data in the custom MBO to the service
request. Set Same as Object to TICKET and Same as Attribute to TICKETID.
Figure 6-20 shows the configuration for the TICKET attribute.

Figure 6-20 Configuration for the TICKET attribute

6. Specify any indexes that are needed for this object in the Indexes tab. This
step is optional.
7. Click Save Object.

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Some attributes are automatically created. In this example, the MBO does not
use long descriptions or an HASLD attribute, so these attributes are marked to
be deleted in the Status column. All other attributes are marked to be added to
the database.
If the object is ready to be inserted into the database, you can use the following
steps to insert it:
1. In the Database Configuration application, select Manage Admin Mode from
the Action menu. To select Manage Admin Mode, you must not select any
records.
2. Click Turn Admin Mode ON.
3. Click OK. A window opens that indicates that the Admin Mode is starting.
4. Click OK. Refresh the status and the following message is displayed if the
admin mode was turned on successfully:
BMXAA4002I - Administration mode is on for this server
5. Click the Apply Configuration Changes action to configure the database
and restore backup tables.
6. Refresh the status to check the progress. The following message is displayed
when the configuration finishes:
BMXAA6820I - ConfigDB completed without errors
7. To turn off Admin Mode, click the Admin Mode action, and then click Turn
Admin Mode OFF. The following message is displayed if the admin mode
was turned off successfully:
BMXAA4003I - Administration mode is off for this server
If the new object no longer has To be added as the status, the database
configuration was run successfully.
Next, a relationship between SR and the new object must be created. The parent
of the relationship must be SR, so the relationship must be created in the SR
object. This configuration is required to use the new MBO in the service catalog.
To create the relationship for the new object and SR object, complete these
steps:
1. Click New Row.
2. Fill the Relationship field with the name of the custom MBO created.
3. Fill the Child Object field with the name of the custom MBO created.
4. Fill the whereClause field with ticketid=:ticketid. This is the link between
SR and the new object created.

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5. Save the object.

An example of this new relationship is displayed in Figure 6-21.

Figure 6-21 New relationship

Using a Custom MBO inside an Offering

After the object is created, it can be used when creating an Offering. To use a
custom MBO with an Offering, add a row and find the new MBO based on the
relationship name that was created previously. You can optionally specify a
minimum and maximum number of rows that can be added.
If Table Data is selected, this Custom MBO is used to gather multiple lines of
data as in the building access or software examples. If it is left cleared, only a
single instance of the Custom MBO is used with the Offering request to use
specific data types or a custom data model outside of the standard specification
attributes.
As with the specification attributes, you can configure which data is used when
this object is used as part of an Offering that is included in a Cart Template. If
specific attributes must be excluded from a cart template, an Object Structure
must be created. The following example permits all data to be added to a
template.

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Figure 6-22 shows how a custom MBO can be added to an Offering.

Figure 6-22 Custom MBO

Custom MBOs can only be used when a custom dialog is used. To reference the
new object, a data source must be used in the dialog. The building access
dialogs provide an example of how this can be done.
Hint and tip: Data from Custom MBOs is not stored as part of a Service
Request or Work Order. To view the data entered by the user, click Show
Offering Dialog in the Service Request or Work Order applications.

Dialog considerations
At this point, create the custom dialog to be used with the custom MBO. It can be
created according to the needs of each offering.
To create a new dialog, you can use the Application Designer. Complete these
steps:
1. Click Go to System Configuration Platform Configuration
Application Designer.
2. Find and load the application PMSCOFFER.

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3. The easiest way to start a new custom dialog is to clone an existing dialog.
Two examples using a custom MBO are BuildingAccess (uses a multi-line
table) and BuildingAccessNoTable (uses the custom attributes, but not in a
multi-line table).
4. Edit the dialog using the Edit Dialogs option.
5. When you are finished making the dialog changes, save the dialog.
Remember to find the datasrc that uses the relationship to
PMSCBLDACCESS and update it to use the relationship you created to the
custom MBO.

6.3.7 Price and cost

Services offered through the Service Catalog often have associated prices to
reflect actual costs that are based on the parts and labor needed to fulfill that
service. In many cases, the prices are billed directly to the user or to the users
department.
Prior releases had limited support for displaying the price of a service to a user.
In those releases, displaying pricing information required extra configuration in
the system.
With the most recent release of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, Service Catalog
uses the Price Books application from Service Provider to maintain and display
estimated price information. Price Books allows both a one time and a recurring
price to be defined for each individual Offering. For example, if a user is
requesting a mobile phone, the Offering can display a one time price for the
device hardware and the activation fee, and a monthly recurring price for the
voice and data plans.
When a user requests an Offering, both the one time and recurring unit prices
are stored on the Service Request. If that Offering is configured to allow a
quantity to be specified, the total unit and recurring prices are also stored on the
Service Request.
The prices that are associated with an Offering must only be used to convey
estimated pricing. The actual price that is billed is based on the actual costs of
parts and labor, taking into account any discounts from customer agreements.
Note: To fully support billing for services using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk,
the Service Provider Managed or Internal editions must be used. The
standard edition can only display the estimated price to a user.

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Pricing configuration
Pricing for Service Catalog Offerings can be configured both globally and on a
per Offering basis. The global configuration setting for displaying price enables or
disables pricing for Offerings throughout the entire system, including Offering
design, self service, and service fulfillment. The global setting takes precedence
over the per Offering configuration setting. If the global setting for pricing is
enabled, the service designer is able to configure individual Offerings to display
pricing information.
For systems that have not been upgraded, pricing is enabled globally by default
while systems that have been upgraded have pricing globally disabled to
maintain system continuity after upgrade. To enable or disable pricing on a global
level, a system property, pmsc.catalog.displayprice, is used. A value of 0
disables the display of pricing information, and a value of 1 enables display.
Figure 6-23 illustrates the global pricing configuration.

Figure 6-23 Global pricing configuration

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If the global setting to display pricing is enabled, individual Offerings can then be
configured to display or not display pricing information. To enable the display of
pricing information, select Display Price in the Offering application. Figure 6-24
illustrates the Offering level pricing configuration.

Figure 6-24 Offering level pricing configuration

Note: This setting is only available if the Offering is using a default dialog.
Offerings that use custom dialogs can be configured to display pricing
information if needed directly in the dialog.
In most cases, the catalog contains a mixture of services that have costs
associated with them. For these cases, globally enable displaying pricing
information, configure display on each Offering. To be consistent, you might want
to always show a price for each service, but show a value of 0 where no costs are
associated.

Defining a Price Book

A Price Book contains all of the pricing information for use with Service Catalog.
The type of Price Book must be defined with a type of OFFERING. Price Books
contain a list of all the Offerings that are configured to display pricing information.
Price Books are also associated with an Organization. The currency that is
defined for that Organization is then used for the Price Book. A single Offering
can be displayed in multiple currencies by adding it to separate Price Books that
have distinct Organizations and currencies.
Price information is displayed only for Price Books that are APPROVED, the
default Price Book, and Price Books that have not expired or reached their end
date. There can only be a single Price Book that meets these criteria per
Organization.

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Figure 6-25 shows the primary information that is defined for a Price Book.

Figure 6-25 Price Book tab

Note: The List Price value is not currently used by Service Catalog Offerings.
When making a revision of a Price Book, the effective date can only be the
next calendar day or later. Make sure that prices are accurate before
approving the Price Book.

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The price history and different prices for multiple currencies of an Offering is
visible in the Offering application. The Price and Cost tab shows all of the Price
Books the current Offering is part of. If the Offering is associated with a Job Plan,
the costs that are associated with labor and materials can also be seen.
Figure 6-26 shows the Price and Cost tab for an Offering.

Figure 6-26 Price and Cost tab for an Offering

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6.3.8 Ratings and user comments

As commonly found on many Internet shopping sites, users in IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk are able to rate and make comments on individual Service Catalog
Offerings. In the Offerings application, a service designer or administrator is able
to view all of the comments and ratings that have been made by users.
If any comments and rankings are determined to be invalid, inappropriate, or no
longer apply, they can be marked inactive by checking the box in the table.
Marking a comment and ranking inactive removes it from the average rating
calculation. In addition, records marked as inactive are not visible by users in the
Offering dialog.
An example of ratings and comments that are provided by users as shown in the
Offerings application can be seen in Figure 6-27.

Figure 6-27 Comments and Ratings window

There are at least two ways to use the user comments and ratings. The first
allows users to provide specific feedback to the service designers on individual
Offerings. The feedback can include how the Offering was fulfilled, the ease of
filling out the Offering dialog to make the request, and suggestions for adding or
removing options. The service designer can use this information to make
adjustments and updates to the Offering. In this case, old feedback can be
marked inactive so that the rating is based on comments for the updated
Offering.
The other approach allows users to share feedback with the broader user
community on how satisfied they were with the Offering. This paradigm is
commonly used for internet shopping sites.

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Allowing users to provide comments and ratings can be configured on a per

Offering basis. To allow users to provide comments and ratings, select Allow
Comments and Ratings on the main Offerings tab. This check box enables the
tab and button on the default dialog. For custom dialogs, this check box has no
effect unless the appropriate sigoptions and conditions are configured for that
dialog.

6.3.9 Adding Offerings to a Catalog

Offerings can be added to a Catalog directly from the Offering application. To add
the current Offering to one or more Catalogs, use the Add Offering to Catalog
action. The resulting dialog lists all the Catalogs that this Offering is not currently
part of. You can use this window to check the Catalogs this Offering should be
included in. In addition, the taxonomy can also be modified from the dialog.
Figure 6-28 illustrates a user adding the Offering to multiple catalogs using a
different taxonomy for each Catalog.

Figure 6-28 Add to Catalogs window

Offerings can be added to a Catalog from the Offering application at any time.
However, if you want to modify the taxonomy, the Offering must have a status of
planning or pending.
The classification of the offering is used as the default taxonomy self service
users use when browsing for offerings. The taxonomy that is used when adding
the offering to a catalog can be changed, allowing the designer to use a different

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classification path for user browsing. In addition, using a different taxonomy

across catalogs allows the user to navigate to the same offering in multiple ways.
When defining the classifications used for the Offering Catalog Taxonomy,
remember that the description for each node is shown in the breadcrumb as the
user navigates down the tree. If the description of each node has the full
hierarchy in the description, it can seem as though data is repeated.
The result of the action is illustrated in Figure 6-29. To remove an Offering from a
Catalog, the delete icon can be used.

Figure 6-29 Catalog list

6.4 Catalog design

Catalogs are used as container objects for one or more Offerings, and can be
used to authorize groups to different sets of Offerings. In addition, multiple
Catalogs can be used to provide users with different navigation paths when
distinct taxonomies are used.
With the introduction of the Self Service Center, the notion of separate Catalogs
was hidden from the user. They simply see a single collection of Offerings
regardless of Catalog. In the Offering Catalog applications, users are able to
browse by specific Catalog.
The service catalog designer user is responsible for creating the new catalogs.
To create and manage catalogs, the application that is used is Catalog, which
you can open by clicking Service Catalog Catalogs.
In the first tab, enter the catalog name and the description for the catalog. In the
second tab, add the required offerings for this catalog. To add offerings to the
new catalog, click Add Offerings and select the offerings to be included. Only
offerings with Active status can be requested by self service users.

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An example of a Catalog with five Offerings is shown in Figure 6-30.

Figure 6-30 Offering tab

If you prefer to add multiple offerings, you can click Select Action Add
Multiple Offerings. Offerings that are currently not part of the Catalog can be
selected and added.
After all the offerings that you need are added to the catalog, change the status
to Active and the catalog will be available for users.
Hint and tip: The classification of the offering is used as the default taxonomy
self service users use when browsing for offerings. The taxonomy that is used
when adding the offering to a catalog can be changed, allowing you to use a
different classification path for user browsing. In addition, using a different
taxonomy across catalogs allows the user to navigate to the same offering in
multiple ways.

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6.5 Enterprise App Store scenario

The sample content for SmartCloud Control Desk contains a sample Offering,
TEMDEPLOY. This was created to integrate with Tivoli Endpoint Manager to
deploy a software package to an asset specified by a user. After the environment
is configured for the integration, the Offering can be duplicated to create more
Offerings that enable automated software deployment of other software. The
collection of these Offerings can be used to build an Enterprise App Store where
self service users can browse the catalogs of available applications and request
to have them automatically deployed to their asset. For an example of what an
Enterprise App Store might look like to a self service user, see Enterprise
Application Store on page 541.
The TEMDEPLOY Offering takes advantage of some of the new fulfillment
features in SmartCloud Control Desk. The Offering was defined to create a
standard work order, apply a job plan to that work order, and start a workflow to
change the status to initiate the job plan actions. The Job Plan contains a single
action that runs a workflow, SCCDTEMDEP, which does the integration with
Tivoli Endpoint Manager after conducting a check for an available license. If the
software deployment succeeds, the license count is decremented. Figure 6-31
illustrates the workflow that is used to run the software deployment.

Figure 6-31 Tivoli Endpoint Manager workflow

In this workflow, Jython scripts are called to handle the integration with Tivoli
Endpoint Manager. Other scripting languages such as JavaScript can also be
used.

6.6 Restricting access to Catalogs and Offerings

You can restrict the access of groups to specific catalogs or offerings by using the
Security Groups application. All security configurations are done using the
Service Catalog tab in the Security Groups application.

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By default, groups that access the self service applications are authorized to
view all Catalogs and Offerings that are active. Groups with access to the service
design applications are authorized to view all Catalogs and Offerings.
To manage security, the Service Catalog tab contains two check boxes that have
similar purposes. They both create data restrictions to restrict access to
Offerings and Catalogs. The first check box restricts access in the self service
applications such as the Self Service Center and the Offering Catalog. The
second check box restricts access to those objects in all applications. When one
of the check boxes is checked, a set of data restrictions is created.
Table 6-14 shows the data restrictions that are created when the self service
restrictions check box is checked.
Table 6-14 Data restrictions for the Offering Catalog and the Self Service Center
Application

Type

Object

Condition

PMSCOFFCAT

Qualified

PMSCCATALOG

PMSCCATQSTAT

PMSCOFFCAT

Hidden

PMSCCATALOG

PMSCCATHSTAT

SRMSSCTR

Qualified

PMSCCATALOG

PMSCCATQSTAT

SRMSSCTR

Hidden

PMSCCATALOG

PMSCCATHSTAT

PMSCOFFCAT

Qualified

PMSCOFFERING

PMSCOFFQSTAT

PMSCOFFCAT

Hidden

PMSCOFFERING

PMSCOFFHSTAT

PMSCCRDET

Qualified

PMSCOFFERING

PMSCOFFQSTAT

PMSCCRDET

Hidden

PMSCOFFERING

PMSCOFFHSTAT

SRMSSCTR

Qualified

PMSCOFFERING

PMSCOFFQSTAT

SRMSSCTR

Hidden

PMSCOFFERING

PMSCOFFHSTAT

Table 6-15 shows the Data Restrictions that are created when the global
restrictions check box is checked.
Table 6-15 Global data restrictions
Application

Type

Object

Condition

All

Qualified

PMSCCATALOG

PMSCCATQSTAT

All

Hidden

PMSCCATALOG

PMSCCATHSTAT

All

Qualified

PMSCOFFERING

PMSCOFFQSTAT

All

Hidden

PMSCOFFERING

PMSCOFFHSTAT

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After the data restrictions are created, the users in that group do not have any
access to Offerings or Catalogs. The next step is to grant access to a Catalog.
Granting a group access to a Catalog also implicitly grants access to all Offerings
in that Catalog. This is done by adding a row in the table of Authorized Catalogs.
There might be instances where the group should not have access to one or
more Offerings that have been implicitly granted by accessing a Catalog.
Individual Offerings can be explicitly restricted by adding a row to the Restricted
Offerings table.
Explicitly revoking access to an Offering takes precedence over implicitly granting
access to the Offering by using Catalog authorization.

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Figure 6-32 shows a group that has been configured to have access to only a
single Catalog in the self service applications. One of the Offerings in that
Catalog has been restricted.

Figure 6-32 Security restrictions for service catalog

6.7 Approving a request

An Offering can be configured to require approval from a line manager. In many
cases, line managers are a class of self service users who also have approval
responsibilities. With this in mind, an application (VIEWAPPRSR) was developed
to make approvals by a line manager easier. It provides a simple view of the
users request. Unlike managing traditional workflow assignments, this

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application also allows the user to navigate to other waiting assignments without
going back to the start center and accessing the inbox assignments portlet.
The default approval workflow, PMSC_LMD1, has been configured to use the
VIEWAPPRSR application. The fulfillment manager approval workflow,
PMSC_FMD1, has not been configured with this application. Instead, it uses the
full SR application view. This was done to show how the roles between the line
manager and fulfillment manager can be separated.
To approve a request, the line manager simply has to click Take Action, and
then approve or reject the request. The line manager can also view the same
dialog that the user used to request the Offering by clicking Show Offering.

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Figure 6-33 illustrates the approval application for Fred, Bobs line manager.

Figure 6-33 Approval action

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6.8 Conclusion
This chapter addressed the use of the Service Catalog in the IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk. Information that included how to customize an Offering, order
services, and fulfill those requests, was provided to help organizations build
service catalogs that best fit their needs.

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Chapter 7.

Service level management

This chapter describes how IBM SmartCloud Control Desk supports the service
level management process. It provides key concepts of the process, and
describes its use with the product, including typical use cases and configuration
considerations.
The following sections are included in this chapter:
Service level management process overview
Service level management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

381

7.1 Service level management process overview

Service level management process is part of the service design lifecycle as per
ITIL. Service level management deals with the design of new or modified
services for introduction into a production environment.
The goal of the service level management process is to ensure that an agreed
level of IT service is provided for all IT services.
Service level management represents the IT service provider to the customer,
and the customer to the IT service provider. There is regular bidirectional
contact, whereby levels of services are discussed. Table 7-1 provides a
discussion example between a customer and service provider. This table also
notes the agreement reached based on both parties objectives and the amount
of money the customer is willing to spend.
Table 7-1 Example discussion for service level agreement
When the customer
wants it

How long the service

desk wants to provide
it

How much the

customer is willing to
spend

Time that customer

and service desk
agree on

Immediately

1 month

1 week

Immediately

1 month

$$

1 day

Immediately

1 month

$$$

2 hours

Immediately

1 month

$$$$

30 minutes

In a perfect world, all customer contacts with the service desk would be resolved
instantly. In the real world, service desks are busy, support staffs are overworked,
and things always take longer than expected. The agreements between the two
parties are a compromise between the level of service customers require and the
level that the service desk (IT and technical support) can provide, based on
resources available and overall costs.
The following list notes the objectives of service level management:
Defining, documenting, agreeing, monitoring, measuring, reporting, and
running a review of the service level.
Delivering and improving the relation and communication with the business
and clients.
Ensuring that specific and measurable targets are being developed.
Monitoring and improving customer satisfaction with the quality of service that
is being delivered.

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 Ensuring that IT and the customers have a clear and unambiguous

expectation of the level of service to be delivered.
Ensuring that proactive measures to improve levels of service delivered are
implemented wherever the costs are justified.

7.1.1 Benefits
Service level management provides a consistent interface to the business for all
service-related issues. It provides the business with the agreed service targets
and the required information to ensure that those targets are met. If targets are
missed, service level management provides feedback on the cause of the breach
and details of the actions being taken to prevent the breach from occurring again.
The service level management process entails planning, coordinating, drafting,
agreeing, monitoring, and reporting about service level agreements (SLAs).
Service level management also covers the ongoing review of service
achievements to ensure that the required and cost-justifiable service quality is
maintained and improved.

7.1.2 Definitions
A service level agreement is a written agreement between the service desk
(service provider) and its customers. It documents the levels of service that are
provided to the customer. An SLA is best described as a collection of
commitments and expectations for both sides. It records the commitments and
expectations, but not the means or details of execution.
A service provider is the organization that supplies services to one or more
internal or external customers. You can think of it as a service desk that answers
the requests and issues of its users.
A service is a set of tasks that is provided by a service provider that fulfills one or
more of the customers needs.
A commitment is a specific responsibility that the service provider must meet to
fulfill the SLAt with the customer. A commitment describes a measurable and
quantifiable aspect of a service.

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7.1.3 Product capabilities

The following are some of the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities specific
to service level management that are demonstrated in later use cases:
Definition of service level agreements criteria to condition the application of
an SLA based on the conditions such as classifications, priority, locations,
assets, and configuration items (CIs).
Definition of service level agreement targets with predefined types of
commitments:
Contact: Identifies when interactions begin with the requester.
Response: The service desk must start working on a ticket or work order
within a set amount of time.
Resolve: The service desk must resolve the request within a set amount of
time.
Other: Other commitments between the service desk and the customer,
such as reliability, availability, or downtime.
Definition of escalation points, such as actions or notifications, related to
agreed commitments to ensure that critical tasks are delivered on time.
Application of service level agreements either manually by an agent, or
automatically by workflow or escalation.
Application and calculation of service level agreements based on calendars
and shifts that are defined for the organization, location, people, or assets.
Service level agreement hold status to avoid unnecessary penalties for
violating SLAs when something occurs beyond the control of IT staff.
Monitoring and reporting of SLA compliance through the means of key
performance indicators or reports.
For a list of reports that are provided with the product see Appendix B,
SmartCloud Control Desk Reports on page 727. KPIs for service level
management, available as part of the optional content, are listed in Table 7-2.
Table 7-2 Service level management KPIs

384

KPI

Content

INCSLAPERCENTP1

SLA Compliance - Priority 1 incidents

INCSLAPERCENTP2

SLA Compliance - Priority 2 incidents

INCSLAPERCENTP3

SLA Compliance - Priority 3 incidents

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KPI

Content

INCSLAPERCENTP4

SLA Compliance - Priority 4 incidents

INCSLAPERCENT

SLA Compliance - All incidents

7.2 Service level management using IBM SmartCloud

Control Desk
This section describes how IBM SmartCloud Control Desk facilitates
management of service level agreements in typical situations. The following are
the areas that are covered:

Configuring SLA options for an organization with use cases

Creating a service level agreement
Applying the service level agreement to an incident
Enabling the SLA hold feature
Considering calendars in the calculation of the service level targets

7.2.1 Organization SLA options

Options for service level agreements are set from the Organization application,
by using the SLA options action as shown in Figure 7-1 on page 386. Other than
Allow SLA Hold to be Applied on SLAs, you set these options separately for
each site.

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Figure 7-1 SLA options window

Select Allow SLA Hold to be Applied on SLAs. This is a global setting that
applies to all sites. If you select this check box, you can specify that tickets
associated with an SLA can be placed in an SLA Hold status. When tickets are in
an SLA Hold status, the ticket is not escalated, and the time that the ticket is in
the SLA Hold status is added to the target date and time. Tickets can be placed
in an SLA Hold status when the service desk analyst is waiting for a response
from the individual who submitted the ticket for example.
From the SLA Options window, select the site to which you want the settings to
apply, then set the options as you want. Table 7-3 describes the available
options.
Table 7-3 SLA options descriptions

386

Option

Description

Allow application of one

SLA?

Select this option to have one matching service level

agreement apply to a record. The matching service level
agreement with the highest ranking value is applied to the
record. The highest ranking is 1 and the lowest ranking is
99999.

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Option

Description

Allow Application of
Multiple SLAs?

Select this option to have all matching service level

agreements applied to a record.

Apply multiple SLAs based

on ranking?

Optional: If you allow the application of multiple service

level agreements, select this option to have the service
level agreement with the highest ranking update the
target dates on the record.

Apply multiple SLAs based

on commitment
stringency?

Optional: If you allow the application of multiple SLAs,

selecting this option examines all the matching SLAs.
The most stringent contract target, response target, and
resolution target are selected from among their
respective groups. These targets can come from three
different SLAs, such as:

SLA001 Contact 30 Min, Response 4 Hours,

Resolution 16 Hours.

SLA002 Contact 45 Min, Response 2 Hours,

Resolution 24 Hours

SLA003 Contact 60 Min, Response 90 Minutes,

Resolution 3 Hours

Assuming that all three of these SLAs matched the ticket,

the contract target is calculated using SLA001, the
response target date using SLA002, and the resolution
target date using SLA003.
Regardless of which target dates are copied to the ticket,
performance against all of the target is measured by
using KPIs, and all of the escalations from all matching
SLA are run.
Use calendar for
calculating escalation point
condition?

Select this option to specify that, for the selected site,

calendars are used if the escalation originated from a
service level agreement.

Disable calendar for

calculating escalation point
condition?

Select this option to specify that, for the selected site,

calendars are not used if the escalation originated from a
service level agreement.

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7.2.2 Create a service level agreement

A service level agreement record is created in the Service Level Agreements
(SP) application. To locate this option, click Go to Service Level Service
Level Agreements (SP).
An SLA is associated with a specific type of ticket or work order. In this example,
the SLA created applies to incidents.

Conditions
The SLA is applicable to records with values that match criteria in the SLA. The
less specific the SLA, the more records to which it is potentially applicable. For
example, if there is no customer associated with an SLA, the SLA can be
matched to a ticket for any customer.
Note: The SLA is applied to a ticket or work order if all the conditions are met.
This example uses service level agreements that apply to incidents that are
provided with IBM SmartCloud Control Desk optional content, as shown in
Table 7-4.
Table 7-4 Service Level agreements used in the example

388

SLA number

Description

Condition

SRM1002

P1 Incident - Respond in 30 minutes,

Resolve in 2 hrs

Internal Priority = 1

SRM1003

P2 Incident - Respond in 2 hrs, Resolve in 4

hrs

Internal Priority = 2

SRM1005

P3 Incident - Respond in 9 hrs, Resolve in 18

hrs

Internal Priority = 3

SRM1006

P4 Incident - Respond in 18 hrs, Resolve in

36 hrs

Internal Priority = 4

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The conditions for an SLA are defined in the Conditions tab, as shown in
Figure 7-2.

Figure 7-2 SLA Priority 1 incident conditions

The priority for the ticket is set with Internal Priority field. In this case, the SLA is
applied only if the internal priority equals 1.
The following list notes the other condition criteria available from this tab:
Classification: This restricts the SLA to a specific ticket classification.
Services: This restricts the SLA to a list of services or service groups.
Conditions: This restricts the SLA to extra conditions by using operators such
as EQUALS, GREATER, or LESSOREQUAL.
Additional SLA Criteria: This restricts the SLA based on your own SQL
conditions.
Furthermore, conditions can be set in different tabs to restrict the application of
the SLA to certain types of resources:
Locations
Assets
Configuration Items

Commitments
An SLA describes one or more commitments. The following list covers the
commitment types that are predefined in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk:
CONTACT: When an SLA is applied that includes a contact commitment, the
contact commitment date populates the Target Contact date field of the
record.

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 RESPONSE: When an SLA is applied that includes a response commitment,

the response commitment date populates the Target Start date field of the
record.
RESOLUTION: When an SLA is applied that includes a resolution
commitment, the resolution commitment date populates the Target Finish
date field of the record.
OTHER: Other type of commitments made between the service desk and the
customer. Some examples are reliability, availability, and downtime.
Excluding the commitment type OTHER, only one of each commitment type can
be added to an SLA.
The commitments are defined in the Service Level Agreement tab, as shown in
Figure 7-3.

Figure 7-3 SLA priority 1 commitments

Figure 7-4 provides another view of the commitment points defined for this
service level agreement. This view represents the timeline from the creation of
the ticket to the point where the commitment is not met.

Figure 7-4 SLA priority 1 commitments

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Escalation points
For each commitment, you can establish escalation actions or notifications that
occur if the commitment is not met. An escalation process can monitor all
activities, send notifications, and perform other activities to ensure that
commitments are met.
The primary goal of escalations is to ensure that critical tasks are delivered on
time.
In this example, a new escalation point is created. The incident is assigned to the
incident manager if the incident remains in a state of no response. This
reassignment happens 5 minutes before the agreed response commitment time
is missed.
To define a new escalation, click the define escalation icon from the associated
commitment line, as shown in Figure 7-5.

Figure 7-5 Define escalation icon

The escalation tab opens and a new escalation point is created. For this
example, the escalation is configured in the following ways:
The escalation point is autonumbered, and the elapsed time attribute is set to
responsedate by default because the escalation was created from the
response commitment. To trigger the action 5 minutes before the agreed
response date, the elapsed time interval is set to -25 minutes. A positive
number indicates a time period in the past. A negative number indicates a
time period in the future.
The action to be triggered, when the elapsed time interval is reached, is set to
PMINC_ASGN_INCMGR. This setting gives ownership of the incident to the
incident manager group.
The schedule of the escalation cron task is set to 1 minute instead of the 1
hour default.

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Figure 7-6 shows the escalation that is configured for this example.

Figure 7-6 Escalation associated with response commitment

Figure 7-7 provides a graphical representation of the timeline, the date that is
associated with the commitment point, and the escalation point set to 5 minutes
before the response date.

Figure 7-7 Escalation 5 minutes before response date

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Associate a KPI to an SLA

A key performance indicator is often referred to as a KPI. From the KPIs tab of
the Service Level Agreements application, you manage key performance
indicators that are associated with a service level agreement. A key performance
indicator is a metric that tracks critical performance variables over time. In this
case, you track the performance of a service desk organization and its
compliance with service level agreements.
In the Service Level Agreements application, you use the KPIs tab to create and
associate key performance indicators with service level agreements. Figure 7-8
shows the SLA compliance KPI associated with the example SLA that applies to
priority 1 incidents.

Figure 7-8 KPI associated to SLA for priority 1 incidents

To ensure that you are aware of the response times for the incidents created in
your organization, create a key performance indicator for this service level
agreement. You also make the key performance indicator accessible to the
appropriate managers. Using the key performance indicator, you can take
necessary proactive measures to avoid the financial penalties that are
associated with noncompliance.

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To view the graphs for key performance indicators, use either the KPI Manager
application or add the key performance indicator portlets to a start center.
Figure 7-9 shows the KPI as it is displayed in the Incident manager start center.

Figure 7-9 View SLA compliance from Start Center

7.2.3 Applying a service level agreement

To apply an SLA means to associate an SLA with a record to facilitate tracking of
compliance with service level agreements. When an SLA is applied to a record,
the record can be tracked as part of an SLA monitoring process.
The types of records to which service level agreements can be applied include
tickets (service requests) and work-based records (work orders). Before you can
apply an SLA to a record, the record must have a site defined.

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An SLA can be applied in several ways:

The system can apply an SLA automatically through a workflow, automation
script, escalation process, or through another SLA.
An agent can use the Apply an SLA action. With this method, the system
chooses and applies the most appropriate SLA or SLAs to the record.
An agent can use the Select an SLA or Deselect an SLA action to view and
select an SLA to apply to a ticket record.

Applying an SLA manually

This use case describes how to manually apply an SLA to a ticket record.

Apply SLA action

One way to manually apply an SLA is to use the Apply SLA action available from
the Select Action menu. When you use Apply SLA, the system finds and applies
one or more SLAs, if any, that match the selected record. A message in the
navigation bar indicates the result of the action. The following list describes two
of those cases:
If SLAs exist that match this record, a confirmation message indicates that an
SLA has been applied. If there are no applicable SLAs, the message
indicates that there are no SLAs to apply to this record.
If you try to apply an SLA to a record that already has an SLA applied to it, the
system displays a warning message asking if you want to override the existing
SLA.
Note: The system applies the SLA only to the record, not to its activities.
In the example, an incident was reported as priority 1 by a user complaining
about their email service not working. The service desk agent confirmed the
priority by setting the impact and urgency as critical. The internal priority is then
set to 1 by the system based on the priority matrix defined.
From the Select Action menu, the agent manually applies the SLA. The incident,
having an internal priority that equals 1, matches the condition that is defined in
the SLA, and the system applies it.

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A short message is displayed in the top navigation bar indicating the SLA was
applied. SLA Applied is now selected as shown in Figure 7-10.

Figure 7-10 SLA applied on priority 1 incident

Also, the target dates are populated as per the commitments defined in the SLA,
as shown in Figure 7-11.

Figure 7-11 Incident priority 1 target dates

Select/Deselect SLAs action

Another option to apply an SLA manually from the record is to use the
Select/Deselect SLAs window. It can be opened from the Select Action menu.
This action also provides the ability to remove an SLA already applied.

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When the Select/Deselect SLAs dialog opens, it lists only SLAs applied to the
current record. In this example, a SLA applied previously is listed (Figure 7-12).

Figure 7-12 Select/Deselect SLAs dialog

The SLA options for this site were configured so that only one SLA can be
applied. Therefore, from the dialog, an agent must first remove the already
applied SLA before another one can be selected.
After the SLA is removed, the agent can decide to continue without an SLA
applied, or to add a row and select another SLA. To create a row, click New Row,
then select Value from the detail menu of the SLA field. The select SLA dialog
opens, providing two filters. The default filter is Show Filtered SLAs. It displays
only SLAs that have conditions that match the current record. But if the agent
selects Show All SLAs, all SLAs applying to incidents are displayed. Show All
SLAs operates regardless of the conditions such as internal priority as shown in
Figure 7-13.

Figure 7-13 Show All SLAs window

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In this example, the agent decides to apply the SLA for priority 2 incidents, even
though the current incident has a defined internal priority of 1. Thus, the
Select/Deselect SLAs option gives the agent the ability to bypass conditions
defined on the SLA record and apply a specific SLA. After the new SLA is
applied, the target dates are updated as per the new commitments, which is
shown in Figure 7-14.

Figure 7-14 Updated target dates

Applying an SLA through workflow

This use case describes the creation of a simple workflow process that
automatically applies the SLA to an incident. In this example, the workflow
process created is used independently, but it can be inserted into an end to end
workflow as a subprocess.
The workflow process is created by using the Workflow Designer application.
Click System Configuration Platform Configuration Workflow
Designer. It is set for use with an incident object.
The workflow process consists of a condition node only, with two connectors:
The condition node SLAAPPLIED verifies whether an SLA is already applied to
the incident record. The expression that is used by the condition node is:
:slaapplied = '1'
If the condition is successful, that means an SLA is already applied to the
incident record. The process then follows the positive connector that goes to
the stop node.
If the condition is unsuccessful, that means no SLA is applied to the incident.
The process then follows the negative connector that runs the action
INC_APPLYSLA before going to the stop node.

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Figure 7-15 shows the process view of the workflow, and the two connectors in
the actions table.

Figure 7-15 Workflow to apply SLA

Figure 7-16 shows the details of the INC_APPLYSLA action.

Figure 7-16 INC_APPLYSLA action

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As a result, when an incident is routed into this workflow, the most appropriate
SLA is applied without the intervention of the agent. The following list notes what
in the incident record is also updated automatically as though the SLA was
applied manually:
SLA Applied is selected
Target dates are populated as per the commitments defined in the SLA

7.2.4 Service level agreement calendars

There are two types of calendars on a service level agreement:
Applies-to-calendar
The applies-to-calendar fields specify the organization, calendar, and shift for
records to which you intend to apply the SLA. If you add values to these fields,
the values are used as part of the matching logic when SLAs are selected for
tickets and work orders. The default matching logic is that the report date on
the ticket or work order is compared to the work periods in the specified shift.
However, the user can specify that a different date is used for that condition.
Calculation calendar
The calculation calendar fields specify the organization, calendar, and shift to
be used when the target contact, start date, or finish date in the ticket or work
order are calculated. The commitment values on the SLA are added to the
ticket or work order reported date. The target work dates in the ticket or work
order are populated with the calculated value. If these fields are empty, the
values from the Applies To calendar are used to set the target work dates.
Neither calendar is required: If you do not complete the calendar
information, the calendar is not considered when the service level agreement
is applied to another record or when calculating work dates. If you do use
calendars, the SLA can be applied and target work dates can be calculated
based on calendar information.
In this example, the SLA is configured so that the target values are calculated as
per the calendar ORG01. ORG01 specifies that the organization is open from
Monday to Friday, from 9:00am to 5:00pm. The DAILY shift that is described in
Table 7-5 is applied to organizations calendar.
Table 7-5 DAILY shift configuration

400

Shift name

Description

Start Day

Days in pattern

DAILY

Daily business hours

MONDAY

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The DAILY shift uses the pattern that is shown in Table 7-6.
Table 7-6 DAILY shift pattern configuration
Pattern day

Start Time

End Time

Work Hours

001 (Monday)

09:00

17:00

08:00

002 (Tuesday)

09:00

17:00

08:00

003 (Wednesday)

09:00

17:00

08:00

004 (Thursday)

09:00

17:00

08:00

005 (Friday)

09:00

17:00

08:00

006 (Saturday)

00:00

00:00

00:00

006 (Sunday)

00:00

00:00

00:00

The SLAs for Incidents priority 1, 2, 3, and 4 used in previous use cases must be
modified to take the organizations calendar into consideration when calculating
target dates as per the commitments. SLAs should not set target dates outside of
the organizations working hours.
For each SLA record, use the main tab of the Service Level Agreement
application to set the organizations calendar and shift in the applies-to calendar
section, as shown in Figure 7-17.

Figure 7-17 Calculation calendar

Note: If the applies-to calendar is not defined in the SLA, the SLA can be
applied at any time, regardless of the organizations calendar.

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The examples that follow give several scenarios to further explain how calendars,
incident priority, and SLAs interconnect and work together. In addition, a
non-working time is defined on the calendar: November 9 is defined as a national
holiday.
A new priority 1 incident is reported at 05:30 pm on Wednesday, November 7,
and the corresponding SLA is automatically applied by the workflow. The
response commitment time is 30 minutes. The resolution commitment is 2 hours.
The target start is set to 09:30 am on Thursday, and the finish date is set to 11:00
am on Thursday. Because the incident was reported outside of working hours,
the calculation takes as reference the start time of the following day, as shown in
Figure 7-18.

Figure 7-18 Priority 1 incident target dates with calendar

A new priority 3 incident is reported at 05:59 pm on Wednesday, November 7,

and the corresponding SLA is automatically applied by the workflow. The
response commitment time is 9 hours. The resolution commitment is 18 hours.
The target start is set to 10:00 am on the next Monday, and the finish date is set
to 11:00 am on the next Tuesday. Because the incident was reported outside of
working hours, the calculation takes as reference the start time of the following
day. Furthermore, because Friday, November 9 is defined as a holiday, and the
organization is closed for the week-end, the target dates are delayed to the next
week.

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The completed computation is shown in Figure 7-19.

Figure 7-19 Priority 3 incident target dates with calendar

You can specify a sequence for determining which calendar to use for the service
level agreement. For example, you might specify that when the target values are
calculated on an incident, the first consideration is the person who reported the
ticket. If that person has a calendar and shift, the work periods for that calendar
and shift are used to calculate the target values. However, if that person does not
have a calendar and shift, the asset on the incident is considered next. In this
example, select Person Calendar in the First Choice field, and Asset Calendar
in the Second Choice field, as shown in Figure 7-20.

Figure 7-20 Selection of calculation calendars

When you apply a service level agreement to a ticket or work order, the calendar
that is used to calculate the target values is selected in the following order:
1. The calendar in the First Choice field is used, if it exists.
2. Otherwise, the calendar in the Second Choice field is used, if it exists.
3. Otherwise, the calendar in the Third Choice field is used, if it exists.
4. If none of the first, second, or third choice calendars exists, then the
calculation calendar is used, if it exists.

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5. Otherwise, the applies-to calendar is used.

6. If neither the calculation calendar or the applies-to calendar is found, the
target is calculated without using a calendar.

7.2.5 Service level agreement hold

The IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides a service level agreement hold
feature. It allows the SLA clock to be paused when something occurs beyond the
control of IT staff, avoiding unnecessary penalties for violating SLAs.
For instance, a ticket can be placed in SLA Hold status when the service desk
agent is waiting for a response from the individual who submitted the ticket.
When a ticket is in SLA Hold status, it is not escalated and no actions or
notifications associated with the service level agreement are started.
Figure 7-21 provides a graphical representation of the adjusted commitment
when you use the IBM ControlDesk SLA hold feature.

Figure 7-21 Adjustments of commitments with SLA hold

Enabling the SLA hold feature

You enable the SLA Hold status for a service level agreement in the Service
Level Agreements application.
The SLA Hold feature must also be activated in the Organizations application.
Select Allow SLA Hold to be Applied on SLAs in the SLA Options window to
activate the SLA Hold feature, as described in 7.2.1, Organization SLA options
on page 385. When the SLA Hold feature is activated, you can enable the SLA
Hold status to be used on tickets that are associated with a service level
agreement. When you select Enable SLA Hold on the Service Level Agreement
tab in the Service Level Agreements application, the SLA Hold status is enabled
for that SLA.

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SLA hold feature use case

In this example, a new incident was reported by user Bob, who is complaining
about the payroll system being out of service. Jane, the service desk agent, is
assigned to the ticket. Upon application of the SLA to the incident, the service
level agreement indicates that a resolution is required within two hours. Because
the SLA Hold feature was enabled in the SLA definition, the system automatically
selects SLA Hold Enabled on the incident, as shown in Figure 7-22.

Figure 7-22 SLA Hold Enabled is selected by the system

Jane, the service desk agent, cannot reproduce or confirm the issue. To her, the
payroll system is functioning as expected. The resolution time has been running
for 15 minutes. She calls Bob to get more information. Because Bob is in a
meeting, Jane leaves a message asking him to contact the service desk. As she
is waiting for the user, Jane changes the status of the ticket to SLA Hold, as
shown in Figure 7-23.

Figure 7-23 Change status to SLA Hold

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SLA Hold status: The SLA Hold status is available for selection only if SLA
Hold was enabled on the applied service level agreement. Although the ticket
has a status of SLA Hold, no escalations are triggered.
The ticket remains in this status until Bob returns the call. During this time, the
ticket is not escalated, and the remaining time during which Jane must resolve
the issue is not affected. When Bob returns the call and Jane receives the
information that she needs, the status of the ticket is changed to In Progress.
The clock starts again.
When the ticket leaves the status SLA Hold, the system repopulates some fields.
The system populates adjusted dates in the SLA Hold section based on the target
dates and the accumulated hold time, as seen in Figure 7-24.

Figure 7-24 SLA Hold section

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At any time, either while the ticket is on hold or after it has been resumed, the
time spent in SLA Hold status can be seen from the View History dialog. This
dialog is available from the Select Action menu, as shown in Figure 7-25.

Figure 7-25 View History of the incident

SLA Hold in Key Performance Indicators

The predefined key performance indicators for SLA compliance for incidents, as
used in previous use cases, do not consider the SLA Hold feature. This use case
describes how to modify a query so that the information reported is accurate.
By default, these KPIs look at the number of incidents for which the commitments
were missed, divided by the total number of incidents of the same priority. The
result is given in the form of a percentage. For example, the query of the KPI
associated with incidents with Priority 1 SLA is shown in Example 7-1. It shows
that the actual dates compared with the target dates.
Example 7-1 Default KPI for compliance on Priority 1 incidents

select
((select count(*) from incident where actualstart < targetstart and
actualfinish < targetfinish and status in ('RESOLVED','COMP','CLOSED')
and internalpriority=1)*1.0)
/
((select count(*) from incident where targetstart is not null and
targetfinish is not null and status in ('RESOLVED','COMP','CLOSED') and
internalpriority=1 )*1.0)
* 100
from dummy_table

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Consider the adjusted dates for those incidents where SLA hold feature was
used during resolution. The query must be modified so that it counts and
considers the following formula:
(number of breached priority 1 incidents where sla hold was not used,
plus number of breached priority 1 incidents where sla hold was used)
divided by (total number of priority 1 incidents)
The modified query is shown on Example 7-2.
Example 7-2 Modified KPI for compliance on Priority 1 incidents, with SLA hold

select
((select count(*) from incident where actualstart < targetstart and
actualfinish < targetfinish and status in ('RESOLVED','COMP','CLOSED')
and internalpriority=1 and adjustedtargetresponsetime is null and
adjustedtargetresolutiontime is null)
+
(select count(*) from incident where actualstart <
adjustedtargetresponsetime and actualfinish <
adjustedtargetresolutiontime and status in ('RESOLVED','COMP','CLOSED')
and internalpriority=1)*1.0)
/
((select count(*) from incident where targetstart is not null and
targetfinish is not null and status in ('RESOLVED','COMP','CLOSED') and
internalpriority=1 )*1.0)
* 100 from dummy_table

7.3 Conclusion
This chapter addressed key concepts of a service level management process
and how IBM SmartCloud Control Desk facilitates the definition and reporting of
service level agreements.
It detailed the configuration options that allow you to adjust the definition of your
SLAs with the business requirements. Those business requirements include
attributes such as calendars consideration, automated actions, notifications
through escalations, conditions on the service level agreements, and application
to tickets or work orders.
It also demonstrated associating predefined key performance indicators with your
SLAs. This association allows you to measure and report on compliance with
agreed levels of service, and eventually improve your customers satisfaction.

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Chapter 8.

Service Operations
This chapter provides information about the use and configuration of IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk for Service Desk, for Request Fulfillment, and Incident
and Problem management as they relate to the Service Operation phase of IT
Service Management.
This chapter includes the following sections:

Service operation overview

Service Operation using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Configuring IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Performing remote diagnostics using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

409

8.1 Service operation overview

Service Operation in the context of IT Service Management is concerned with
the business-as-usual delivery and support of services. The Service Desk is a
key function of Service Operation. It provides a point of communication to the
users and a point of coordination for several IT groups and processes.
This section provides an overview of the following systems:

Service desk
Request Fulfillment
Incident management
Incident management process flow
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities

Service Operation in ITIL terms also consists of Event Management, Access

Management, and other functions and activities. These are only covered briefly
where they are relevant to IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.
All Service Operation functions, processes, and activities are designed to deliver
a specified and agreed on level of service. For more information about service
level management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, see Chapter 7, Service
level management on page 381.

8.1.1 Service desk

The service desk is the primary point of contact for users when there is a service
disruption, for service requests, and for some categories of request for change.
For this reason, a good service desk can often compensate for deficiencies
elsewhere in the IT organization. However, a poor service desk can give a poor
impression of an IT organization.
A service desk can deal with various events from users, typically made by using
telephone calls, email, or a self-service web interface and walk-up kiosks among
others. This is now extending to video calls and instant messaging. For more
information about self-service, see Chapter 9, Self-service on page 531.
Figure 8-1 on page 411 shows how information gets to the service desk and
where it goes when it leaves the service desk. Outputs can be in the form of
actions, alerts, email communications, and reports.
Note: In IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, a users interaction with the service
desk is captured in a service request ticket. The ticket contains a request for
some sort of service that is either fulfilled by the request fulfilment or incident
management process.

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Figure 8-1 Service desk interactions

As shown in Figure 8-1, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk also allows you to
configure automated tooling to assist the service desk agent create service
requests tickets. This includes the creating tickets from these sources:
Email through a POP3 or IMAP mailbox listener
CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) and IVR (Integrated Voice Recognition)
tools
The primary aim of the service desk is to restore normal service to the users as
quickly as possible. This can involve fixing a technical fault, fulfilling a service
request, or answering a query. Specific responsibilities can include:
Logging all relevant service request and incident details
Allocating categorization and prioritization codes
Providing first-line investigation and diagnosis
Resolving service requests and incidents where able
Escalating service requests and incidents that they cannot resolve
Closing all resolved incidents, requests, and other calls
Conducting customer/user satisfaction surveys
Communication with users: Keeping them informed of incident progress,
notifying them of impending changes or agreed outages, and so on

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8.1.2 Request Fulfillment

Service Request in ITIL terms is a generic description for many varying types of
demands that are placed upon the IT Department by the users. Request
Fulfillment is the processes of dealing with service requests from the users. The
process and activities that are needed to fulfil a request vary depending on
exactly what is being requested. Some service requests are handled by the
request fulfillment process itself, whereas others are routed to other process for
fulfillment as show in Figure 8-2.

Figure 8-2 Request fulfillment process overview

Broadly, service requests can be for the following categories of services:

Request to fix a fault. This is an unplanned event that is handled by using the
incident management process. For more information, see 8.1.3, Incident
management on page 414.
Small changes. These are typically characterized by being repeatable, high
frequency, low risk, and low cost. For example, a request to change a
password, or a request to relocate a computer desktop. More complex
changes must be handled by using the change management process. For
more information, see Chapter 11, Change management on page 593.
Procurement requests. To allow the user to request assets and consumables.
These requests typically follow an approval process, and lead to the issue of
an item from store or a purchase order.
A request for information. To assist with general information, complaints, or
comments.

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Best practice request fulfillment involves providing users with quick and effective
access to standardized services. This depends on your organization having
agreed on and published a list of standard services, and defined the associated
approval and fulfillment procedures.
With IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, this system enables you to perform these
tasks:
Create request models for fulfilling requests in a consistent and known
manner by using ticket templates and job plans to break down the set of
activities that must be performed.
Define and publish a fulfillment catalog for self-service access of standardized
services that can use request models. You can define the workflows and
approvals, fulfillment groups involved, target time scales, and escalation
paths.
Request Fulfilment effectively reduces the effort that is involved in requesting and
receiving access to existing or new services, reducing the cost of providing these
services.

Request Fulfillment roles

The main roles that are involved with request fulfillment provided by the optional
content are described in Table 8-1. These roles are typically synonymous with
the service desk analyst and service desk manager, respectively.
Table 8-1 Request fulfillment roles
Role

Description

Request Analyst

These users are the primary contact for customers,

functioning as a hub between the customer organization
and the IT organization. The request analyst typically
creates incident tickets and coordinates their resolution.

Request Manager

These users are responsible for the quality and integrity

of the user contact management process. They interface
with other process managers.

Note: The IBM SmartCloud Control Desk optional content package also
provides a User Contact Administrator group. This is NOT a process role. It is
an administrative group that has access to all applications. You can decide
whether you want to use it.

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Request Fulfillment process flow

The following steps are involved in the Request Fulfillment process flow:
Receive and Approve Service request
The service request is received and assessed. If the service request is
accepted, the service desk analyst opens a service request ticket. The ticket
contains all relevant information so that it can be tracked, monitored, and
communicated. Otherwise, the contact is rejected and this decision and the
reasons are communicated to the requester.
Fulfill or Route Service Request activity
The service request is either fulfilled by the service desk analyst or routed to
another process to be fulfilled.
Close Service Request
After the service request is completed, the agent updates and closes the
service request ticket.

8.1.3 Incident management

Incident management is the process of restoring normal service operation as
quickly as possible to minimize an incidents adverse impact on business
operations. In ITIL terms, an incident is any unplanned interruption or reduction
in quality of an IT Service. This includes the failure of a configuration item that
has not yet impacted service.
Incidents are typically recorded through these process:
The Service Desk, when disruptive events are reported to them by users or by
technical staff.
Technical staff, when they notice disruptive events during normal operation.
An interface to an event management system. Note that not all events are
incidents. Some events are informational or indicators of normal operation.
Best practice incident management involves immediate service restoration using
standard processes of investigation, diagnosis, resolution, and recovery.
For this purpose, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk allows you to perform these
tasks:
Define incident models, which are a way of pre-defining the steps that must
be taken to handle a particular type of incident in an agreed way. This ensures
that standard incidents are handled in a predefined path and within
predefined time scales.

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 Match similar tickets, and search known errors, solutions, and historical
incidents and problems to help you identify past problems, which can result in
faster resolution.
Define automation scripts to help collect information about the incident being
experienced, by running workflows to help analyze and resolve the incident.
Use integrated configuration management information to help diagnose the
impact of an incident, potential problems, and users affected.
It is also part of incident management to identify whether an incident is likely to
recur, and decide whether any preventive action is necessary to avoid this. With
Problem Management, raise a Problem record in all such cases so that
preventive action is initiated.

Incident management roles

The main roles that are involved with incident management are provided by the
optional content and described in Table 8-2.
Table 8-2 Incident management roles
Role

Description

Incident Analyst

The Incident Analyst, in most instances the 2nd line (or

higher) support professional, is a subject matter expert of
one or more competency domains. This role is
responsible for quickly providing a good analysis of an
incident or a solution to it to restore the disturbed service.

Incident Manager

The Incident Manager is responsible for the quality and

integrity of the Incident Management process. This rile is
the interface to the other process managers.

Incident Owner

An Incident Owner is responsible for an individual

incident. The Incident Owner oversees the handling of the
incident, bringing in analysts and specialists as needed to
handle the incident. The Incident Owner is responsible for
seeing that analysts and specialists bring the incident to
a close.

Note: The IBM SmartCloud Control Desk optional content package also
provides an Incident Administrator group. This is NOT a process role. It is an
administrative group that has access to all applications. You must decide
whether you want to use it.

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Incident management process flow

Figure 8-3 shows the activities that are involved in the incident management
process.

Figure 8-3 Incident management process overview

Identify and log incident

This step involves detecting or acknowledging incidents from other activities,
recording details about the incident, notifying and alerting support groups,
and other processes where applicable.
Classify incident and provide initial support
This step involves determining the impact, urgency, and priority of the
incident. It also involves performing initial diagnosis by correlating it with
problems, known errors, other incidents, and related configuration details.
Investigate and diagnose incident
This step involves assessing the data that are associated with the incident to
identify appropriate responses and actions.
Resolve incident and recover service
This step involves performing the necessary actions to resolve the incident
and restore service by using an existing solution work-around or, alternatively,
raising a request for change.

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 Close incident
This step involves reviewing the resolved incident for completion of
documentation that includes cause, resolution, outcome, and effort expended,
and reviewing the original classification correctness. The accuracy of these
data is important for metrics reporting.

8.1.4 Automatic incident assignment

Prompt resolution of high-priority or blocking incidents is vital to an organizations
success. The automatic incident assignment feature can significantly reduce
initial response time and total resolution time for incidents in high-volume
environments, and in situations where owner selection is a complicated or
time-consuming process.
Automatic incident assignment is the process by which incidents are
automatically and repeatedly assigned to person groups and person group
members until they are claimed and addressed. A typical scenario is as follows:
1. Communication from a user prompts a service desk agent to create an
incident.
2. After recording pertinent information in the incident, the service desk agent
assigns an initial owner group and sets a value that indicates that it should be
enrolled in the automatic assignment process.
3. An escalation, running at a set interval, processes the incident. If the incident
remains unclaimed, it is assigned to the next owner in the specified sequence
order.
This process continues until the incident is claimed or it reaches the end of the
person group sequence.
Requeue an incident: An agent can requeue an incident that they are
working on at any time by changing the incident status back to queued
(QUEUED).
Typically, different organizations have different requirements for automatic
assignment, so automatic incident assignment is as flexible as possible while
maintaining a simple administrative and user experience.
The following sections introduce automatic incident assignment configuration
guidelines by presenting an abridged version of the configuration process. For a
more detailed description of the configuration process, see the product
documentation.

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Automatic incident assignment enrollment

To enroll an incident in the automatic assignment process, the automatic incident
assignment feature must be enabled and the incident must match a set of
predefined criteria.

Enabling the automatic incident assignment feature

To enable automatic incident assignment, complete the following steps:
1. Set the pmcom.ticket.simultaneous.ownerandownergroup system property to
1 (one). This property is set to 1 by default in a new installation.
a. Open the System Properties application as shown in Figure 8-4 by clicking
Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration System
Properties.
b. Filter the Global Properties by property name by using the value
pmcom.ticket.simultaneous.ownerandownergroup.
c. Set Global Value to 1 (one).
d. Save the record by clicking the save icon.
e. Click Live Refresh in the Common Actions navigator window, or select
Live Refresh from the Select Action menu.

Figure 8-4 Setting the system property for automatic incident assignment

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2. Make the ONCALLASSIGN escalation active:

a. Open the Escalations application by clicking Go To System
Configuration Platform Configuration Escalations.
b. Search for the ONCALLASSIGN escalation and click it.
c. Click Activate/Deactive Escalation in the More Actions navigator window
as shown in Figure 8-5, or select Activate/Deactive Escalation from the
Select Action menu.

Figure 8-5 Activating escalation

Enabling Automatic Incident Assignment for each incident

To enroll incidents in automatic assignment, complete these steps for each
incident that will be automatically assigned:
1. Enable Automatic Assignment for the incident:
a. Open the Incidents application by clicking Go To Service Desk
Incidents.
b. Search for the incident that you want to enroll in Automatic Incident
Assignment and open it.

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c. Select Automatic Assignment in the Incident Details section as shown in

Figure 8-6. A ticket template can be used to set the Automatic Assignment
value.

Figure 8-6 Enabling automatic assignment

2. Assign an initial owner group to the incident:

a. Open the Incidents application by clicking Go To Service Desk
Incidents.
b. Search for the incident that you want to enroll and click it.

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c. Click Select Owner in the Common Actions navigator pane (or select
Select Owner from the Select Action menu) as shown in Figure 8-7.

Figure 8-7 Assigning the initial owner group

d. Click the Person Groups tab.

e. Select the initial owner group that you want.
3. Change the incident to the queued state (QUEUED):
a. Open the Incidents application by clicking Go To Service Desk
Incidents.
b. Search for the incident that you want to enroll and click it.
c. Click Change Status in the Common Actions navigator pane (or select
Change Status from the Select Action menu).

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d. Click New Status Queued, as shown in Figure 8-8. Note that the
incident status is also changed to Queued when an initial person group is
assigned (step #2).

Figure 8-8 Queuing the incident

Reminder: Automatic incident assignment only considers person group team

members that are available according to their primary calendar and shift or the
Modify Availability table. Both can be configured through the People
application.

Escalation
The primary automatic assignment mechanism is a combination of an escalation
(defined in the Escalations application) and an action script that is written in
Jython:
Escalation:

ONCALLASSIGN

Action:

ONCALLASSIGN

The escalation defines the execution period (schedule) and the incident match
criteria that are used to determine whether an incident is reassigned.
Reminder: The ONCALLASSIGN escalation is INACTIVE by default. It must
be enabled to use the automatic incident assignment feature.

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The assignment hierarchy and extra automatic assignment parameters are

defined at the person group level.
The Automatic Assignment escalation is configured to run every 10 minutes by
default. This is the absolute minimum amount of time between incident
assignments. Be sure to consider this when you add new values to the
Assignment Frequency domain.

Person groups
The automatic assignment hierarchy (or sequence of people and groups to
whom an incident is automatically assigned) is defined by using the Person
Groups application.
There are essentially two sequences of potential incident owners: The sequence
of people in each person group and the sequence of person groups.
Automatic incident assignment iterates through each member of a person group
or through the sequence of person groups according to the value of the
Automatic Assignment Method field on the person group.
For most ready for use methods, automatic incident assignment assigns the
incident to each member of the person group before moving the incident to the
next person group in the person group sequence.
Eligibility for team members: Alternate person group team members are
only eligible for automatic incident assignment if their primary person group
team member is unavailable according to the Modified Availability table.

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The person group sequence is defined by setting Next Person Group in the
Person Group application, as shown in Figure 8-9.

Figure 8-9 Next Person Group

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The assignment method algorithm is defined by setting the Automatic

Assignment Method as shown in Figure 8-10.

Figure 8-10 Configuring the Automatic Assignment Method

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You can further customize the automatic assignment interval by changing the
How many minutes to wait before re-assigning attribute, as shown in Figure 8-11.

Figure 8-11 Configuring the re-assignment wait period

This attribute only accepts values from the ONCALLASSIGNFREQ domain,

which is configured to allow 15 minute, 30 minute, and 60 minute intervals by
default, as shown in Figure 8-12.

Figure 8-12 ONCALLASSIGNFREQ domain values

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You must edit the ONCALLASSIGNFREQ domain by using the Domains

application to add or update these values. To open the Domains application, click
Go to System Configuration Platform Configuration Domains.

Person availability
Group member availability is defined in the People application. You can assign a
primary calendar and shift to a person and modify their availability by using the
Modify Person Availability action.
Time zones: Within the scope of automatic incident assignment, all work
periods that are associated with a person (shifts, shift breaks, modified
availability periods) are considered to be in the person's time zone. For
example, if a person working in the US Central time zone (CST6EDT) is
marked as unavailable from 7am to 10am in the Modify Availability table, they
are considered unavailable from 8am to 11am in the US Eastern time zone
(EST5EDT).

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The automatic assignment script uses the process that is shown in Figure 8-13 to
determine availability.

Figure 8-13 Availability logic

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Person group guidelines

Incidents are not reassigned to the first group after they reach the last group in
the person group sequence by default. Therefore, be sure to place an active,
closely watched person group in last group position.
If your business requirements demand that an incident must be reassigned to the
initial person group in the person group sequence, edit the noMoreAssignments
method in the ONCALLASSIGN Automation Script.
Use the How many minutes to wait before re-assigning attribute to adjust the
precision of the incident reassignment interval. A combination of the escalation
schedule and the person group reassignment interval determines the total
incident reassignment period. Therefore, consider this and adjust it according to
your business requirements.

Assignment methods
Assignment methods are essentially load balancing mechanisms that can be
used to tailor the performance characteristic of a person group to your business
requirements. The automatic incident assignment implementation supports the
following assignment methods:
Set as Owner Group
Assigns an incident to the person group only. This method does not assign
the incident to individual group members, giving them the opportunity to
voluntarily take ownership. It is appropriate for large person groups where the
re-assignment time (escalation period and re-assign wait time) makes
assigning an incident to individual group members prohibitively expensive or
for a supervisory/administrative person group.
Set Owner by Rotation
Assigns an incident to a person group member based on sequence number
(starting with the lowest sequence number), but chooses a different initial
person for each new incident.
This method prevents the same person (the first person in the group) from
being the first recipient of multiple escalated incidents, spreading the burden
of initial incident assignment across the entire group. This method is
appropriate for the initial person group in environments with a high rate of
incoming incidents.
Set Owner by Sequence
Assigns an incident to a person group member based on sequence number
(starting with the lowest sequence number).
This is the default assignment method, and is typically employed by an
administrator who wants strict control over incident assignment order. For

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example, they might have constructed their groups in order of increasing

expertise or experience, ensuring that only incidents that cannot be
addressed by a junior member of the team are assigned to senior members.
Set Owner by Workload
Assigns an incident to a person group member based on their current active
workload, as measured by the number of active incidents that are assigned to
them. This method queries the database to determine ticket count.
An incident is considered active if it is in one of the following states:
In Progress (INPROG)
Queued (QUEUED)
This can be changed by modifying the binding value for the activeTicketStatus
automation script variable for the ONCALLASSIGN automation script.
a. Open the Automation Scripts application by clicking Go To System
Configuration Platform Configuration Automation Scripts.
b. Search for ONCALLASSIGN and open the record.
c. Click the Variables tab and search for activeTicketStatus as shown in
Figure 8-14.

Figure 8-14 Configuring active incident status values

There is more information about script parameters in the next section.

Assignment script
The automatic assignment action script (ONCALLASSIGN) is written in Jython, a
language that employs Python syntax with support for instantiating and using
Java objects.

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The automatic assignment script is a highly configurable extension point that

allows you to customize the assignment process through changes to script
variable values or, if necessary, modification of the assignment script itself.

Script variables
There are three automation script variables that can be used to customize the
automatic assignment process. To view the script variables, complete these
steps:
1. Open the Automation Scripts application by clicking Go To System
Configuration Platform Configuration Automation Scripts.
2. Search for ONCALLASSIGN and open the record.
3. Click the Variables tab and search for activeTicketStatus:
activeTicketStatus
This variable controls the status values that the automatic assignment
script considers ACTIVE when counting total active incidents for the Set
Owner by Workload assignment method.
The default value is INPRG,QUEUED, which means that the assignment
script counts all incidents that are queued or in-progress when calculating
the total number of active incidents assigned to a person group team
member.
endOfShiftBuffer
This variable allows you to prevent an incident from being assigned to a
person group team member who is at the end of their shift. It effectively
introduces a block of time at the end of the shift when incidents are not
assigned to that person group team member.
This variable is best used in environments with complex or
time-consuming incidents, or where shift close-out consists of extra
activities (paperwork or other administrative overhead) that prevent a
person group team member from effectively resolving incidents.
useModAvailRecordWorkTime
Setting the value of this variable to 1 (one) indicates that the Modify
Availability table is used to determine group member availability if a
primary calendar is not defined on the person record.
Set the value of this variable to 1 (one) if your organization does not use
calendars to define available time.

Script organization
The main purpose of the automation script is to determine an incident's current
owner, and assign the next owner according to the algorithm defined on the

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current person group. The script is well-documented and designed to be modular

and easily extensible.

Assignment script guidelines

The Automatic Assignment script is run for every incident that matches the
escalation criteria, so avoid adding complex/time-consuming logic.

Adding an assignment algorithm

As a example, add an assignment algorithm that assigns an incident to the
members of a person group in alphabetical order:
Add a value to the Automatic Assignment Method domain.
This example uses the Content Loader ImportObject utility to add the domain
value to the ONCALLASSIGNMETHOD ALN Domain:
a. Save the XML markup shown in Example 8-1 to a file and note its location.
Example 8-1 XML markup for ALNDOMAIN

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<objectExport>
<object keyColumn="DOMAINID,VALUE,SITEID,ORGID"
name="ALNDOMAIN" tableName="ALNDOMAIN">
<column dataType="java.lang.String" name="DOMAINID">
<value>ONCALLASSIGNMETHOD</value>
</column>
<column dataType="java.lang.String" name="VALUE">
<value>Set Owner by Alphabet</value>
</column>
<column dataType="java.lang.String" name="DESCRIPTION">
<value>Iterate through person group members in alphabetical
order</value>
</column>
<column dataType="java.lang.Long" name="ALNDOMAINID">
<columnOverride>
<sequence mode="nextval" name="ALNDOMAINSEQ"/>
</columnOverride>
</column>
<column dataType="java.lang.String" name="VALUEID">
<value>ONCALL_ALPHABET</value>
</column>
</object>
</objectExport>

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b. Open a command line and navigate to the SmartCloud Control Desk

installation directory (typically C:\IBM\SMP\maximo\ or
/opt/IBM/SMP/maximo).
c. Navigate to the tools/maximo/internal subdirectory.
d. Run the following command, replacing <PATH TO XML FILE> with the
fully qualified file name of the file that was saved in Step #1:
On Microsoft Windows:
ImportObject.bat -input=<PATH TO XML FILE>
On Linux or AIX:
./ImportObject.sh -input=<PATH TO XML FILE>
Update the Automatic Assignment Script to implement the new assignment
method:
a. Click System Configuration Platform Configuration Automation
Scripts.
b. Search for the ONCALLASSIGN script.
c. Add a method named getNextPersonByAlphabet.
Python/Jython methods are defined as follows:
def MethodName(parameter 1, parameter 2):
method_body line 1
method_body line 2
White space is important in Python/Jython, so the method body must be
indented relative to the method signature or preamble. The full method is
contained in Example 8-2.
Example 8-2 ONCALLASSIGN new Alphabet Assignment method

def getNextPersonByAlphabet(pgtMboSet, currentPerson):

nextPerson = None
pgtMbo = None
count = pgtMboSet.count()
i = 0;
# Sort by personid in alphabet order
pgtMboSet.setOrderBy("respparty asc");
pgtMboSet.reset();
for i in range(count):
pgtMbo = pgtMboSet.getMbo(i)
if (currentPerson == None):
break

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else:
person = pgtMbo.getString("RESPPARTY")
if (person == currentPerson):
if (i + 1) < count:
pgtMbo = pgtMboSet.getMbo(i + 1)
else:
pgtMbo = None
break
if (pgtMbo != None):
nextPerson = pgtMbo.getString("RESPPARTY")
print ticketid + ": getNextPersonByAlphabet: nextPerson = " ,
nextPerson
return nextPerson, pgtMbo
d. Call the new method from the getNextPersonFromMemberList method.
This method contains a switch that calls Jython methods depending on the
Automatic Assignment Method for the person group:
if (onCallMethod != None and onCallMethod == 'ONCALL_ROTATION'):
# call rotation method here
elif (onCallMethod != None and onCallMethod ==
'ONCALL_ALPHABET'):
# call alphabet method here
The full method is contained in Example 8-3.
Example 8-3 ONCALLASSIGN updated getNextPersonFromMemberList method
to call the new Alphabet assignment method

def getNextPersonFromMemberList(pgtMboSet, currentPerson,

personGroup, isPrimary, firstRotationAssnPerson):
onCallMethod = getOnCallAssignMethod(personGroup)
if (onCallMethod != None and onCallMethod ==
'ONCALL_ROTATION'):
return getNextPersonByRotation(pgtMboSet, currentPerson,
personGroup, isPrimary,
firstRotationAssnPerson)
elif (onCallMethod != None and onCallMethod ==
'ONCALL_ALPHABET'):
return getNextPersonByAlphabet(pgtMboSet, currentPerson)
# Workload algorithm is handled directly by the main routine

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# default to sequence
return getNextPersonBySequence(pgtMboSet, currentPerson)
e. Save the script

8.1.5 Problem Management

In ITIL terms, a problem is the underlying error in the infrastructure that is the
cause of one or more incidents. Problem management is the process of
diagnosing the root cause of the error and arranging for a correction.
Furthermore, it seeks to prevent a recurrence of incidents that are related to
these errors.
Problem Management is closely related to Incident management and benefits
from using the same tools with similar categorization, impact, and priority coding
systems. This ensures effective communication when dealing with related
incidents and problems.
Problem management is also responsible for ensuring that the resolution of a
problem is implemented through the appropriate control procedures, especially
Change Management and Release Management.
Effective problem management requires being able to quickly and accurately turn
an unknown error into a known error with a documented root cause and work
around. The information about problems, their workaround, and resolutions are
important inputs to knowledge management, and helps to reduce the number
and impact of incidents over time.
Problem management is also proactive when involving analyzing trends to
recommend service improvement opportunities.
IBM SmartCloud Control Desks assist in effective problem management in these
ways:
Allowing capture of root cause in a failure hierarchy and a workaround in a
solution, against a problem record.
Allowing you to mark problem records as known errors, effectively providing a
searchable known error database for your organization.
Allows the creation of changes from identified problems and ties appropriate
incidents to these problems.
Providing integration with CMDB and topology views to assist root cause
diagnosis.

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 Providing built-in, real-time dashboards, giving insight into all levels of service
desk operations. This allows any support staff, manager, or executive to
monitor role-based KPIs in an intuitive, graphical display.
Providing dashboards with actionable information that can identify potential
problem areas, enabling IT to take appropriate corrective actions in most
cases before critical services are adversely affected.

Problem management roles

The main roles that are involved with problem management are provided by the
optional content, and described in Table 8-3.
Table 8-3 Problem management roles
Role

Description

Problem Analyst

Problem Analyst group. These users are subject matter

experts in one or more areas. The Problem Analyst
discovers incident trends, identifies problems, and
determines the root cause of problems.

Problem Manager

Problem Manager group. These users are responsible for

the quality and integrity of the problem management
process. The Problem Manager interfaces with other
process managers and serves as the focal point for
escalation.

Problem Owner

Problem Owner group. These users oversee the handling

of a problem, bringing in analysts and specialists as
needed. The Problem Owner is responsible for bringing
the problem to closure.

Note: The IBM SmartCloud Control Desk optional content package also
provides a Problem Administrator group. This is NOT a process role. It is an
administrative group that has access to all applications. You must decide
whether you want to use it.

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Problem management process flow

Figure 8-15 shows the activities that are involved in the incident management
process.

Figure 8-15 Problem management process flow

Detect and log problem

Either automated or manual, this activity ensures that monitoring, analysis,
and notification mechanisms are implemented to detect problems. When
detected, problems are linked to associated incidents. Problems can be
detected from these sources:
Incidents
Notification from suppliers
Feedback from service desk or technical support groups (ideally this
process results in an incident report)
Pro-active approaches such as trend analysis
Categorize and prioritize problem
This activity ensures that problems are classified to enable appropriate
analysis and resolution. It takes into account the severity of problems that
might be encountered, and the potential impact to business goals.
Investigate and diagnose problem
This includes activities for root cause analysis, creating workarounds where
possible, and recording a known error. This activity must ensure that
workarounds are in place and effective, and that sufficient analysis and
diagnosis are done to complete the root cause analysis.
Workarounds are a temporary way of overcoming difficulties without
addressing the root cause of the problem. When workarounds are found,
the problem record needs to remain open, and details of the workaround
must be documented.

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 On completion of problem diagnosis, a known error record must be raised

and placed and marked as a known error, so that as further incidents or
problems arise, they can be more easily identified
Resolve problem
This activity ensures the resolution of known errors (that is, problems for
which the root cause is fully understood). This includes these steps:
The search for a solution
The implementation planning of resolution actions to eliminate known
errors (for example, by initiating a request for change or project proposal)
Tracking the successful implementation of the change to the infrastructure.
Close and review problem
This activity includes closing problems, ensuring known error records have
been updated, and performing reviews for major problems. Each problem
record is checked for completeness so that other processes have the
appropriate information available, for example, updates to incident
management. For each major problem, conduct a review and incorporate the
results into communication, training, and reviewing the affected service.

8.1.6 IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities

This section summarizes the capabilities that IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
provides for Service Operation:
Separate applications for recording service requests, incidents, and
problems. These are separate record types, but are a form of ticket.
The ticket applications are closely related and share many features that
include:
The ability to define relationships between tickets, link them together for
information purposes, and view the linkages and details in the appropriate
applications.
The ability to directly report on and view integrated CMDB and Asset
information.
Integrated logging of communication channels that includes email, work
logs, and instant messaging.
Multi-level classification and failure reporting of incidents and problems.
Basic entry dialogs for faster creation of new incidents and service requests.
Automation scripts to help collect information about the incident (this
capability is not available with the entry edition).

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 Common service desk applications to support request fulfillment, incident,

and problem resolution:
Ticket Templates application for modeling common high-volume tickets.
Priority Matrix application for prioritizing tickets based on your impact and
urgency mapping.
Service Level Agreements application for defining automated actions and
notification for time-based service commitments.
Response Plans application for automating predictable and repeatable
responses to tickets.
Solutions application for predefining responses to commonly asked
questions or problems.
Global Search application for searching across Service Requests,
Incidents, Problems, and Solutions.
Common Tivoli's process automation engine for automation of process
workflow and condition-based escalation.
Integration with event management products and third-party incident
management products.
Integration with Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Computer Telephony
Integration (CTI) technologies.
Integrated remote diagnostics tools.

8.2 Service Operation using IBM SmartCloud Control

Desk
This section presents an integrated scenario and examples to demonstrate some
key features in the use of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk for service operation.
Examples are based on the optional contents package.
The optional contents package provides workflows for handling service requests,
incidents, and problems. These are useful for demonstrating service operation
using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. In many real-life deployments, however,
workflows are not used because they can increase the number of clicks that are
required by Service Desk agents to administer tickets. The agents can still
complete many of the activities in the examples without being guided by a
workflow.

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The examples do not show any operation following service level commitments.
See Chapter 7, Service level management on page 381 to see how this can be
applied.
Furthermore, the scenarios assume that labor tracking is not being used. If your
organization wants to use labor tracking, your analysts must use the start and
stop labor clocks when they begin and end their work on a particular ticket.

8.2.1 Logging a service request example

User Bob is having an issue when trying to access a business application. He
can get a resolution to the issue by using self-service or calling the companys
in-house service desk. The result of these scenarios is a service request record
that captures his issue.

Self-service
This example shows Bob using self-service to try to address his issue. For more
information about the Self-service center and other self-service applications in
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, see Chapter 9, Self-service on page 531.
1. Bob logs in to IBM SmartCloud Control Desk and is taken to the Self-service
center.
2. He notices that there is some news available about a system outage. Bob
clicks the news item under recent Recent Activity to see whether it is related
to his issue as shown in Figure 8-16. The news is not related to his business
application, so he clicks Close to close the dialog.

Figure 8-16 Checking for news and announcements using self-service center

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3. Bob then searches to see whether there are any known solutions to this
problem that he can address himself quickly. He clicks Search for Solutions
under the navigation bar and is presented with a key word search dialog as
shown in Figure 8-17. Bob enters words that are related to his issue, access
error, into the dialog and clicks Search.

Figure 8-17 Self-service center search for solutions

Figure 8-18 shows the returned search results. Alternatively, Bob can type the
search words directly into the navigation bar. However, this returns quick inserts
and catalog items as well as solutions.

Figure 8-18 Self-service center solution search results

4. The first solution from the search results in Figure 8-18 best matches Bobs
issue. Note that it has five stars, which indicates that users who have used the
solution have given it a high average ranking. Bob clicks the solution and is
presented with its details as shown in Figure 8-19 on page 442.

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Tip: The average solution ranking is calculated every 24 hours at midnight

by a cron task. To make this run more frequently, alter the
PmRankingSolutionCron cron task from the Cron Task Setup application.

Figure 8-19 Example solution dialog

Bob follows the instructions in the resolution and checks the host file on his
notebook. The IP address is already in his host file, so the solution does not
help. He clicks No - Create a Service Request to request further assistance.

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The solution that Bob has viewed is added to the solution tracking section or
the Service Request. This provides a history of solutions the user has tried
when creating a service request as seen in Figure 8-20.

Figure 8-20 Self service solution tracking

5. The Report an Issue dialog is displayed. Bob completes the details of his
issue. Because he urgently needs access to the application, he changes the
priority to 1 and selects his notebook ITAM1004 from the Affected Asset field
as shown in Figure 8-21.

Figure 8-21 Report an Issue dialog

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From the Attachments tab, Bob clicks Screen Capturer, which starts a tool to
allow him to capture and attach a screen capture of this error as shown in
Figure 8-22.

Figure 8-22 Report an Issue dialog: Attachments tab

6. Bob clicks Submit Now, and a service request is created. An

acknowledgement with a system generated ticket number of 1091 is
presented as shown in Figure 8-23.

Figure 8-23 Service Request ticket acknowledgement

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The generated service request ticket is shown in Figure 8-24.

Figure 8-24 Service request ticket

The Source field is automatically set to SELFSERVICE. The Created By,

Reported By, and Affected Person all identify Bob. Furthermore, because the
service request was created by viewing a solution, the ticket inherits the
classification from the solution.
A service desk analyst picks up the new ticket. The analyst validates it for
completeness, reviews its categorization, and prioritizes it before fulfilling the
request. This process is detailed in the next scenario.

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From Live Chat

Users can initiate chat sessions with a Service Desk Agent. If a user does not
choose an existing request, a new Service Request is generated. For more
information about a user chatting with a service desk agent, see 9.2.8, Chatting
with an agent on page 555.

Calling the service desk

This example shows one of the traditional ways to ask for help: Bob calls a
telephone number and speaks to a service desk analyst.
In this scenario, Service Desk analyst Scott receives Bobs call. After he validates
Bobs identity and entitlement, he creates a service request ticket on Bobs
behalf.
As a service desk analyst, Scott is already logged in and working in IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk. Depending on where Scott is in the system, there are
a couple of ways for Scott to create a service request.

From the Start Center

To create a service request from the Start Center, complete these steps:
1. Click New SR Full from the Quick Insert portlet as seen in Figure 8-25.

Figure 8-25 Quick insert from Service Desk start center

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This immediately takes Scott to the service request application with a new
empty record created and ready for entry.
Tip: Your service desk can save valuable clicks by creating quick inserts
from the start center for frequently requested tickets such as password
resets. Create a ticket template to model the activities of the request and
link this to a quick insert. Your analyst can then create the ticket,
pre-populate it with model information and be taken to the entry window for
the ticket with one click.
2. Scott then proceeds to record the service request as shown in Figure 8-26:
He sets the source to PHONECALL to indicate that the request was initiated
by a phone call.
He enters Bob in the reported by field and presses tab. This automatically
brings Bobs contact details into the record and also defaults the affected
person information. The Created By field is automatically set for him.

Figure 8-26 Service request entry window

3. Scott clicks the Apply Service Request Template action from the common
actions as shown in Figure 8-26. This brings up a dialog of service request
ticket templates. If an applicable model for the request exists, it can be
selected to populate the ticket.

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4. There are no applicable service request templates for this issue. Therefore,
Scott continues to record the details of the service request including the
summary details, the reported priority for the request given by Bob, and the
site from which the record is being reported.
5. Scott proceeds classify the request. He brings up the classification drill-down
from the detail menu of the Classification Path field and drills down to the
value 210701: Oracle Financials Issue as shown in Figure 8-27.

Figure 8-27 Classification drill-down

6. Scott prioritizes the request based on the details that he has now recorded.
The priority fields can be seen in Figure 8-28 on page 449.
Indicated Priority. You can place associate indicated priorities to your
classification structure to help your analyst with the prioritization process.
This crosses over from the selected classification if it is set.
Reported Priority. This is the priority that is given by the reported by
person.

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 Impact. This is used to indicate the scale of effect the ticket has on the
business.
Urgency. This is used to indicate the speed in which a ticket must be
resolved before there is significant impact on the business.
Internal Priority. This is a calculated field that is based on impact and
urgency. Set up the calculation matrix to reflect your business processes.
The Priority Matrix application (click Go To Service Desk Priority
Matrix) allows you to set your internal priority calculations.

Figure 8-28 Ticket priority fields

From the Service Request application

As a service desk analyst, Scott is probably already working in the service
request application. He does not need to return to the start center to start
creating Bobs ticket. To create the ticket from the Service Request application,
complete these steps:
1. Scott can either click New Service Request on the navigation toolbar or use
the keyboard shortcut CTRL+ALT+I as shown in Figure 8-29.

Figure 8-29 Inserting a new service request

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2. A new service request dialog is displayed as shown in Figure 8-30. This is a

simple entry dialog that allows Scott to quickly capture the initial details of the
call. Scott can also select a ticket template from the Common Requests field
to immediately create the service request.

Figure 8-30 New Service Request dialog

3. On clicking Submit Now, a service request is created and Scott is taken to

the full Service Request entry window where he continues to classify and
prioritize the request as shown previously.

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8.2.2 Quickly determining important details of a service request,

incident, and problem
The Service Request, Incident, and Problem applications have been redesigned
to include a new header. The updated header allows the user to quickly
understand primary details of a ticket including its name, description, status,
owner / owner group, and priority. A progress map is used to give a pictorial view
of the tickets status, and previous and future transition states. Figure 8-31 shows
an example header from an incident.

Figure 8-31 Incident header

Looking different: For a service request, the progress map will differ for
requests generated from the service catalog to include the approval steps.
Icons in the header provide more details. The first icon indicates whether there is
a known service bulletin that is associated with the ticket. To view the service
bulletin details, click the icon. Table 8-4 shows the two icons related to service
bulletins.
Table 8-4 Service bulletin icons
There is no Service Bulletin related to the ticket.

There is a Service Bulletin related to the ticket. To view the details

of the bulletin, click the icon.

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The second icon indicates if the ticket is, is related to, or is not currently related to
a global ticket. Clicking the icon allows the user to associate the ticket to a global
incident. Table 8-5 shows the icons related to Global Tickets.
Table 8-5 Global ticket icons
This ticket is not a global ticket and is not related to a global ticket.
To change this information, click the icon.

This ticket is a global ticket. To change this information, click the

icon.

This ticket is related to a global ticket. To change this information,

click the icon.

8.2.3 Fulfilling and routing the service request

Scott now continues to fulfill the logged service request. The scenario is
continued with self service ticket 1091 that was created in 8.2.1, Logging a
service request example on page 440.

Using workflows
You can use workflows to help guide your users through a process or procedure.
This example shows Scott using the SR_V3 workflow included in the optional
content packages:
1. With the service request ticket open. Scott selects the route workflow button
from the navigation bar and proceeds to start the ticket in the SR_V3
workflow. This workflow guides the user through the request fulfillment
process as shown in Figure 8-32 on page 453.

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Figure 8-32 Starting the request in the fulfillment workflow

Tip: You can create toolbar buttons to start a specific workflow to save
clicks and make it easier to find the correct workflow. For more information,
see 8.3.5, Creating a workflow go button on page 509.
2. On starting the workflow, Scott is presented with dialog shown in Figure 8-35
on page 455. Because he will be working on this ticket, he selects Take
Ownership and clicks OK. The status of the record changes to QUEUED as
shown in Figure 8-33.

Figure 8-33 Taking ownership of the request

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3. Scott continues to allow the workflow to guide him. He clicks the route
workflow button and the system automatically searches for solutions that
match the classification. He is presented with a solution similar to Figure 8-19
on page 442. If there is more than one matching solution, a list is displayed.
4. He clicks Use Solution from the solution dialog, and the solution is copied
into the service request in the Solution Details tab as shown in Figure 8-34.

Figure 8-34 Solution copied into service request

5. Scott uses the integrated remote diagnostics tools to check Bobs host file.
For more information, see 8.4, Performing remote diagnostics using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk on page 520. The solution does not fix Bobs
problem because his host file already contains the required entry.
6. Scott selects his next workflow actions from a series of guiding dialogs. He
selects the options that a solution was found, but that the request was not
fulfilled by the suggested solution.

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7. Because this is an incident, Scott chooses to create an incident from the radio
button options and enters a memo to describe his actions as shown in
Figure 8-35.

Figure 8-35 Creating an incident from a service request using the fulfillment workflow

He is presented with an acknowledgement that the incident was created as

shown in Figure 8-36.

Figure 8-36 Incident creation acknowledgement

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The follow-up relationship is created with the ticket as shown in Figure 8-37.

Figure 8-37 Related records

8. From the detail menu of the related record 1047, Scott navigates to the
incident. He assigns the incident to an appropriate resolver group, SRMAPPL, by
clicking Select Owner from the toolbar (Figure 8-38).

Figure 8-38 Assigning an owner group to a ticket

Using Response Plans

You can also use response plans to help your staff be more efficient and
consistent. Response plans help ensure that similar work is performed in a
repeatable and consistent way. When you apply a response plan to a ticket, the

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system finds a plan that matches the attributes of that ticket. This section shows
the creation of simple response plan that automates some of the actions from the
previous example.
Note: Response plans can be associated with all ticket application (Service
Request, Incidents, and Problems) and also work orders and changes. For
more information about setting up response plans, see the InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.tusc.
doc/mods_apps/c_ctr_tusc_app_respplans.html

To create the simple response plan, complete these steps:

1. Click Go To Service Level Response Plans.
2. Click New Response Plan on the navigation toolbar. A new response is
created in DRAFT status as shown in Figure 8-39. Complete the basic details:
Description: Responding to Oracle financial outages
Ranking: 1
If multiple response plans apply to the same ticket, the response plan with
the highest ranking is selected.
Applies To: SR
This is the type of object that this response plan applies to. In this case, it
is a service request.

Figure 8-39 Creating a response plan

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3. Complete the Response section as shown in Figure 8-40. The response

section contains information that must be brought into the matching record.
The grayed out fields relating to Job Plans and Work Groups are only
applicable for work order response plans. For this example, enter the following
information:
Assign Owner Group: SRMAPPL
This sets the owner group on the matching SR record.
Apply Solution: SPOC1295
This copies the solution into the matching SR record.

Figure 8-40 Responses

4. Next, define the matching conditions for the response plan in the Conditions
tab. The response plan can consider various criteria that include specific
locations, assets, and configuration items (specified by using the appropriate
tab). It matches only if all conditions match. For this example, the match
condition is based on classification and internal priority as shown in
Figure 8-41 on page 459. Set the following information:
Classification: 21 \ 2107 \ 210701
Internal Priority: LESSOREQUAL 2
This picks up values of 2 or 1

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Figure 8-41 Response plan conditions

5. Define the automated response actions for the response plan. These can be
any Tivoli's process automation engine actions or action groups that you
define by using the Go To System Configuration Platform
Configuration Actions application. The example in Figure 8-42 on
page 460 uses some predefined actions added by using the new row button:
SR APPLYSLA: This runs the action to find and apply matching SLAs
SR CREATEINCIDENT: This action creates a follow-up incident for the SR
SR INPROG: This sets the status of the service request to in progress
You can also generate automated notifications as a response. A common
scenario is to create a response plan to notify a service restoration manager
for critical priority incidents.

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Figure 8-42 Configuring response actions

6. Before the response plan can be used, the status must be changed to
ACTIVE. Do this by clicking the change status button in the navigation toolbar.
To show the application of the active response plan. complete these steps:
1. Locate the service request 1091. Duplicate the ticket by clicking Select
Action Duplicate Service Request.

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2. From the duplicated ticket, click Select Action Apply Response Plan. An
error message is displayed if there are no matching response plans.
Figure 8-43 shows the message when the example response plan is applied
to the duplicate ticket.

Figure 8-43 Response plan application message

Tip: It is a good practice to have response plans applied automatically for

efficiency. This can be done by calling predefined actions from workflows,
escalation, or automation scripting. Figure 8-44 shows an example of an
action that can be used.

Figure 8-44 Example apply response plan action

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8.2.4 Investigating and diagnosing an incident

The scenario is continued from using the incident that was created from service
request that was created by service desk analyst Scott. Nancy is a second line
support analyst who is a member of the SRMAPPL group.
1. When Nancy logs in to the system, she can see the incident 1047 in the Group
Work Queue portlet, which shows tickets assigned to the workgroups she is a
member of from the Incident Analyst start center (Figure 8-45).

Figure 8-45 Incident Analyst start center

2. Nancy clicks the row for incident 1047 and is taken directly to the incident
record. She reviews the incident information and validates that the priority and
classification that have been given to the incident. She then begins to work on
the incident by changing the status of the ticket to INPROG (in progress) and
starts the workflow in the INC_V4 workflow process.

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3. On starting the workflow, Nancy is prompted with options to assist her in

diagnosis of the incident as shown in Figure 8-46. She chooses to search for
duplicate tickets.

Figure 8-46 Starting the workflow for incident

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4. This presents Nancy with the Show Similar Tickets dialog. Service Requests,
Incidents, and Problems that have the same classification are shown
(Figure 8-47). From this dialog, Nancy can inspect the records individually by
navigating to the record by using the detail menu. Nancy finds that incident
1060 and service request 1113 are similar tickets and might be duplicates. She
selects these and clicks Relate Records to relate them to the current ticket.

Figure 8-47 Searching for similar tickets

Tip: The criteria for similar tickets is defined by the SIMILARTICKETS

relationship on the TICKET object. By default, it matches classifications. You
can refine or expand this criteria by modifying this relationship definition by
using the Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration
Database Configuration application.

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5. As there are related records, Nancy is asked by the workflow if she wants to
make the incident a global incident as shown in Figure 8-48.

Figure 8-48 Creating a global ticket

A global record is a ticket that is a root cause of other issues or that affects
many users. After you mark a record as global (Figure 8-49 on page 466), you
can relate multiple tickets to it and then manage all tickets using the global
record:
When you open a global record, and select Show Similar Tickets in the
toolbar, you can view all tickets that are related to the global record. You
also can select tickets and relate them to the global ticket.
A record can be a global ticket or related to a global ticket, but not both.
You can view the work and communication logs for all related records from
the global record.
If you change the status of a global record, the statuses of all globally
related tickets change accordingly.
Records that are created as follow-up records from the global record
cannot be related to it as a global record.
You cannot manage follow-up records from the global record.
You cannot relate any record to a global record that is archived as a history
record.
You cannot designate a record as global if it is already related to a global
record or it is a history record.
You can remove the global flag from a global record that has tickets related
to it. However, you must first remove the value in the Related to Global ID

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field for each ticket that is related to the global record. You can do so by
using the Related Records tab of the global record.

Figure 8-49 Global issues section in the main ticket tab

6. Nancy routes the workflow. She can now reassign the ticket to another group
or individual if the incident is not in her area of responsibilities. She chooses
to take ownership of this incident and continue with incident resolution as
shown in Figure 8-50.

Figure 8-50 Taking ownership of an incident

8.2.5 Resolving and closing the incident, and logging a problem

Technical support analyst Nancy is part of the applications support group and
has chosen to work with resolving the incident. This scenario continues with
incident 1047 to show the use of automated workflows, which can be used to help
incident resolution, and then the close out and logging of a follow on problem.

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To resolve and close an incident, complete these steps:

1. Nancy wants to checks to see whether the application server is running. She
decides to use an automation workflow to ping the application server. From
the incident, Nancy clicks the automation tab and sees the available
workflows as shown in Figure 8-51.

Figure 8-51 Available automation workflows for incident management

2. Nancy clicks the workflow button for Ping Server - Interactive. The
workflow starts by creating a specification attribute for the server IP address
for ping as shown in Figure 8-52.

Figure 8-52 Ping automation workflow adds new specification attribute

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3. Nancy clicks the route workflow button and is prompted for the destination
ping server. She can either choose to ping a CI or a specified IP address. For
this example, she picks the IP address option as seen in Figure 8-53.

Figure 8-53 Specifying target for ping automated workflow 1

Figure 8-54 shows the dialog that prompts Nancy to enter an IP address.

Figure 8-54 Specifying target for ping automated workflow 2

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4. Nancy enters the IP address into the specification attribute and routes the
workflow. If the ping is successful, she receives a success message as shown
in Figure 8-55.

Figure 8-55 Automated ping success 1

The results are logged in the worklog of the ticket as shown in Figure 8-56.

Figure 8-56 Automated ping success 2

Tip: To make new automation workflows available, create the workflows

beginning with RBA. For more information about changing this, see 8.3.7,
Changing available Automation workflows for incident resolution on
page 512.
5. For this scenario, assume that the ping test failed. By checking the
configuration management information, Nancy is able to identify that there is
a secondary application server for this application. She identifies that the
secondary server is working, and that a workaround for this issue might be to
route the users host file to the secondary application server address.

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6. Nancy routes the workflow and chooses to create a new workaround or fix as
shown in Figure 8-57.

Figure 8-57 Actions to resolve the incident

7. This takes her to the solution details tab where she can enter the workaround
into the system. The information is in a format consistent with a solution
(symptom, cause, resolution) as shown in Figure 8-58 on page 471.
Note: A cron task PmAdhocSolutionCron creates solution records from the
solution information entered into ticket. By default, this task runs at
midnight every 24 hours, but this setting is configurable.

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Figure 8-58 Creating a work around the solution

8. When Nancy routes the workflow again, she is taken through a series of
dialogs to guide her to resolution and closure of the incident.

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First, she is given the option of sending a communication to the requestor

letting them know of the work around or creating a change request if a change
if required to resolve the incident as shown in Figure 8-59.

Figure 8-59 Resolving the incident 1

Depending whether she has received confirmation from the user of the
resolved issue, Nancy can either indicate that the service has recovered, or
she can pause the workflow to wait for the confirmation as shown in
Figure 8-60. On confirmation, the status of the incident moves to RESOLVED.

Figure 8-60 Resolving the incident 2

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9. Nancy is now ready to close the incident. When she routes the workflow, she
is asked to vary the incident details for closure or create a problem if required
as shown in Figure 8-61.

Figure 8-61 Prompt to create problem for incident

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10.After validating the incident is ready for closure. Nancy is prompted to create
a communication to the user to notify them of the incident closure as shown in
Figure 8-62. Upon completing this step, the ticket moves to a CLOSED status.
Closing the incident also automatically closes the originating service requests
(if they are not already closed manually).

Figure 8-62 Prompt to complete send closure communication

8.2.6 Managing a problem

The features of the problem application are similar to that of the service request
and incident applications shown in the scenario and examples. Rather than
walking through a whole scenario, for brevity, the key features are highlighted.

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The ITIL aligned problem management workflow PRB_V3 guides the user
through different strategies to work through the problem. Figure 8-63 shows the
prompt to select a strategy.

Figure 8-63 Starting the problem management workflow PRB_V3

Figure 8-64 shows the dialog where you select the strategy.

Figure 8-64 Problem management strategies

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After working through the strategies and identifying the root cause of the
problem, document it in the failure reporting tab as shown in Figure 8-65.

Figure 8-65 Capturing the root cause with failure reporting

This failure hierarchy is managed by using the Go To Assets Failure

Codes application. The hierarchy can contain four levels to drill down on the root
cause:

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Failure Class
Problem
Cause
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After you capture the root cause, mark the problem as a known error. This is
done by selecting Is Known Error on the problem record on the main tab as
shown in Figure 8-66.

Figure 8-66 Is Known Error flag on Problem record

Doing so allows the known errors to be seen to the other ticketing applications by
using the Show Known Error function as shown in Figure 8-67. Access this
function by using the Select Action menu within the ticket applications Incident,
Problem, and Service Request.

Figure 8-67 Show known error dialog

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The workflow also guides the user to create a change request if it is required to
fix the problem, and provides a service improvement so the user can close out
the problem as shown in Figure 8-68.

Figure 8-68 Creating a change order for service improvement

The closure of a problem record does not close the originating incident or service
request record. This is because incidents typically operate under a service level
and a workaround for resolution must be provided as soon as possible. In most
cases, the workaround is needed before the problem is fully investigated.

8.2.7 Resolving tickets with solutions

Solutions are used to document responses to common issues or questions.
Solutions can be reserved for use by service desk agents resolving tickets, or
they can be made available to users seeking self-help. Solution records are
administered in the Solutions application. To open the solutions application, click
Go To Service Desk Solutions.

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Making solutions available to users helps users to resolve many issues on their
own, therefore reducing incoming volume to the help desk. To make a solution
accessible to the Self Service Center, select Include this solution in the Self
Service Center as shown in Figure 8-69.

Figure 8-69 Solution definition

When the Self Service Center is configured to allow users to browse solutions,
the navigation path is built by using the classification. It displays the class
description at each node. Users can also search for solutions by using the
navigator toolbar or the Search Solutions dialog when that option has been
configured.
Improve your search: To increase the search hit results, add keywords
(separated by commas) to the solution. This differs from previous releases
where keywords had to be specifically defined and added to a table.

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Using solutions to resolve tickets

Agents can use solutions as they attempt to resolve a ticket. In SmartCloud
Control Desk, agents can search for solutions to try to resolve a service request
or incident. Agents are now able to use a status indicator, solution status, to
illustrate that a solution is under evaluation as shown in Figure 8-70.

Figure 8-70 Documenting solution status as CONSIDER

If the solution resolves the users issue, the agent can change the solution status
on the ticket to Solution Successful and resolve the ticket. If the solution fails,
the agent must change the solution status to Solution Failed. Setting the status
of the solution to failed on the ticket moves the solution to the Failed Solutions
table as shown in Figure 8-71.

Figure 8-71 Documenting solution status as FAIL

Solution effectiveness: Using the Solution Status allows an agent to indicate

that a solution is under evaluation, has failed, or has resolved the ticket. This is
used to calculate an effectiveness as defined in the next section.

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Solution effectiveness
Solutions are only effective if they are able to resolve a users issue or answer
questions that users might have. Having ineffective solutions in the knowledge
base can cause users to abandon self help, resulting in increased numbers of
tickets or calls to the help desk.
Solutions in SmartCloud Control Desk now have a calculated effectiveness
score. This score is based on the number of times that the solution was
successful, divided by total number of times the solution has been attempted.
The effectiveness score is shown on the main solution page. In addition, the full
details of the solution effectiveness including all requests that this solution has
been used with can be seen by using the View Effectiveness Details action.
Figure 8-72 illustrates the effectiveness details.

Figure 8-72 Solution effectiveness

Guideline: It is useful to define a threshold where solutions are deemed not

effective and must be improved. For example, solutions with an effectiveness
rating of 75% or below and have been used more than 10 times need to be
reevaluated.

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Solution tracking
As users browse solutions in the Self Service Center, a history is kept of
solutions that are viewed by users before either resolving their issue or opening a
request. This allows the knowledge base administrators to have insights into
what the user has viewed or searched as another mechanism to improve finding
solutions. This information can be viewed in the Solution Details tab of the
Service Request application as seen in Figure 8-73.

Figure 8-73 Solutions viewed by users

8.2.8 Quickly resolving service requests and incidents by using

service bulletins
Service bulletins are targeted messages that are displayed to users who are
modifying or creating tickets. Messages are immediately displayed to the user as
data is updated in the ticket based on criteria defined in the bulletin. Service
bulletins can drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to resolve a ticket by
quickly presenting the user information about current outages, known global
issues, or for cases where support is not provided.
For example, if a user calls the help desk with a network issue, the agent can
create a ticket on the users behalf. As the agent classifies the ticket to report a
network issue, a service bulletin can alert the agent to a known outage based on
a global issue. The agent can quickly view the details of the bulletin and
potentially close the new ticket, relating it to a known global issue.
As a best practice approach, create and maintain service bulletins along with the
lifecycle of global incidents.

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Defining a service bulletin

Service bulletins are an extension of bulletin messages, and are defined by using
the Bulletin Board application. New messages can be defined to be only a
bulletin board message, only a service bulletin message, or both. Figure 8-74
shows the types of messages.

Figure 8-74 Types of messages

After the message is identified as a service bulletin, define the attributes to match
a bulletin to the ticket. The following are the allowable attributes to be specified:

Configuration Item
Asset
Classification
Location
Customer

Attributes are specified in one or more rows on the Service Bulletin tab.
Figure 8-75 shows a bulletin that has been configured to match any ticket that is
classified with the SDANETWORKS classification.

Figure 8-75 Service Bulletin for SDANETWORKS classification

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If multiple attributes are defined on the same row, they are evaluated as a logical
AND. For example, if a location of DENVER was added as a location in
Figure 8-75 on page 483, the bulletin applies to a service request or incident that
is classified as SDANETWORKS and has a location of DENVER.
If multiple rows exist for a service bulletin, the conditions are evaluated as a
logical OR. For example, if the first row specifies an asset of EMAIL_SERVER_1
and the second row specifies an asset of EMAIL_SERVER_2, the bulletin applies
to a service request or incident that has an asset of EMAIL_SERVER1 or
EMAIL_SERVER_2.
Classifications and locations support hierarchies: If you specify a
classification or location, all children of that classification or location also meet
the service bulletin criteria.

Triggering a message in a ticket

If the data that a user is entering or updating on a ticket matches the criteria
defined for an active service bulletin, they are alerted with a dialog indicating that
a service bulletin exists. The short description of the service bulletin is displayed
along with an indicator that extra details can be provided. In Figure 8-76, the user
is alerted that a service bulletin exists after the Classification SDANETWORK is
added to the incident.

Figure 8-76 Existing service bulletin alert

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TipMultiple service bulletins: If multiple service bulletins are triggered from

entering the most recent value, all newly applicable bulletins are displayed in
the dialog.

Extra details
A user can view the extra details of the service bulletin by clicking the bulletin
icon in the application header. Figure 8-77 shows the extra details that are
provided by a bulletin message.

Figure 8-77 Extra bulletin message details

Multiple service bulletins: If multiple service bulletins apply, the full details
from all applicable bulletins are displayed when you open the dialog.

8.2.9 Using configuration information for diagnosis

Configuration Management is an important input to Incident and Problem
management, and can provide information to assist in these tasks:
Identifying faulty equipment and root cause of failure
Assessing the impact of an incident and problems and their potential
resolutions
Assessing the potential affected users
Identifying the correct support group

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IBM SmartCloud Control Desk has a full integration configuration management

capability. For configuration management guidelines, see Chapter 5,
Configuration management on page 227. In this scenario, the incident analyst
Nancy was able to identify a workaround for the incident by identifying a
secondary server.
During the scenario, it was identified that the reported incident was on the
BILLING business application, and this must be reported against the
Configuration Item field of the incident as shown in Figure 8-78.

Figure 8-78 Viewing CI topology from ticket

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From here, Nancy can see the CI topology of the BILLING application as shown
in Figure 8-79. She can quickly identify that there are two WebLogic application
servers, and test connectivity to either one to provide the workaround to direct
the user to the secondary application server.

Figure 8-79 CI topology of the billing system

Furthermore, you can drill down into the specific failing component by right
clicking to see its topology to help identify root cause.

8.2.10 KPIs and reporting

Table 8-6 shows the Service Request KPIs that can be used for Service
Operation installed with the optional content packages.
Table 8-6 Service Request KPIs
KPI Name

KPI Description

PMSRLATEWO

Number of late work orders or work orders at risk of being

late from all open service requests. See the PMSRLATE
query description for definitions of late and at risk of
being late.

PMSRAVGTI

Average process time per service request in hours.

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KPI Name

KPI Description

PMSROPEN

Service requests that are currently in progress.

PMSRWAPP

Open service requests that have work orders that are

waiting for approval.

PMSRURG

Open service requests marked Urgent Priority

(internally).

PMSRHIGH

Open service requests marked High Priority (internally).

Table 8-7 shows the Incident Management Request KPIs.

Table 8-7 Incident Management KPIs
KPI Name

KPI Description

PMINCLATEA

Number of late activities or activities at risk of being late

from all open incidents. See the PMINCLATE query
description for definitions of late and at risk of being
late.

PMINCAVGTI

Average process time per incident in hours.

PMINCOPEN

Incidents that are currently open.

PMINCWAPP

Open incidents that have activities that are waiting for

approval.

PMINCURG

Open incidents marked Urgent Priority (internally).

PMINCHIGH

Open incidents marked High Priority (internally).

Table 8-8 shows the Problem Management Request KPIs.

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KPI Name

KPI Description

PMPRBLATEA

Number of late activities or activities at risk of being late

from all open problems. See the PMPRBLATE query
description for definitions of late and at risk of being
late.

PMPRBAVGTI

Average process time per problem in hours.

PMPRBOPEN

Problems that are currently in progress.

PMPRBWAPP

Open problems that have activities that are waiting for

approval.

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KPI Name

KPI Description

PMPRBURG

Open problems marked Urgent Priority (internally).

PMPRBHIGH

Open problems marked High Priority (internally).

For a list of available reports, see Appendix A, Troubleshooting on page 715.

8.3 Configuring IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

This section presents some examples of configuring IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk to match your organizational requirements for service operation. You need
administrative rights to perform most of these actions. The concepts that are
shown here are applicable to all Tivoli's process automation engine applications.
For more information about configuring IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, see the
InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/index.jsp

8.3.1 Setting Indicated Priority from the Configuration Item

Some organizations prefer to set an indicated priority that is based on the
business impact of the configuration item that the ticket is reported against. This
requires a different configuration of crossover domains. The domain that is used
for that by default is CICROSSASSETLOC. A new domain must be created to
address this change. To do that, complete the following steps:
1. Click Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration
Domains.
2. Create a crossover domain. This crossover domain is similar to
CICROSSASSETLOC, with a new field for the priority. Create the crossover with
the following fields defined in crossover domain section:
Object: CI
Validation where clause: cinum =:cinum
Error message group: ci
Error message key: NotValidCI

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Also, define the following crossover fields:

AssetLocOrgID

SourceField: ASSETLOCORGID

DestinationField: ORGID

No Overwrite: Yes

Sequence: 10

AssetLocSiteID

SourceField: ASSETLOCSITEID

DestinationField: SITEID

No Overwrite: Yes

Sequence: 20

AssetNum

SourceField: ASSETNUM

DestinationField: ASSETNUM

No Overwrite: Yes

Sequence: 30

Location

SourceField: LOCATION

DestinationField: LOCATION

No Overwrite: Yes

Sequence: 40

PMCCIIMPACT

490

SourceField: PMCCIIMPACT

DestinationField: INDICATEDPRIORITY

No Overwrite: Yes

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The crossover fields are displayed as shown in Figure 8-80.

Figure 8-80 Crossing over configuration item business impact to ticket priority

3. Locate the domain TSDCLSSTRUCT2TK and delete the row for

INDICATEDPRIORITY to deactivate the crossover from classification.
4. The domain created must be changed in the Database Configuration
application. To do that, go to Database Configuration and find the object
TICKET. The field domain from attribute CINUM must be changed to the
created domain. Repeat this step for objects SR, PROBLEM, and INCIDENT.
5. After that, the changes must be applied to the database. To do that, select
Manage Admin Mode from the action menu.
6. In the Turn Admin Mode ON window, modify the values in the Number of
Administrative Sessions Allowed field and the Number of Minutes for User
Logout field. The default value of each field is 5. If you modify these fields,
click Update Properties for the parameters to take effect.
7. Click Turn Admin Mode ON.
8. In the Electronic Signature Authentication window, enter the appropriate value
in the Reason for Change field and click OK.
9. A window opens that indicates that the Admin Mode is starting. Click OK.
10.Throughout the configuration process, click Refresh Status to view the
messages that the configuration process writes in the Status window. If you
decide to cancel the configuration, click Cancel Admin Mode.
11.From the Select Action menu, click Apply Configuration Changes to
configure the database and restore backup tables. Wait until administration
mode is turned on before you perform this step.
12.To turn off Admin Mode, from the Select Action menu, click Admin Mode
Turn Admin Mode OFF.

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Tip: You might want to keep both crossovers to get indicated priorities from
either source. You must adjust the No Overwrite flag to get it working the
way that you want.

8.3.2 Configuring ticket templates

Ticket templates are used to populate values from the template into fields on a
ticket to save time and increase efficiency. You create and manage templates by
using the Ticket Templates application that you can open by clicking Service
Desk Ticket Templates. Templates are useful for providing a classification
and specification attributes, owner, owner group, and any activities that are
required to resolve the ticket.
For other users to apply a ticket template, the template must be in an ACTIVE
status, and the template class must match the ticket class. In addition, you can
specify a site on a ticket template when you create it. The template is then
included in the list of available templates for organizations that are associated
with that site, or for templates that are not site or organization specific.
Ticket templates are also used to support self service, service catalog, and live
chat. These special use cases are covered in the following sections.

Ticket templates for self service

Ticket templates can be used as quick inserts and enabled in the Self Service
Center. When enabled for the Self Service Center, some extra options are used
to control where the template appears when navigating, and how the dialog is
rendered. The dialog configuration allows a single dialog to be used with some
flexibility in deciding whether to display some common fields.
Table 8-9 shows the configuration fields that can be used when you configure a
ticket template for use in the Self Service Center.
Table 8-9 Ticket template configuration fields

492

Field

Description

Self Service Access

When selected, this field is used to denote ticket

templates that appear in the Self Service Center for users
to create a ticket with prefilled information. The remaining
fields in this table can be configured only when this check
box is selected.

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Field

Description

Service Desk Template

This field determines how the user navigates to the

template. Checking this box indicates that this template is
used to solve service desk requests such as resetting a
password. Templates that are marked as Service Desk
Templates are found by following the Report an Issue link
in the Self Service Center navigator.
If this field is cleared, users can navigate to this template
under the Request a New Service link in the Self Service
Center navigator.

Show Assets

This displays the asset field from the service request on

the dialog. This is useful in cases where the template
applies to a specific asset. An example is a notebook that
cannot boot.

Show Attachments

Select this option when the user must add extra

attachments. This can be useful in cases where a user
must attach a form, image, or similar data.

Show Screen Capture

This option enables the screen capture applet to be

displayed on the Report an Issue dialog. This allows the
user to take a screen capture and add it as an attachment
to the request.

Frequent Request

Mark this field if the service designer wants to provide a

fast path for finding this template in the Self Service
Center. Users can navigate to all templates marked as
Frequent Request by clicking Frequent Requests
Systemwide Frequent Requests.

Image

Identifies the image that is associated with the template.

The image is used to represent the template when
navigating in the Self Service Center. It can be changed
by clicking Select Action Add/Modify Image.

Complete these steps to create a ticket template for use in the Self Service
Center:
1. Click Go To Service Desk Ticket Templates.
2. Add a template or locate an existing template. You must set the Class field to
SR because only service request templates can be used in the Self Service
Center.
3. Ensure that Catalog Offering, Service Request and Quick Inserts is
selected under the This Template Will Be Used In heading.

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4. Select Self Service Access. This check box is visible only after selecting the
appropriate ticket class and template use option in step 3. Selecting this box
brings up a new section called Self Service Center under the Details.
5. Optionally, configure the extra options defined in Table 8-9 on page 492.
Figure 8-81 illustrates a ticket template that has been configured to be used in
the Self Service center for reporting an issue about a network problem. The user
can specify the asset that is having the issue, take a screen capture of any error
messages, and add any attachments about the system configuration.

Figure 8-81 Creating a ticket template

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Figure 8-82 illustrates the resulting dialog. Note the existence of the Asset field in
the dialog and the default information that has been added.

Figure 8-82 Report an issue

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Figure 8-83 shows the additional configuration options for attachments and
screen capture in the dialog on the Attachments tab.

Figure 8-83 Report an issue: Attachments

Guideline: Use ticket templates instead of offerings when the following are
true:

Complex fulfillment and approval processes are not needed

Custom dialogs and data collection are not required
Multiple navigation paths are not needed
A cart is not needed

Because the dialogs differ slightly, some deployments use offerings and
associate a template with the offering to provide some consistency.

Ticket templates for service catalog

Ticket templates might have been created for the fulfillment of service catalog
offerings. In many cases, these templates are not as useful for service desk
agents who are responding to tickets. For these cases, configure the template to
be used with the catalog offering only. This removes the template from the list of
those that can be applied to a service request by an agent.

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Templates that are configured to be used with offerings only cannot be used in
the Self Service Center. Figure 8-84 illustrates a template that has been
configured for service catalog and following the other best practices.

Figure 8-84 Ticket template for service catalog only

Specifying a classification on the template that is used with an offering overwrites

the classification that was part of the offering. This might remove data that were
entered by a user to the specification attributes.
When a work order is needed to fulfill a service catalog request, do not specify a
job plan on the ticket template that results in an activity work order. Instead,
configure the offering to create a standard work order and specify a job plan on
the offering.

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Ticket templates for live chat

Ticket templates can be configured to be used as chat topics with the live chat
feature of SmartCloud Control Desk. Detailed information can be found in the
next section.

8.3.3 Configuring live chat

The ability to chat directly with the help desk for support is becoming more
prevalent across Internet sites. The chat feature allows a user to quickly get help
without having to pick up a phone and in the context of where they are working.
In addition, the help desk staff might be able to respond to multiple users at a
single time, increasing their efficiency and productivity.
The live chat feature provides a mechanism for user to agent communication,
where previous instant messaging integrations provided a way for agent to user
communication.

Configuring chat topics

Chat topics allow organizations to determine how best to route incoming
requests and to provide default information about a new service request.
SmartCloud Control Desk can be configured to route all incoming requests to a
single group or to route requests based on subject matter to specialized groups.
Chat topics are based on specially configured ticket templates. When the user
initiates a chat request, a service request is created. All of the properties of the
ticket template are applied to the newly created request in the same way as
applying a template to a ticket. To use a ticket template for a chat topic, it must be
configured to be used with a service request, and be used only for a chat topic.
The owner group of the chat topic is required and is the person group
responsible for responding to the request. The person group is known as a chat
queue, and is covered later in this section.

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Figure 8-85 illustrates a ticket template configured as a chat topic. This template
has a classification specified that is applied to the service request.

Figure 8-85 Configured chat topic

Without configuration, a single chat topic is provided and can be used to route all
incoming requests to a single group. The single chat topic is intended to provide
a mechanism for a user to initiate a chat without needing to specify the purpose
of the chat. This is useful when a generalized support staff handles all requests.
There are many cases where a single chat topic does not fit the needs of the
organization. In addition to request routing, allowing the user to specify the
reason for the chat allows some additional data and information to be added to
the newly created service request automatically without manual actions by the

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responder. For example, the user can provide a default classification of the
request along with specification attributes.
Using specification attributes: Specification attributes can be used for the
agent to collect some required information from the user as part of the chat
session.
A single chat topic can be configured by specifying the name of the topic in the
system property, sccd.livechat.singlechattopictemplate. The topic is
configured to be CHAT_TOPIC. If the property has no value, all active chat topics
are used. For an example of a user being prompted to select a chat topic, see
9.2.8, Chatting with an agent on page 555. The system property can be
modified by using the System Configuration Platform Configuration
System Properties application.

Configuring chat queues

Chat queues are specially configured person groups whose members are
responsible for handling incoming chat requests. To configure a new chat queue,
a person group must be created using the person group application. The
application opened by clicking Administration Resources Person
Groups.
After members have been added to the group, a chat queue tab that has been
added to the application needs to be configured. Both Is Chat Queue and
Available to Chat must be selected to denote this group is a chat queue and to
make this group available to handle incoming requests.

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Figure 8-86 illustrates a chat queue that has been configured and is available to
respond to incoming chat requests. Note that the main summary tab of the group
shows the total number of active / pending requests, the availability of the agents
in the group, and number of requests currently being handled by each agent.

Figure 8-86 Active chat queue

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Escalate: For instances where chat topics are only available during certain
scheduled hours, an escalation can be created to manage the availability of a
Chat Queue by enabling / disabling the Available to Chat field.
The chat queue tab on the person group application shows more information
about all of the activities of this chat group. This information is contained on the
extra tabs.
Figure 8-87 illustrates the In Progress Chats tab, which shows the active chats,
the corresponding service requests, and descriptions.

Figure 8-87 In Progress Chats tab

The Waiting Chats tab shows the chats that are waiting for an agent response as
shown in Figure 8-88.

Figure 8-88 Waiting Chats tab

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Lastly, the Chat Topics tab shows all of the chat topics (ticket templates) that
specify this chat queue (person group) as the owner group on the topic as shown
in Figure 8-89. Some of these topics might not be active.

Figure 8-89 Chat Topics tab

Agent view
An extra icon in the toolbar indicates incoming chat requests for chat agents. As
users request to chat with an agent, the icon changes and flashes with the
number of pending requests. To accept a chat request, the agent clicks the
flashing icon. Figure 8-90 illustrates the menu bar of an agent. The top part of the
image shows the menu bar with no pending requests, whereas the bottom part of
the image illustrates a pending chat request.

Figure 8-90 Agent view with and without a pending chat request

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The agent view of the chat window contains a link to the service request that the
user selected or that was created. This link allows the agent to quickly access the
service request and see any previous history or details of the request. This is
especially useful when the user chats about an existing request. Figure 8-91
illustrates the agent view of a chat window.

Figure 8-91 Chat with an agent

Watch out: If the agent accesses and modifies the service request, they must
save their changes before closing the chat window. Otherwise, any unsaved
changes are lost. Closing the chat windows triggers an event to save the chat
history to the service request.

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Chat history
When a chat session is completed and the agent closes the chat window, a
history of the chat is saved to the communication log of the service request. If a
user is chatting about an existing request, an agent can go and view any
previous chat history by looking at the request. Figure 8-92 illustrates the chat
history in the communication log of a service request.

Figure 8-92 Chat history

8.3.4 Modifying and disabling the new service request, and new
incident and new change dialogs
In the Changes, Incidents, and Service Requests applications, a dialog enables
users to quickly enter basic information when creating a change, incident, or
service request, and submitting the new record.

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Disabling or enabling the dialog

You can configure your environment to display this dialog for each application
using the system properties shown in Table 8-10. Click Go To System
Configuration Platform Configuration System Properties.
Table 8-10 New dialog properties
Dialog

Property

New Service Request

pmsrv.servicerequest.usecreatedialog

New Incident

pminc.incident.usecreatedialog

New Change

pmchg.change.usecreatedialog

Adding fields to the dialogs

You can add fields to the dialog if information can be identified up front. This
example shows adding the Source field to the Service Request application. To do
so, complete these steps:
1. Click Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration
Application Designer.
2. Locate the SR application.
3. Click Edit Dialogs in the toolbar.
4. Look for the dialog with control ID CRSREX_create_simple_sr and label Create
New Service Request. Click it and a window opens.

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5. Open the Control Palette from the toolbar and drag a text box under the email
field in the dialog as shown in Figure 8-93.

Figure 8-93 Adding a text box to the New Service Request dialog

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6. Open the Control Properties for the text box and set the following settings as
shown in Figure 8-94:
Label: Source
Attribute: EXTERNALSYSTEM
Lookup: VALUELIST

Figure 8-94 Text properties for new source field

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7. Save the record. Figure 8-95 shows the resultant dialog with a selectable
source field.

Figure 8-95 Modified new service request dialog

8.3.5 Creating a workflow go button

To allow help users to start the correct workflow quickly, create a toolbar button
that directly starts the ticket into a predefined workflow. This example shows
creating a button to start the service request fulfillment workflow SR_V3: Service
Request Management:
1. Click Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration
Workflow Designer.
2. Filter the list window for Object =SR, and select any of these workflows.

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3. Click Select Action Edit Workflow GO buttons. This opens a a dialog

similar to Figure 8-96.

Figure 8-96 Workflow go button dialog

4. Enter the following information and click OK:

Process Name: SR_V3
Description: Start SR_v3 workflow
Toolbar Icon: nav_icon_submit.gif
Active Icon: nav_icon_submit.gif

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When you open the Service Request application, you see a button in the
navigation bar that launches the record into the SR_V3 workflow as shown in
Figure 8-97.

Figure 8-97 New start SR workflow button

8.3.6 Setting color alerts

To help analyst and other technical support staff identify high priority tickets
quickly, it is possible to highlight them using color. To do so, complete these
steps:
1. As a system administrator, locate the start center that you want to modify
2. Click the edit (pencil) icon on the result set portlet that you want to modify.
3. This opens the result set setup as shown in Figure 8-98 on page 512. Click
the Display Options tab.
Set the condition attribute to INTERNALPRIORITY.
Click Add Color Alert in the Color Parameters table. Enter the following
settings:

Expression: Equal To

Expression Value: 1

Color: Red1

Click Add Color Alert in the Color Parameters table. Enter the following
settings:

Expression: Equal To

Expression Value: 2

Color: Dark Orange

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Figure 8-98 Setting color alerting for start center result sets

4. Click Save. The resulting window is shown in Figure 8-99.

Figure 8-99 Result set portlet with color alerting

8.3.7 Changing available Automation workflows for incident

resolution
The workflows that are displayed in the Automation tab of the incident application
are filtered from all available workflows. By default, it lists incident workflows with

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names beginning with RBA. You can add automation workflows by creating
workflows starting with RBA, or you can change the filter in the application.
To change this filter, complete these steps:
1. Click Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration
Application Designer.
2. Locate the Incident application and export the application XML by clicking
Export Application Definition on the toolbar as seen in Figure 8-100. Save
the XML file to a location on your local computer.

Figure 8-100 Exporting the incident application XML

3. Create a backup of the exported XML file, then edit the XML using a text
editor. Find the text id="inc_workflows". This brings you to the table
definition that displays the available automation workflows. See Example 8-4.
Example 8-4 Automation workflow filter in incident application

<table beanclass="com.ibm.ism.tsd.pminc.webclient.beans.RBAIncidentWFProcessBean"
id="inc_workflows" inputmode="readonly" label="Workflows" mboname="WFPROCESS"
whereclause="objectname='INCIDENT' and active=1 and PROCESSNAME like 'RBA%'">
<tablebody displayrowsperpage="20" filterable="true"
filterexpanded="false" id="wfresults_showlist_tablebody1">
<tablecol dataattribute="description"
id="wfresults_showlist_tablebody_33"/>
<tablecol dataattribute="processname"
id="wfresults_showlist_tablebody_31"/>
<tablecol dataattribute="processrev"
id="wfresults_showlist_tablebody_32"/>
<tablecol filterable="false" id="wfresults_col_route_2"
mxevent="ROUTEWF" mxevent_desc="Start Workflow" mxevent_icon="nav_icon_route.gif"
sortable="false" type="event"/>
</tablebody>
</table>

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4. Change the whereclause to the filter you want. For example, you might want
to change the filter to display workflows based on their classification, in this
case the classification RBA_IT_MGT as shown in Example 8-5.
Example 8-5 Automated workflows by classification

whereclause="objectname='INCIDENT' and active=1 and classtructureid

= 'RBA_IT_MGT'
5. Save the XML file and import it back by clicking Import Application
Definition on the toolbar of the Application Designer.

8.3.8 Using automations scripts for field validations

A new feature in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is the ability to use launch points
and scripting to customize the product without requiring system downtime and
Java coding. Scripting allows you to accomplish these tasks:

514

Create Scripts with Object launchpoint

Create Scripts with Attribute launchpoint
Create Scripts with Action launchpoint
Create scripts with custom condition launchpoint

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Figure 8-101 gives a high-level overview of how scripting works.

Figure 8-101 How scripting works

This is a simple example that shows the creation of an attribute launchpoint on

the incident object to validate the affected by field. Assume that your requirement
is to prevent incidents from being reported for more than a year in the future.
Configure the launchpoint by using a script as follows:
1. Add an error message that will be used for the validation error message. To
do this, click Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration
Database Configuration.

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2. Click Select Action Messages. The Messages window is displayed as

shown in Figure 8-102.

Figure 8-102 Add new error message for validation

3. Click Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration

Automation Scripts.
4. Click Select Action Create Script with Attribute launchpoint. This
starts a wizard that takes you through creating the script.

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At the first window, as shown in Figure 8-103, enter the following information:
Launchpoint: INAFFECTDATE
Description: Validate the affected by date for incident
Object: INCIDENT
Attribute: AFFECTEDBY
Select New to create a script, then click Next.

Figure 8-103 Create script with attribute launchpoint 1

on the next window, Figure 8-104 on page 518, provide a name for the script
and some variables that you will be using in the script:
Script: TKVALIDATEAFFECTEDBY
Description: Validate ticket affected date
Add a variable affecteddate

Variable Type: IN

Launchpoint binding value: affecteddate

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 Add a variable reportdate

Variable Type: IN

Launchpoint binding value: reportdate

Click Next.

Figure 8-104 Create script with attribute launchpoint 2

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5. Now you must enter the script as shown in Example 8-6. This example
imports some Java utility classes for calculating the date. You can also use
Jython or JavaScript functions to achieve the same results.
Example 8-6 Sample validation script

from psdi.util import MXApplicationException

from java.util import Calendar
from java.util import Date
cal=Calendar.getInstance()
cal.setTime(report)
cal.add(Calendar.YEAR, +1)
limit = cal.getTime()
if affecteddate > limit:
errorgroup = 'TICKET'
errorkey = 'AFFECTEDDATE'
6. Change the status of the script to ACTIVE.
7. You can add the same validation to other ticket objects by repeating step two
and specifying another object such as SR or PROBLEM.
8. The result is that when you try to set the affected date more than 1 year in
advance of the reported date, you get an error indicated by a red cross as
shown in Figure 8-105.

Figure 8-105 Sample field validation error

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Tip: For more information about automation scripting, see the IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/topic/com.ibm.mbs.d
oc/autoscript/c_overview.html

8.4 Performing remote diagnostics using IBM

SmartCloud Control Desk
Tivoli Remote Diagnostics is an integrated feature of SmartCloud Control Desk
that is based on the IBM Tivoli Remote Control version 5.1 product. If Remote
Diagnostics is enabled, you can take control of a remote system identified in the
Asset or Configuration Item field on a ticket record. You can then run commands
and applications on that system, transfer files, and perform other tasks. Your
session is automatically recorded. If enabled by an administrator, the recorded
session is automatically uploaded and added as an attachment to the ticket
record.
The following example was performed on two computers running Microsoft
Window 7 and Mozilla Firefox 3.6 in the same local area network.
1. The users computer must have the remote diagnostic installed. This can be
installed by clicking the Download Remote Diagnostics Agent link as
shown in Figure 8-22 on page 444. The link is also available from other
self-service applications such as Create Service Request and View Service
Request.

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2. Figure 8-106 shows the installation process for the remote diagnostic agent.

Figure 8-106 Installing the remote diagnostic agent

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3. When asked for the server address, shown in Figure 8-107, enter the host
name of your IBM SmartCloud Control Desk server and click Next.

Figure 8-107 Installing the remote diagnostic agent: Server address

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4. When prompted for the remote control port, shown in Figure 8-108, in most
cases you leave the detected port and click Next. If this does not work, you
might need to reinstall the agent using a different port. Also, check that the
port is allowed through your desktop firewall.

Figure 8-108 Installing the remote diagnostic agent: Remote control port

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5. When prompted for the peer to peer mode, as shown in Figure 8-109, select
Regardless of server status and click Next.

Figure 8-109 Installing the remote diagnostic agent: Peer to peer mode

Follow the instructions to complete the installation. A round icon appears in

your task tray after the agent is installed.

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6. The service desk agent can now initiate the remote session from the menu of
the asset field or configuration item field as shown in Figure 8-110.

Figure 8-110 Initiating remote diagnostics

Note: Ensure that the record is saved with the Asset or CI information
before starting Remote Diagnostics. If the record is not saved, an error
occurs when the session recording is uploaded to the ticket.

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7. A Remote Diagnostics window opens, prompting the service desk agent for
the server address and port. The agent must enter the IP address of the
users computer and the remote control port that was entered when installing
the remote diagnostic agent as shown in Figure 8-111.

Figure 8-111 Connecting to the users system

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8. The service desk agent is then prompted to log in to the users system. Use
an admin account if this exists, or the user must provide their login details.
See Figure 8-112.

Figure 8-112 Authenticating to the users system

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9. The user receives a prompt that notifies them of the support session. To
initiate the session, the user must click Accept as shown in Figure 8-113.

Figure 8-113 Use notification of remote session request

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10.After the session is accepted, the Service Desk analyst can able to see the
users desktop as shown in Figure 8-114. Some actions that the analyst can
perform are on the top toolbar:
Listing system information of the client computer
Initiating a chat session

Figure 8-114 Example of a remote diagnostics session

8.5 Conclusion
This chapter explained the ITIL concepts of service operations, the service desk,
request fulfillment, incident management, and problem management.
It has shown a through and integrated scenario used in examples of how your
operation staff can use IBM SmartCloud Control Desk to fulfill requests faster
and more efficiently.
It has also shown some simple examples of configurations that can be done to
better align and optimize IBM SmartCloud Control Desk to your organizations
operational requirements.

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Chapter 9.

Self-service
This chapter describes the benefits of self-service, and provides information
about using and configuring the Self Service Center in IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk.
This chapter includes the following sections:

Self-service overview
Self-service using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Administering the Self Service Center
Configuring the Self Service Center

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531

9.1 Self-service overview

A service desk is designed to act as the central point of contact between the user
and IT operations. However, much has changed in recent years as the service
desk has developed into a fully functioning business application that not only
supports users, but also handles requests from the business itself. The
combination of the Internet with smartphones, tablets, and other consumer
electronic devices has created a more IT-savvy user with expectations having
their needs addressed immediately.

9.1.1 Benefits
Making available a self-service interface helps to create a more satisfied user by
allowing them to perform these tasks:
Self-provision, and address their consumer needs immediately.
Self-heal, if the user experiences an issue that has been previously
addressed. That issue can be referenced in a knowledge base, and the user
can resolve the issue by following the documented steps.
Stay updated and informed on the status of their requests and issues.
This approach can reduce the volume of calls coming into the service desk and
in addition, allows the service desk to be more productive and focus their time on
working on issues that affect the business.

9.1.2 IBM SmartCloud Control Desk capabilities

There are a number of applications provided by IBM SmartCloud Control Desk,
which provide self-service capabilities to users.
Self Service Center is a single application that comes pre-configured to allow
self-service users to submit service requests, report issues, request services
from the service catalog, view solutions, view their assets, view news, and
access their recent service requests.
Using the Self Service Center is considered best practice as it combines all of
the self-service operations and service catalog functions into a single
interface.
Best practice: Self Service User groups can be configured to go directly to
the Self Service Center after logging in.

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In addition, individual applications are available for Self Service Users to

perform all of the self service functions available in the Self Service Center.
The Create Service Request and View Service Requests applications provide
simplified interfaces with minimal information for creating a service request
record and viewing records that are submitted by the user.
The Search Solutions application provides an easy way to search for helpful
answers. Using the Search Solutions application, you can search for potential
solutions before submitting a service request. You can select and view details
of any solution and its related attachments, such as documents or web pages.
The Offering Catalog, Shopping Cart, View Catalog Requests, and Cart
Templates applications allow the user to request and track requests from the
Service Catalog.
The Self-service Global Search application provides users the ability to
search across applications for records that contain specified text. You can
search for one or more of the following record types at the same time:
Solution, service request, offering, and catalog request.
The Self Service Center can be configured to allow users to perform the tasks
that the business supports. The other option is to use a combination of these
self-service applications.

9.2 Self-service using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

The Self Service Center combines the functions of the individual self-service
applications and differs from other Tivoli's process automation engine
applications.

9.2.1 Introduction to the Self Service Center

The Self Service Center provides a single application where the user can
perform most of their self service tasks. These include reporting issues,
requesting services from the service catalog, browsing solutions in the
knowledge base, tracking previous requests, and viewing important information.

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To open the Self Service Center, click Go To Self Service Self Service
Center. The Self Service Center has five primary components as can be seen in
Figure 9-1.

Figure 9-1 The Self Service Center

The left side of the interface is known as the navigator. From here, the users can
browse the knowledge base, request new services, report issues, and run
searches. The right side of the interface contains a set of pods. Pods are small
portlets where the user can view information and initiate some requests. The
links in the navigator and some pod functions are configurable. The entire
interface is covered in greater detail in the subsequent sections.
The toolbar on the navigator has a set of icons that are used throughout the user
session. The icon on the far left is the home button. The home button takes the
user back to the starting point as shown in Figure 9-1. This can be useful to get
back to a known starting point after navigating the user interface.

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There is a large text box where the user is able to enter search terms. When the
search is run, the resulting list displays all of the available solutions, offerings,
and ticket templates that match the user search criteria.
Hint and tip: The search results use a best match rating. If the user enters
multiple keywords, the objects that match the most keywords are displayed at
the top of the search results.
The icon at the far right of the toolbar expands the navigator and hides all of the
pods. This can be useful when browsing at low screen resolutions or where
viewing more information about the navigator is helpful. The remaining icons for
reporting an issue, view shopping cart, and cart templates are covered in
subsequent sections.
Figure 9-2 shows the navigator toolbar in detail.

Figure 9-2 Navigator toolbar

9.2.2 Browsing solutions

The Self Service Center allows users to browse solutions in the knowledge base
to get self-help in lieu of opening a ticket or calling the help desk. Only solutions
that are marked for Self Service are available to users because some solutions
are only suitable for service desk agents.
Best practice: Use the Browse Solutions capability that was introduced in
SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5.1.0. In previous releases, users were required
to enter search terms into a dialog to retrieve a list of solutions. Using the
Browse Solutions feature to find solutions in the knowledge base provides a
more consistent experience throughout the application.

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To find a solution, the user can browse the solution hierarchy. The hierarchy is
generated from the classifications of the solutions. The left tree navigation allows
the user to quickly browse the solution hierarchy as shown in Figure 9-3.

Figure 9-3 Browsing for solutions

Hint and tip: Image icons can now be added to a classification. These images
are used in place of the default folder icon when browsing to provide more
meaningful information to a user.
After the user finds a potential solution to their issue, they can click the solution to
view the details. The user is able to see the symptoms that the solution intends to
resolve to determine if they match the issue they are having. They are also able
to view details of the root cause and any steps to get a resolution. If there are any
attached documents, the user can access the attachment tab.
From the top of the dialog, there are buttons for the user to email or print the
solution. To close the dialog, the user responds to the question of whether the
solution helped resolve the issue by clicking one of the three buttons at the
bottom of the dialog.
If the user selects that the solution helped their issue by clicking Yes, the dialog
closes and a service request is created and automatically closed. If they click No
- Create a Service Request, a create service request dialog is opened that
allows the user to create a request. The dialog is prepopulated with some
information from the solution. The last button, No - Return to Solution Search,
allows the user to view another solution or adjust the search terms to retrieve a
new list.

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Tip: In the service request application, all solutions that the user has browsed
are displayed in the solution tracking section. This allows the knowledge base
team to judge the effectiveness of the solutions in the knowledge base.
Figure 9-4 illustrates the View Solution dialog.

Figure 9-4 View Solution dialog

The user is able to share their experiences with other users by rating the solution
using the Rate this solution button. This gives users an indication if the solution
has worked, or some additional tips and tricks when trying to resolve a problem
they are having.

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9.2.3 Requesting Services from the Service Catalog

The Self Service Center allows users to browse the Service Catalog by clicking
Request a New Service in the navigator. From here, users are able to browse
the Offerings they are authorized to see. The navigation path is built based on
the classifications of the Offerings. Unlike the Offering Catalog application, the
user is unaware that they might be browsing multiple Catalogs. Ticket Templates
(also called Quick Inserts) that are not marked for Service Desk use are also
found here. However, it is not common for Ticket Templates to be used in this
manner. Figure 9-5 shows the user browsing for an Offering or Ticket Template.

Figure 9-5 Browsing for an Offering or Ticket Template

After the user finds the Offering they are looking for, they can click the Offering to
open the window. The dialog provides the user with information configured for the
Offering. These include the date of last update, comments and rating, estimated
fulfillment time, attachments, long description, estimated price, and extra details.
The date of last update gives the user an indication of any updates to the
Offering that were made to address user comments.

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Figure 9-6 illustrates a dialog for requesting a new notebook.

Figure 9-6 Ordering a new notebook dialog

Depending on how the Offering was configured, the user can complete the
required information, then add the Offering to the Cart. If the user wants to
submit the request immediately, they can click Order Now. In cases where the
service designer has configured the Offering so that it cannot be added to the
cart, the user is presented a Submit Request button to request the Offering.

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Figure 9-7 illustrates Offerings in the cart.

Figure 9-7 Self Service Shopping Cart

Note: If the user chooses to keep an Offering in the cart long enough for the
price defined in the price book to change, the user is presented with an error
dialog indicating a new price and is shown the updated price of the Offering.
Users requesting Offerings from the Service Catalog can be able to view and
provide comments and ratings for an Offering. If the Offering is configured to use
this function, the overall rating for the Offering is displayed at the top of the
Offering dialog. The user also sees a tab that shows previous users comments
and ratings for the Offering that are active. Comments that are inactive are not
displayed on the Offering dialog. Comments can be used to provide other users
information about the Offering including ordering tips and tricks, comments on
fulfillment, and usefulness of the Offering. Conversely, the comments can be
used to provide feedback to the service designers on ways to improve the
Offering.

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Figure 9-8 shows an example of what user comments might look like.

Figure 9-8 Comments and Ratings for Offerings

Enterprise Application Store

The notion of an app store continues to become more prevalent for smartphones,
televisions, and set top boxes. The latest version of SmartCloud Control Desk
includes an example Offering that uses Tivoli Endpoint Manager to automate
software deployment. The Offering can be replicated to create an Enterprise
Application Store where users can request software to be deployed to their target
asset. The software can include required applications, productivity software,
utilities, and any variety of software. For more information about the sample
Offering, see 6.5, Enterprise App Store scenario on page 374.

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Figure 9-9 illustrates what an Enterprise App Store might look like for a self
service user.

Figure 9-9 An Enterprise App Store example

9.2.4 Managing and using cart templates

A cart template serves two primary functions. First, it allows a self service user to
save a set of Offerings that are ordered together frequently. For example, a
template can be created for onboarding a new employee that consists of office,
badge, system IDs, phone, and workstation requests. Second, cart templates
differ from favorites in that data that are entered by the user are retained.
Templates are useful in this case because some dialogs can require a large
amount of data to be entered that is the same from request to request.
A cart template can be created using either the Self Service Center or Shopping
Cart applications. This section focuses on using the Self Service Center because
it is the best approach.

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In this case, the first thing to do is to create the cart template. Select the offerings
that you want to be included in the cart template and add them to the same
shopping cart, as shown in Figure 9-10.

Figure 9-10 Shopping cart for new employees

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Click Create Template to create the new cart template, or Update template to
update an existing cart template. When creating a template, select the Offerings
to be included in the template and provide a template name. The dialog to create
a template can be seen in Figure 9-11.

Figure 9-11 Creating a cart template

If you are updating a template, select the template to be updated and then the
offerings to be included in the existing cart template. The previous template is
overwritten.
Tip: All of the data that are entered into the Offering dialog are saved as part
of the template. The service designer can restrict some fields from being
saved.

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To view the existing templates, click the cart templates icon in the toolbar of the
navigator. The templates are listed as illustrated in Figure 9-12.

Figure 9-12 View existing templates

The user is able to delete a template from the dialog. Clicking a template shows
the details as illustrated in Figure 9-13.

Figure 9-13 Template details

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Users can perform two actions with cart templates. The first action is to use the
template by adding it to the cart. To add a template to the cart, open the shopping
cart by clicking the cart icon. From the shopping cart, click Add Template to
Cart. From the dialog, select the template that you want to add and the users that
this request is for. Figure 9-14 illustrates the Add Template to Cart dialog.

Figure 9-14 Add a template to a cart

After the users are selected, click OK and the cart template is added to the
submitters cart. In cases where required fields are excluded from the cart
template, the user is alerted that information is missing.

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The Offering with the red mark shown in Figure 9-15 is missing required
information that has been excluded from the template. In this case, it was the
users name and serial number because these change from request to request.

Figure 9-15 Missing information in shopping cart

The other operation is to create a copy of the template for one or more users.
After the copy is created, the additional users are able to see and use that
template. Any changes to the original template are not propagated to the copies.
To create a copy of a template, click the cart template icon in the navigator
toolbar and click Create Copy.
Guideline: Creating a copy of a template is a function that in most cases is
restricted to a small set of users.

9.2.5 Reporting issues

The Self Service Center provides multiple methods for users to report issues.
Reporting an issue based on a solution was covered in a previous section, and
issues against a users assets is covered later in this chapter. The two other

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methods for reporting issues are using the Create Request button in the toolbar
and the Report an Issue link in the navigator.
The navigator toolbar contains a button to create a new Service Request. When
this button is used, an empty Report an Issue dialog is opened with only the
Reported For information field completed. Because there is no context of the
issue, the user is responsible for entering all of the details. Figure 9-16 illustrates
the basic Report an Issue dialog.

Figure 9-16 Report an Issue dialog

Hint and tip: Some deployments disable the Create Service Request icon in
the navigator toolbar to force users to search the knowledge base or find a
quick insert. This is done to reduce the number of overall tickets or improperly
classified tickets, which can increase resolution time.

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The most commonly used method for reporting an issue is browsing the Ticket
Templates (also called Quick Inserts) and Offerings that are marked for Service
Desk use. The hierarchy that the user browses is based on the classification of
the object. Ticket templates that have no classification can be found at the root of
the tree. Offerings are required to have a classification. The appearance of the
navigation tree is the same as Requesting a New Service.
Use ticket templates where the broader fulfillment options are not needed. They
are useful for gathering some information about the user and assigning an owner
or owner group for the ticket. Use offerings where more fulfillment or workflow
options can be specified, custom dialogs are needed, or to provide a consistent
look and feel across all dialogs. As with all Offerings, a ticket template can also
be associated with the Offering to provide some initial routing for the ticket.

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Figure 9-17 illustrates reporting an issue using a Ticket Template. There are
some additional specification attributes and classification pre-populated on the
request.

Figure 9-17 Reporting an issue using a Ticket Template

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Figure 9-18 shows a sample Service Desk Offering. The user can optionally
specify a priority and some additional details directly in the dialog. This is one
difference between Offerings that are not marked for Service Desk use.

Figure 9-18 Sample Service Desk offering

9.2.6 Frequent requests

The final link on the navigator, Frequent Requests, allows the user to access their
frequent requests. The user can use three types of frequent requests.
First, the user is able to add Offerings to their frequent requests by clicking Add
to Favorites on the Offering dialog. These favorites are accessed when the user
first enters the Frequent Requests link.
Note: Favorites differ from cart templates in that the data entered by the user
are not retained.
Next, there is a folder named My Frequent Requests. Objects that the user has
requested most frequently based on the number of requests are displayed in this

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folder. This allows the user to quickly navigate to Offerings or Quick Inserts that
have a history of being requested.
Lastly, the folder named System Wide Frequent Requests contains Offerings and
Quick Inserts that an administrator has configured to be displayed in the
favorites. This provides another easy way to access objects that are predicted to
be frequently requested.
Figure 9-19 illustrates the user first accessing Frequent Requests where two
Offerings are marked as being requested frequently.

Figure 9-19 Frequent requests

9.2.7 Tracking requests

The My Requests pod displays the five most recent service requests created for,
or affected by, the logged-in user, and the status of the logged-in user's service
requests. Figure 9-20 shows a sample My Requests pod.

Figure 9-20 My Requests dialog

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You can click Show All My Requests to open a sortable dialog of all service
requests for the user as shown in Figure 9-21. Users are able to sort or search
for previous requests. The fields that are shown in the dialog are configurable.

Figure 9-21 Show All My Requests dialog

The user can click a request from the My Requests Pod or from the Show All My
Requests dialog to view the details of the request. The dialog has been updated
in the most recent release to show pricing information, a progress map that
shows the future transitions of the request, and any pending or completed
approvals. If the request was generated from an Offering, the user is able to rate
the Offering and view the original dialog.

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Figure 9-22 illustrates a service request that was recently opened and is waiting
on line manager approval.

Figure 9-22 View Service Request dialog

Guideline: The best practice is for users to work with Service Requests
without the need to know when an Incident is to be used. However, there might
be some business cases where users are required to view Incidents. An
Incidents pod can be configured on the Self Service Center to allow users to
view and track their Incidents. Currently, users cannot create an Incident from
the Self Service Center.

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9.2.8 Chatting with an agent

In many Internet applications, the ability to chat with a live agent is becoming
more pervasive. The ability to chat provides the user with quick resolution to
issues or simple questions they might have. In addition, agents have the potential
to be more productive as they can handle multiple chat requests simultaneously
versus a single phone call.
A new pod has been created that provides the user the ability to view some extra
information about the Service Desk. The message in this pod can be configured
to provide information such as support hours, phone numbers to call, or other
information. In addition, the pod can be enabled to show a Chat Now button that
allows the user to initiate a chat session with an agent. Figure 9-23 illustrates the
new Contact Us pod with the chat feature enabled.

Figure 9-23 Contact Us pod

Note: Users can be authorized to only see the pod or both the pod and the
Chat Now button by using signature options in their respective security group.
This can be useful to only show a message with important numbers if the full
chat feature is not fully enabled.
After the user initiates the chat session, the system determines whether there
are any logged in agents. If there are no agents available, the user is presented
with a message that indicates that a chat cannot currently occur. If an agent is
available, the user has three options when starting a chat, depending on system
configuration. The first option is to have a general chat session configured for a
single chat topic. This creates a service request and saves the chat history with
the ticket. The second option is for the user to choose a chat topic if the system is
configured for multiple topics. This allows the user to pick a topic and chat with a

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subject matter expert for the issue they are having. Like the single chat topic, this
opens a new service request and saves the chat history as part of that new ticket.
Lastly, the user can choose to chat about an existing request. The chat history is
saved, but with the request that the user chose. Figure 9-24 shows a dialog that
is configured for multiple chat topics.

Figure 9-24 Starting a chat and selecting a topic

Note: Chat topics are displayed in the dialog only if there is an agent available
to handle the chat request.

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Figure 9-25 shows the chat interface from the user perspective.

Figure 9-25 Starting a chat from the user perspective

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9.2.9 Working with assets

The My Assets pod, which is shown in Figure 9-26, shows a list of assets for
which the logged-in user is a custodian or a user.

Figure 9-26 My Assets pod

It allows the user to update information or report an issue for an asset, in this
example TUSC1056, by submitting a service request from the detailed dialog of
the asset by clicking Open a Service Request as shown in Figure 9-27. This
helps your organization to maintain the accuracy of asset data.

Figure 9-27 Viewing asset details

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9.2.10 My News
The My News pod is used in the same way as the Bulletin Board. The pod shows
the latest messages about critical problems and incidents, and information that is
broadcast through the environment by an administrator. Figure 9-28 shows the
My News pod.

Figure 9-28 My News pod

9.3 Administering the Self Service Center

This section shows how to perform common administrative tasks for the Self
Service Center.

9.3.1 Setting the Self Service Center as a users default application

You can make the Self Service Center the first page that users see when they log
in to IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. This is set by security group. To do this,
complete these steps:
1. Click Go To Security Security Groups.
2. Select the security group that you are setting the default for.

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3. In the Group tab, set the Default Application as SRMSSCTR as shown in

Figure 9-29.

Figure 9-29 Setting the Self Service Center as the default application at login

Note: If a user is in more than one security group with different default
applications sets, they are taken to the start center.

9.3.2 Authorizing users for the Self Service Center

The Self Service Center can be easily customized for different user groups. All
links in the navigator, pods, and toolbar options can be individually granted to
different groups of users. For example, some users might only be able to report
issues using the Self Service Center, while another group is able to use the
Service Catalog but not cart templates.

9.3.3 Adding and modifying solutions

Solutions are administered by using the Solutions application. For more
information about creating offerings, see Chapter 8, Service Operations on
page 409. Only Solutions that are marked to be included in the Self Service
Center are visible.

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9.3.4 Adding and modifying ticket templates and service offerings

Ticket templates and service offerings can be made to display for all users in the
frequent request category of the navigator by selecting a flag that is displayed in
both the Ticket Templates and Offerings applications. See the details for
administering quick inserts and service offering below.

Ticket Templates
Ticket Templates, also called Quick Inserts, are administered by using the Ticket
Templates application. Ticket Templates are also used to define the topics that
are used for chat. For more information about creating templates, see Chapter 8,
Service Operations on page 409. Only Ticket Templates that are of class
Service Request and marked for Self Service Access are seen in the Self
Service Center.

Service Offerings
Service offerings are administered by using the Offerings application. For more
information about creating offerings, see Chapter 6, Service catalog
management on page 321. By default, all offerings that a user is entitled to are
displayed under Request a new service in the navigator.
Hints and tips: Offerings that are marked as Service Desk Offering can be
found under the Report an Issue link, whereas those unmarked are found in
the Request a New Service link.
An Offering that is marked as a Frequent Request shows up in the System
Wide Frequent Requests folder.

9.3.5 Adding bulletin board messages to My News

The My News pod can display bulletin board messages that the user has not yet
viewed. To add a bulletin board message, use the Bulletin Board application
under Administration Bulletin Board.

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9.4 Configuring the Self Service Center

This section shows how to perform some common configuration tasks for the Self
Service Center. You can configure any of these aspects of the Self Service
Center application:
The items included in the navigator, the order in which they are displayed, and
their appearance. Links can be added to display a Tivoli's process automation
engine dialog, an external web page, or start another application.
Icons in the navigator toolbar.
The Contact Us pod display messages.
The items and behavior that are displayed in the My Requests pod.
Note: The dialogs that are used in the Self Service Center can be configured
by using the Application Designer except for the Show All My Requests dialog.
Configuration information for that dialog can be found below.

9.4.1 Self Service Center configuration files

The Self Service Center has three primary configuration files, one of which is
used at run time. The first configuration file, configMaster.properties, contains
the latest default configuration with all of the most recent configuration changes.
Config<version>Delta.properties contains any new properties that have been
added as part of that version. During an upgrade, the delta properties are
merged as part of the installation process into the runtime version of the file. For
fresh installs, the master configuration is used. Config.properties is the runtime
version of the configuration file.
Note: The Self Service Center properties files are found on the administrative
workstation at this location:
<drive>:\ibm\SMP\maximo\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\we
bclient\javascript\com\ibm\ism\pmsc\dojo
If you modify the Self Service Center properties file, you must then rebuild and
redeploy the maximo.ear file. However, for development purpose, you can modify
the copy of the file that is stored on your Java Platform, Enterprise Edition server.
By doing this, you can test the changes made before final deployment.

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For IBM WebSphere Application Server, the default location is:

<WebSphere_folder>\AppServer\profiles\ctgAppSrv01\installedApps\ctgCell
01\MAXIMO.ear\maximouiweb.war\webclient\javascript\com\ibm\ism\pmsc\doj
o\config.properties

9.4.2 Modifying the navigator

The navigator can be modified by changing what is shown in the toolbar and the
links in the Navigator. The following simple display properties can be modified in
the config.properties file.

Modifying links in the navigator

The options that are displayed in the navigator can be changed by using the
config.properties file.
Initially, there are four items available on the navigator, which are defined inside
config.properties file by linkx entries. The initial version of the file contains the
tasks available is displayed in Example 9-1.
Example 9-1 Initial link entries in config.properties

link0=id:BrowseSolution
link1=id:Catalog
link2=id:Issues
link3=id:Favorites
Guideline: In the most recent release, BrowseSolution replaces the previous
Solution link that was used to start the search solutions dialog. Generally, use
BrowseSolution to provide a consistent user experience.
To add or remove a new task, edit the config.properties file, and rebuild the
EAR. Each task represents one of the actions available in the Self Service
Center. The default links can be excluded if necessary, too.
Each linkx entry represents a new task in the navigator. These are the entries
that are added or removed from the config.properties file. Linkx are defined
with the following syntax:
linkx=id:id, image:imagefile, type:linktype, target:linktarget,
label:"linklabel", description:"linkdescription"

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The following items can be included in a linkx:

Link
Describes the position of the task in the menu. The first one must be link0.
The next tasks are defined by sequential numbers. If a number is missing, the
processing stops at the last sequential number.
Id
Id is a required parameter. It identifies the function that is executed by this
task. It is a free entry field, except for the default values on the navigator
(BrowseSolution, Solution, Issues, Catalog, and Favorites). If one of the
default values is entered as the ID, type and target fields are ignored.
Otherwise, this field is used only as an identifier, and the functions that are
run are defined by other fields.
Image
Optional parameter that defines the image that is displayed near the task on
Self Service Center. If no image is defined, a default image that is associated
with the type of task is used. Define the images that are used in this item in:
<install_folder>\maximo\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\we
bclient\javascrip\simplesrm\srm\dijit\images\icons
Type
Optional parameter that is used to identify the type of function that is run
using this task. There are four types that are available:
Dialog is used to display a dialog defined in the Self Service Center
presentation file, SRMSSCTR, or the library.xml file. In Application, you
can the existing dialogs for the application and the dialogs available in the
library.xml file.
Url is used for external web pages. A Launch in Context action must be
available when this type is chosen.
Application is used to access SmartCloud Control Desk applications, with
the option to return to Self Service Center.
Script is used for user-supplied Dojo classes.
Target
Optional parameter that is used to identify which function is run. This
parameter is associated with the option selected in type parameter. It can
define the dialog or application that is run, the URL that is accessed, or the
script that is run.
Label or labelkey
Optional parameter that is used to specify the name of the option that is
displayed in bold in the navigator. It can be defined as a string if a label is

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used, or as a key in a globalization resource bundle defined in

uiNavigatorStringTable.js., if labelkey is used.
Description or desckey
Optional parameter that is used to show a description of the task, displayed
under label. It can be defined as a string if description is used, or as a key in a
globalization resource bundle that is defined in uiNavigatorStringTable.js.,
if desckey is used.
For each link added to config.properties, a new signature option must be
created for the Self Service Center application. The signature option name must
be SHOWSSC<link_name>.
In the Application Designer, select the application Self Service Center
(SRMSSCTR) and click Select Action Add/Modify Signature Options. Add
a signature option for each link added, using the format described. An example is
displayed in Figure 9-30.

Figure 9-30 Signature options

If the type used is URL, an extra signature option must be created with the same
name of the launch in context ID.
The added signature options must be authorized for each security group that
needs to have access to the link created. This can be done by using the Security
Groups application.
Select the security group you want, and, in the Application tab, select Self
Service Center. A check box for each signature option created is available, and
to make the link visible to the user, select Grant Access.

Sample links
This section illustrates examples of how links can be created for each type. In
these examples, the links do not specify the optional image tag.

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To create a new link to a dialog, the dialog must be available in the Self Service
Center or library.xml. An example is the dialog to create a service request. This
dialog is defined for the Self Service Center application. An easy way to check
the available dialogs is to use Application Designer. The available dialogs for the
application can be found by clicking Edit Dialogs. A list of available dialogs for
this application are displayed, as shown in Figure 9-31.

Figure 9-31 Edit Dialogs window

A new link must be created in the config.properties file as shown in

Example 9-2.
Example 9-2 Dialog link

link4=id:CREATESR, type:dialog, target:srmsscreatesr, label:Create SR,

description: Create a Service Request
Label and description are the definitions used in the Self Service Center
navigator window.
To create an application link, a similar process is used. The difference is that the
type is defined as application and target is the name of the application as shown
in Example 9-3.
Example 9-3 Application link

link5=id:GOTOSR, type:application, target:sr, label:Service Request

Application, description:Launch Service Request Application

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If it is necessary to create a URL link, an extra step is required. The target that is
used for this type of link is a Launch in Context, which must be defined to use this
link type.
To create a Launch in Context, access the application by clicking System
Configuration Platform Configuration Launch In Context.
To create a new Launch in Context, click New and complete the required fields.
Define the field Target Browser window as _blank, as shown in Example 9-4.
Example 9-4 URL link

link6=id:IBMSITE, type:url, target:ibmsitelaunch, label:IBM Website,

description:Go to IBM Website
If the type is a script, the new script that is to be used in the link must be created
as shown in Example 9-5.
Example 9-5 Script link

link7=id:TESTSCRIPT, type=script, target:testScript, label:Dojo Script,

description: Execute Dojo test script
For this example, both link4 and link5 are added to the config.properties file.
The EAR must be rebuilt and redeployed into the server for the changes to take
effect. The list of customized links in the config.properties file is defined as
shown in Example 9-6.
Example 9-6 Customized links for config.properties

link0=id:BrowseSolution
link1=id:Issues
link2=id:Catalog
link3=id:Favorites
link4=id:CREATESR, type:dialog, target:srmsscreatesr, label:Create SR,
description: Create a Service Request
link5=id:GOTOSR, type:application, target:sr, label:Service Request
Application, description:Launch Service Request Application

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When users who have been granted the correct access to the new links log in to
the system again, the initial window looks like the one in Figure 9-32.

Figure 9-32 New links displayed on the home window

Modifying the toolbar

The toolbar in the navigator shows buttons for a shopping cart, cart templates,
and creating a new service request. The buttons on the navigator top bar are
enabled by default. However, there might be cases where they must be disabled.
Examples of reasons might include the following:
Hiding the shopping cart and cart templates where Service Catalog Offerings
are not used in the deployment.
Hiding the shopping cart and cart templates where only a single Offering can
be requested and the add to cart option is removed from the dialogs.
Hiding the create service request button to force users to browse the
solutions in the knowledge base or use the report an issue link in the
navigator.

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The buttons can be hidden by using the properties that are shown in
Example 9-7 by setting their values to true.
Example 9-7 Self Service Center button and tooltip settings

#Hide shopping cart icon

hidecarticon=false
#Hide cart template icon
hidecarttemplateicon=false
#Hide create SR icon
hidecreatesricon=false

Navigator browsing properties

When browsing the navigator, some additional information can be displayed by
the use of tooltips. Currently for Offerings and Ticket Templates, a portion of the
long description text is displayed as the user is browsing. Enabling the flyover
help shows more information from the long description text and is enabled by
default.
In the most recent version, tree navigation has been added when browsing
solutions, requesting new services, and reporting issues. Users in the Self
Service Center can toggle the tree view by clicking the folder icon when
navigating. The config.properties file enables the tree view by default, but can
be configured to use just the folder view. The properties are shown in
Example 9-8.
Example 9-8 Configuring the config.properties file to show only the tree view

#Use dojo tooltip for flyover help

tooltip=true
#Default view in Navigator: tree or folder
navigatorView=tree

9.4.3 Modifying the pods

This section addresses how to modify the appearance of the pods.

Updating the Contact Us pod message

The message in the Contact Us pod can be configured to show information from
the help desk. This can include hours of live chat availability, important phone
numbers, and any links to information. The message that is displayed in the

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Contact Us pod can be configured by using the Administration

Resources Person Groups application. Inside the application, select
Configure Chat Settings to configure the message in the pod. Figure 9-33
shows the configuration dialog.

Figure 9-33 Configuring chat settings

In addition, the initial message that is shown in the user chat dialog can be
configured in the same dialog.

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Changing the pod auto refresh intervals

The default refresh rate of all the pods is set to 60000 milliseconds (one minute).
Example 9-9 is an excerpt from the properties file. You might want to change
the settings to improve system performance. For example, as a users assets
typically do not change every minute, you might want to set
AssetsAutoRefresh=120000 or a higher value to reduce the amount of fetches for
updates.
Example 9-9 Auto refresh interval settings

# overview pod auto refresh intervals (msecs).

# missing values disable auto refresh
RequestsAutoRefresh=60000
MessageAutoRefresh=60000
AssetsAutoRefresh=60000

Configuring the My Requests pod

The View All My Requests dialog that is started from the My Requests pod can
be changed according to your organizations needs. The changes are
implemented by using the Application Designer application, which can be
opened by clicking System Configuration Platform Configuration
Application Designer.
Using Application Designer, select the application SRMSSCTR - Self Service
Center and export the presentation XML file by clicking Export Application
Definition.
To change the View All My Requests dialog, the XML file must be changed. To
modify the columns that are displayed in the Self Service Center, find the tag
requestspod and change it. The initial definition is displayed in Example 9-10.
Example 9-10 Initial definition for the My Request pod

<requestspod
columns="ticketid,status,pmsccrid,statusdate,affectedperson"
id="my_requests_pod" label="ServiceRequestsPod"/>
In columns, the columns available in the view are displayed, and in label, the title
of the section.
After the changes are made, the XML must be reimported into the application
using Import Application Definition from the Application Designer application.
In addition to configuring the columns, the initial number of rows that are shown
in the dialog can also be configured. This is useful when there are restrictive

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standard screen resolutions used when browsing requests. The default value is
configured to match the standard supported resolution. To configure the number
of rows in the View All My Requests dialog, modify the property in Example 9-11.
Example 9-11 Changing the number of columns displayed

#Default number of rows in My Requests grid(table)

MyRequestsGridRows=15

Configuring the number of service requests

The default number of recent requests fetched is 500 requests. Example 9-12
shows an excerpt from the properties file. If your system has a large number of
service request records, you might want to reduce this to help improve load time.
Example 9-12 Configuring the number of service requests

#Default number of most recent service request records retrieved in My

Requests Pod
#MaxRequestsPodRecords=500

9.4.4 Changing the number of search results

The default number of records returned by search results and recent requests
fetched is 500 records. Example 9-13 shows an excerpt from the properties file.
If your system has many offerings, solutions, and templates, you might want to
reduce this to help improve search time.
Example 9-13 Self Service Center search retrieval settings

#Max number of search results to display

SrmNavigatorMaxResults=500

9.4.5 Adding a background image to Self Service Center

To change the background image that is used in the Self Service Center, for
example to add the logo of your company, complete the following steps:
1. Check the current background image that is used in the system. By default,
the image is ge1600_background.jpg. Find all of the *maximo*.css files under
<install_folder>\maximo\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\we
bclient that must be changed.

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The default files that are used for SmartCloud Control Desk to change the
background image for Self Service Center are in:
<install_folder>\maximo\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\we
bclient\javascript\simplesrm\srm\dijit\themes
The two files that must be changed are RTLSimpleSRM_Tundra.css and
SimpleSRM_Tundra.css.
2. Edit the css files and find the entries on this file that are related to the
background image. Change them to the new image to be used as the
background.
3. Add the background image on the directory
<install_folder>\maximo\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\we
bclient\javascript\simplesrm\srm\dijit\themes\images.
4. Rebuild the EAR and redeploy it in the server.
5. Restart the server.
6. Clear your browser cache.
It is possible to make changes to the buttons and other background images that
are used in Self Service Center. The procedure is similar. Check the images
used in the application on folder
<install_folder>\maximo\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\webcl
ient\javascript\simplesrm\srm\dijit\themes\images.

9.4.6 Extra configuration

The following are other changes that can be made in the config.properties file:
maxURL
The URL that specifies the SmartCloud Control Desk application. If the UI
host used is the same as maximo host, use /.
QueryTimeout
Defines the maximum time in seconds that the system waits for the result of a
query. Any value lower than 0 means that there is no time limit.
MyRequestsGridRows
Defines the number of rows that are displayed in the View All My Requests
dialog. The default value is 15.

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If you use many long descriptions on the offerings and tickets used by Self
Service Center, and the performance is being affected, you can improve the
performance by truncating the long description fields. To do that, complete the
following steps:
1. Find the property PMSC_SSC_TRUNC_LD in the System Properties application.
2. Change the value of the property to 0.
3. Save the record.
4. Select the record and click Live Refresh.

9.5 Conclusion
This chapter described how IBM SmartCloud Control Desk self-service
applications can be used to benefit your organization. It showed how the
self-service application can be configured and used to enable your users to be
more self-sufficient and knowledgeable.

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10

Chapter 10.

Survey management
This chapter describes the use of surveys on IBM SmartCloud Control Desk to
perform customer satisfaction surveys.
This chapter includes the following sections:
Survey management overview
Survey management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

575

10.1 Survey management overview

This overview section introduces the following aspects:
Survey management process
Survey management roles
Survey management capabilities

10.1.1 Survey management process

Survey management is not a process in itself in ITIL, but it is a part of the
Business relationship management process. Survey management covers one of
the business relationship subprocesses, named customer satisfaction survey.
Those surveys can be to solicit feedback about the quality of a service provided
by an IT organization, and to gain a better understanding of how customers
perceive the organizations service desk customer service.
Customer satisfaction surveys are used to gather qualitative evaluations and,
with a service desks performance metrics, enhance managements ability to
obtain an overall representation of the service desk performance. The results of
those surveys are typically used as a tool to evaluate the work of the service
desk and service desk management teams. This evaluation helps to understand
what can be improved to help customers have a better experience when they
contact the service desk teams.
For example, you can create surveys that assess the resolution of incidents,
problems, service requests, or the fulfillment of catalog requests.

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10.1.2 Survey management roles

The roles for survey management are defined in Table 10-1.
Table 10-1 Survey management roles
Role

Responsibility

Customer Satisfaction
Analyst

The Customer Satisfaction Analyst has

responsibility for running various Customer
Satisfaction Surveys, reviewing, interpreting,
and analyzing data derived from all forms of
Customer Satisfaction Feedback. The analyst
provides reports and information on
Customer Satisfaction status as appropriate.

Customer Satisfaction
Manager

The Customer Satisfaction Manager

performs the day-to-day overall management
of the process. This role ensures that all
process activities are being performed, and
that they are staffed adequately. The
manager is responsible for creating,
managing, and closing the surveys.

Survey users

Users of survey management, responsible to

submit answers to survey requests.

10.1.3 Survey management capabilities

You can use Surveys application in SmartCloud Control Desk to perform these
tasks:
Create surveys.
Send surveys to users, either automatically, using escalations, or manually.
Access surveys from service desk applications to conduct a telephone survey
with users, and record survey responses.
Self-service users can access and take surveys at any time.

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10.2 Survey management using IBM SmartCloud

Control Desk
The administration and creation of surveys is handled by using the applications
that are listed in Table 10-2.
Table 10-2 Survey applications
Application

Description

Questions

In this application, the Customer Satisfaction Manager

can define the questions and allowable answers for each
question that is included in the surveys.

Surveys

In this application, the Customer Satisfaction Manager

first defines the questions, allowable answers, and the
application where this survey will be available. There are
two types of surveys:
Tracked
This type of survey requires that the user logs in to
the system to be able to answer a survey. The
Surveys application tracks who the survey is sent to,
and ensures that only those users can access and
complete the survey.
Untracked
The user does not need to log in to access and
complete the survey.
Also, in this application, the user can find the results of a
survey in case the survey is closed.

Survey templates

In this application, you can define a template to be used

to future surveys. When a new template is created, it is
identified with a new TemplateName, which can be
chosen by the Customer Satisfaction Manager when a
new Survey is created.

To create a survey, the Customer Satisfaction Manager must first define the
answers and question types to be used in the survey. After that, the survey itself
can be created and activated, so it becomes available to be sent to users who
can then start submitting their answers.
The creation of survey templates is optional, but it can make the overall process
easier when many surveys must be created.
The next section shows how to work with surveys, create surveys, use templates,
create questions, use escalations, and activate a new survey and retrieve the
results from it.

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As an example, an organization wants to know how its service desk is being

evaluated by the users. To do that, it is necessary to create a survey for Service
Request users, with some questions about the quality of the service. Also, the
organization might define that the new survey will be available to all users that
had their service requests resolved in the last seven days, including some
specific customers.

10.2.1 Creating a Survey Template

For the example, this step is optional. Use survey templates to define some
common information that stay available for all surveys.
To create a new Survey template, complete these steps:
1. Click Administration Survey Management Survey Templates.
2. Click New Survey Template.
3. Select the values according to your needs. An example of a survey template
is shown in Figure 10-1.

Figure 10-1 Survey template example

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4. In the dialog shown in Figure 10-1 on page 579, you can select the following
fields:
Template Name
Define the name of the new template that can be used when a new Survey
is created.
Header
SubHeader
Footer
Show Image?
Defines whether the survey has an image displayed.
Image
Defines the image to be displayed on the new survey.

10.2.2 Creating Questions

To create questions and the allowable answers for these questions, complete the
following steps:
1. Click Administration Survey Management Questions.
2. Click New Question.

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The dialog shown in Figure 10-2 is displayed.

Figure 10-2 Question application

3. Complete the following fields according to your needs:

Question
Describes the question that is displayed for users.

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 Type
There are three options of question type:

Radio
The user can select multiple answers to a question, as shown in
Figure 10-3.

Figure 10-3 Radio type question

Checkbox
The user can select only one answer to a question, as shown in
Figure 10-4.

Figure 10-4 Checkbox type question

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Freeform
The user has a text box available to provide an answer, as shown in
Figure 10-5.

Figure 10-5 Freeform type question

Site
Organization
Answers
In this area, define all the answers available for this question. The number
of available answers depends on the type of the question. If it is a
Freeform type question, no answers are required because the user fills a
text box with the answer to the question. If it is a CheckBox type question,
you can define as many answers as necessary, and the user can select as
many as necessary. If it is a Radio type question, you can define as many
answers as necessary, but only one can be selected by the user.
To define a new answer, click New Row and complete the following fields:

Answer
Defines the answer that is displayed for the user

Weight
The Weight field is used in the calculations for Survey reports. The
Weight is a number that indicates a weight for that answer. For
example, you can use the numbers 1-5 for the weight, where 1 is a very
important answer, 2 is important, 3 is somewhat important, 4 is less
important, and 5 is not important. Then, based on this value, the
Survey Report can calculate, from all the answers that users submitted,
how many users answered the important questions or how many chose
other questions.

Order
Defines the order that this answer is displayed for this question.

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4. After your question is defined, it is automatically saved as a draft. It is

necessary to activate the question to include it in a survey. To do so, click
Select Action Change Status.
An example of a finished question is shown in Figure 10-6.

Figure 10-6 Question example

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10.2.3 Creating a Survey

To create a Survey, complete the following steps:
1. Click Administration Survey Management Surveys.
2. Click New Survey.
3. Select the values according to your needs. An example of a survey is shown
in Figure 10-7.

Figure 10-7 New Survey window

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The following fields that must be defined when a new Survey is created:
Survey
Name of the new survey.
Description
Applies To
Application to which the new survey applies to.
TemplateID
A new or an existing Survey Template can be applied to the survey being
created. All data that are defined on the survey are is applied to the new
survey.
Site
Organization
Questions
Questions that are defined with the Questions application, like the
example in 10.2.2, Creating Questions on page 580, can be added to a
new survey. To do so, click Select Questions and select the questions for
your survey. Only active questions can be applied to a new survey.
Tip: Do not add too many questions to a survey unless you are required
to do that. Users feel more comfortable answering short surveys.
Escalation
Optionally, an escalation can be created to be used with a survey when
necessary. To do this, click New Row in the escalation section, then click
the icon to create an escalation. For more information about escalations,
see 10.2.4, Defining escalations for survey on page 587.
Important: An existing escalation cannot be associated with a survey.
You must create an escalation to be used with a survey.
TrackedURL
This is a read-only option. It defines the URL link of the tracked survey,
which is the survey that the users must log in to before they can answer it.
UnTrackedURL
This is a read-only option. It defines the URL link of the untracked survey,
which is the survey that the users do not need to log in to before they can
answer it.

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10.2.4 Defining escalations for survey

Optionally, it is possible to create escalations to be used with surveys. This can
be done by creating an escalation and defining the requirements that you need
for it. For example, you might send a survey to all users who have had a ticket
resolved in the last seven days. By using escalations, this kind of scenario can be
achieved.
An example of an escalation for the scenario is shown in Figure 10-8.

Figure 10-8 Sample escalation used by survey

On this escalation, the following are the defined fields:

Applies To
Defines the application that this escalation can be applied to.

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 Condition
Defines which tickets apply to the condition defined. In this example, the
condition is defined as:
INTERNALPRIORITY=1 AND STATUS = (select value from synonymdomain
where domainid='SRSTATUS' and maxvalue='CLOSED') AND (current
timestamp - STATUSDATE >=7)
This means that all Service Request tickets resolved in the last seven days
apply to this condition.
Schedule
Defines the interval in which this condition is checked. In this example, every
24 hours.
Notifications Role/Recipient
Defines the users who receive the survey. In this example, this field is set to
AFFECTEDBY, REPORTEDBY.
This means that the users that are defined in those two fields in the Service
Request ticket receive the survey.
Notifications Subject
Defines the subject of the email that is sent to the user. In this example, the
field is defined as
:CLASS :TICKETID has been closed. Please give your feedback using
the link in your mail.
The items with a colon are replaced by the class name and the ticketid
number of the Service Request to which this escalation applies to.
Notifications Message
Defines the body of the message that is sent to the user. In this example, the
field is defined as
Report Date - :REPORTDATE Classification :CLASSSTRUCTURE.DESCRIPTION Summary - :DESCRIPTION
http://localhost:7001/maximo/ui/maximo.jsp?event=loadapp&value=surve
yreq&uniqueid=1&recordclass=:CLASS&recordkey=:TICKETID.
Like in the previous bullet, items with a colon are replaced according to the
information from the ticket.

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10.2.5 Activating the survey and sending it to users

The following steps are required to activate and send a survey:
1. If you want to check how your survey looks, there are two options to check
the survey outlook. You can use the Survey Preview tab, or click Select
Action UnTracked Survey Preview
2. After the steps above are completed, activate the new survey, which is initially
saved in Draft state. With the survey selected, click Select Action Change
Status, and changing the status to Active.
3. At this point, the survey is active. There are two options to invite the users to
answer it:
Send the survey automatically
This can be done by using an escalation. When an item meets the
escalation requirements, the survey is automatically sent.
Send the survey manually
Select the current survey and click Select Action Send Survey. In this
option, you must select the fields that are included in a message to the
user. The field message must contain the link to the survey, which can be
obtained on the survey application. You must select which type of survey
is sent, a trackedURL or an untrackedURL survey. Include the correct type
in the message.

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An example of the options of sending surveys is displayed in Figure 10-9.

Figure 10-9 Send Survey window

4. Click Send and the survey is sent as an email to the selected users.
Tip: TrackedURL surveys require that the users log in to the system to
answer the survey. UnTrackedURLs do not have this requirement.
Consider that before you send surveys to users.

10.2.6 Checking the survey results

To be able to check the results, you must change the status of the survey to
Closed. To do that, click Select Action Change Status, and select Closed.
After you do that, a new tab named Survey Results is displayed. This tab
provides the details of the survey answers.

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An example of how the survey results are displayed is shown in Figure 10-10.

Figure 10-10 Survey Results tab

When the question type has been defined as freeform, the results are displayed
as a list, as shown in Figure 10-11.

Figure 10-11 Survey Results, freeform

Important: After a survey is closed, it cannot be reopened.

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10.2.7 Modifying user access for survey management applications

Some changes can be made to limit access for users who handle survey
management applications. Make those changes in the Security Groups
application using these available options:
Send Survey
Enable the option for the user to send surveys manually. This is usually
available for Customer Satisfaction Analyst users.
Show Survey Preview tab in Survey Management
Enable the tab that allows the user to see a preview of the survey being
created. This is usually available for Customer Satisfaction Manager users.
Show Survey Results tab in Survey Management application
Enable the tab that allows the user to see the results of a survey after it is
closed. This is usually available for Customer Satisfaction Manager users.
Untracked Survey Preview
Enable the option that allows the user to see a preview of the untracked
survey. This is usually available for Customer Satisfaction Manager users.

10.3 Conclusion
This chapter described the use of the customer satisfaction survey process in
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, focusing on the questions, survey template, and
survey applications.
Use surveys as a way to interact with users, collecting their feedback to improve
your organizations service quality.
Some aspects need to be considered when a new survey is created. It can be
adapted for the needs of your organization, by using the untracked or tracked
options, by creating the questions and answers necessary for each survey, and
by using the option to send the survey manually or automatically.

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11

Chapter 11.

Change management
This chapter provides information about the use and configuration of IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk for Service Desk for Change Management. It presents
an end-to-end scenario and information about the supporting change
applications.
This chapter includes the following sections:
Change management overview
Change management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Supporting change applications

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

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11.1 Change management overview

Change management is the practice of ensuring that all changes to information
technology assets are carried out in a planned and authorized manner. Change
management starts with the creation of a change request, then continues
through assessment, approval, scheduling, and implementation. Finally, there is
a post-implementation review.
Typically, the scope of changes includes hardware, communications equipment
and software, system software, live application software, and all documentation
and procedures associated with running, supporting, and maintaining the
production environment:
Planned changes, standard changes (pre-approved by policy), normal
changes (in policy), and emergency changes (policy exception request).
Application and infrastructure changes.
Establishing both recurring and one-time only schedules (change windows)
during which changes can be performed without negatively affecting
projected availability or service level agreement (SLA) commitments.
Enforcement of standard methods and procedures from request for change
through post implementation review.
Establishing regular meetings and communication schedules to evaluate
proposed changes and schedules.
Control and management of the implementation of those changes that are
then approved.
Maintenance of open channels of communications to promote smooth
transition when changes take place.
Increased visibility and communication of changes to both business and
support staff.
Implement change management with configuration management. This helps
ensure that selected components of a complete service, system, or product (the
configuration) are identified and baselined as a configuration item (CI) in a
Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Change management controls
changes to all CIs. Conversely, the CI information in the CMDB helps change
management, for example, by ensuring that the assessed impact of a change is
accurate before approving and implementing the change.
Change management can be tightly integrated with release management, which
is responsible for planning, scheduling, and controlling the deployment of
releases into the IT environment. A release can be deployed as a single change,
or as a group of changes that are related to one another. For example, if the

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release includes an operating system and a middleware product, these might be

deployed through two changes that take place on consecutive weekends. If the
first change fails, the second change cannot happen because the release control
process ties the two together into a single release, and the release cannot be
only partially deployed.

11.1.1 Change management roles

The main roles that are involved with change management are described in
Table 11-1.
Table 11-1 Change management roles
Role

Description

Change analyst

The change analyst uses deep technical knowledge and

subject matter expertise to understand business and
technical issues and impacts of the proposed change.
Analysis involves the understanding of causes and
effects. The analyst uses the knowledge gained from
analysis to make recommendations or resolutions.

Change approver

Responsible for reviewing and approving some aspects of

the change.

Change implementer

Responsible for individual implementation steps,

including building and testing.

Change manager

Primarily responsible for the definition and the overall

quality of the change management process.

Change owner

The change owner is responsible for an individual

change. The change owner follows the change from
beginning to end, bringing in analysts and specialists as
needed to complete the project. The change owner is
responsible for seeing that analysts and specialists bring
the change to a close.

Change requester

The requester submits requests to the IT organization.

These requests can come in the form of an incident, a
service request, a request for change, a request for
information, or some other type of request.

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11.1.2 Change management process flow

Change management involves the following main activities:
Create and record a change request
The activity of formulating the information about any proposed or
retrospective change. The request contains a defined outline of informational
sections that are established as necessary so it can be progressed into
assessment and the further activities of change management. Information
can vary depending upon the context, scale, and potential impact of the
requested change.
Accept and categorize change
This involves the examination of the change request to determine whether it
can be accepted for consideration. To accept a change request, all required
information must be logged. Omitted or incomplete information can cause a
change request to be returned. After initial acceptance, the change request is
categorized. Categorizing consists of identifying whether the change request
fits categories such as these:
Standard change, which is typically pre-approved
Normal change, which requires control that uses the designed, preferred
change management process and procedures
Exception change (such as an emergency change), which requires
change management control, but under non-preferred circumstances
Based on the categorization of the change request, ITIL recommends that
different process models be followed. For instance, a standard change usually
skips assessments, approvals, and scheduling, and goes directly to
implementation.
Assess change
In this activity, the change is analyzed to determine its effect on existing and
planned CIs, and the effect on the resources required to build and deploy the
change. This involves identifying the appropriate change model for handling
the change, scheduling a CAB meeting if specified by the change model, and
obtaining a complete set of analysis results and issues. The effect of a
change is evaluated from both the IT and business perspectives. This process
helps ensure that the change can be successfully implemented with a
minimal impact to committed services and still meet business requirements.
Schedule and authorize change
This activity represents a decision checkpoint against the change that is
based on effect. It examines the analysis results from the assess change step
and determines whether to approve the change. Scheduling involves
determining the deployment approach and timing, and keeping the

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deployment activities within the constraints of the IT environment.

Authorization represents a decision checkpoint against the change that is
based on its assessed and scheduled effects on the IT environment. The
result is an updated change schedule that contains details of all approved
changes and their implementation dates.
Coordinate change implementation
This activity takes an approved change and coordinates its implementation. If
the approved change involved creating or updating a solution, the solution
components must be built first.
Review and close change
This activity contains the tasks that are involved in reviewing all implemented
changes after a predefined period has elapsed or another review trigger has
been activated. It ensures that the change has had the wanted effect and met
its objectives, and that the users and customers are content with the results.
Conversely, it can help identify any shortcomings. The review activity
determines whether the implementation plan or the back-out plan worked
correctly, and whether the change was implemented on time and to cost. It
determines whether any follow-up action (such as the creation of a new
change request) is required. A formal close of the change is performed. The
closure of a change includes updating other process areas of the status of the
change.

Change progress maps

In IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, progress maps depict a representation of the
change process flow as it is run through the workflow. Figure 11-1 shows the
Advanced ITIL V3 Change Process for emergency and normal changes, which
starts with a change that has been created and recorded. This helps to give the
user a visual indication of the current state of the change at any point in time.

Figure 11-1 Change progress map for emergency and normal changes

Changing the flow: There are two major decisions that might change the
change management process map. Based on the selected Change Type field,
the process flow steps change. Also, a particular job plan can optionally
override the steps of the change process that is followed for this type of
change request.

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Note that the authorize and schedule activity has been broken up into separate
progress states, as is the case for coordinate change implementation and review
and close change.
Figure 11-2 shows the Advanced ITIL V3 Change Process for standard changes.

Figure 11-2 Change progress map for standard changes

There are three different progress maps for change, one for each type of change:
Emergency, normal, and standard.
The available values for each progress map are defined in the System Properties
application:
pmchg.progressmap.emergency.change.seq
This property is used for the emergency change type. It contains the following
default values:
PMCHGACCCAT - Accepted and Categorize
Step where the process request is approved.
PMCHGASSESS - Assess
Performed by the change owner. In this process, the accuracy of the
information that is provided in the change request is verified.
PMCHGSCHED - Schedule
Individual tasks are assigned, and it is possible to define when the tasks
and change request are scheduled to be concluded.
PMCHGAUTH - Authorize
Different levels of approval can be required depending on the tasks that
are defined for the change request. In this step, all required tasks are
authorized.
PMCHGIMPL - Implement
Change request is ready to be implemented, but the start time that is
defined in the schedule is not reached yet.
WOSTATUS|INPRG - Change work order in progress
Step where the change request is implemented.

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 WOSTATUS|COMP - Mark change work order as complete

State where the change is completed, and available for review and test.
PMCHGREVIEW - Review
The change is reviewed and if it is correct, the change work order is
closed.
WOSTATUS|CLOSE - Close the Change work order
Change work order is closed and the change request is completed.
pmchg.progressmap.normal.change.seq
This property is used for the normal change type. It contains the following
default values:
PMCHGACCCAT - Accepted and Categorize
PMCHGASSESS - Assess
PMCHGSCHED - Schedule
PMCHGAUTH - Authorize
PMCHGIMPL - Implement
WOSTATUS|INPRG - Change work order in progress
WOSTATUS|COMP - Mark change work order as complete
PMCHGREVIEW - Review
WOSTATUS|CLOSE - Close the Change work order
pmchg.progressmap.standard.change.seq
This property is used for the standard change type. It contains the following
default values:
PMCHGACCCAT - Accepted and Categorize
PMCHGIMPL - Implement
WOSTATUS|INPRG - Change work order in progress
WOSTATUS|COMP - Mark change work order as complete
WOSTATUS|CLOSE - Close the Change work order

Progress maps and job plans

The progress maps can be altered by a jobplan. Based on the available status
that is defined on the domain, a custom progress map can be created.
To apply a custom progress map using a jobplan, select the jobplan you want,
and click the detail menu for Progress Map Sequence. Then, select the change

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domain. A list of possible values for the progress map is displayed as shown in
Figure 11-3.

Figure 11-3 Progress map options

Select the options you want and the sequence that is used by the progress map
in the Modified Sequence section. The Progress Map Sequence field defines the
order in which the options are displayed on the map, starting from the lowest to
the highest values.

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An example of a custom progress map is shown in Figure 11-4.

Figure 11-4 Custom progress map sequence

When the new jobplan is applied to a change request, the progress map that is
displayed is the map defined for the jobplan. An example is shown in Figure 11-5.

Figure 11-5 New progress map

11.2 Change management using IBM SmartCloud

Control Desk
The end-to-end scenario in this section demonstrates some key features in the
use of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk for change management. The examples
are based on the optional contents package.

11.2.1 Request for change, change acceptance, and categorization

A request for change in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is captured in a process
request record. The process request allows for the recording of a request from a
user who does not necessarily know all the technical details that are required to
create change.

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Alternatively, some organizations find the use of a separate record type

unnecessary because an unapproved change work order can also be considered
a request for change. These organizations might want to simplify the change
process by not using the process request object in some or all situations. Choose
the strategy that best meets your organizational needs.
Consider whether to use process requests as shown in the following scenario.
James Ponder is a DBA responsible for adding a database to an existing DB2
instance that supports the billing business application. He knows that the DB2
instance is configured to host only the actual number of active databases. In
preparation for the addition of a new database, James must request that the
value of the NUMDB instance configuration parameter for the instance is
increased by 1. The following paragraphs describe different circumstances that
might hold true:
1. James has not been given access to the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
system. Therefore, he needs to request support from his business
representative, Steve OHara, who does have access to the system to request
the change for him. Steve, however, does not have any enough technical
knowledge about the change, and therefore benefits from being able to raise
a simple request for change using a process request.
2. James has not been given access to the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. He
is, however, able to call the service desk and ask them to log a request on his
behalf. The service desk can capture this request for change in the service
request ticket that is logged for the call. The service request can be used to
create a change record for recording the change request and for acceptance.
Or, a process request can be generated on behalf of James by the service
desk. This situation, however, places a burden on the service desk to process
such requests for change, which is typically not in the scope of a service
desk. It also assumes that your service desk has the appropriate access.
3. James has access to the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk system. Self-service
offerings have been created in his organization so that he can request a
change. The self-service offering lets him generate a service request for
fulfillment, and also automatically creates the change record. This record can
be pre-approved, or it can have to go to the appropriate workgroup for
acceptance. You do not use a process request in this situation because the
service catalog only allows creating a work order or change orders.
4. James has access to the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk system and is adding
a database to the DB2 instance as the result of an incident or problem. He
can create the change by directly linking to the incident or the problem, or he
can create a process request for the change.

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Using a process request

This example shows the use of a process request in logging a request for change
using the circumstance 1 on page 602 from the scenario.
1. Having received a request from James about the required change, Steve logs
in to the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk system. He is presented with the
Process Management Requester start center shown in Figure 11-6.

Figure 11-6 Process Management Requester start center

2. Steve clicks the New Process Request link in the Quick Insert portlet. This
takes him to the process request application as shown in Figure 11-7 on
page 604. He enters the following information:
Description: Increase the number of active databases for the billing
application.
Details: To support the addition of an extra database in the billing
application, the NUMDB db2 instance configuration parameter must be
increased by 1.
Required Completion: Steve enters a date 2 weeks in advance.
Impact: 2 - High
Urgency: 2 - High

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 Priority: 2 - High
Process Manager Type: Change
Configuration Item: DB2 INSTANCE ~69242
Tip: This field can be left blank if unknown.

Figure 11-7 New process request

3. Steve then clicks Submit in the navigation toolbar to initiate the request for
change. The process state of the record changes to SUBMITTED, and the status
of the request changes to QUEUED.
Steve has now completed the creation of the change request. The request
now must be reviewed by a change manager, Franklin.

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4. The workflow that is used for the change approval starts, and the first step is
the change manager approval. Franklin accesses the process request, and,
on the process request record, clicks Accept on the toolbar. This step creates
a new change work order, which handles the changes for the request that was
submitted by Steve.
5. After the process request is approved, Franklin has a chance to review the
new change work order created as shown in Figure 11-8.

Figure 11-8 Reviewing the work order

Franklin can choose if he wants to review and make any changes to the
change work order, or continue to the process request record. In this
scenario, Franklin selects the first option and clicks OK.

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6. The change work order is created now, and is displayed for the user as shown
in Figure 11-9.

Figure 11-9 New change work order created

Creating a change directly

A change record that is not yet assessed and approved can also be considered a
change request, depending on your organizational policies. The next steps show
how to create a change directly.

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In the problem management example in Figure 8-68 on page 478, a change was
created by Nancy from the problem management workflow. She can do this
manually by clicking Select Action Create Change, or, she can navigate
to the change application and added a record. In this latter case, the New
Change dialog is displayed as shown in Figure 11-10.

Figure 11-10 New change: Quick Insert

The New Change dialog has the following fields:

Change
The identifier defined for the new change request.
Summary
Description of the change request.
Details
Detailed description of the expected change to be made.

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 Change Type
Defines the type of change that is created. This can be emergency, normal, or

standard.

Take ownership?
Select this check box if the user who is creating the change request is
responsible for resolving the request.
Start Change process workflow?
Select this check box if the change workflow should be initiated when the new
change request is created.
After you specify the information that you want to supply in this dialog and click
OK, the new change record is saved. The change is then displayed in the change
tab. You can now supply more information for the change, or you can return to the
change and supply the information later.
To alter the workflow, check the Start Change process workflow box to start the
workflow for the submission of the simple change dialog. If the box is selected,
the record by default starts in the PMCHGFIXD1 (express Change) workflow. You
can change the workflow that is started by altering the system property
pmchg.process.workflow in the Go To System Configuration Platform
Configuration System Properties application.
Changing appearances: You can modify the simple change dialog to
resemble the new incident and service request dialog. For more information,
see 8.3.4, Modifying and disabling the new service request, and new incident
and new change dialogs on page 505.
No matter how a change is requested, an accepted change should result in a
change record with an ACC_CAT status ready to be categorized.

Accepting the change for processing

No matter if the change is created by using a process request or not, change
manager Franklin can now pick up changes in the WAPPR status to accept
further processing. If the workflow was started by the change requester, the
status of change is not WAPPR. For this scenario, assume that the change
requester did not start the change workflow.

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Franklin can navigate to the Changes application and query for WAPPR changes
as shown in Figure 11-11.

Figure 11-11 Querying for WAPPR changes

When you locate the change record created from the process request, you see
that all the relevant information from the process request has been copied to the
change work order.
At this point, you are still preparing the Change work order. Note that the change
has not progressed in the status flow, as shown in Figure 11-12 on page 610.
Franklin can cancel or reject the change request, effectively rejecting the request
for change by changing its status.

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Figure 11-12 Rejecting a change that is waiting for approval

Or, to accept and categorize the change for processing, Franklin starts the
change record in the PMCHGMAIN1: Advanced ITIL V3 Change Process by
completing these steps:
1. Before starting the workflow, review the information about the change. A
change type and classification are required for the workflow processing:
Change Type. The system defaults this value to NORMAL. The change type
field determines a number of pre-set values, such as job plan, necessary
assessment, and approvers by applying a response plan to the Change.
Change this setting at this stage to reflect if the change is a standard or
emergency change. Leave the change type as NORMAL for this scenario.
Impact and Urgency. These settings help to determine other calculations
and need to be set as appropriate. They default to 3: Medium and 4: Low
respectively.

Priority. The priority of the change is copied from the process request.
Failure Probability. This represents an assessment of the probability that
the change implementation will fail. At this stage, this is likely not known. It
defaults to a value of 2: Medium.

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Tip: You can change the default values for the impact, urgency, and
failure probability by using the Go To System Configuration
Platform Configuration Database Configuration application.
Locate the WOCHANGE object and alter the attributes PMCOMIMPACT,
PMCOMURGENCY, and PMCHGPROBABILITYFAILURE.
2. To start the Change workflow, either route the workflow and select the
PMCHGMAIN1 process, or click the workflow go button that has been added
to the navigation toolbar. See Figure 11-13. For information about how to
add/modify workflow buttons, see 8.3.5, Creating a workflow go button on
page 509.

Figure 11-13 Advanced change status workflow button

The workflow automatically makes the following calculations:

A Priority based on the Impact and Urgency field values, if provided. It
does not overwrite any priority value already given.
Risk for the change based on the provided Impact and Failure Probability
field values.
In addition, the workflow applies a response plan that is related to the Change
type. This plan provides the defaults for the job schedule, assessments, and
required approvals so that you do not have to enter this information every time
a change is created. Response plans are selected based on the matching of
predefined conditions on the change. For more information about response
plans, see Using Response Plans on page 456.
Tip: The three response plans provided for the change types are
PMCHGSTAND (standard), PMCHGEMERG (emergency), and
PMCHGNORML (normal). You can alter these response plans from the Go
To Service Level Response Plans application for your
organizational needs.
3. You also must specify an owner for the change. The change owner is
responsible for taking the change through its various stages. To specify an
owner, click Select Owner from the toolbar or the frequent tasks section of
the navigation frame. Set the owner to be the PMCHGOWN group.

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4. Route the workflow when this is done. The Change is set to ASSESS in
status and in the process map, and a new assignment is added to the
specified owner group to perform their preliminary assessment as shown in
Figure 11-14.

Figure 11-14 Change record in accept and categorize

At this stage, the change manager Franklin has accepted the request and
assigned it to the PMCHGOWN as the owner group of the change.

Specifying the Change work order

Now, look at the request from the Lucy, the Change Owners perspective. The
change owner follows the change from beginning to end, bringing in analysts,
subject matter experts, approvers, and implementers as needed to complete the
change.

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On logging in to the IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, Lucy sees an assignment in

her workflow inbox for the change that has been assigned to her group as shown
in Figure 11-15.

Figure 11-15 Change owner start center

To indicate that she is taking ownership of the change record, she clicks the link
in her inbox that takes her to the change record. From here, she can take
ownership of the record by clicking Take Ownership in the navigation toolbar.
As the change owner, Lucy needs to review the change for correctness and
update it so that it is ready authorization. This involves these steps:
Reviewing the Change specification
Reviewing the Change schedule
Reviewing the Change assessment requirements
Reviewing the Change authorization requirements

Reviewing the change specification

In addition to reviewing the information that is already on the change for
correctness, Lucy must complete these steps as well:
1. Provide the correct Change Category. The change category might be major,
minor, significant, or any value that consistent with organizations change
policy. The change type is used along with the change category to determine
how the change is processed. For this example, set the change category to
minor.

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2. Provide the correct CI to the change. The change owner might need to
consult with a subject matter expert. In this case, the CI is updated to be
AVALANCHE.LAB.COLLATION.NET:DB2INST1~2740 and the outage field is set to
offline, assuming that the database must be restarted after changing the
property. See Figure 11-16.

Figure 11-16 Target CI details for change

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Reviewing the change schedule

For this example, the response plan applied for a normal change is generic ready
for use, and only contains a single generic task: Implement the Change, as
shown in Figure 11-17.

Figure 11-17 Implemented changes

Remember: Tasks flagged as Implementation Tasks are the ones that actually
modify the target CI. These tasks are the only ones that are scheduled for
execution within Change windows that apply to the target CI.
Lucy also adds two tasks to the job plan, one to check prerequisites and one to
validate the change implementation. In a real life situation, these tasks are
usually performed by different owner groups. To simplify the scenario, assume
that they are both performed by the PMCHGIMP group. To do so, complete these
steps:
1. Click the Schedule tab and look in the Tasks for Change section.
2. Use New Task to create two tasks with the following details:
Task ID: 5

Sequence: 5

Description: Verify prerequisites

Under Flow Control: Selected

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Owner Group: PMCHGIMP

Implementation Task: Cleared

Estimated Duration: 1:00

Task ID: 15

Sequence: 15

Description: Validate change implementation

Under Flow Control: Selected

Owner Group: PMCHGIMP

Implementation Task: Cleared

Estimated Duration: 1:00

3. Update the predecessors for each task under scheduling information such
that the implementation task is dependent on task 5, and the validation task is
dependent on the implementation task (Figure 11-18).

Figure 11-18 Setting task predecessors

Note: The predecessor relationships only apply when Under Flow Control is
selected. The system uses these relationships to automate the flow of status
changes between the work order and its tasks. When a task is completed, the
next task in the flow is initiated.
Lucy has now completed the initial plans for the change. Change analysts will
validate the plans and estimates, and update the change as it progresses
through the next stages.

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Reviewing the change assessment requirements

Default assessment requirements are defined in the job plan that is applied by
the response plan matching the change. Reviewing and verifying these
requirements is the responsibility of the change owner.
There are two types of assessments: Business and technical. To specify which
assessments are needed for this change, Lucy completes the following steps:
1. Click the Assessments tab and see which assessments were added by the
response plan.
2. Delete or add any assessments that might be required for the change. For this
example, OS and Network technical assessments are not required, and SOX
and Financial business assessments are also not required as shown in
Figure 11-19.
After Lucy indicates that her preliminary assessment activities are complete, the
system automatically notifies the assessment groups that of that their input is
needed.

Figure 11-19 Technical and business assessments

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Reviewing the change authorization requirements

Next, the approval requirements for the change must be assessed. The change
owner must do this in the Authorization tab of the change. Default change
authorizations also come from the job plan that was attached to this change by
the response plan. When the change records reach the authorization stage,
approval requests are sent to the specified approvers.
When you are specifying approvals, these characteristics apply:
They can be specified as either a group or and individual. If a group is
specified by default, anyone from the group can approve.
They have a level. The more complex the change, the greater the impact to
the business, which typically requires a higher level of approval. By default
there are three levels of approval as shown in Figure 11-20.
They are tied to the risk of the change. A risk value of 1 requires level 1
approval, a risk value of 2 requires a level 2 approval, and so on. A risk value
of 5 or no risk value requires the user to select the required approval level.
An approval from the highest level progresses the change
There is no need to change the default approvals for this example.

Figure 11-20 Change approval levels

Tip: The approval rules are configurable. They are primarily contained within
the PMCHGAUTH1 workflow. You might want to revise this workflow to match the
approval flow based on your organizations requirements.

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After she reviews the specification of the change. Lucy clicks her current
workflow assignment and indicates that the change is fully specified and that
preliminary assessment is completed as shown in Figure 11-21. This action
creates task assignments for the required technical and business assessment
owners.

Figure 11-21 Completing the preliminary assessment

11.2.2 Providing change assessments and implementation tasks

In our example Lucy defined both technical and business assessments for the
change, and the same change analyst group was used for all assessments. In
real life, each different technical assessment required is typically assigned to a
different subject matter expert group and similarly the business assessments.
Technical assessments are intended to provide technical risk analysis and
recommendations to modify the change schedule to minimize outages and other
adverse effects that are related to the change implementation. Some
organizations also use the technical assessment to validate back-out plans for
the change.
Business assessments provide a similar avenue from business stakeholders of
the potential impacts of the change and their associated effort and cost.
Business assessments will be assigned after the completion of all technical
assessments.

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Nancy is a change analyst in the group that was assigned to perform the
assessments. When Nancy logs in to IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, she can
select from a list of assessment activities that have been assigned to her based
on her job profile:
1. The first thing Nancy does as a change analyst is to review the details of the
change, including which assessments they are assigned to complete. She is
able to add any assessment rows that she thinks are required.
2. Next, Nancy completes her assessments with the following information where
applicable (Figure 11-22):
Results.
Implementation notes. The assessor can suggest changes to the
implementation plan, but should not manually alter the change plans.
Cost.
Effort.
Assessor. If the assessment is assigned to a group, use this field to
indicate who will complete the assessment.

Figure 11-22 Technical assessment example

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3. Nancy finds her assignment in the Current Workflow Assignment section. and
clicks the link to complete her assignment as shown in Figure 11-23.

Figure 11-23 Completing assessment task

Nancy must complete all the other technical and business assessments for
the example to progress the change, following the same steps as above.
4. When all the assessments are complete, the change is returned to the
Change Owner, Lucy, to review the completed assessments. In this example,
Nancy added an implementation note about capacity monitoring. Lucy
considers this and chooses to add a task to update the monitoring rules in
their monitoring software to the implementation plan for this change.
Add a task to the tasks for change with the following information:
Task ID: 20

Sequence: 10

Description: Update monitoring rules

Under Flow Control: Selected

Owner Group: PMCHGIMP

Implementation Task: Cleared

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Estimated Duration: 0:30

Predecessors: 10

5. Update the verification task (task 15) with task 20 as a predecessor, such that
verification of the change happens after the monitoring rules are updated.
6. Complete the assignment to indicate that all implementation tasks are
created. The workflow begins an impact calculation for the change based on
the new task plan, and also recalculates the risk of the change. Messages are
displayed to notify you of the recalculations as shown in Figure 11-24.

Figure 11-24 Impact calculation result

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The impact calculation is based on the information that is available in the

CMDB. Click the Impacts tab to see the results of the calculation. Both a list of
impacted CIs and a topology view of the CIs can be seen as shown in
Figure 11-25.

Figure 11-25 Example impact calculation topology view

The impact analysis engine can be configured with a number of parameters. For
more information, see 11.3.4, Impact analysis configuration on page 640.
Note: When you view the topology, you can specify the detailed view or the
business view. The detailed view shows all related CIs of all types. The
business view shows a subset of all CI types based on whether the associated
CI classification has Show in business view selected. By default, CI types
such as application servers and services are displayed in the business view.
Change this by using the Go To Administration Classifications
application or the Deployers Workbench to modify the CI type information.

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The change is now fully assessed and the change moves into the schedule
stage.

11.2.3 Scheduling the change

The change starts in the scheduling change with an assignment to the Change
Owner as shown in Figure 11-26.

Figure 11-26 Change in scheduling stage

Scheduling the change involves figuring out when the change can be
implemented to meet the requirements of the requester while observing the
availability policies. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides an automated
scheduler application to help with scheduling the implementation tasks.
The scheduler application takes the following into account (if defined):

Blackout periods
Change windows
Predecessors for tasks
Estimated duration of tasks
Task owners work shifts

To schedule the change, complete these steps:

1. Click the Schedule tab in the change. In the schedule section, complete the
dates as appropriate:
Target Start
Target Finish
Start No Earlier Than
Start No Later Than
These constraints are considered in the project schedule.

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2. From the Scheduler Project field, click the detail menu and choose select a
Project Schedule as shown in Figure 11-27.

Figure 11-27 Creating a project schedule from change

This takes you to the Scheduler application and automatically brings in the
tasks from the change for scheduling. See Figure 11-28.

Figure 11-28 Scheduling a change

Release management also shares the use of the scheduler application for
scheduling releases. For more information about use of the scheduler, see
Scheduling release implementation on page 678.
3. After you are finished with the schedule and commit the changes, click
Return With Value in the navigation bar. You now have the scheduled start

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and finish dates and the scheduler project fields completed. Also, schedule all
your implementation tasks. Complete the current workflow assignment to
indicate that scheduling is complete and progress the record in the flow.
4. The workflow runs a check for schedule conflicts. If you deliberately turned off
some constraints, or if new conflicts are detected since your scheduling, a
task is assigned back to the change owner to rectify the conflicts. You can see
the conflicts on the schedule tab as shown in Figure 11-29.

Figure 11-29 Change in schedule conflicts detection

5. You can return to the scheduler application to resolve the conflicts. After you
do so, click Update Conflicts in the schedule conflicts section to recalculate
the conflicts.
6. The workflow keeps looping until you resolve all schedule conflicts. You can,
however, manually indicate to proceed with conflicts. See Figure 11-30.

Figure 11-30 Skipping schedule conflict detection

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7. If you choose to proceed without resolving schedule conflicts, the system

checks whether any approvers are associated with the conflicting constraints
add them to the Schedule Approvers for Change section in the Authorization
tab. See Figure 11-31.

Figure 11-31 Schedule approvers

The system checks for blackout period approvers and change window
approvers for the target CIs and any impacted CIs.
8. The change owner must review the schedule approvers. Approvals are then
sent out to the schedule approvers to ensure that they are aware of and
approval of the conflict. The change cannot proceed without all schedule
approvals. Any rejections result in the change owner having to reschedule the
change.
It is also possible to add schedule approvals if you so require. For example, if
you wanted the change coordinator to review the schedule before it goes for
CAB authorization, you can add it here before or during the review of
schedule approvers.
The completion of any schedule approvals completes the scheduling stage. The
change then enters the authorization stage.

11.2.4 Change authorization

The authorization phase is intended to give all the stakeholders an opportunity to
review the change and either approve or disapprove its continuation.
In the example change, the change owner Lucy proceeded with the default levels
of authorization specified, which are CAB, IT Management Board, and Business
Executive Board.

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To get authorization, complete these steps:

1. When Lucy routes the change for approval after completing assessments, the
required Change Authority Level is calculated based on risk value of the
change. See Figure 11-32.

Figure 11-32 Change authority level

2. The risk value for this change is 2 and so a change authority level of 2 is
required. In this example, the job plan attached to the change determines that
the IT Management Board is required to approve a change that requires
authority level 2. The system sends out approval assignments to the IT
Management Board.

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3. Jane is part of the IT Management Board. When she logs in to IBM

SmartCloud Control Desk, she sees an inbox assignment notifying her of the
approval request. When she clicks to complete the workflow for the
assignment, Jane is presented with the option to approve or reject the change
as shown in Figure 11-33.

Figure 11-33 Change authorization, approve or reject

On approval, the Authorization Decision is updated to Approved on the

Authorization tab and the change status is set to the ready to implement (IMPL)
state. The progress map shows the change in the IMPL phase, which indicates
that it is ready for implementation with no current workflow assignments
(Figure 11-34).

Figure 11-34 Progress map showing a change ready for implementation

11.2.5 Change implementation

The change remains in IMPL state until the scheduled start time of the
implementation tasks. When the start time is reached, IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk automatically changes the status and progress of the change to INPRG (In
progress) and starts the first implementation task.

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The progress map looks like Figure 11-35.

Figure 11-35 Progress map for in progress change

In IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, change tasks and assignments are treated a
bit differently. Assignments are communicated through the workflow Inbox,
whereas tasks assigned to a user show up in the My Work portlet in the Start
Center.
To implement the change, complete the following steps:
1. Log in to the systems as Schroeder. A My Work portlet with the change tasks
that require action is displayed as shown in Figure 11-36.

Figure 11-36 My Work with change tasks ready for implementation

2. To work with the task, click the link from the My Work portlet. This opens the
task in the Activities and Tasks application that displays the details of the task
to be performed to the user.
3. The task is completed when the user Schroeder changes the status of the
task to Completed. You can do this by clicking Complete Activity on the
toolbar or by using the change status dialog. See Figure 11-37.

Figure 11-37 Completing a task

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After completing this task, the user continues with the next task. When all tasks
are completed, the progress status of the change automatically changes to
COMP (completed). With this, the overall process is assigned back to the change
owner to verify the CMDB updates. See Figure 11-38.

Figure 11-38 Completed change implementation process flow

Note: The change application also has a new Workplan Map tab that provides
a graphical view of the tasks, their status, dependencies, and sequence. For
more information, see Workplan Map on page 667.

11.2.6 Bringing the change to closure

From completion of the implementation, the Change Owner must make sure that
any changes that were implemented are recorded in the CMDB. The change
must then be reviewed before it is closed out.

Verifying CMDB updates

Updating CI information in the CMDB is the responsibility of the Configuration
Management process.
If you find discrepancies between the Change specifications and the CI attribute
information in the database, the Change Owner, must submit a CI Update
request for the current Change so the Configuration Librarian can perform
updates to the database.
To initiate a CI update request from the change, click Select Action Create
Process Request. This brings you to the process request application, where you
specify the process manager type as Configuration. This request then goes to
the configuration librarians who review it and perform the CI update.

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For this example, there is no need to update the CMDB. Log in as Lucy and route
the workflow to complete the verification assignment. This moves the change to
REVIEW status as shown in Figure 11-39.

Figure 11-39 Change for review progress map

Tip: Some organizations prefer to route the assignment of verifying the CMDB
updates directly to a configuration librarian group. This can be done either
through workflow, or by creating a task in the job plan (as a
non-implementation task) to avoid the use of process requests. This integrates
the CI Update tightly with the Change process, and relieves some of the
burden on the Change Owner by moving it to the Configuration Librarian.

Reviewing the change

The purpose of the final review is to allow the change owner a chance to probe
the stakeholders for their satisfaction. This review is of the whole change.
If the change has not met requirements, this effectively ends the change process.
The change is set to a status of FAILFPIR: Failed Post Implementation Review,
which is a final status. The change owner is presented with options to follow up
as shown in Figure 11-40. Note that there is no progress map node for a failed
change.

Figure 11-40 Follow up options for change failing post implementation review

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For this example, assume that the change met stakeholder requirements. Lucy
completes the review assignment and indicates change success. This changes
the status of the change to CLOSE, which is a final status and the end of the
progress map as shown in Figure 11-41.

Figure 11-41 Progress map for closed change

If the change was created by using a process request, the originating process
request is automatically changed to CLOSED.
Tip: In addition to the Advanced ITIL workflow, the optional content packages
also include simplified ITIL workflows that are less complicated, but provide
significantly less automation and assisted processing. When you implement
change management, you might want to start with a simplified workflow to
familiarize users with the tool and process before you implement more
advanced automation and assistance to optimize operation. Check out the
other simple workflow provided:
PMCHGFIXD1: Change ITIL Process - wizard flow. This is the default flow
that is initiated by the new change dialog. It operates like a wizard, guiding
the Change through a series of steps to the completion of the process. It
ensures that all steps are completed in a certain order.
PMCHGPRFL: Change ITIL Process - Full - Wizard Flow. An alternate
wizard workflow with no scheduling.
PMCHGFLEX1: Change ITIL Process - short flows. This express workflow
completes only the steps for the current phase, updates the status, and
exits. The user clicks the workflow icon again to start the next step in the
process. This workflow is flexible. You can change the status to an earlier
phase in the process and redo that earlier phase.

11.2.7 Standard and emergency changes

The change workflow considers the change type.
An emergency Change is one that must be done immediately. It is high priority.
An example of an emergency Change is the installation of new antivirus software
during a period of severe viral infestation across the data center. Emergency
Changes are ones that are typically not performed often. An emergency Change
contains all of the process steps that are followed for a normal change. However,

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some of the steps might be abbreviated and occur more quickly. For example,
you might specify fewer assessments or approvals, or elect not to seek approvals
for scheduling conflicts. In the advanced ITIL workflow, the scheduling of
emergency changes is skipped.
Standard Changes are relatively low-risk and well understood. Standard
Changes are ones that you process frequently, such as installing a Java
Platform, Enterprise Edition application or implementing a database, middleware,
or server build modification. These Changes do not have wide-ranging impacts
on business-critical CIs, and are processed so often that they do not need to be
assessed, approved, or reviewed. A standard Change contains only two phases:
Accept and Categorize, and Implement. A standard change is closed after
implementation is completed.

11.2.8 Automated changes

You can process Changes that do not require human interaction. These fully
automated Changes are typically used for common operations such as modifying
user passwords, performing regularly scheduled server updates, and so on. Fully
automated Changes typically use the standard Change process because they do
not require assessments, authorization, or scheduling.
In fully automated Changes, confirmation dialog boxes are skipped. During the
Accept and Categorize phase, the manual examination of the Change to
determine whether it is within policy is skipped, and no assessment,
authorization, and scheduling assignments are issued. During implementation,
the update of CIs to reflect the Change implementation is skipped. During the
Review and Close phase, the verification of the Change implementation is
skipped. All process steps occur completely without human interaction.
The Fully Automated field is used to indicate that a Change is processed in this
way. The Fully Automated field can be set in the Schedule tab of a Change, or it
can be set by a job plan that is applied to the Change. When you create job plans
that are used for automated Changes, select Fully Automated to indicate that the
tasks are completed without human interaction.

11.3 Supporting change applications

This section covers the following items that support change applications:
Blackout change periods
Change schedule

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 Change window calendars

Impact analysis configuration

11.3.1 Blackout change periods

Blackout change periods are predicted periods of time during which the system
or part of the system is partially or completely unavailable. Change owners must
be aware that during these periods, changes might be affected. Some examples
of a blackout period are the week before Christmas, or the day of payroll for
payroll applications. There are business reasons that mandate that the system
be continuously available during these times.
To define or change a blackout period, click Changes Blackout Periods.
The following fields are defined for a blackout period:
Blackout period
Identifier of the blackout period that is being defined or changed
Start Time
Start time of the blackout period
End Time
End time of the blackout period
Type
Type of the blackout. It can be of two types:
Lockdown change period
Make no changes on the system during the blackout period
Restricted change period
Restricted changes are allowed to the system, although they are not
recommended.
You can add users or groups of users as approvers for the change requests that
are made on blackout periods by using the Approves section.
The blackout period can be applied to all items on the system, or for specific
items. This filter is set by using Scope of Blackout Period section.

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An example of a blackout period is displayed in Figure 11-42.

Figure 11-42 Blackout period

In this example, a new blackout period is defined for the period starting on
December 23, at 18:00, and ends on January 2, 8:00. If a change request is
needed, it must be approved by a user from the PMCHGCAB group.

11.3.2 Change schedule

Change schedule is a read-only application that shows the calendar view of the
change and release work orders that are planned to be applied in the system,
and when they will be applied. It provides an easy way to check the calendar of
changes and releases that will be applied to the system.

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An example of the change schedule is displayed in Figure 11-43.

Figure 11-43 Change Schedule view

This window shows a list of changes and release work orders that are planned to
be applied. Queries can be defined and saved to help you find the changes that
you are interested in. In Figure 11-43, two changes and one release are
scheduled.

11.3.3 Change window calendars

This application defines predefined periods that are used for changes on the
system. For example, a predefined weekly period can be defined for
maintenance, usually a period during the night or during the weekend.
To create a new change window calendar, click Changes Change Window
Calendars.
You can define the following fields:
On Change Window Calendar tab
Change Window Calendar
The identifier and description of the new calendar being created.
Start Date
The initial date that the window will be applied.
End Date
The final date that the window will be applied.
This defines the period where the change window is created, but you must also
define a frequency inside this period available for changes. To do that, click
Select Action Schedule Change Windows.
A new window is displayed with the option for selecting the duration and the
interval of the new change window. The interval can be defined as daily, weekly,
monthly, or yearly. Use the duration field to define the amount of time for each

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change window. For example, a change window created for weekly changes,
every Friday from 22:00 to 2:00, can be defined as shown in Figure 11-44.

Figure 11-44 Setting a schedule for change window application

The list of dates where the change window is defined can be seen from the
Change Window Calendar tab or the Change Window Schedule tab. There are
two different views for each period: Administrative, where the user can change
the defined window, or Merged, where the user can only view the window
periods.

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An example of the calendar view is displayed in Figure 11-45.

Figure 11-45 Calendar view

Friday and Saturday each have two hours defined because the change window
was defined to start on Friday at 22 PM, and to end on Saturday at 2 AM.
On the CIs tab, you can define the configuration items that are taken out of
service during the change window. One or more configuration items can be
selected.
To select a new configuration item, click Select CIs Select Value. This
displays a list of the configuration items available to be included on the change
window. If you prefer, you can filter configuration items by attributes or
classification by selecting one of the other options in the Select CIs menu.
Tip: A configuration item can be associated with only one change window. If a
configuration item already assigned to another change window is reassigned,
the most recent assigned window is used.

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11.3.4 Impact analysis configuration

This application is used to allow administrators to configure the rules that the
impact analysis engine uses to detect the possible effects of change requests. It
uses the impact analysis engine as a tool to calculate the effect of the changes.
The goal is to identify CIs that can be effected during changes if another item is
included in a change request. For example, taking a database offline for a
change request can impact the applications that use this database.
Some rules are predefined in the system, but you can define your own rules
according to your business needs.
To create or modify a rule, complete the following fields:
Rule Name
Identifier of the rule being defined
Relationship Name
Name of the relationship that is defined in the Relationships application. The
relationship contains the rules that are verified by the analysis engine.
Impact Direction
There are two possible values for this field:
Source
Analysis is performed using the selected configuration item as the source
configuration item of the relation.
Target
Analysis is performed using the selected configuration item as the target
configuration item of the relation.
Description
Description of the rule that is being defined
Target Condition
Conditions that are used for the target configuration item
Source Condition
Conditions that are used for the source configuration item

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An example of an impact rule is displayed in Figure 11-46.

Figure 11-46 Impact rule

You can have as many rules as necessary for impact analysis.

To manually run the impact analysis, select the configuration item to be analyzed
and click Test Rules. A list of relationships that use the impacted configuration
item and the results of the analysis are displayed.

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As an example, one of the existing Configuration Items,

CAESAR.LAB.COLLATION.NET~1880, is tested using the application. The
relationships that are displayed are shown in Figure 11-47.

Figure 11-47 Impact Analysis Relationships

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The details of the analysis are shown in Figure 11-48.

Figure 11-48 Impact Analysis details

For each item found on relationship section, an analysis is run. If you click each
item on the relationships section, you can see the results for the relationship.
If an impacted configuration item is found, it is displayed in the impact details
section in the Impacted column.
The following properties, among others, are used for this application:
pmchg.ci.impacts.maxrecords
The maximum number of CI targets that the Change impact analysis will
process. By default, this is 10.
pmchg.historical.impacts.maxrecords
The maximum number of targets that the Change historical impact analysis
will process. By default, this is 10.
pmchg.ia.impactsTasklimit
Maximum number of tasks that are examined for historical impact analysis
results. By default, this is five.
pmchg.ia.impactsTimelimit
Oldest task to examine for historical impact analysis results (in days). By
default, this is 365.

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Guideline: Include impact analysis as part of the workflow that is used for
change requests. The workflow PMCHGMAIN1 runs the impact analysis.

11.4 Conclusion
This chapter described how IBM SmartCloud Control Desk can be used to
manage your change process. The example showed an advanced change
scenario.
It also described the different applications that are used to set up and manage
the change process, and presented some simplified options for your
consideration.

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12

Chapter 12.

Release management
This chapter provides key concepts on the release management process. It
describes how the release management features in IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk can help you to manage the implementation of approved complex changes.
These include composite changes that must be coordinated across a number of
CIs, and mass rollouts of software updates. These types of changes are
commonly implemented through releases.
This chapter includes the following sections:
Release management overview
Release management using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Integrations

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

645

12.1 Release management overview

The goal of this section is to explain the main purposes of the release
management discipline.

12.1.1 Release management process overview

Release Management is the controlled deployment of approved changes within
the IT infrastructure, and the establishment of effective use of the service to
deliver value to the users or customers.
ITIL defines release and deployment management as follows.
Definition: Release and deployment management aims to build, test, and
deliver the capability to provide the services specified by service design and
that will accomplish the stakeholders requirements and deliver the intended
objectives.
The trigger of the release management process is one or more approved
changes. Release management can in many ways be regarded as an add-on to
Change Management that provides facilities to orchestrate the implementation of
multiple changes as a single unit. You can think of release management as a
wrapper around multiple changes or multiple target CIs. This capability is used
for complex changes where, for example, the scope of the change is unknown, or
the changes must be implemented in a specific sequence. Application of fix
packs, mass deployment of virus checking signatures, and deployment of an
entire application stack across multiple systems are just a few examples of
infrastructure modifications where release management capabilities are used.
The nature of releases is that at the outset, you are uncertain about the content
and scope of the release. The release is basically a project in which you define
what needs to be done, and then do it. This is different from the way changes are
processed. During change processing, you have a set number of ways to
process the change. Based on certain attributes, a specific path (or workflow) is
followed, taking the change through a set of predetermined steps.
The main reason for implementing multiple changes into a release is that you can
treat the release as a unit when scheduling, tracking progress, and obtaining
approval. This makes the management process much smoother than having to
manage and synchronize multiple changes individually. However, the individual
changes that are members of a release go through the normal change
processing for categorization, assessment, and approval before they are added
to a release. It is still the responsibility of the change team to properly assess and

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approve each change that becomes part of a release. However, when a change
is added to a release, the release team becomes responsible for the planning,
scheduling, and coordination of the change implementation.
The objective of release management is to ensure these considerations are met:

Release and deployment plans are in place.

Release packages are deployed successfully.
Knowledge transfer to the users or customers take place.
There is a minimum disruption to the service.

Effective release management contributes to the business in these ways:

Changes are realized faster, cheaper, and with fewer risks.
The implementation approach is more consistent, and the traceability
requirements are complied more closely

Release management phases

In essence, the release management process is similar to a project. When
processing a release, you basically define a project in which the results of earlier
tasks and activities can affect the decision to run tasks later on. Depending on
the nature of the task at hand, the project contains different tasks that must be
run in a specific sequence. This plan is similar to the job plans used in a change.
Release management can be divided into two distinct phases:
Release, in which you specify, plan, schedule, and approve the release
Deployment, in which you implement the outcome of the previous phase

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Figure 12-1 provides an overview of the release management process as

depicted in IBM Tivoli Unified Process.

Figure 12-1 Release management process in IBM Tivoli Unified Process

Interaction with change management: Notice how the release management

process relies heavily on the change management process. In fact, releases
are created based from changes. Then, during processing of the release,
change management is responsible for accepting the validation as well as the
implementation the release.
Depending on the nature of the release, the detailed work that is performed in
each phase varies. A set of general milestones characterizes each major activity
of the ITIL-aligned release process. For specific releases, you might emphasize

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certain steps, while de-emphasizing or even skipping others. For example, if a

release does not involve software distribution, the Distribute and Install activity
might not apply.
The following are the major release activities:
Plan
After a new release is created, you determine which changes will go into the
release. Multiple changes can be added to a release. When you add a
change to a release, the source and target configuration items (CIs) for the
change are also associated with the release. A basic task list is defined, and
then refined during the roll-out planning. The overall structure of the release
plan is the final goal of this stage.
Design and Build
The installation scripts and packages to be deployed are designed and
created during this activity. The software is not created, but it is packaged for
deployment. Installation scripts and mechanisms, communication, and
education plans, and back out procedures are also developed.
Test and Accept
During this step, the release package is tested to ensure that is free of errors.
The release is also reviewed to determine whether it can be accepted for
deployment. Copies of the package are added to the definitive media library
(DML).
Plan Rollout
Detailed plans, including release dates and deliverables, are created for
rolling out the release to each site. For each site, delivery is scheduled for any
new assets that are part of the release, and the release deployment is also
scheduled. If training is needed, it is scheduled, as are any communications
that are needed.
Communicate and Prepare
During this activity, you ensure that all stakeholders, users, and support
personnel are aware of the changes that will occur when the release is
deployed. To ensure that a site is ready for a release, you can schedule
site-specific testing, system shutdowns, reminders about the release, and so
on.
Distribute and Install
As the Distribution and Installation activity gets underway, you check with
Configuration Management to determine the status of CIs that are involved in
the release to ensure that the target CIs are ready for the release. Finally, the
release is distributed to all of the target CIs.

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Release management roles

An overview of roles and responsibilities for release management is provided in
Table 12-1.
Table 12-1 Release management roles and responsibilities
Role

Responsibilities

Release administrator

Responsible for administering the release process, and

the base definition such as classifications or job plans

Release deployment
specialist

Performs software deployments that are defined for a

release

Release manager

Manages and assesses the effectiveness of the overall

process, making changes as needed to ensure efficiency

Release owner

Creates releases, and manages the tasks and activities

within each assigned release

Release specialist

Responsible for performing the actual work that is

required by release tasks and activities

12.1.2 Product capabilities

In IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, the release management implementation has
these characteristics:
The release management process is driven by standard job plans and task
automation.
Sample job plans are provided.
Approved changes can be imported into a release to reference CIs.
The Scheduler application facilitates the schedule of releases. Results are
added to the Change Schedule.
Software images are registered in the DML.
Can use Operational Management Products for automated software
deployment, or backup and restore.
When planning a release using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, a release owner
performs these tasks:
Relate to change records.
Create a job plan, or use provided job plans to specify what needs to be done.
Define dependencies between tasks.
Classify the tasks.

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 Apply flow actions and assisted workflow.

Assign ownership for each task.
When building a release using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, a release
specialist performs these tasks:
Identify and document hardware requirements.
Identify software installation images and register them in the CMDB.
Create installation and customization instructions.
Create automation scripts for software installation, customization, and
integration.
When testing and verifying the release package using IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk, the release deployer performs these tasks:
Document the results of the release package.
Register the software package in the DML upon acceptance.
When planning the rollout of the release using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk,
the release owner and release deployer perform these joint tasks:
Create detailed plans with dates and deliverables for the rollout to each site.
Schedule delivery of any new CIs, such as hardware, to each site.
Schedule the release implementation.
Schedule training.
When communicating the release implementation schedule using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk, the release owner performs these tasks:
Inform stakeholders, users, and support personnel about the upcoming event.
Tracks the notifications from the release record.
Schedules site-specific testing, system shutdowns, reminders about the
release, and so on.
When implementing the release using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, the
release owner performs these tasks:
Oversees the progress of implementation tasks.
Communicates with configuration management to verify that the expected
modification is performed.

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When reviewing and closing the release using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk,
the release owner performs these tasks:
Collects user feedback.
Examines the information that relates to the usage of the release.

12.2 Release management using IBM SmartCloud

Control Desk
This section demonstrates the use of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk through an
end to end release management scenario.
Pre-implementation tasks are described, and the management of the release
record through the different phases of the product, from initiation to
implementation.

12.2.1 Pre-implementation tasks

This section addresses the following details:

PMCHGREL and PMCHGWAIT escalations

Creating a definitive media library (DML)
Creating a software CI
Disabling DML Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager integration
Assigning change windows to release target CIs
Creating a release from the change record
Making a change available to any release

PMCHGREL and PMCHGWAIT escalations

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides a function that controls the closure of
changes that are related to releases. This is controlled by two escalations:
PMCHGREL: Updates change wait-for-release task status to either
SUCCESS or FAIL based on the release status
PMCHGWAIT: Notifies the change that an associated release is finished
By default, these examine the status of the changes and releases every 12 hours
and 24 hours respectively.
For this example, the two escalations that register change release relationships
and automated change completion run in a shorter time frame this is more
appropriate for the exercise environment. The schedule is set to run these
escalations every 5 minutes.

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Creating a definitive media library (DML)

The software deployment feature of release management in IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk is designed to work only with software images that are stored in the
Definitive Media Library.
A definitive media library (DML) is defined as follows:
Definitive media library: One or more locations in which definitive and
approved versions of all software Configuration Items are securely stored.
The DML is a single logical storage area even if there are multiple locations. All
software in the DML is under the control of change and release management,
and is recorded in the configuration management system. Only software from the
DML is acceptable for use in a release.
For the following end to end use case, a new DML must be created that is used
to store information about available software images.
Security consideration: The DML must be protected by strict security and
access control. For this reason, only release administrators and release
managers are usually authorized to create DMLs and register software in
them.
A new DML is created from the Definitive Media Library application, which is you
can open by clicking Go to Release Definitive Media Library. Enter the
information detailed in Table 12-2.
Table 12-2 Definitive Media Library information
Field

Value

Name

ITSO_DML

Description

ITSO Definitive Media Library

Classification path

DSLREP \ FILESYST

Production?

Selected

Many extra options can be used to specify properties for auditing, capacity, and
backup/restore, just to name a few.

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Figure 12-2 shows the DML created for this use case.

Figure 12-2 Definitive Media Library application

Management application: The management application allows you to link

the DML to the Operational Management Product (OMP) that owns the
resources in the DML. IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager is a software
distribution tool that provides tight integration with the DML and release
management capabilities of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. To integrate IBM
Tivoli Provisioning Manager with your DML, select the Tivoli Provisioning
Manager type of DML.

Creating a software CI
After you create the DML, the environment is ready to track software images that
are authorized to be used in the production environment.
When you are dealing with software deployments, special CIs are needed that
serve as the source for the software deployment. This CI is a SOFTWAREIMAGE
configuration item that identifies the software image in the DML that must be
used for software deployment. This software CI is the set of binary files that is
built, tested, and deployed as part of the Release process.

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For this example, a software image CI, named websphere application server v7
fixpack 123, was created in the Configuration Items application, as shown in
Figure 12-3.

Figure 12-3 Software image CI

Disabling DML Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery

Manager integration
When you register software images in a DML that is associated with an OMP,
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk by default tries to import all the details about the
software images and the OMP that are known to the IBM Tivoli Application
Discovery Dependency Manager discovery tool.
If you are not using IBM Tivoli Application Discovery Dependency Manager,
disable this feature to avoid error messages later on. The feature can be
changed from the System Properties application.

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The property to be changed is istaddminuse, as shown in Figure 12-4.

Figure 12-4 istaddminuse system property disabled

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk does not attempt to contact IBM Tivoli Application
Discovery Dependency Manager when new software image CIs are registered in
the DML.

Assigning change windows to release target CIs

The release scheduling process does not use the impact analysis module to
calculate impacted CIs the same way the change management module does.
This means that when scheduling releases, only the change window and black
out period that apply to the target CIs of a release are taken into account.
Change windows and blackout periods usually already exist in the system. They
are not specifically built as part of the Release process. However, to demonstrate
their use in this example, the CIs that will become targets of the release are
associated with a change window calendar. From the Change Windows Calendar
application, a new change window is created for CIs classified as WebSphere
Application Servers, as detailed in Table 12-3.
Table 12-3 Change Window Calendar

656

Field

Value

Name

SAT7AM5PM

Description

Saturday 7 AM to 5 PM maintenance for WebSphere

servers

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Field

Value

Schedule

Every one week, on day Saturday, at time 07:00 AM

Duration

10:00

CIs

Classification CIROOT \ CI.APPSERVER \

CI.J2EESERVER \ CI.WEBSPHERESERVER

This ensures that the tasks that affect the availability of the CIs can only be
scheduled in accordance with the specifications in the SAT710AM calendar.

Creating a release from the change record

The end to end release use case is based on an approved change that was
transferred to the release team for implementation. The change was created and
processed by using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk change management
applications.
The purpose of the change is to apply a new fix pack to a WebSphere Application
Server supporting a critical billing application.
The creation and processing of the change record is not detailed in this chapter.
For more information about the change management module and capabilities,
see Chapter 11, Change management on page 593. Table 12-4 provides a
summary of the approved change that will be managed by the release team for
implementation.
Table 12-4 Originator change summary
Field

Value

Description

Update Billing server to WebSphere Application Server v7

fix pack 123

Details

Install fix pack 123 on WebSphere Application Server V7

supporting billing application

Status

INPRG

Source CI

WebSphere Application Server v7 fix pack 123

(CI.SOFTWAREIMAGE)

Target CIs

HELIOS:SERVER1
HELIOS.SERVER3
(CI.WEBSPHERESERVER)

Job plan

PMRELCHG

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Because the change is meant to take a critical business application offline, the
change owner has decided to transfer the implementation to the release team so
it is formally tested and accepted. Furthermore, the application server is
deployed across multiple computer systems, so it must be carefully planned.
To help the release team, the change owner provides as much information as
possible, including:
Assign all the relevant configuration items as target CIs. The target CIs for the
change are defined as the configuration items classified as
CI.WEBSPHERESERVER for which a relationship exists with a computer
system. That is, the change owner has identified where the WebSphere
Application Server installation files are located. In this case, a physical server
(HELIOS.SERVER1) hosts the deployment manager and two nodes. A
second physical server (HELIOS.SERVER3) hosts nodes three to six.
Assign a job plan that includes only one task that waits for the associated
release to complete before completing the change. This ensures that there is
no overlap between the change and the release.
Create a software image CI to represent the fix pack installation image, and
assign it as the source CI during the change.
After the change is approved and moved to in progress, the change owner
transfers the responsibility of the implementation to the release team by creating
a release record from the change. This is done by clicking Select Action
Create Release.
This process creates a new release record, which is populated as per the
change, and a relationship between the records is established.

Making a change available to any release

After the change is approved and moved to in progress, IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk provides another option for the change owner to transfer the responsibility
of the implementation to the release team. From the Select Action menu, the
change owner can select Make the change available to any release.

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Figure 12-5 shows where a user can find the action Make the change available
to any record.

Figure 12-5 Making the change available to any release

The end to end release management use case that is detailed later also includes
a change that was transferred to release implementation by using this action.
This additional change is also meant to apply the fix pack 123 for WebSphere
Application Server v7 supporting the order management application. A summary
of this change is provided in Table 12-5. Again, because the change is meant to
take offline a critical business application, the change owner decides to
implement it into production through release. This process means it will be
formally planned, tested, and deployed through the release process.
Table 12-5 Extra change summary
Field

Value

Description

Update order management server to WebSphere

Application Server v7 fix pack 123

Details

Install fix pack 123 on WebSphere Application Server V7

supporting order management application

Status

INPRG

Source CI

WebSphere Application Server v7 fix pack 123

(CI.SOFTWAREIMAGE)

Target CIs

CAESAR51:SERVER1
(CI.WEBSPHERESERVER)

Job plan

PMRELCHG

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When a change owner selects Make available for any release, the system
creates a process request where the process manager type is automatically set
to Release. The status of the process request is initially awaiting approval. To
approve the process request and continue on with the release management
process, a release administrator can perform either of these actions:
Work on the process request to ensure that individual changes included in the
request have been categorized, assessed, and approved, so that all
information is provided to plan, schedule, and coordinate the release. Then,
approve the release record.
Select the available change to add it to an existing release record, which
automatically approves the related process request and creates the
relationships between the records.

12.2.2 Release management end to end use case

Reusing the pre-implementation activities, this section describes an end to end
release management scenario, consisting of multiple changes, using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk.

Plan release
The plan, or specification, phase of the release process, is one of the most
critical activities when managing releases. During specification, you make
decisions that are critical for how the release processing takes place, and which
aspects of the change to include. That is, you must decide which job plan to
assign to the change.

Defining the release scope

The first task for a release owner is to define the scope of the release project.
That is, to identify the approved changes that will be implemented through the
release. In this example, two changes are included in the release:
An originator change, as described in Creating a release from the change
record on page 657, from which the release record was created. This change
is meant to update the application server that supports the billing application.
Because the release record was created from this change directly, IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk automatically created the relationships between
the records and populated the release record as per the change. Therefore,
the scope of the release already includes this change.
An approved change that was made available to any release by the change
owner, as described in Making a change available to any release on
page 658. This change is meant to update the application server supporter
order management application. This created a process request that is waiting
for approval.

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When defining the scope of the release, a release administrator must

consider all changes that have been approved and are ready for
implementation through release. A list of such changes is available by clicking
Select action Manage Changes Requests. This opens a dialog as
shown in Figure 12-6 from which the release administrator can select
changes that apply to the planned release.

Figure 12-6 Requests to add changes to a release

Additionally, the changes added are listed on the release as well as source CIs
and target CIs that these changes brought. When you select a change from the
Requests to add change to a release dialog, the associated process request is
resolved and a new relationship is created. This request was automatically
created when the change was made available to any release. The release record
is now related to two change records and a process request, as shown in
Figure 12-7.

Figure 12-7 Release related records

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The relationship between the changes and the target CIs can be extended by the
release administrator, who can select additional target CIs for the release. To
facilitate the selection of target CIs based on existing relationships, IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk provides the option From WO hierarchies and
relationships in the Target CIs section of the release application that filters CIs
based on associated records, as shown in Figure 12-8.

Figure 12-8 Selecting CIs from Hierarchies and Relationships

In this example, the system associated extra target CIs automatically upon
creation of the relationships. There are no target configuration items to add. The
release record has now defined the scope of the release that will be processed in
this example. Both changes are related to the release record, and their
respective CIs are defined.
The release administrator must now move on to the next task, which involves
creating the task list for the release project.

Job plans
Release management in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk does not use workflows
to process the release, as change processing does. All the processing occurs in
the job plans. These activities and tasks are assigned to help you perform
specific steps of the release processing. You can regard the different job plans
provided in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk as templates that you can use to
minimize the amount of customization you must perform during the specification
of the change.

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IBM SmartCloud Control Desk optional content provides seven different job
plans, each of which includes one or more predefined activities. These activities
in turn contain the individual tasks. The following release-specific job plans are
available:
PMRELEASE: This job plan can be used ready for use 10 plan and
structure-specific release work plans. The built-in job plan is derived from the
Release Management process description that is stored in IBM Tivoli Unified
Process Composer. This job plan is a template that mirrors a standard
release process in a typical IT environment. It contains all of the activities and
tasks that are typically used for release processes.
PMRELDB: This job plan can be used to install a database in your data
center.
PMRELMW: This job plan can be used to install middleware in your data
center.
PMRELSB: This job plan can be used to build a server in your data center.
PMRELBLDTE: This job plan can be used to build and test a release package
that you do not want to deploy immediately. Activities in this job plan ensure
that the release is adequately planned, designed and built, tested and
verified, and reviewed and closed. The release is ready for deployment when
you determine deployment is needed.
PMRELDPY: This job plan can be used to plan, prepare, and deploy a release
package.
PMRELSEDPY: This job plan can be used to plan, design and build, and test
and verify a new release package, and to distribute and install the release to
the IT infrastructure.
Release response plan: Notice that despite job plans being provided, IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk does not provide any built-in response plans.
Each job plan includes one or more activities, which in turn include the specific
tasks that must be performed during each activity. When specifying the release, it
is the responsibility of the release manager or release owner to select the correct
job plan. That person must take a critical look at each of the activities to
determine whether the specified tasks are relevant for the current release.

Tasks
During the processing of a release, tasks are assigned to users who are
associated with specific roles. As part of the task definition, automated actions
can be run to provide some level of automation in the tool. This automation is
associated with the tasks, so it is required that the tasks are initiated and
completed to ensure that the automation is applied.

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Task classification: Some tasks are classified, whereas others are not. IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk uses the task classification to identify specific
milestone, approval, or software deployment tasks so they can be highlighted
in the Process details tab of the Release application.
Some tasks, for example the ones used to deploy software packages, are
associated with assisted workflows. These are used to help the person who
performs the task to complete the job at hand. Tasks and activities can be added
or removed to the release after the initial job plan assignment.
In this example, the release record was created directly from the change record.
Upon creation, the release record is waiting for approval (WAPPR). The job plan
must be assigned before the record is approved.
The job plan is assigned from the Plan tab. For this example, the job plan
PMRELEASE is assigned, which implements the ITIL V3 release process. It is
applicable to almost any kind of change, from the simplest software deployment
to the establishment of and migration to a new data center.
Figure 12-9 shows the activities included in the PMRELEASE job plan.

Figure 12-9 PMRELEASE job plan activities

Note: You see a number of activities that are not necessarily directly related to
modifying the IT environment. Remember that a release package includes, as
per ITIL, not only hardware, software, documentation, and processes, but also
other components that are required to implement the approved changes. This
implies that you must be able to manage all the activities of a release.

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After application of the job plan, notice how the progress map changes from the
default to the release progress map that highlights the main activities of the
assigned job plan, as shown in Figure 12-10.

Figure 12-10 Release progress map

After the job plan is applied, the release owner must initiate the release by
clicking Initiate Release on the navigation bar. Doing so updates the status of
the release to In progress (INPRG), and starts the first activity.
The release owner can now, but is not required to, schedule the release.
Scheduling the release involves setting realistic scheduled start and end dates
for the entire release, rather than individual tasks. Figure 12-11 shows the Dates
section with scheduled start and end dates for this example.

Figure 12-11 Scheduled start and end dates for the entire release

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Process Details
For the release owner to see the most important tasks included in the applied job
plan, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides an overview in the Process Details
tab, as shown in Figure 12-12.

Figure 12-12 Process Details tasks overview

In this view, tasks are grouped into four main groups, based on the classification
that is associated with the individual tasks:
Approval tasks: Lists tasks that are classified as Approval (PMAPPR)
Milestones: Lists tasks that are classified as Change Progress task (PMREL \
PMRELTSK \ PMRELCPR)
Implementation tasks: Lists tasks where Implementation task is selected.
When scheduling these particular tasks, the calendar change window and
blackout periods that apply to the target CIs are taken into account.
Software distribution tasks: Lists tasks that are classified as Software
Distribution (PMREL \ PMRELTSK \ SWDIST)

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Workplan Map
The workplan map is shown at the bottom of the Process Details tab. This map
provides a graphic representation of the process with indication of status for each
task activity and its related tasks. Initially, only the main activities are shown, but
all the included tasks can be made visible by expanding any activity, as shown in
Figure 12-13.

Figure 12-13 Process Details workplan map

The release owner now completes all tasks included in the Release plan activity,
including approvals, so that the release is marked as ready to be processed. As
shown in Figure 12-14, the progress map changes upon completion of the
activity to indicate what state the release record is in.

Figure 12-14 Progress map indicates that release is in the planned state

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Design and Build Release

In this phase, the primary contributor is the release specialist. The release
specialist is responsible for obtaining the necessary installation media, and for
designing and building the scripts and procedures necessary to deploy the
release. The tasks included in Design and Build Release activity are described in
Table 12-6.
Table 12-6 Design and Build Release tasks
Task #

Task name

Description

10

Design
Release

Design the installation scripts and packages that will be

deployed. This does not involve creating software to be
deployed, but packaging the software so it can be deployed
and creating any necessary installation scripts and
mechanisms. Design back out procedures if the
deployment is not successful.

20

Build
Release

Create the release packages and installation scripts

needed. In addition, create communication and education
plans that are needed for deployment, and create back out
procedures.

30

Update
Release
progress

Close the activity, update status of the release, and

progress the release to the next activity.

In this example, the fix pack to be applied to the application servers was already
created as a software CI by the change management team, and defined as a
source CI during the definition of the release.
While designing and building the release package, a release specialist typically
places the code in a shared location so that it can be used later on for testing and
eventually be stored in the DML.

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To ensure the source CI, which represents the software image, has the correct
configuration information, consider using the Move/Swap/Modify facility to apply
details such as the name of the image, or a flag indicating that the software
image is approved for test distribution, as shown in Figure 12-15.

Figure 12-15 Move/Add/Modify software image CI

After performing the tasks, the release specialist will mark them as complete.
When the three tasks are completed, the Design and Release activity moves to
Complete automatically, and the next activity moves to in progress. The progress
map is automatically updated to reflect the status of the release as shown in
Figure 12-16.

Figure 12-16 Progress map indicates that release is built

Test and Accept Release

In this activity, the release deployer specialist tests and verifies the release
package that is put in by the release specialist. This activity is intended to provide
assurance that the installation of the updates runs smoothly and without
problems. After it is verified that software package works as expected, it is
registered in the DML.

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The tasks that are defined in Test and Accept Release activity are described in
Table 12-7.
Table 12-7 Test and Accept Release tasks
Task #

Task name

Description

10

Software
distribution

Test the deployment of the release package. Note errors

that occur. Use a controlled test environment to test all
release packages.

20

Determine if
release is
accepted

Ensure that the appropriate approvals are obtained for the

release before you update the DML.

30

Import
software into
DML

Put golden copies of the release package in the DML, and

use the definitive hardware store for hardware that is
needed to deploy the release.

40

Update
release
progress

Close the activity, update status of the release, and

progress the release to the next activity.

Software distribution for test and verification

To properly test the software package, the release deployer must perform the
exact same actions as are used when the release is implemented in production.
If operational management products for software distribution, such as IBM Tivoli
Provisioning Manager, are used, the release deployer must create all the
definitions in the OMP to run a realistic test. In this example, there is no
integration between IBM SmartCloud Control Desk release management and
OMPs, so the software distribution is done manually. For more information about
the definition of software distribution tasks with an integrated OMP, see 12.3,
Integrations on page 686.
Test environment: It is assumed that a representative test environment is
available. If not, change the release plan to include the implementation of a
test environment that can be used to thoroughly test the release.
Assuming that all the prerequisites are in place, it is time for the release deployer
to get started with the software distribution. In this process, the release deployer
uses the software package developed by the release specialist, including the
documentation.
The release deployer group or person that was assigned to the task receives a
new task notification in their start center. Opening the task from the start center
portlet takes the release deployer to the Activities and Tasks application.

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The task is classified as an implementation task, which gives it the following

attributes:
Software deployment ID: This is assigned by the system when creating
deployments using an integrated operational management product.
Software Package: This references the software package
(CI.SOFTWAREIMAGE) to be used, and must be set by the release deployer.
After the software package is fully tested, and the rollback procedures are tested,
the test is considered successful. The release deployer then documents the
results, and marks the software distribution task as complete.

Determining if release is accepted

Double-check that the release was effectively accepted before the software
package is captured in the DML. This task is typically assigned to a release
specialist. However, it is also a good opportunity for the change management
team who initially requested the release to review the results of the test and give
their approval to continue.
At any time, a user can see an overview of the release process and locate where
the current record is at by using the workplan map feature available in Process
Details tab. At this point of the process, the workplan map indicates that the task
Determine if release is accepted is completed, and Import software into DML is
in progress, as shown in Figure 12-17.

Figure 12-17 Import software into DML task is in progress

Importing software into DML

The purpose of this task is to capture the tested and verified software package,
and load it into the DML. The release specialist is responsible for this task.
When opening the task from the start center, the release specialist, who is
responsible for this task, notices an attribute DML Name associated with the
classification of the task: PMREL \ PMRELTSK \ RELIMPSW. The release

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specialist must update the value of the DML Name attribute to reflect the DML
where the software package will be stored. In this example, the DML Name
attribute is set to the DML created in the pre-implementation tasks, as shown in
Figure 12-18.

Figure 12-18 DSLNAME attribute

After the DML is set, the release specialist must add the software package to it.
To facilitate this, the current task Import Software into DML, as defined by the
release process job plan, provides an assisted workflow.
Assisted workflow: IBM SmartCloud Control Desk allows you to use assisted
workflow capabilities within a task to guide users during the processing of the
task. These assisted workflows are optional. Users might be more comfortable
starting the applications directly themselves.
When an assisted workflow is assigned to a task, a Start Assisted Workflow
button is available for the user to initiate the current task, as shown in
Figure 12-19.

Figure 12-19 Assisted workflow

When the release specialist clicks Start Assisted Workflow, the Definitive
Media Library application opens so the release specialist can select the software
configuration item associated with the release. In this example, the release
specialist uses the option to Select from CMDB because the software package is
known as a CI.

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The DML for this example includes only one software image, as shown in
Figure 12-20.

Figure 12-20 Adding source CI to the DML

The release specialist now completes the task Import Software into DML, which
automatically marks the activity Test and Accept as complete, and updates the
progress map as shown in Figure 12-21.

Figure 12-21 Progress map indicates that release is accepted

Plan Release Rollout

In this activity, the deployment plan details are generated. They specifically focus
on what will be performed during deployment of the release.
When you create tasks in a planned rollout, each task is an implementation task.
Implementation tasks affect CIs, and planned rollouts by definition affect CIs. All
current and upcoming implementation tasks that are scheduled in your data
center are displayed in the Change Schedule application. This application allows
you to identify potential conflicts and dates that are most appropriate for the
implementation to be performed.
For each software distribution roll-out task, specify a software image CI reference
so that it can be used as the course for the deployment. Not only does this
capture CI data for auditing purposes, but it also captures the data necessary for
performing the task.
In this example, only one implementation task is required because a single
software package is deployed to multiple targets. Because the job plan already
defines the implementation plan, all that must be done is to select the target CIs.

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Note: When deploying an entire business application that involves multiple

software packages to multiple targets, you must create implementation tasks
for each unique combination of software package and target CI. All of these
tasks are defined during the Develop Roll out plans task.
A typical release roll-out plan includes the tasks that are listed in Table 12-8.
Table 12-8 Plan release rollout tasks
Task #

Task name

Description

10

Develop site
roll-out plans

Create the plans for rolling out the release to each site to
which the release is rolled out. Plans must include release
dates and deliverables. Refer to related requests for
changes, problems, and known errors that are addressed
in the release.

20

Schedule asset
delivery

Schedule the delivery of required assets to the sites where

the release is rolled out

30

Schedule
release
implementation

Schedule the deployment of the release to the site.

40

Coordinate
with
communication
and training

Determine when training related to the release will be

provided. Schedule the delivery of communications
concerning the release.

50

Identify new
CIs involved
with release

Determine of all CIs affected by the release are identified

as target CIs. Identify and include extra ones if applicable.

60

Approve roll
out plan

Approve the roll-out plan.

70

Approve
impacted CIs
list

Approve impacted CIs list.

80

Update
Release
progress

Close the activity, update status of the release, and

progress the release to the next activity.

Not all tasks apply to this example. This section focuses on the Develop site roll
out plans task (task 10), Schedule release implementation task (task 30) using
the Scheduler application, and Approve roll out plan task (task 60).

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Developing site roll-out plan

When developing the site roll-out plan, the release owner must ensure that the
implementation activity Distribute and Install Release in the release contains the
necessary implementation tasks to implement the changes. These tasks must be
in the correct sequence, and in the correct schedule that takes into account
availability of target configuration items and people.
In this example, a new fix pack is deployed to multiple WebSphere Application
Servers. Three target configuration items are identified, representing two
business applications in two separate environments:
The first environment, running the Billing application, consists of two physical
servers. The server where the deployment manager process is running
(HELIOS:SERVER1) must be updated first. The server where the nodes are
hosted (HELIOS:SERVER3) can be updated after.
The second environment, running the order management application,
consists of only one physical server: CAESAR51:SERVER1
To reflect these dependencies in the plan, the implementation task defined by the
job plan assigned must be modified to point to the deployment manager target.
Then, similar tasks need to be created that point to the remaining targets. In
addition, the release owner must define the sequence by defining the
predecessors for each task.
Note: The implementation tasks to be included in the release vary in nature.
For example, depending on the type of release and the scope of it, a release
owner might consider adding implementation tasks such as installation of new
racks, upgrading of the cooling capacity, creation of virtual systems, updating
network information, or mass roll out of a security update to multiple sites.
As defined in the PMRELEASE job plan that is assigned to the release, a typical
Distribute and Install Release activity includes the tasks listed in Table 12-9.
Table 12-9 Distribute and Install release tasks
Task #

Task name

Description

10

Obtain status
of CIs in
Release

Ensure that required CIs exist and are operational.

20

Software
Distribution

Prepare deployment.

30

Software
Distribution

Default deployment task to deploy software to the target.

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Task #

Task name

Description

40

Update
Release
progress

Close the activity, update status of the release, and

progress the release to the next activity.

50

Update CI
status

Update the status or specifications of the CI if applicable

60

Update
Release
progress

Close the activity, update status of the release, and

progress the release to the next activity.

To modify the predefined list of tasks and align it with the requirements of the
current release, the release owner opens the activity Distribute and Install
release in the Activities and Tasks application. In the Plans tab, the release
owner performs these tasks:
1. Rename task 20 to: Prepare for software deployment
2. Rename task 30 to: Install fix pack 123 on Deployment manager
3. Select configuration item HELIOS:SERVER1 as the target of task 30. This
refers to the deployment manager instance of the application server that runs
the billing application.
4. Ensure task 20 is defined as a predecessor of task 30
5. Click New row to create a new task to install fix pack on the server that hosts
the nodes, with the details listed in Table 12-10.
Table 12-10 Details of task Install fix pack 123 on Nodes

676

Field

Value

Number

31

Description

Install fix pack 123 on Nodes

Sequence

31

Classification

PMREL \ PMRELTSK \ SWDIST

Under flow control?

Selected

Assisted Workflow

PMRELSWDST

Implementation task?

Selected

Owner group

PMRELDEP

Configuration Item

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Field

Value

Estimated duration

4:00

Predecessors

30

6. Click New row to create a task to install fix pack on the server that hosts the
order management application, with the details listed in Table 12-11.
Table 12-11 Details of task Install fix pack 123 on order management server
Field

Value

Number

32

Description

Install fix pack 123 on Order management server

Sequence

32

Classification

PMREL \ PMRELTSK \ SWDIST

Under flow control?

Selected

Assisted Workflow

PMRELSWDST

Implementation task?

Selected

Owner group

PMRELDEP

Configuration Item

CAESAR51:SERVER1

Estimated duration

4:00

Predecessors

20

7. Update the predecessors list of task 40 Update Release progress to: 31, 32
To assign the software package to the implementation tasks, the release owner
must open each software distribution task in the Activities and Tasks application,
and set the Software package attribute SWPKG to the software CI that was
tested and accepted previously.

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After the implementation tasks are created and the sequence is defined, the
release owner can return to the Release application. Verify that the tasks were
properly defined. In this example, the workplan map of the exploded Distribute
and Install release activity looks like Figure 12-22.

Figure 12-22 Verifying the roll-out plan with workplan map

The roll-out plan for the release is now defined. Implementation tasks have been
created, sequenced, and assigned to source and target configuration items.

Scheduling release implementation

Ultimately, the release modifies components in your infrastructure. It must be
processed according to the policies set forth by your organization. Therefore,
create an implementation schedule that takes into account change windows and
blackout periods that are associated with the targets of the release.
Now, the roll-out plan is fully specified, identifying all the implementation tasks
and their targets. But before the roll-out plan can be approved, it must be
scheduled.
Scheduling the release is performed by using the Scheduler application. This
provides a Gantt chart view of your release project that gives you graphical
capabilities to manipulate activity and task dates, duration, and relationships. In
addition, it visualizes availability of both CIs and people that are assigned, so you
can adjust the plan to meet the available resources. When you define a new
project, one or more queries are specified to filter that tasks to be included in the
schedule.

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Using the Scheduler: To use the Scheduler application for a release, create
your own scheduler project. Specify the query to include the activities and
tasks from the release that you want to schedule. This flexibility allows you to
include the same tasks in several projects, or multiple projects for a single
release. For example, you can create a project to help you plan and manage
the develop, build, test, and plan activities, and another scheduling project for
the implementation activity.
In this example, a schedule is created to plan the tasks within the Distribute and
Install release activity. From the Scheduler application, the release owner creates
a new schedule as per Table 12-12.
Table 12-12 Scheduler project details
Field

Value

Description

Schedule of WebSphere Application Server v7 fix pack

123 deployment

Start Date

11/15/12 09:00:00

Refresh when opening

Gantt view?

Selected

To filter the tasks included in the project to the ones that are part of the Distribute
and Install release activity, a work query is defined as per Table 12-13.
Table 12-13 Scheduler project work query
Field

Value

Data Source

WOACTIVITY

Query name

Implementation activity for Release 1210

Description

Implement WebSphere Application Server v7 fix pack

123

Where condition

wonum = 1244 and siteid = PMSCRTP

The work order number defined in the query refers to the Distribute and Install
release activity defined in the release example. After the query is set and the
project is saved, the release owner can ensure that the expected tasks are
included in the schedule by opening the Gantt view tab.

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As shown in Figure 12-23. all tasks are included as expected.

Figure 12-23 List of tasks that are included in the schedule

From the Gantt view tab, IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides an automated
way to recalculate the schedule of the whole project. It takes into account the
resource constraints marked as enforced, such as dependencies, or availability
of resources. After the release owner clicks the Perform Critical Path Method on
All Rows icon from the toolbar, the task dates are automatically modified to look
like Figure 12-24.

Figure 12-24 Automatically calculated critical path for the schedule

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This shows that the installation activity is spread across ten days. IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk automatically scheduled the three software distribution
tasks during the change window for application servers defined during
pre-implementation, on Saturdays from 7 am to 5 pm. Because the change
window time frame was not long enough for the three deployments to be
completed, the update to the application server that hosts the order management
application was automatically moved to the next weekend.
To turn off the resource constraints, such as change windows or blackout
periods, the release owner can clear the Enforce check box.
To rearrange the schedule of individual tasks, for example to avoid too much time
between the preparation tasks and the deployment, the release owner can select
the graphical representation of the task and drag it to a better date and time.
Only after the release owner clicks the Commit Changes icon from the toolbar,
saving the project, does IBM SmartCloud Control Desk apply the calculated
dates to the tasks.

Approving roll-out plan and impacted CIs list

After the release is planned and scheduled, the system generates a task to the
release administrator to approve both the roll-out plan and the list of impacted
CIs.
To facilitate the decision, the release administrator can open the release record
and see the information required:
The list of target CIs is available on the main tab of the application, including
targets and source CIs
The detail of the plan is available from the Process details tab. Because the
changes were committed from the scheduling project, the scheduled start and
end dates are now displayed in the list of tasks, as shown in Figure 12-25 on
page 682.

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Figure 12-25 Updated schedule of tasks

After review, the release administrator approves and completes the last task of
the Plan Release Roll out release, which updates the progress map as shown in
Figure 12-26.

Figure 12-26 Progress map indicates that release is scheduled

Communicate, prepare, and train for release

Beside the task information and progress, the training preparation and delivery is
not performed using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk. In terms of communication,
the product sends notifications to a requester or other user from the release
record. To do so, click Select action Create Communication.
When you create a communication, you can use a communication template to
complete the default data or create a free-form communication. If you use a
template, the system might enter data such as the identifier, subject, and solution

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data from the originating record. For tracking and auditing purposes, the
communication that is sent is added to the communication log for this record.
In this example, no training is required to accompany the deployment of the fix
pack for WebSphere Application Server. The tasks are then marked as
completed, so the release record moves into the deployment phase as shown in
Figure 12-27.

Figure 12-27 Progress map indicates that release is communicated

Distributing and installing release

In this phase, the release is now the responsibility of the deployer group. The list
of tasks that are included in this activity, as modified during the roll-out plan, is
shown in Figure 12-28.

Figure 12-28 Tasks for Distribute and Install release activity

The installation actually takes place during software distribution tasks 30 to 32.
However, before distributing the software, the release deployer must obtain the
status of the source and target CIs, and ensure that they are in operational state.
After they are operational, the release deployer can complete any required steps
to prepare for deployment. This task can include steps like obtaining the correct
credentials, stopping components that rely on the target CI, or backing up the
existing configuration. These steps depend on the specific requirements of the
release, and are defined during the roll-out planning.
As defined in the job plan, when the first automate distribution task completes,
the next one is automatically started and assigned. Because there is no
integration with an operational management product in this scenario, such as
IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager, when it comes to the software distribution
tasks, the release deployer assigned to the work must manually install the
software package on the target CI specified on the task.

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IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides several ways to notify the deployment
specialist of the work to be performed:
Based on an escalation, the system can send an email notification to the user
when the record matches defined criteria such as status or scheduled start
date.
Based on a query, the system can display in a result set portlet of the start
center a list of tasks that match certain conditions. Typically, a release
deployer finds two lists of tasks in the start center:
My Active Tasks: This query (Example 12-1) shows the tasks that are
assigned to the current user if their status is either in progress or
approved. The result list is ordered by scheduled start date to facilitate the
priority of the work.
Example 12-1 My Active Tasks query

(woactivity.owner in (select personid from maxuser where

userid=:USER) or woactivity.ownergroup in (select persongroup
from persongroupteam where resppartygroup in (select personid
from maxuser where userid=:USER ))) and (woactivity.istask=1) and
(woactivity.status in (select value from synonymdomain where
maxvalue in ('INPRG','APPR') and domainid='WOSTATUS')) and
(woactivity.classstructureid is null or
woactivity.classstructureid <> 'PMAPPR') order by schedstart
My Late Tasks: This query (Example 12-2) shows the tasks that are
assigned to the user if they match the active criteria from the previous
query and the scheduled start date or scheduled finish date is passed.
Example 12-2 My Late Tasks query

(woactivity.owner in (select personid from maxuser where

userid=:user) or woactivity.ownergroup in (select persongroup
from persongroupteam where resppartygroup in (select personid
from maxuser where userid=:user ))) and (woactivity.istask=1) and
(woactivity.schedfinish < current timestamp or
woactivity.schedstart < current timestamp) and (woactivity.status
in (select value from synonymdomain where maxvalue in
('INPRG','APPR') and domainid='WOSTATUS')) and
(woactivity.classstructureid is null or
woactivity.classstructureid <> 'PMAPPR') order by schedstart

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Figure 12-29 shows a start center where result sets are associated to these
queries.

Figure 12-29 My Tasks result sets in start center

The release deployer documents the work that is performed and the final status
in the work log. The task is then marked as complete. Complete the tasks until
the activity is completed. Eventually, the progress map of the release record
indicates that the release as complete, as shown in Figure 12-30.

Figure 12-30 Progress map indicates that the release is complete

Reviewing the release implementation

The purpose of the review is to verify that the release implementation was carried
out successfully, and achieved the expected outcome. This can be included as
an activity in the final step of the release, in which case the release owner must
perform it.
This release scenario example was based on two approved changes. The
relationship between the records was automatically established by the system,
either directly or through a release process request. Escalations were configured
to automatically complete the changes upon completion of the release.

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The result of this application can be seen by the change management on the
change records that now show a COMP status, or by the release management
team on the related records tab of the release, as shown in Figure 12-31.

Figure 12-31 Originator changes completed

12.3 Integrations
In the previous release end to end scenario, the deployment of the software was
performed manually by a deployer specialist. However, operational management
products, such as IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager, are often used to run the
actual deployment.
This section provides guidance and references on how to integrate IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk release management with IBM Tivoli Provisioning
Manager.

12.3.1 Integration modules for Operational Management Product

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides integration modules (IMs) that enable
you to integrate your release management processes with an operational
management product (OMP): IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager version 7.2.x.
This product allows you to use the configuration item in the CMDB to provide
information directly to IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager. Although the actual
implementation of the deployment is run by IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager, it is
still controlled through the release management process in IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk.

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Using the IM integration capabilities, you can run launch-in-context, software

distribution, and DML-related operations:
IM launch-in-context support
If you are using IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager with the IM that is provided
with this product, you can start directly from the GUI to Tivoli Provisioning
Manager. You can, for example, check the status of a deployment during
software distribution or logical device operation.
IM software distribution support
The IMs help streamline operations in which you use a release to distribute
software packages. Define a software distribution task as part of the release
work plan. A user who creates or performs the task can define the source
software image CI to be deployed. The software distribution task also includes
information about target CIs and the OMP to be used. A single click then
carries out the distribution.
The Deployments application is used to carry out deployments. The source CI
that you specify for a deployment is a software image CI that is stored in a
DML repository.
DML integration
The product provides comprehensive features that enable you to manage
DML repositories in which to store and protect the definitive, authorized
versions of all of the software package CIs that are registered to the
Configuration Management Database (CMDB). A DML repository might
consist of one or more software libraries or file-storage areas. You can add,
remove, and import software image CIs to a repository. If a software image CI
is imported from an OMP, you can use the CI as a source for a deployment
using a Software Distribution task.
The integration module for IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager can be installed from
the installation launchpad.

12.3.2 Deploying using an Operational Management Product

When operational management products are used for software distribution, such
as IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager, the release deployer specialist must create a
deployment for each combination of software package and target systems.
In the previous example, where one software package is deployed to three target
configuration items, three deployments must be created. That is, one is needed
for each software distribution task that was created in the roll-out plan.
When deploying the software as per the schedule in the roll-out plan, a task
classified as software distribution is assigned to the release deployer. As per the

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PMRELEASE job plan provided with IBM SmartCloud Control Desk, software
distribution tasks are set with an assisted workflow to guide the user.
When the release deployer clicks Start Assisted Workflow, the system
automatically creates a new deployment record populated as per the task
information, and takes the user to the Deployments application. The
Deployments application is used to distribute software packages to a set of target
computer system CIs.
Note: To use Tivoli Provisioning Manager for a deployment, you must have
installed the associated IM. If you have a different OMP that you want to use
for deployments, create a custom IM and set up deployments that use that
OMP.
In a deployment, the deployer specialist specifies the OMP to use, the necessary
parameters to interact with the OMP, the source and target CIs, and optional
configuration parameters that are required by the installation procedure. You can
think of deployments as fully automated change implementation tasks, with
specific capabilities to interact with a software distribution OMP:
The software package referenced as SWPKG in the software distribution task
is transferred to the deployment as the source CI.
The target CI indicated in the software distribution task is transferred to the
deployment as the target CI.
The release deployer must defined the operational management product in
the OMP ID field, which displays read only information in the OMP
information section.

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To trigger the deployment, the release deployer can click Deploy at the bottom of
the console, as shown in Figure 12-32.

Figure 12-32 Deployment

Upon completion, the deployment record status changes to Success.

12.4 Conclusion
This chapter described how IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Release
Management features help you manage complex changes with built-in
dependencies.
The end to end scenario focused on running a mass roll-out of WebSphere
updates to a number of servers in your infrastructure. It presented different ways
to transfer the implementation of the change to the release team, whether by
using a direct change or through a release process request. To facilitate the
processing of the release record from initiation to implementation in accordance
to ITIL best practices, a job plan was applied with powerful flow control and
automation features to manage the work.
You experienced how the DML is used to control your approved installation code
and other media, such as documentation. You also experienced how the
scheduler application features can help you to find time slots for the

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implementation tasks when outages to the target CI are tolerated by your

organization.

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13

Chapter 13.

Service Provider
The Service Provider Edition is designed to support service as a business. For IT
organizations that operate as a profit center, rather than as a cost center, the
customers are billed in the form of chargebacks for the assets managed and the
services provided. External IT service providers maintain the assets of their
customers and provide services to them for a fee.
In each case, the service provider has a number of customers, and has one or
more customer agreements with each of them. Periodically, the customers are
charged back or billed according to the provisions of the customer agreement
between the IT organization and the customer.
This chapter includes the following sections:
Service provider overview
Service provider capabilities in SmartCloud Control Desk

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13.1 Service provider overview

It is critical that a service provider be successful in three areas:
Controlling costs.
To control the costs of deployment and infrastructure management, a service
provider must be able to manage the assets of their internal or external
customers on a single database. In the SmartCloud Control Desk Service
Provider Edition, create and manage your customers, and associate each
customer with the locations, assets, and configuration items that you are
managing for that customer. You can also link customers to service level
agreements, response plans, domain values, solutions, classifications and
attributes, and bulletin board messages so that service delivery can either be
global or tailored to the needs of individual customers. Security access can be
defined so that a user can have access to all customers, a group of
customers, or a single customer.
A consistent response to any request from a customer.
Consistent, repeatable delivery of services in response to any anticipated
service request or the fulfillment of service catalog requests is a major factor
in the efficiency and profitability of service providers. The use of the response
plan can automatically assign the appropriate person or group to be
responsible for handling each request. It can also select the appropriate job
plan or template to accomplish the requested work, notify the appropriate
individuals about the work in process, and determine the next steps that are
needed.
Timely and accurate chargebacks and billing.
IBM Maximo for Service Providers maintains the agreements that exist
between the service provider and each customer.
The customer agreements specify the maintenance services that are
performed so that each request for service can be validated to ensure that the
customer is entitled to that service under the requested conditions. They are
also used to calculate the prices that are charged for these services.
Maximo for Service Providers can calculate prices in various ways:
Automatic monthly billing (these transactions are generated automatically
by billing schedules):

692

Fixed Fees. Fixed monthly fees for services or for equipment service
agreements, or for scheduled usage, or planned services are
generated and included in a billing batch.

Fees for managing assets. A base price is specified for the asset or
configuration item classification, and extra incremental prices are

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added by examining the features and configuration of each asset or

configuration item. Each managed asset is billed on a separate line in
the billing batch.

Fees for asset usage are calculated by multiplying the usage units (for
example, GB of storage, # of pages printed, miles driven, or square feet
of space) by a unit price. Asset usage is measured, and a price is
calculated as a product of the unit price for the type of usage that is
multiplied by the measured usage units.

Work order and ticket pricing (these prices are calculated according to
price schedules):

As maintenance activities are performed, prices are calculated based

on the cost of the labor, materials, services, and tools used.
Additionally, pricing for the use of labor, can be calculated by using a
published list price, or pricing for service items. Or material can be
calculated by using a published list price or a discount from that list
price.

A quoted price can be specified; either a fixed quote or a not to

exceed quote. A fixed quote is used as the price, and a not to exceed
quote is used as the price if the calculated price exceeds the quote.

Minimum prices can be defined, and included charges (such as billing

a work order only after a threshold has been reached) can be specified.

Asset performance can be measured by a KPI (key performance

indicator), and a price is calculated from the level of performance
measured.

One-time charges for asset moves, adds, or changes are calculated by

using the price that is specified for the specific service requested.

Watch your pricing: All of these calculations are governed by the pricing
rules that are contained in the customer agreement.
Periodically, the work orders, tickets, and sales orders that contain these
calculations are extracted by the billing process and collected into a batch. There
is one batch for each customer agreement. This batch is then reviewed by the
service provider who can review the details of the bills, and adjust the pricing, if
necessary. Limited details of the batch can also be reviewed by the service
providers customers so that the customer can pre-approve the invoice. This
process can speed up payment of the invoice.
After the reviews are complete, the billing batch can be forwarded to the service
providers accounting system so that a customer invoice can be prepared.

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13.2 Service provider capabilities in SmartCloud

Control Desk
The SmartCloud Control Desk Service Provider Edition provides extra functions
by adding new applications that are unique to the Service Provider Edition and
by expanding functionality in many of the existing applications.

13.2.1 Applications
The applications within the Service Provider Edition that deliver this functionality
are described in Table 13-1.
Table 13-1 Application overview
Application

Description

Customer

This application is used to manage information about the

customer such as billing address, currency, contact persons,
communications log, and so on. Customers own the customer
agreements and the agreements price schedules. Customers
are associated with persons, locations, assets, and configuration
items. When a ticket or work order is created, the customer is
copied to the ticket, sales order, or work order based on these
relationships.
The relationship between a customer and any object is used by
the security processes within the service provider to ensure that
access to any customer information is controlled. This ensures
that only authorized users can view or update information that is
related to a customer.

Customer
Agreement

694

The customer agreement contains the customer billing address,

the customer business address, the general terms and
conditions of the agreement, including the start date, expiration
date, and billing frequency. Customer agreements own the
agreement price schedules, which contain the business rules
that are used to calculate prices on work orders, tickets, and
sales orders. They also own the billing schedules that
automatically generate repetitive billing for fixed fees, items
under agreement, planned usage, managed assets, and actual
usage. Customer agreements are revisable objects. After an
agreement is approved, it might not be changed. Instead, a
revision of the agreement can be created. After the revision is
approved, the approved revision replaces the prior revision.

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Application

Description

Agreement Billing
Schedules

IT organizations typically base their chargebacks to internal

customers on the number and type of assets that are under
management or on the use of those assets. Billing schedules can
automate this process. A billing schedule has a start bill date,
and a term (in months). The billing schedule identifies the list
fixed fees, items under maintenance, scheduled service charges,
planned usage charges, managed assets, and actual usage that
is billed. Each month, a bill batch is created, and each of the
detail elements specified on the billing schedule is created as a
line item in that bill batch.

Agreement Price
Schedules

Agreement price schedules are used to calculate pricing on work

orders (activities, changes, releases) or tickets (service requests,
incidents, problems). A customer agreement can contain any
number of agreement price schedules, each of which contain
price calculation rules. Prices in SmartCloud Control Desk
Service Provider can be fixed prices. They can be specified as a
list price (electricians are $55 per hour, or evening work is $75
per hour, or a hydraulic pump is priced at $2,308.56), or they can
be calculated as a function of cost (that is, a mark-up). A price
can also be selected based on an attribute on the work order,
ticket, or sales order that is independent of cost. For example, a
price schedule can specify that labor is priced as a 20% mark up
of the labor cost. Alternatively, a price schedule might say that
support services for class C application servers that are running
critical applications are priced as $735 a month. Price schedules
are owned by customer agreements. They contain a set of pricing
rules, and a set of conditions that specify when and under what
conditions the price schedules are used.

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Application

Description

Customer Billing

The Billing application provides batch control functions. A billing

batch is created for each customer agreement according to the
billing frequency specified in the agreement. The batch consists
of all the work orders, tickets, and sales orders that were
completed during the billing period (and unbilled transactions
from prior billing periods). If specified by the price schedule,
approved transactions on open work orders are included in the
bill batch. The Billing application is used by the service provider
to review (and adjust, if necessary) any transactions in the batch.
After the service provider reviews the batch, they can allow their
customer to review the batch before the batch is sent on to the
service providers accounting system for invoicing. There is a
separate application (Bill Review) that is intended to provide a
secure, and less detailed view of the batch for the customers
view.
Bill batches can also be created automatically by the billing
schedules in the customer agreement. These bill batches contain
bill lines for fixed fees, items and service items listed in service
agreements, managed assets, and asset or location usage.

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Billing Review

This application is used by the service providers customers to

review the work orders, tickets, and sales orders that are
included in the batch. If the customer has questions on any of
these work items, they can be discussed with the service
provider and answered before the bill is finalized.

Work Order,
Activities,
Changes,
Releases

For the Service Provider Edition, these applications have been

enhanced to include the customer information, and billing status
and billing history. Prices are calculated whenever planned or
actual transactions are added to the work order. The ability to add
miscellaneous fees and charges (for example a trip charge) is
included. The enhancements also support the use of price
quotes on a work order. There are two types of quotes that are
used in SmartCloud Control Desk Service Provider: Fixed price
quotes and not to exceed price quotes. The enhancements to the
Work Order application are included in the Activities, Changes,
and Releases applications because these all share an MBO.

Service Request,
Incidents, and
Problems

For the Service Provider Edition, these applications have been

enhanced to include the customer information, and billing status
and billing history. Prices are calculated whenever planned or
actual transactions are added to the incident. As with work
orders, the ability to add miscellaneous fees and charges is
included.

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Application

Description

Sales Order

The sales order is used to bill adjustment transactions for

manually issued credits for adjustments. Sales orders are
generated automatically by the billing schedule for monthly
maintenance fees, the billing for IT asset management, usage, or
performance, and the issuance of credits.

SLA

Service level agreements (SLAs) calculate target dates and

times for tickets and work orders. Functionality includes the
support of the SLA hold function, and the use of de-centralized
calendars to support the use of SLAs by clients who operate in
multiple time zones. In the service provider context, service level
agreements can be associated with one or more customers, or
they can be global.

Response Plan

Response plans are used to provide consistency in the service

management process and in the fulfillment of service catalog
offerings. It does this by removing the need for service agents or
maintenance supervisors to decide what processing takes place
in a specific situation. For example, if the conditions can be
defined for when a template is applied to a ticket, this template
can be applied automatically by the response plan. This
eliminates the need to train the service agent to recognize when
to apply a certain template, and also removes a source of error
from the process. Response plans can be associated with one or
more customers, or they can be global.
The Response Plan uses a rules engine to determine:
The Person or Group responsible for the work order or ticket
The Vendor to whom work must be assigned
The Job Plan to be used for a work order
The Ticket Template to be used for a Ticket
The Solution to be used for the Ticket
The Supervisor for the Ticket or Work Order
The Lead for the Work Order
The Work Group for the Work Order
The Crew to be assigned to the Work Order
Notifications to be issued for the Ticket or Work Order
Additional Actions to be performed to complete the repair or
service delivery.

Location

Locations can be linked to one or more customers, and usage

information can be input or imported for a location.

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698

Application

Description

Asset

Assets can be linked to one or more customers, and usage

information can be input, or imported for a location. The
classification of an asset, and the specifications (for example,
memory size and operating system) are used to calculate the
monthly asset management fee, according to the rules defined in
the customer agreement. If the asset is linked to a CI, the
customers are synchronized between the asset and CI.

Configuration Item

Assets can be linked to one or more customers, and usage

information can be input, or imported for a location. The
classification of an asset, and the specifications (for example,
memory size and operating system) are used to calculate the
monthly asset management fee, according to the rules defined in
the customer agreement. If the CI is linked to an asset, the
customers are synchronized between the CI and the asset.

Security Groups

Security groups are used to define the authority that users (group
members) have to access applications and to access data within
an application. In SmartCloud Control Desk Service Provider,
this application provides a simple method of specifying the
authority to access customer information by users who are
members of the group. Generally, these authority rules are set up
differently for users who work for the service provider and for
those users who work for the service providers customers. The
following access options are provided:
Authorize Group for All Customers including customer level
information that is not related to a Customer
Authorize Group only for Customer level information that is
not related to a Customer.
Authorize Group for Persons Customer/Vendor, but not for
Customer level information that is not related to a Customer
Authorize Group for Customers in Persons Customer
Access List and for Customer level information that is not
related to a Customer
Authorize Group for Customers that are listed on the
Security Group and for Customer level information that is not
related to a Customer

Customer Objects

The Customer Objects application is used with the database

configuration tools that allow a Maximo administrative user to
add tables and relationships to the Maximo database. The
Customer Objects application allows the specification of the
security access rules for any newly created table that is related
to the customer object.

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Application

Description

Classifications and
Attributes

Classification structures are used to categorize information in

SmartCloud Control Desk and to assign attributes related to a
classification. For example, desktop computers have disk size,
processor speed, and memory size as attributes, whereas
computer operating systems have a version number.
SmartCloud Control Desk Service Provider adds a customer link
to both the classification structure and the attribute. For example,
a service provider can allow one customer to track just the
version number for their operating system assets, and allow
another customer to track the version number and patch level for
operating systems.

Domains

In the Service Provider Edition, the synonym, ALN, and numeric

domains allow a domain value to be customer-specific. Filtering
and validation of domain entries is based on the customer (or
primary customer) on the object to which the domain value is
being added.

Solutions

In the Service Provider Edition, solutions can be global or

customer specific. Filtering and validation of a solution is based
on the customer and the object to which the solution is being
associated.

Bulletin Boards

In the Service Provider Edition, bulletin board entries can be

customer-specific. A customer sub tab has been added to the
audience tab, and the users security group is used to filter
bulletin board messages that are displayed on the start center
and broadcast through email.

Item Master,
Offerings, and
Service Items

A customer association has been added to the item table, and a

tab has been added to display the history of list prices for the
item. The list price history is a view of the prices, and the effective
date of those prices, that were defined in price books that
reference this item or service Item.

Price Books

There are four types of price books that define list prices for
items, offerings, service items, and tools. There can be more
than one price book for each type to allow service providers to
offer varying levels of prices to different categories of customers.
A price book can be revised to reflect price changes, and revision
effective dates are used to determine the price that is to be used
for a specific transaction. Price schedules and billing schedules
allow the selection of a price book for any pricing rule that
references list price. The service catalog uses the price book to
access the estimated price for an offering.

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13.2.2 Use cases and scenarios

Many IT organizations operate as a profit center, and use charge backs to bill
their services to the operational departments that they serve. Commercial IT
asset management companies use a similar, but more formal process, to
generate revenue for their business. Consider these use cases:
An Electronic Support Systems Company (ESS) provides IT support for their
clients. ESS bills each of their clients a monthly fee. The fees for managing IT
assets depend on the type of asset that is being managed, and the features
or configuration of those assets. Additionally, ESS provides services to their
clients and bills the clients based on the usage of those services. For
example, for email services or storage services, clients are billed based on
the amount of storage space that is used. For backup and restore services,
clients are billed based on the backup file size, the frequency of backups, and
the number of generations of backups stored.
On a monthly schedule, customers are billed for the managed asset charges.
The process consists of scanning the configuration database, and for each
asset for which there is a management charge, calculating a price for that
asset. The price is the sum of the unit price for the type of asset and any
surcharges for the features or configuration of the asset.
Also, on the same monthly schedule, the values in the various usage meters
are used to generate billing for the recorded usage of the assets.

13.2.3 Customer management

Use the Customers (SP) application to create, view, modify, and delete customer
records. Customer records contain the following information about your
customers:

Business and billing addresses

Internal contacts and customer contacts
Associations with customer agreements and price schedules
Associations with parent or child customers.
Customer logs

Creating customers
To create a customer and associate a person with the new customer, complete
these steps:
1. Click Go To Service Provider Customers (SP).
2. From the Toolbar menu, click the New Customer icon. The system displays a
blank customer form that is ready for input as shown in Figure 13-1 on
page 701.

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Figure 13-1 New customer entry form

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3. Enter the information for the customer and change the Status to ACTIVE.
After the customer is active, you can associate the customer with these items:

Assets
Locations
CIs
Solutions
Service level agreements
Response plans
Bulletin board messages
Classifications and attributes
Persons
Deployed assets
Reconciliation tasks and rules

Placing restrictions on customer information

You can restrict the customer information that users have access to by using
security groups that the users are assigned to. Use the customer tab in the
Security Groups application to define these access rules, as shown in
Figure 13-2.

Figure 13-2 Customer access options

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There are five types of access to customer information that can be granted to
members of a Security Group, as listed in Table 13-2.
Table 13-2 Customer access options
Access option

Description

All customer
information

The user has access to all customers and customer level

data for all customers.

No customer restricted
information

The user has access only to unrestricted customer level

information.

Only information for the

customer on the users
person record

The user has access to customer data for the customer that
is referenced on the users person record. This is the
customer referenced in the field Customer/Vendor.
The user has no access to unrestricted customer-level
objects. There is one exception: The user has access to
unrestricted classification and attribute records.

Customer information
about the users
customer access list

The user has access to customer-level information for

customers on the persons customer access list and to all
unrestricted customer-level information.

Customer information
listed below

The user has access to customer-level information for

customers on the security groups customer access list and
to all unrestricted customer-level information.

Filtering of customer information

In addition to the restriction of access to customer information based on the
authority of the user, customer information is also filtered. This filter can be
based on the customer association with a work order, ticket, asset, location, or
configuration item. For example, when a classification is added to an asset, a
classification can be selected only if the classification is a global classification or
if the classification is associated with the customer who is the primary customer
for that asset. After the classification is linked to the asset, the attributes for the
classification are similarly filtered. Attributes are copied to the asset only if they
are global, or if they are associated with the primary customer on the asset.

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13.2.4 Customer agreements

Customer agreements are used to define the pricing and billing rules for the
services to which customers are entitled. Customers are billed or charged back
for services in two ways:
Charges for the work performed or the services delivered. The labor, material,
services and tools, and any special one time charges are recorded on tickets
or work orders, and the pricing rules defined on a price schedule are used to
calculate the price of the service.
Charges for managing assets or for the usage of assets. The billing schedule
is used to define the monthly charges for managing assets or for usage.

Creating and revising agreements

Use the Customer Agreements (SP) application to create, manage, and revise
customer agreements, as shown in Figure 13-3 on page 705.

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Figure 13-3 Customer agreement

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Price schedules
There can be any number of price schedules for a customer agreement. Each
price schedule specifies the conditions when that price schedule is linked to a
ticket or work order, and defines the pricing rules that are used to calculate the
prices.
In this example, the price schedule is used to calculate the price for a
non-emergency change request related to server management, as shown in
Figure 13-4.

Figure 13-4 Price schedule

The pricing rules in this case specify that a fixed amount of $100.00 is charged
for the change. This is just one of many options for pricing tickets or work orders.
Prices can be specified as fixed hourly rates, or calculated as a percentage
markup from the cost of labor or materials or services that are used to perform
the work.

Billing schedules
Billing schedules are used to generate billing transactions for fixed monthly fees,
and for monthly bills for managing assets for actual usage of an asset or a

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location. Billing schedules can also be used to bill for fixed rental or capacity
charges. There can be any number of billing schedules defined by a customer
agreement. After a billing schedule is created, the fixed fees, assets, and usage
are billed automatically each month. The amount charged for each managed
asset is calculated by using the amount specified for the assets classification as
the base amount, and adding to it the price for the capacity or configuration of the
asset.
In the example shown in Figure 13-5, assets that are classified as servers are
charged 12.75 per month as a base charge. During the monthly billing cycle, a
billing transaction is created for each asset classified as a server, and the price is
calculated after examining the attribute values of the asset. The number of
processors is multiplied by 2.5, the memory size in GB is multiplied by 0.75, and
the disk size in GB is multiplied by 0.5. The result of these calculations is added
to the base fee of 12.75. Finally, if the servers operating system is Linux, an
additional charge of 3.25 is added.

Figure 13-5 Billing schedule with asset management pricing

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Usage pricing, shown in Figure 13-6, is specified by defining a price for each type
of usage.

Figure 13-6 Actual usage pricing

Usage values can be manually entered or imported into usage meters that are
associated with assets or locations. During the billing cycle, the usage that has
been recorded is collected, and a billing transaction is created for each type of
usage specified in the billing schedule. The price is calculated by multiplying the
number of units recorded by the unit price specified in the billing schedule.

13.2.5 Customer billing

Customer billing is the process of collecting the billing transaction into a bill batch
and reviewing the transactions. Transactions can be adjusted or corrected during
the review process. After the review process is complete, the transactions in the
bill batch are forwarded to an accounting system to be processed in the ledger.

The billing process

Bill batches are created automatically by the billing schedule for fixed fees,
usage, and managed assets. Bill batches are created manually for the billing of
transactions such as work orders and tickets.

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The bill batch is created during the INPROGRESS status, and is moved through
a series of statuses during the review process. After the status of the bill batch is
changed to BILLED, the transaction in the bill batch are forwarded to the
accounting system. As shown in Figure 13-7, the billing process begins with the
customer and the customer agreement. The price schedules are used to add the
prices to the tickets and work orders, and the billing schedules generate sales
orders for fixed fees, asset management, and asset usage charges. In both
cases, the resulting billing batches are reviewed before being exported to the
accounting system for final processing.

Figure 13-7 The billing process

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On-demand bill batches

Use the Customer Billing (SP) application to create a bill batch. Enter the
customer and customer agreement, the bill end date, and the financial period, as
shown in Figure 13-8.

Figure 13-8 Creating a bill batch

You have the option of selecting ticket, work order, or sales orders for the bill
batch, or you can select Copy WOs, Tickets and SOs. Depending on your
selection, the bill batch will collect and display work orders (including changes,
activities, and releases), tickets (including service requests, incidents, and
problems), and sales orders (used for credits and adjustments) that are ready for
billing. Transactions will be selected if they are in the proper status, and if the
completion date is on or after the bill end date or if the transactions financial
period is on or before the specified financial period.

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Automatic bill batches created from billing schedule

These bill batches are created automatically by the billing schedule. The billing
schedule specifies the initial status of the bill batch. If that initial status is BILLED,
the bill batch does not require review, and is sent directly to the accounting
system. If the initial status is INPROGRESS, the bill batch is reviewed in the
customer billing application, and then sent to the accounting system.

13.3 Conclusion
This chapter reviewed the SmartCloud Control Desk Service Provider Edition,
which adds functions to SmartCloud Control Desk to enable the IT organization
to be run as a profit center or as a business unit. It includes a customer
management module that allows the IT organization to manage multiple
customers or organizations in a single database. This function provides the
ability to restrict a users access to only one customer and to restrict access to
only a subset of the customers. It includes a customer agreement module that
allows the IT organization to identify and enforce variable entitlement and pricing
rules for the services delivered. And it includes a customer billing module that
can collect and export the financial information related to chargebacks and billing
to the accounting system after it has been reviewed and corrected.

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Part 3

Part

Appendixes

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Appendix A.

Troubleshooting
This appendix addresses how to resolve issues that you might encounter, and
what extra information to collect when you are working with support. The
miscellaneous section addresses some of the more common issues that are
encountered by users.
This appendix includes the following sections:
What to look for
What support must help you with
Miscellaneous issues

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

715

What to look for

This section lists the various logs to use when dealing with issues in different
areas of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.
The approach of what to do with that information is the same for all:
1. Inspect the log to find any errors or messages that seem to coincide with the
issue you are trying to troubleshoot.
2. If the message does not give you a clear direction, search the SmartCloud
Control Desk product page for technotes.
3. If all else fails, contact support with the collected logs. For more information,
see Logs for Self Service Center on page 717.

Inspecting the logs and error messages

Error messages found in the logs and those displayed on the panel are in the
form of five letters, four numbers, and then a message type single character. For
example, BMXAA4211E. If the text of the message does not reveal an action for
you to take, search the SmartCloud Control Desk product page for the error
message number.
Take note that the identifier itself gives you a clue of the source of the error.
Message codes that begin with BMXAA are generated from the Tivoli's process
automation engine code. This is an indication of something more fundamental
that needs to be addressed. Message codes that begin with CTG are generated
from some of the apps that have to do with the Service Desk, Service Catalog,
and Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database (CCMDB)
functions. These are typically CTGIN or CTGCC.
After you have a message code, search for technotes of known issues. Go to the
SmartCloud Control Desk support product page at:
http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/overview/software/tivoli/ibm_sm
artcloud_control_desk
Enter the error message ID in the Search support and downloads field.

Logs for app use

The most common use of SmartCloud Control Desk is working in the various
apps and the Start Center. When issues arise here, capture the systemout.log
and systemerr.log files from the App Server immediately after you re-create the
issue. For most cases, you do not need to turn up the logging. If you do need to,

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

go to the Logging app (Go To System Configuration Logging) and set

the appropriate logger for that app to DEBUG.
In addition, if there was an error on the panel, get a snapshot of it as well.

Logs for Self Service Center

If you encounter an issue on the Self Service Center user interface that is not in
the equivalent apps in standard user interface, capture the Java Console. The
Java Console is something that you access through your web browser.

Tivoli Integration Composer

Tivoli Integration Composer execution messages are stored in fusion.log files
found in the Integration_Composer/log directory. The size and number of these
logs are controlled by properties in the
Integration_Composer/data/properties/logging.properties file.
log4j.appender.A2=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.A2.File=fusion.log
log4j.appender.A2.MaxFileSize=5MB
log4j.appender.A2.MaxBackupIndex=5
log4j.appender.A2.Append=false
If Tivoli Integration Composer is run in debug mode, the fusion.logs file will
probably roll over. You can use these properties to modify the size and number of
the logs, or you can pipe the Tivoli Integration Composer execution standard
output to a file.
The fusion.properties file must contains the following property:
mxe.fusion.mapping.showRecordCounts=true
The Tivoli Integration Composer output contains an execution summary for the
number of database entries created, updated, and deleted. It also shows the
number of major errors Tivoli Integration Composer encountered, and the total
execution time that was required.

Appendix A. Troubleshooting

717

Duplicate DIS GUIDs

Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5 might generate duplicate DIS GUIDs1 for virtual
computer systems. Complete the following steps on all environments that first
installed SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5 to validate/fix the cleansing rules file:
1. Access the Integration Composer directory (usually named
Integration_Composer) and edit file Integration
Composer\data\properties\nrs\cleansingRules.xml.
2. Look for the following lines at the end of the file:
<Rule major="ComputerSystem" minor="VMID">
<Regex pattern=".*" format="" />
</Rule>
3. If these three lines exist, delete them and save the modified file.
This file was fixed in Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0.1. However, if you started
with SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5, verify that the rule for VMID no longer exists
in the cleansingRules.xml file.

Understanding filtering
For a fresh Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5 installation, the default filtering is to
use the authorized CI promotion scope. If Tivoli Integration Composer was
installed as a 7.5 upgrade, the default type of filtering used is classification
filtering (setting -1 to a classification name in the ccmdb.properties file to skip
importing those types of CIs.)
To verify which type of filtering is enabled, open the file Integration
Comoposer\data\properties\provider\ccmdb.properties and search for the
property ccmdb.actualci.filtering.level=. The value 0 indicates that Tivoli
Integration Composer classification filtering is being used. The value 2 indicates
that the Auth CI promotion scope is used to filter out both classifications and
attributes. In other words, only actual CIs that are promoted into authorized CIs
are imported from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager.
It is important to note that using Auth Promotion Scope filtering during an Tivoli
Integration Composer delta load (when importing only new and changed actual
CIs) results in updating existing actual CIs only if a linked authorized CI also
exists. Any CIs existing in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager but
not in the SmartCloud Control Desk database is imported as new.

718

Read this important technote for more details:

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21589561

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

An example might help clarify this:

1. Tivoli Integration Composer is used for the first time to import Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CI data as actual CIs into the
SmartCloud Control Desk database using Auth Scope filtering.
2. Tivoli Integration Composer is run a second time to import new Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CI data, and to update existing
actual CIs to match modified Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager CIs:
a. If a CI exists in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager, but not
in the SmartCloud Control Desk database, then it is imported.
b. If a CI was modified in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
and there exists both an actual CI and an authorized CI, the actual CI is
updated to reflect the data found in Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager.
c. If a CI was modified in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
and only an actual CI exists, the actual CI is NOT updated. The reasoning
here is that because the actual CI was not promoted into an authorized CI,
it is not being managed. Therefore, there is no need to keep the actual CI
up-to-date until it is promoted to an authorized CI.

Debugging classifications
What happens if Tivoli Integration Composer does not create actual CIs for
classifications you were expecting? Assuming that this was not due to an Tivoli
Integration Composer or Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
exception, complete these steps to debug the system:
1. Determine what type of filtering Tivoli Integration Composer is using. This is
found in the ccmdb.properties file as property
ccmdb.actualci.filtering.level=0|2. In this property, 0 means that
classifications set to -1 in the ccmdb.properties file are NOT imported, and a
2 value means that only classifications found in the Auth CI promotion scope
are imported.
2. For classification filtering (property set to 0), ensure that the missing
classification is not set to -1, that is
ccmdb.classification.depth.DEV.STORAGEVOLUME=-1
For Auth Scope filtering, ensure that the missing classification exists as an
authorized CI classification. The Auth Promotion Scope can be viewed by
using the Deployers Workbench.
3. Validate that there is a path for Tivoli Integration Composer to follow to reach
the missing classifications. This involves knowing which classifications are set
to Active, what depths are being used to pull data from Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager, and what is being filtered out.

Appendix A. Troubleshooting

719

For example, if you want to import CIs of classification FileSystem and the
SYS.ComputerSystem is set to Active, use depth 2. In this case, Tivoli Integration
Composer imports the ComputerSystem and the OperatingSystem. However, the
bootsFrom relationship between OperatingSystem and FileSystem is not
followed because the maximum depth of 2 was reached at OperatingSystem.
Another example is connecting a ComputerSystem to a Business Application
and running Tivoli Integration Composer with a depth of 3 with App.Application
set to Active. If the topology generated looks like Application
FunctionalGroup AppServer ComputerSystem, a depth of 4 is
necessary to reach Computer System.
To determine why Tivoli Integration Composer did not import an expected Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CI, use the Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager API command-line interface to see what Tivoli
Integration Composer receives from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager starting at a top-level GUID.
The Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager api.sh and api.bat can
be located at <taddm install directory>/dist/sdk/bin.
To view the same type of data Tivoli Integration Composer receives from Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager for a specific top-level CI GUID, run
the following command:
./api.sh u <userid > p <password>
A9A6F80AD02D3845BB924D7CFD26615C

find depth 4 guid

For this example, the output resembles the following:

<Application array="1" guid="A9A6F80AD02D3845BB924D7CFD26615C"
lastModified="1350562340943"
xsi:type="coll:com.collation.platform.model.topology.app.Application">
<groups array="1" guid="284F0186EFD13A45A45B41E2C951C11D"
lastModified="1348955766545"
xsi:type="coll:com.collation.platform.model.topology.app.AppServerFunct
ionalGroup">
<members array="1" guid="C308DC3407EE347B8A47A7D32D434F22"
lastModified="1350072328679"
xsi:type="coll:com.collation.platform.model.topology.app.web.apache.Apa
cheServer">
<host guid="335F9D19025A3364A5C31FE92D93C92B"
lastModified="1350247649374"

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

xsi:type="coll:com.collation.platform.model.topology.sys.linux.LinuxUni
taryComputerSystem">
<type>ComputerSystem</type>
You can tell by the xml indentation the four depths that are found.

Debugging import
There are two common reasons that Tivoli Integration Composer does not import
all Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager attributes.
The first reason is that Tivoli Integration Composer is using Auth Promotion
Scope filtering and the attribute is not part of the scope.
The less obvious reason is that Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager attributes are not part of the Common Data Model. If a new attribute is
added to Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager, Tivoli Integration
Composer will not pick up the new attribute until it is associated with a
classification.
If you add an attribute to Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager, it
must also be added to the SmartCloud Control Desk database. This is done by
running the CI Type Tivoli Integration Composer adapter. You can verify that the
new attribute was added by using the SmartCloud Control Desk UI console and
viewing the attributes using the Class structure application.

Deployers Workbench (DW)

For issues with Deployers Workbench, it is helpful to turn on the informational
logging. To do so, complete these steps:
1. In the Deployers Workbench, click Windows Preferences Deployers
Workbench Logging.
2. Select Log all information logging calls.
After re-creating the issue, open the .log (the log file name only has an
extension, no name) in this directory. In the case of a standard installation, this
location is:
C:\Program Files\IBM\Deployers
Workbench\DeployersWorkbench\workspace\.metadata
For Deployers Workbench installation issues, check this directory:
C:\Program Files\IBM\Deployers Workbench

Appendix A. Troubleshooting

721

You are looking for this file:

IBM_Tivoli_Deployer's_Workbench_InstalllLog.log

Installation
For SmartCloud Control Desk install issues, check all the following directories on
your Admin Workstation. Depending on what was being installed and how far
along the installation has come, you might not have all of these directories or log
files in them. Usually you want to look at the latest log files in these directories.
Specifically start with the ones named as messaging logs. All these directories
assume a default installation on Windows:
C:\ibm\SMP\logs
C:\ibm\SMP\solutions\logs
C:\ibm\SMP\wasclient\logs
C:\ibm\SMP\maximo\tools\maximo\log

Performance issues
For performance issues, first look at the environment, such as system speed,
network speed, and database speed. Check whether any of these had contention
with other applications for the same services. For example, are your application
server and your database server on the same machine?
In addition to checking for environment factors, open the Logging app and set the
SQL logger to DEBUG to debug. This puts the SQL statement and how long they
took in the Application Servers system logs.

What support must help you with

If you have looked at the logs and need the assistance of support, they need
some extra information. Collecting all of the following information up front helps
you get a speedier resolution:
Logs, as explained previously in this appendix
Version information
Re-create steps
Explanation of what you were expecting it to do
Explanation of what it did instead
Screen captures of the error and the setup

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The following sections have specifics of the above for different components within
SmartCloud Control Desk. With all of the following special cases, you still need
the general information and logs. That is, gather the SmartCloud Control Desk
version information and the application server system logs for these as well.

General issues with apps

For all issues that you send to support for SmartCloud Control Desk, they need
your core installed versions. To get this from the Start Center, click Help
System Information and then copy the text from the pop-up window. The text
listing of your component versions is more useful for support than a picture is.
Because SmartCloud Control Desk is a nice graphical user interface, most
issues are helped by sending in a screen capture of the error and app in use.

Integration Composer (Tivoli Integration Composer)

With Tivoli Integration Composer, you do not just need the fusion.log. First,
ensure that you have both the beginning and the end of the fusion.log.
Sometimes Tivoli Integration Composer runs so long that the beginning of the log
gets overwritten. The beginning contains some version information that support
needs. In addition, the end of the log has the summary of the Tivoli Integration
Composer run and which mapping was used.
These are the relevant logs:
<ITIC_Install_Dir>\IBM_Tivoli_Integration_Composer_InstallLog.log
<ITIC_Install_Dir>\log\fusion.log
<ITIC_Install_Dir>\log\fusion.properties
These are the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager associated log
files:
<ITIC_Install_Dir>\log\l2.log
<ITIC_Install_Dir>\log\error.log
Read fusion.properties to locate the performance monitor log file and collect it.
Also, support needs to know the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager version.

Deployers Workbench
When dealing with the Deployers Workbench, send in the Deployers Workbench
log (.log file), but first create a project within the Deployers Workbench and

Appendix A. Troubleshooting

723

attempt to re-create the issue with it. Starting clean with a new project has the
advantage to removing hidden configuration changes that have been forgotten
This can both solve some problems and other make the re-creation scenario
simpler.
After creating a project and re-creating the issue, export the project by clicking
File Export Export Deployers Workbench Project. Support needs the
exported project.
Finally, support needs the version of your Deployers Workbench. Click Help
About Deployers Workbench. Copy the text from this pop-up or send them a
screen capture of it.

Miscellaneous issues
These are miscellaneous tips or issues discovered by IBM.

Setting up Tivoli Integration Composer to delete Configuration Items

Tivoli Integration Composer and SmartCloud Control Desk need to be set up
properly to delete the actual CIs from SmartCloud Control Desk that have been
deleted from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager:
1. Enable deletes in Tivoli Integration Composer. Check the fusion.log in Tivoli
Integration Composer for the following message. This message indicates that
deletes are turned off:
Example A-1 Sample from fusion.log

22 Jun 2011 11:38:18:878 [INFO] TADDMActualCI._loadResources: TADDM

deleted GUIDs will not be logged; actual CI deletion is disabled.
Enable it by changing this property file:
<ITIC>\data\properties\provider\ccmdb.properties
With that file, set the ccmdb.enable.actualci.deletion value to true.
2. Set up the escalation. You can enable or disable escalations in the
Escalations application. To open this application, click Go to System
Configuration Platform Configuration Escalations.
The escalation that processes the actual CIs that have been flagged for
deletion is called CCIDELETEACTCI. If you disable this task in the
Escalations application, CIs that have been identified as deleted in Tivoli

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Application Dependency Discovery Manager are not deleted from Change

and Configuration Management Database.
3. Tivoli Integration Composer completes. When it completes successfully, the
value for CCIITICCOMPLETE (in maxvars table) is set to YES. This is what
the escalation looks for to know whether it needs to run. After the escalation
runs, it will return it to NO so that it does not do anything until the next Tivoli
Integration Composer run.
Run a test first: If you want to test it before the real deletion of actual CIs,
enable Tivoli Integration Composer but disable the escalation. The actual
CIs marked for deletion are reported in the CCIDELETEACTCI table. If you
find that these CIs should not be deleted, clear the table so the actual CIs
do not get deleted after you turn on the escalation.

Global Search does not find anything

The Global Search app requires the Lucene index to first be populated. This is
done by enabling a cron task that periodically updates the index. The first time
this cron task is run, it will take longer than usual. SmartCloud Control Desk is
not creating the Lucene index because the directory objsearchindex_EN does not
exist.
Check to see whether system property LUCENEOBJINDEX is set. It should be
empty, or you can set it to the full path where objsearchindex_EN will be created.
When property LUCENEOBJINDEX is empty, objsearchindex_EN is created in
the <WAS install>\AppServer\profiles\<instance name> directory of
SmartCloud Control Desk installation.
Complete the following procedure to change a system property:
1. Log on to SmartCloud Control Desk as an administrator with authority to
perform system configuration tasks.
2. From the Go To menu on the Navigation Toolbar, select System
Configuration Platform Configuration System Properties.
3. On the System Properties window, search for the system property that you
want to modify.
To search, open the Filter and type the property name (LUCENEOBJINDEX)
in the filter field in the Property Name column. Then, press Enter.
4. Click View Details next to the property name to display the Global Properties
Details section of the window.

Appendix A. Troubleshooting

725

5. Enter the new setting in the Global Value field:

For the LWDICT property, enter the full directory path (drive and directory)
of the new location for the IBM LanguageWare Dictionary files.
For the LUCENEOBJINDEX property, enter the full directory path of the
new location for the Lucene index files.
For the ATTEXT property, enter the file types to be supported by
attachment searches as a comma-separated list. For example, enter
.properties, .txt, .html.
Tip on file types: If you specify file types other than text-based files,
the files are indexed but not searched. The attachment search works
only on text files. Non-text file types, such as audio and video files, .ppt
files, and .xls files, are not supported.
For the PmObjSearchCron.maxFileLength property, enter the maximum
size of attached text files that you want to be indexed. If this property is not
set, only files less than or equal to 1 MB in size are indexed.
For the mxe.doclink.maxfilesize property, set the maximum size of files
that a user can attach to a record.
6. From the Select Action menu on the application toolbar, select Live Refresh.
7. Click OK on the Live Refresh dialog.
The new property value is displayed in both the Global Value and Current
Value fields. The new property setting is now in effect. Repeat this procedure
to change more property values.
After the change to LUCENEOBJINDEX, WebSphere Application Server
must be restarted to clean the cache and the new path to take effect. But
perform the next step first.
8. Click Go To System Configuration Platform Configuration Cron
Task Setup. Search for PmObjSearchCron cron task and make sure that it is
active.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Appendix B.

SmartCloud Control Desk

Reports
This appendix provides a list of the main reports available for SmartCloud
Control Desk 7.5 in Table 13-3.

Table 13-3 List of reports

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

adHoc_solution
s_tsd.rptdesign

Incidents and
Problems with
Informal
Solutions

As a Knowledge Manager, I
want to see which Incidents
and Problems have been
associated with informal
solutions (i.e. solutions
published within the ticket text
only) so that I can judge
whether these solutions
might need to be more
formally published in the
Solutions application and
possibly shared to a wider
community.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when
Incident/Problem
was reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

SOLUTION

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

727

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

asset_autoflagc
i_list.rptdesign

Assets with
Missing
Generic CIs

As a Configuration
Librarian or CI Owner, I
want to determine if any of my
Assets, which should have
CIs automatically created
and linked, are NOT linked to
a CI.

none

ASSET

asset_ci_linked
_list.rptdesign

Assets Linked
to CIs

As a Configuration
Librarian or Asset/CI
Owner, I want to see which
Assets are linked to which
CIs, when they were linked,
who linked them, and why
they were linked.

Assets linked on or
after (date),
Assets linked on or
before (date)

ASSET

asset_generic_
ci_list.rptdesign

Assets Linked
to Generic CIs

As a Configuration
Librarian or Asset/CI
Owner, I want to see which
Assets are linked to CIs
which are classified as
generic. These CIs might
have been automatically
created and might need
additional configuration.

Assets linked on or
after (date),
Assets linked on or
before (date)

ASSET

assetpurchcost.
rptdesign

Asset
Purchase Cost
Rollup

As an Asset Manager, I want

to see the purchase price for
each child asset in an asset
subassembly. I also want to
see a total price of all
combined child assets for
each asset.

none

ASSET

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Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

avg_close_time
_tsd.rptdesign

Average Time
to Close
Incidents
(Problem,
Service
Request)

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to track the average amount
of labor time spent on closing
tickets so that I can gauge
effectiveness. Tickets are
grouped by internal priority.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when ticket was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]
Service
Service Group

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

avg_cost_tsd.rp
tdesign

Average Cost
Per Incident
(Problem,
Service
Request)

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to track the average labor
cost on tickets so that I can
gauge effectiveness. Tickets
can be in any status to be
included in this report, and
the status can be specified.
Tickets are grouped by
internal priority.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when ticket was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]
Service
Service Group
Status

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

ci_asset_linked
_list.rptdesign

CIs Linked to
Assets

As a Configuration
Librarian or Asset/CI
Owner, I want to see which
CIs are linked to which
Assets, when they were
linked, who linked them, and
why they were linked.

CIs linked on or
after (date),
CIs linked on or
before (date)

CI

ci_autoflagasse
t_list.rptdesign

CIs with
Missing
Generic
Assets

As a Configuration
Librarian or Asset/CI
Owner, I want to determine if
any of my CIs, which should
have Assets automatically
created and linked, are NOT
linked to an Asset.

none

CI

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

729

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

ci_generic_ass
et_list.rptdesign

CIs Linked to
Generic
Assets

As a Configuration
Librarian or Asset/CI
Owner, I want to see which
CIs are linked to Assets
which are classified as
generic. These Assets
might have been
automatically created and
might need additional
configuration.

CIs linked on or
after (date),
CIs linked on or
before (date)

CI

computercounts
.rptdesign

Computer
Counts by
Role

As an Asset Manager, I want

to see the count of computers
by role.

none

DPLDASSE
T

cpuaudit.rptdesi
gn

Processor
Based Audit

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to see the
total license capacity for
specific products, the total
discovered capacity (the
Sums of Number of
Processors multiplied by
Core Multiplier Value), and
the variance (the total license
capacity minus total
discovered capacity). (See
More Info tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

cpucoreaudit.rp
tdesign

Processor
Core Based
Audit

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to see the
total license capacity for
specific products, the total
discovered capacity (the
Sums of Number of Cores
Processors multiplied by
Core Multiplier Value), and
the variance (the total license
capacity minus total
discovered capacity). (See
More Info tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

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Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

deleted_actualc
i.rptdesign

Deleted actual
CIs

As a Configuration Auditor,
Configuration Librarian, or
CI Owner, I want to see
which actual CIs have been
deleted. A date range for
when the deletion occurred
can be specified. A specific
actual CI or source token can
be specified.

Start Date,
End Date,
actual CI Name,
actual CI Number,
GUID or Source
Token

ACTUALCI

deleted_ci.rptd
esign

CIs Linked to
Deleted actual
CIs

As a Configuration Auditor
or Configuration Librarian, I
want to see the authorized
CIs that are associated actual
CIs that have been deleted.

Start Date,
End Date,
Configuration Item

CI

dormant_cis.rpt
design

Dormant CIs

As a Configuration Auditor
or Configuration Librarian, I
want to see which CIs have
not been recently refreshed
with actual CI data so that I
can determine if there is out
of date information.

Actual
Configuration Item
Last Modified Date
is Before,
Minimum number
of Days Since the
Actual
Configuration Item
Was Modified*
(Default 30)

CI

elapsed_time_t
o_close_proble
ms_tsd.rptdesig
n

Elapsed Time
for Unresolved
Problems

As a Problem Manager, I
want to see the amount of
time that unresolved
problems have been open so
that I can determine if there
are any fulfillment concerns.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when problems
were reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

PROBLEM

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

731

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

flagged_actualc
i.rptdesign

Actual CIs
Flagged for
Deletion

As a Configuration
Librarian or CI Owner, I
want to see which actual CIs
have been flagged for
deletion. These are CIs that
have been deleted from
TADDM, but I have not
executed the automated
escalation to delete them.

Actual CI Number,
GUID or Source
Token

ACTUALCI

formal_solution
s_tsd.rptdesign

Incidents and
Problems with
Formal
Solutions

As a Knowledge Manager, I
want to see which Incidents
and Problems have been
associated with formal
solutions (i.e. solutions
published in the Solutions
application) so that I can
judge whether fulfillment
teams are documenting and
publishing re-usable
knowledge.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when
Incident/Problem
was reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

SOLUTION

inc_sla_complia
nce_noncompli
ance_tsd.rptde
sign

SLA
Compliance for
Incident
Management

As an Incident Manager, I
want to identify which
Incidents are in and out of
compliance with SLAs. I can
see a pie chart of internal
priority % for both cases and
a list of Incidents based on
the date range and subgroup
criteria.

SubGroup By
(defaults to ticketid,
used in list)
Start Date (of
target)
End Date (of target)
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

INCIDENT

inc_survey_tsd.
rptdesign

Incident
Survey

As an Incident Manager, I
want to review the results of
the Standard Incident Survey
in the specified date range so
that I can gauge customer
satisfaction. This report can
also serve as an example for
creating custom survey
reports.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when results were
received]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

INCIDENT

732

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

incident_disposi
tion_tsd.rptdesi
gn

Disposition
Report for
Incident
Management

As an Incident Manager, I
want to see what Incidents
have spawned other work
items (such as other ticket
types or work orders).

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when Incident was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

INCIDENT

incident_volum
e_tsd.rptdesign

Volume Report
for Incidents

As an Incident Manager, I
want to see the Incidents in
the date range grouped by
the criteria I specify so that I
can analyze the Incident
activity.

Group By (default
to Internalpriority)
SubGroup By
(default to ticketid)
[Valid values for
group and
subgroup: Status,
Owner,
Internalpriority,
Reportedpriority]
Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when Incident was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

INCIDENT

installaudit.rptd
esign

Install Based
Audit

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to see the
total license capacity for
specific products, the total
discovered capacity for
computers where the
software is installed and the
variance (the total license
capacity minus total
discovered capacity). (See
More Info tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

733

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

installedswcoun
ts.rptdesign

Installed
Software
Counts by
Application

As a Software Asset
Manager, I want to see the
count of distinct software
installations by application.

Manufacturer,
Managed As

DPLDASSE
T

IT_active_chan
ge_status.rptde
sign

Active IT
Changes
Grouped by
Status

As a Change Manager, I
want to see the changes that
have not been closed,
completed, or cancelled. A
date range can be optionally
provided.

Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

IT_change_avg
_complete_by_t
ype.rptdesign

Average Days
to Complete IT
Changes
Grouped by
Type

As a Change Manager, I
want to see the average time
(in days) it takes my
fulfillment team to complete
changes in each
classification grouping. A
date range encompassing
the actual start and finish
dates can be optionally
provided. Note that if
changes are not classified,
they will not be included in
this report.

Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

IT_change_by
_classification.r
ptdesign

IT Changes
Grouped by
Classification

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list and pie
chart of all changes grouped
by classification type so that I
can see if a particular class of
changes needs more
attention. A date range
encompassing the actual
start and finish dates can be
optionally provided.

Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

IT_change_by_
priority.rptdesig
n

Percentage of
IT Changes by
Priority

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list and pie
chart of all changes grouped
by priority. A date range
encompassing the actual
start and finish dates can be
optionally provided.

Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

734

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

IT_change_CI.r
ptdesign

IT Changes for
Configuration
Items

As a Change/Configuration
Manager, I want to
graphically see the number of
Changes for each CI so that I
can roughly gauge the
operating cost in terms of
Changes. Four optional input
parameters are provided to
narrow the report scope.

Change Actual
Start Time, Change
Actual End Time,
CI Name,
CI Classification

CHANGE

IT_change_CI_
detail.rptdesign

IT Changes
Associated
with Each CI
Detail

As a Change/Configuration
Manager, I want to see a list
of the Changes for each CI so
that I can analyze my ongoing
operating costs in detail. Four
optional input parameters are
provided to narrow the report
scope.

Change Actual
Start Time,
Change Actual End
Time,
CI Name,
CI Classification

CHANGE

IT_change_final
_state_status.r
ptdesign

Percentage of
IT Changes in
Final State
Grouped by
Status

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list and pie
chart of the changes that are
in a Complete, Closed, or
Canceled state. A date range
for the actual finish dates can
be optionally provided. A
change owner can be
optionally provided.

Start Date,
End Date,
Owner

CHANGE

IT_change_imp
acted_CI.rptdes
ign

IT Changes
Impacting
Configuration
Items

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list of CIs that
are impacted by changes so
that I can analyze if these
changes have an adverse
impact on my business.

Start Date,
End Date,
Configuration Item

CHANGE

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

735

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

IT_change_impl
_task_group_by
_owner.rptdesig
n

Scheduled
Implementatio
n Tasks
Grouped by
Owner

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list of change
workorders (implementation
tasks) that are pending
completion and have them
grouped by owner. A date
range for the scheduled start
and end dates can be
optionally provided. A change
owner can be optionally
provided.

Scheduled Start
Date,
Scheduled End
Date,
Owner

CHANGE

IT_change_impl
_task_group_by
_ownergroup.rp
tdesign

Scheduled
Implementatio
n Tasks
Grouped by
Owner Group

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list of change
workorders (implementation
tasks) that are pending
completion and have them
grouped by owner group. A
date range for the scheduled
start and end dates can be
optionally provided. A change
owner group can be
optionally provided.

Scheduled Start
Date,
Scheduled End
Date,
Owner Group

CHANGE

IT_change_impl
_task_group_by
_supervisor.rpt
design

Scheduled
Implementatio
n Tasks
Grouped by
Supervisor

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list of change
workorders (implementation
tasks) that are pending
completion and have them
grouped by supervisor. A
date range for the scheduled
start and end dates can be
optionally provided. A change
supervisor can be optionally
provided.

Scheduled Start
Date,
Scheduled End
Date,
Supervisor

CHANGE

736

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

IT_change_prio
r_CI_outage.rpt
design

Configuration
Item Outages
Caused by
Prior Change
Implementatio
n Tasks

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list of CIs that
had an outage due to a
previous change workorder.
One reason I might want to
run this report is so that I can
determine if I am potentially
in danger of going over an
SLA for uptime when I
schedule changes for a
specific CI.

Actual Start Date,

Actual End Date,
Configuration Item

CHANGE

IT_change_pro
cess_request.r
ptdesign

Change
Process
Requests in
New State by
Age

As a Change Manager, I
want to see the list of change
process requests in a New
state and the number of days
since they were created.
Optionally, a number of days
can be given which will
restrict the list to change
process requests that have
been open at least that
number of days.

Number of Days
(defaults to 0)

CHANGE

IT_change_sch
eduled_CI_outa
ge.rptdesign

Configuration
Item Outages
Caused by
Scheduled
Change
Implementatio
n Tasks

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list of CIs that
will have an outage due to a
scheduled change workorder.
I might want to run this report
to determine if I will
potentially go over an SLA for
uptime.

Scheduled Start
Date,
Scheduled End
Date,
Configuration Item

CHANGE

IT_change_targ
et_CI.rptdesign

IT Changes
Targeting
Configuration
Items

As a Change Manager, I
want a list of the changes that
are affecting CIs. Optionally I
can restrict the list to changes
scheduled within a start and
end date. I can also restrict
the list to specific CIs.

Start Date,
End Date,
Configuration Item

CHANGE

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

737

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

IT_change_win
dow_conflict.rpt
design

Implementatio
n Tasks with
Change
Window
Conflicts

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a list of changes
which have been marked as
having a change window
conflict. Optionally I can
restrict the list to changes
scheduled within a start and
end date

Task Start Date,

Task End Date

CHANGE

IT_forwardsche
d_releases.rptd
esign

Forward
Schedule of IT
Releases

As a Release Manager, I
want to see a list of releases
ordered by scheduled start
and end dates. Date range,
owner(s), and owner group(s)
can be specified.

Owner,
Owner Group,
Start Date,
End Date

RELEASE

IT_forwardsche
d_releasesByCI
s.rptdesign

Forward
Schedule of
Releases by
CIs

As a Release Manager, I
want to see a list of releases
grouped by CI and ordered by
scheduled start and end
dates. Date range and CIs
can be specified.

Configuration Item,
Start Date,
End Date

RELEASE

IT_process_req
uest_final_state
s.rptdesign

IT Change
Process
Requests in
Final States

As a Change Manager, I
want to see a pie chart
showing the percentage of
resolved and closed change
process requests by process
state.

Start Date,
End Date,
Owner

CHANGE

IT_releasesByC
lassifications.rp
tdesign

Releases by
Classification

As a Release Manager, I
want to see a list and pie
chart of releases within
specific date ranges grouped
by classification. Scheduled
date ranges and actual date
ranges can be specified.
Specific CIs can also be
specified.

Classification Id,
Scheduled Start:
From,
To,
Scheduled End:
From,
To,
Actual Start: From,
To,
Actual End: From,
To

RELEASE

738

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

IT_releasesByP
riorities.rptdesig
n

Releases by
Priority

As a Release Manager, I
want to see a list and pie
chart of releases within
specific date ranges grouped
by priority. Scheduled date
ranges and actual date
ranges can be specified.
Priority can also be specified.

Priority,
Scheduled Start:
From,
To,
Scheduled End:
From,
To,
Actual Start: From,
To,
Actual End: From,
To

RELEASE

IT_releasesByP
rocessStates.rp
tdesign

Releases by
Process Status

As a Release Manager, I
want to see a list and pie
chart of releases within
specific date ranges grouped
by process status. Scheduled
date ranges and actual date
ranges can be specified.
Process status can also be
specified.

Status,
Scheduled Start:
From,
To,
Scheduled End:
From,
To,
Actual Start: From,
To,
Actual End: From,
To

RELEASE

IT_releasesByP
rogress.rptdesi
gn

Releases by
Progress

As a Release Manager, I
want to see a list and pie
chart of releases within
specific date ranges grouped
by progress states.
Scheduled date ranges and
actual date ranges can be
specified. Progress states
can also be specified.

Progress,
Scheduled Start:
From,
To,
Scheduled End:
From,
To,
Actual Start: From,
To,
Actual End: From,
To

RELEASE

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

739

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

IT_releasesByT
ypes.rptdesign

Releases by
Type

As a Release Manager, I
want to see a list and pie
chart of releases within
specific date ranges grouped
by type. Scheduled date
ranges and actual date
ranges can be specified.
Release type can also be
specified.

Type,
Scheduled Start:
From,
To,
Scheduled End:
From,
To,
Actual Start: From,
To,
Actual End: From,
To

RELEASE

IT_schedule_co
nflict.rptdesign

IT Changes
with Schedule
Conflicts

As a Change Manager, I
want to see the change work
orders which have been
identified as having schedule
conflicts.

Scheduled Start
Date,
Scheduled End
Date,
Owner,
Owner Group

CHANGE

itclasscounts.rp
tdesign

IT Asset
Counts by
Classification

As an Asset Manager, I want

to see the summarized count
of all IT assets by
classification and broken
down by their location and
status.

none

ASSET

licensedetails.r
ptdesign

License
Details

As a Software Asset
Manager, I want to list the
details of each License
details with info such as
Licensed Products, Capacity,
and Capacity Unit.

none

TLOAMLIC

740

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

mainframevuau
dit.rptdesign

Mainframe
Value Unit
Based Audit

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to see the
total license capacity for
specific products, the total
discovered capacity (the
Sums of Value Units of the
computers where the
software is installed, which is
calculated by multiplying the
MSUs with the Value Unit
Exhibit Table based on the
product licensed), and the
variance (the total license
capacity minus total
discovered capacity). (See
More Info tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

mlcflataudit.rptd
esign

MLC Flat
Based Audit
(MLC =
Monthly
License
Charge)

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to run the
MLC (Monthly License
Charge) based License audit
report which displays the total
license capacity for specific
products, the total discovered
capacity (the Sums of MSUs
of the computers where the
software is installed,
irrespective of the VMs), and
the variance (the total license
capacity minus total
discovered capacity). (See
More Info tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

msuaudit.rptde
sign

MSU Based
Audit

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to see the
total license capacity for
specific products, the total
discovered capacity (the
Sums of MSUs of the
computers where the
software is installed), and the
variance (the total license
capacity minus total
discovered capacity). (See
More Info tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

741

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

open_tickets_c
ust_tsd.rptdesig
n

Open Ticket
Detail
(Customer)

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to review open tickets
grouped by customer. This
report is similar to the Open
Ticket Detail report with the
addition of customer fields.

Customer

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

orderreceipt.rpt
design

Partial Orders

As an Asset Manager, I want

to run a report which displays
items that have been in the
Ordered status for more than
the specified number of days

Days Approved

PO

pmcfg_ci_list.rp
tdesign

CI List

As a Configuration Auditor
or Configuration Librarian, I
want to see a list of all my
authorized CIs. This list is
grouped by classification.

none

CI

pmcfg_rcncirslt
_detail.rptdesig
n

CI
Reconciliation
Result Details

As a Configuration
Manager, I want to see the
details behind a specific
reconciliation result so that I
can understand why the data
copy between an actual and
authorized CI succeeded or
failed.

none

RCNCIRSL
T

pmcfg_rcncirslt
_list_byci.rptde
sign

CI
Reconciliation
Results by CI

As a Configuration
Manager, I want to see a list
of all the reconciliation results
grouped by CIs so that I can
determine if there were any
issues copying data between
actual and authorized CIs.

none

RCNCIRSL
T

pmcfg_rcncirslt
_list_byrule.rptd
esign

CI
Reconciliation
Results by
Rule

As a Configuration
Manager, I want to see a list
of all the reconciliation results
grouped by reconciliation
rules so that I can determine
if there were any issues that
might indicate I have an
invalid reconciliation rule.

none

RCNCIRSL
T

742

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

pmcfglc_lifecycl
es.rptdesign

CI Lifecycles

As a Configuration
Manager, I want to see the CI
lifecycle definitions including
the states.

none

PMCFGLC
APP

pmcfgwo_detail
.rptdesign

Configuration
Process
Details

As a Configuration
Manager, I want to see the
details of specific
configuration processes. This
report can be accessed
through the Configuration
Manager application or as a
drill-through report from the
Configuration Process List
report.

none

PMCFGWO

pmcfgwo_list.rp
tdesign

Configuration
Process List

As a Configuration
Manager, I want to see a list
of the configuration
processes that exist on my
system. The list of
configuration processes can
be filtered through the filter in
the Configuration Processes
application before running
the report.

none

PMCFGWO

pmcfgwo_list_b
yclassification.r
ptdesign

Configuration
Processes by
Classification

As a Configuration
Manager, I want to see a list
of the configuration
processes grouped by
classification. The list of
configuration processes can
be filtered through the filter in
the Configuration Processes
application before running
the report.

none

PMCFGWO

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

743

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

pmcfgwo_list_b
ystatus.rptdesig
n

Configuration
Processes by
Status

As a Configuration
Manager, I want to see a list
of the configuration
processes grouped by status.
The list of configuration
processes can be filtered
through the filter in the
Configuration Processes
application before running
the report.

none

PMCFGWO

pmcomByClass
ification.rptdesi
gn

Process
Request by
Classification

As a Process Request
Manager, I want to see
process requests within a
specific date range grouped
by classification.

Start Date,
End Date

PMCOMSR

pmcomByOwne
r_chrt.rptdesign

Process
Requests by
Owner

As a Process Request
Manager, I want to see
process requests with a
certain criteria grouped by
owner.

Start Date*,
End Date*,
Type*,
Status*,
Site*

PMCOMSR

pmcomByPriorit
y_chrt.rptdesig
n

Process
Requests by
Priority

As a Process Request
Manager, I want to see
process requests with a
certain criteria grouped by
priority.

Start Date*,
End Date*,
Type*,
Status*,
Site*

PMCOMSR

pmcomByStatu
s_chrt.rptdesig
n

Process
Requests by
Status

As a Process Request
Manager, I want to see
process requests with a
certain criteria grouped by
status.

Start Date*,
End Date*,
Type*,
Site*

PMCOMSR

pmcomByType_
tbl.rptdesign

Process
Requests by
Type

As a Process Request
Manager, I want to see
process requests with a
certain criteria grouped by
type.

Start Date*,
End Date*,
Type*,
Status*,
Site*

PMCOMSR

744

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

pmsccr_deliver
y_sc.rptdesign

Catalog
Request
Performance

As a Service Execution
Manager, I want to review the
amount of time it has taken to
close approved catalog
requests so that I can
determine where we might
have service bottlenecks.

none

SR

pmsccr_details
_sc.rptdesign

Catalog
Request
Details

Appropriate for multiple roles,

this report shows details of a
specific catalog request,
showing its status,
associated service request,
order date, and requestor.

none

SR,
PMSCVIEW
CR

pmsccr_list_sc.
rptdesign

Catalog
Request List

As a Service Execution
Manager, I want to see a list
and pie chart of my catalog
requests and their status so
that I can monitor catalog
request fulfillment.

none

SR

pmsccrwappr5_
sc.rptdesign

Catalog
Requests
Awaiting
Approval More
Than 5 Days

As a Service Execution
Manager, I want to see which
catalog requests have been
waiting longer than 5 days in
approval so that I can
determine if there is a service
bottleneck.

none

SR

pointsaudit.rptd
esign

Points Based
Audit

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to compare
the total license capacity for
the specific product with total
discovered capacity, which is
the summary count of the
computer with the software
installed multiplied by the
points values specified for
each product. (See More Info
tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

745

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

pro_inc_gen_kn
own_error_tsd.r
ptdesign

Incident
Generation for
Problems with
Known Errors

As a Problem or Incident
Manager, I want to identify
problems with known errors
(i.e. documented solutions)
have spawned incidents so
that I can determine if there
are actions to take (e.g.
publish solution to user
community) to reduce
duplicate incidents or
problems.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when problems
were reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

PROBLEM

pro_inc_gen_u
nknown_error_t
sd.rptdesign

Incident
Generation for
Problems with
Unknown
Errors

As a Problem or Incident
Manager, I want to identify
problems with unknown
errors which have spawned
incidents so that I can
determine if there are actions
to take (e.g. document
solution) to prevent repeat
incidents and problems.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when problems
were reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

PROBLEM

pro_sla_compli
ance_noncompl
iance_tsd.rptde
sign

SLA
Compliance for
Problem
Management

As a Problem Manager, I
want to identify which
Problems are in and out of
compliance with SLAs. I can
see a pie chart of internal
priority % for both cases and
a list of Problems based on
the date range and subgroup
criteria.

SubGroup By
(defaults to ticketid,
used in list)
Start Date (of
target)
End Date (of target)
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

PROBLEM

pro_survey_tsd.
rptdesign

Problem
Survey

As a Problem Manager, I
want to review the results of
the Standard Problem Survey
in the specified date range so
that I can gauge customer
satisfaction. This report can
also serve as an example for
creating custom survey
reports.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when results were
received]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

PROBLEM

746

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

problem_dispos
ition_tsd.rptdesi
gn

Disposition
Report for
Problem
Management

As a Problem Manager, I
want to see what Problems
have spawned other work
items (such as other ticket
types or work orders).

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when Problem was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

PROBLEM

problem_resolu
tion_tsd.rptdesi
gn

Problem
Resolution

As a Problem Manager, I
want to review the Problems
with known errors (i.e.
published solutions) and
unknown errors so that I can
determine if further actions,
such as documenting or
publishing solutions, would
reduce future problems

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when Problem was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

PROBLEM

problem_volum
e_tsd.rptdesign

Volume Report
for Problem
Management

As a Problem Manager, I
want to see the Problems in
the date range grouped by
the criteria I specify so that I
can analyze the Problem
activity.

Group By (default
to Internalpriority)
SubGroup By
(default to ticketid)
[Valid values for
group and
subgroup: Status,
Owner,
Internalpriority,
Reportedpriority]
Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when Problem was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

PROBLEM

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

747

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

pvuaudit.rptdesi
gn

PVU Based
Audit

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to run the
license audit report which
displays the total
Full-Capacity Processor
Value Unit (PVU) license
capacity for specific products,
the total discovered PVUs for
the computers where the
software is installed and the
variance. (See More Info tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

pvusubaudit.rpt
design

PVU Sub
Capacity
Based Audit

As a Software Compliance
Auditor, I want to see the
total Sub-Capacity Processor
Value Unit (PVU) license
capacity for specific products,
the total discovered PVUs for
the computers where the
software is installed and the
variance. (See More Info tab)

none

TLOAMLIC

servoffsr_detail
s_sc.rptdesign

Offering
Details

Appropriate for multiple roles,

this report provides details of
a specific service catalog
offering.

none

PMSCOFF
ER

servoffsr_frequ
ency_sc.rptdesi
gn

Offerings
Order
Frequency

As a Service Level
Manager, I want to see the
how many times each catalog
offering has been ordered so
that I can understand what
services are in demand and
determine if changes are
needed.

Enter the itemnum

of the offering

PMSCOFF
ER

servoffsr_list_s
c.rptdesign

Offerings List

As a Service Level
Manager, I want to see a
complete list of all catalog
offerings and their current
status.

none

PMSCOFF
ER

748

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Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

servoffsr_notor
dered_sc.rptde
sign

Offerings Not
Ordered

As a Service Level
Manager, I want to review
which catalog offerings have
not been ordered in a
particular date range so that I
can determine if an offering
needs to be redesigned or
reconsidered.

Start Date
End Date

PMSCOFF
ER

solution_chang
e_history_tsd.r
ptdesign

Solution
Change
History

As a Knowledge Manager, I
want to track the creation and
changes made to published
solutions. Note that this
report requires auditing be
turned on for the Solutions
object in the Database
Administration application.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when Solution was
changed]
[Date range can be
open ended or
blank]

SOLUTION

sr_disposition_t
sd.rptdesign

Disposition
Report for SR
Management

As a Service Request
Manager, I want to see what
SRs have spawned other
work items (such as other
ticket types or work orders).

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when Service
Request was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

SR

sr_from_catalo
g_sc.rptdesign

Service
Requests
Created By
Catalog
Orders

As a Service Level
Manager, I want to see what
SRs have been created by
Service Catalog offerings so
that I can analyze the
effectiveness of my catalog
portfolio.

none

SR

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

749

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

sr_sla_complia
nce_noncompli
ance_tsd.rptde
sign

SLA
Compliance for
Service
Request
Management

As a Service Request
Manager, I want to identify
which SRs are in and out of
compliance with SLAs. I can
see a pie chart of internal
priority % for both cases and
a list of SRs based on the
date range and subgroup
criteria.

SubGroup By
(defaults to ticketid,
used in list)
Start Date (of
target)
End Date (of target)
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

SR

sr_survey_tsd.r
ptdesign

SR Survey

As a Service Request
Manager, I want to review the
results of the Standard
Service Request Survey in
the specified date range so
that I can gauge customer
satisfaction. This report can
also serve as an example for
creating custom survey
reports.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when results were
received]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

SR

sr_volume_tsd.r
ptdesign

Volume Report
for Service
Request
Management

As a Service Request
Manager, I want to see the
SRs in the date range
grouped by the criteria I
specify so that I can analyze
the SR activity.

Group By (default
to Internalpriority)
SubGroup By
(default to ticketid)
[Valid values for
group and
subgroup: Status,
Owner,
Internalpriority,
Reportedpriority]
Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when SR was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

SR

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Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

survey_volume
_tsd.rptdesign

Surveys Sent
and Received

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to see the number of surveys
that have been sent out for
SRs, Incidents, or Problems,
and the number of receipts so
that I can determine if we are
getting an accurate gauge on
customer satisfaction.

Application (default
to Incident)
[Valid values are
SR, Incident, or
Problem]

SR

swvendlic.rptde
sign

Software
Products by
Vendor and
License

As a Software Asset
Manager, I want to see the
licenses associated with
each vendor and the software
products associated with
each license.

none

TLOAMLIC

ticket_ci.rptdesi
gn

IT Tickets
(Incidents,
Problems, SR)
for
Configuration
Items

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to graphically see the number
of tickets (SRs, Incidents,
Problems) created against
each CI so that I can assess
CI operating costs in terms of
tickets. Four optional input
parameters are provided to
narrow the report scope.

Ticket Actual Start

Time,
Ticket Actual End
Time,
CI name,
CI Classification

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

ticket_ci_detail.
rptdesign

IT Tickets
Associated
with CI Details

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to see a list of tickets (SRs,
Incidents, Problems) that
have been created against
each CI so that I can analyze
the issues affecting specific
CIs. Four optional input
parameters are provided to
narrow the report scope.

Ticket Actual Start

Time,
Ticket Actual End
Time,
CI name,
CI Classification

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

ticket_cust_tsd.
rptdesign

Incident
(Problem,
Service
Request) List
(Customer)

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to see a list of all my tickets
grouped by customer and
status. This report is similar
to the Incident (Problem,
Service Request) List report
with the addition of customer
fields.

none

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

751

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

tloamdpaswdet
ails.rptdesign

Deployed
Software
Details

As a Software Asset
Manager, I want to list the
details of each Software
Inventory Records with info
such as Install Products,
Install Path, Install date,
Uninstall date, and
manufacturer name

none

TLOAMDPA
SW

tlsm_1stLevelR
esolution.rptdes
ign

Requests
Resolved at
1st Contact

As a Customer Satisfaction
Manager, I want a list of the
number of tickets by group
that were resolved on initial
contact and the percentage
of the total for that group
across a date range

Start Date,
End Date,
Owner Group

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_Aging_Re
port_Summary.
rptdesign

Aging Report
Summary (Age
Breakout
Report)

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
a list of the number of open
tickets grouped by age (0,
1-2, 3-4, etc), and detail
provided for each ticket
grouped by ownergroup.

Owner Group

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_amt_chan
ges_implement
ed_wo_approva
l.rptdesign

Percentage of
Changes that
are Complete
or Closed and
not Approved

As a Change Manager, I
want to compare the % of
changes implemented with
and without approval across
a date range

Owner Group,
Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

tlsm_Change_
Detail.rptdesign

Change Detail

As a Change Implementer, I
want to list detailed
information about a change
and all associated records.

Work Order
Number* (Change
number)

CHANGE

tlsm_Change_S
chedule_Meetin
g.rptdesign

Change
Schedule
Meeting

As a Change Assessor, I
want to list summary and
detail data for all open
approved changes by
scheduled start date across a
date range.

Site,
Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

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Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

tlsm_Changes_
Approved.rptde
sign

Status of
Approved
Changes

As a Change Manager, I
want to know the number of
approved changes by status
and detailed information for
each change across a date
range.

Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

tlsm_Changes_
by_change_cat
egory.rptdesign

Changes by
Change
Category

As a Change Assessor, I
want to see the % of changes
per category, the number of
changes per category for
each status, and detailed
information of changes by
ownergroup across a date
range.

Owner Group,
Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

tlsm_changes_
by_failure_prob
ability.rptdesign

Changes by
Failure
Probability

As a Risk Analyst, I want to

know the number of changes
per failure probability, the
category of changes per
probability failure, and a list
by ownergroup of changes
across a date range.

Owner Group,
Start Date,
End Date,
Date Field
Selection
[Date Field
Selection
determines which
date field to
consider in the date
range:
1 = Report Date
(default)
2 = Scheduled
Start Date
3 = Scheduled
Finish Date]

CHANGE

tlsm_Changes_
By_Status_Valu
e.rptdesign

Changes by
Status Value

As a Change Manager, I
want to see the number of
changes per status and
detailed information for each
change across a date range.

Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

tlsm_Classificat
ions.rptdesign

Classification
and
Descriptions

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Analyst, I want a
list of classifications available
for the ticket type.

none

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

753

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

tlsm_Daily-mor
ning-tickets.rptd
esign

Daily Morning
Tickets

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
a summary and detailed list
of all open tickets

none

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_ElapsedTi
meForUnresolv
edTickets.rptde
sign

Amount of time
in days
incidents
(problems,
service
requests) have
been
unresolved

As a Customer Satisfaction
Manager, I want a summary
of open tickets by number of
days open per month across
a date range.

Start Date,
End Date

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_IMAC_Ch
anges_By_Own
erGroup.rptdesi
gn

List of IMAC
changes by
ownergroup

As an Asset Analyst, I want

a list of changes with an
IMAC classification by
ownergroup across a date
range.

Owner Group,
Start Date,
End Date,
Date Selection
(1-3)
[Date Selection
determines which
date field to
consider in the date
range:
1 = Report Date
(default)
2 = Scheduled
Start Date
3 = Scheduled
Finish Date]

CHANGE

tlsm_Manage_
Top_Tickets.rpt
design

Manage Top
Tickets

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
to determine the most
common ticket classifications
for each month across a date
range.

Start Date,
End Date

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

754

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

tlsm_MinimizeLi
feCycleForTick
et.rptdesign

Amount of time
for groups to
close finished
incidents
(problems,
service
requests)

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want to
find the average time spent to
close tickets after work has
completed, sorted by internal
priority to identify which
groups are closing tickets in a
timely manner.

Start Date,
End Date,
Owner Group

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_Monthly_
OOC_Expande
d_Summary.rpt
design

Monthly Out Of
Criteria
Expanded
Summary

As a Compliance Manager, I
want to list the total and
Percentage of each month's
tickets that were out of
criteria.

Start Date,
End Date

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_MonthlyO
OCMeasureme
nt.rptdesign

Monthly Out of
Criteria Incident
(Problem,
Service
Request)

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
to list detailed information for
tickets that are out of criteria
by ownergroup.

Start Date,
End Date

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_OOC.rptd
esign

Monthly OOC
Measurement

As a Compliance Manager, I
want a list of the number and
percentage of OOC tickets by
Reported Date, Actual Finish,
or Closed Date and Owner
Group.

Date Type,
Start Date,
End Date
[Date Type
determines which
date field to
consider in the date
range:
1 = Report Date
(default)
2 = Scheduled
Start Date
3 = Scheduled
Finish Date]

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

755

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

tlsm_PastDue_
Open_Changes
.rptdesign

Past Due Open

Changes

As a Compliance Auditor, I
want to know how many
changes were past due
compared to the total for
open changes per month
across a date range.

Start Date,
End Date,
Filter By
[Filter By
determines which
date field to
consider in the date
range:
1 = Report Date
(default)
2 = Scheduled
Start Date
3 = Scheduled
Finish Date]

CHANGE

tlsm_Percentag
e_of_Endorsed
_Changes.rptd
esign

Percentage of
Endorsed
Changes

As a Compliance Analyst, I
want a list of changes with
work orders or tasks that
have been deleted.

Start Date,
End Date

CHANGE

tlsm_Percentag
e_Priority_ticket
.rptdesign

Percentage of
Priority Tickets
not fixed within
the specified
time period.

As a Compliance Manager, I
want to list the number and
percentage of closed tickets
by priority that were not fixed
by the specified date across a
date range.

Start Date*,
End Date*,
Filter By*,
Owner Group
[Filter By
determines which
date field to
consider in the date
range:
1 = Actual Finish
2 = Report Date]

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_ticket_by_i
nternalpriority.r
ptdesign

Incident
(Problem,
Service
Request)
Summary By
Internal
Priority

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
to know the number of tickets
by priority.

Start Date,
End Date,
Owner Group

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

tlsm_Ticket_by
_Ownergroup.r
ptdesign

Ticket by
Ownergroup

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
to know the total number of
tickets that were not late for
each ownergroup followed by
the count for each month
across a date range.

Start Date,
End Date

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_ticket_Inte
rnalPriority_1an
d2.rptdesign

Severity 1 and
2 for Incident
(Problem,
Service
Request)

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
to know the percentage of
sev 1 and 2 tickets per group,
and the number of open,
closed, and resolved tickets
across a date range.

Start Date,
End Date

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_Ticket_Qu
eue_Hopping.r
ptdesign

Ticket Queue
Hopping

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
a count per month and list of
tickets that have been
reassigned more than 5 times
across a date range

Start Date,
End Date

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_Ticket_Ti
meframe.rptdes
ign

Tickets Against
Timeframe

As an
Incident/Problem/Request
Fulfillment Manager, I want
a chart of the number of
tickets by priority that were in
criteria, a summary of the
count and percentage in and
not in criteria, and list of the
tickets including ID,
description, actualfinish,
targetfinish, reportdate, and
status.

Start Date,
End Date,
Owner Group

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

tlsm_Total_Nu
mber_of_Ticket
s.rptdesign

Total number
of incidents
(problems,
service
requests) by
internal priority

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to see the total number of
tickets in a specific date
range sorted by internal
priority.

Start Date,
End Date

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

Appendix B. SmartCloud Control Desk Reports

757

Name

Report File
Name

Description

Parameters

Application

tlsm_Workgrou
pID.rptdesign

Workgroup ID

As a Change Manager, I
want a list of persons or
owners of existing changes
by persongroup.

none

CHANGE

totals_tsd.rptde
sign

Total Number
of Incidents
(Problems,
Service
Requests)

As a Ticket Manager, I want

to review all my tickets in a
specific date range sorted by
status.

Start Date
End Date
[Date Range for
when ticket was
reported]
[No End Date
defaults to today's
date; No Start Date
defaults to 30 days
before End Date]

INCIDENT,
PROBLEM,
SR

warrantyassets
due.rptdesign

Warranty
Assets Due

As an Asset Manager, I want

to see a list of assets
associated with maintenance
contracts that are scheduled
to end.

Days Forward

CONTWAR
RTY

758

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Appendix C.

Examining the Actual CI

adapter
This appendix takes a closer look into the SmartCloud Control Desk Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager Actual CI Adapter and provides
more information than what is available in the InfoCenter.
This appendix is targeted towards an audience that is already familiar with the
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager Actual CI Adapter.
This appendix includes the following sections:
Supported properties within the ccmdb.properties file
How Tivoli Integration Composer determines which CIs to process
How Tivoli Integration Composer creates and then deletes the Actual CI
relationships
How Tivoli Integration Composer marks Actual CIs for deletion
How Tivoli Integration Composer supports a partial execution

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

759

Supported properties within the ccmdb.properties file

The Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager Actual CI Adapter reads
the Integration_Composer/data/properties/provider/ccmdb.properties file to
modify its default behavior. This section examines these in more detail and
explains their use. Some of these properties might not be in the version of your
property file because they were provided to help work around specific situations.
If a property was not available in Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0, the release it
was first made available is listed in the description.
ccmdb.itic.status.frequency=<default value: 500>
Tivoli Integration Composer can be configured to print incremental status
messages to help determine how long the Actual CI mapping execution takes
to complete. The output status message includes the total number of top-level
CIs to be processed, and how many of these CIs have been processed so far.
You can determine the completion percentage from this information.
The message also includes the total number of Actual CIs processed so far
and the number of Actual CIs processed during that frequency interval. You
can use this to determine the average number of CIs processed per top level
Actual CI. Also, because the status message contains a time stamp, you can
calculate the average amount of time Tivoli Integration Composer spends to
process each CI.
The value of this property represents the number of top-level CIs for the Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager Adapter to process before
printing a status message. The default value is 500 top-level CIs.
If this property value is set to 0, no status messages are printed. If this
property is deleted or commented out, or the value is set to null, the default
value of 500 top level Actual CIs is used.
The numbers printed by the status message represent the Actual CIs
processed from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager, whereas
the Tivoli Integration Composer summary outputs the number of records that
are inserted, updated, or deleted from the target database tables. These
numbers might not match.
This property was available before 7.5.0.
ccmdb.enable.actualci.deletion=<true|false>
The deletion property is used to indicate whether Tivoli Integration Composer
flags Actual CIs for deletion when the CI no longer exists in Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager. This processing occurs before Tivoli
Integration Composer's normal mapping execution. If this property does not
exist, the default behavior is not to do delete processing.
This property was available before 7.5.0.

760

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

 ccmdb.itic.num.of.delete.time.partitions=<numeric value>
This optional property was made available to work around situations where
Tivoli Integration Composer delete processing failed with a Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager timeout exception while reading the change
history data. The value is used to divide the number of days between now and
the last time Tivoli Integration Composer successfully completed the deletion
processing. For example, if the last time Tivoli Integration Composer marked
Actual CIs for deletion was 2 months ago and the partition is set to 4, the
duration that is used to search for deleted Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager CIs is 15 days.
This property was made available with Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0.1
and later.
ccmdb.delete.class.<SHORT.CLASSNAME=1>
This optional property was made available to work around situations where
Tivoli Integration Composer delete processing cannot complete successfully
because of Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager timeout
exceptions while reading the change history data. There can be multiple
properties starting with prefix ccmdb.delete.class that contain a classification
name. When one or more of these properties are set the Tivoli Integration
Composer, the delete process only searches for deleted Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager CIs of the classification types listed. This is
used if Tivoli Integration Composer successfully processed most
classifications for deletion, but failed for a few classifications. You can then
use this to force only the failed classifications to reprocess while also using
the num.of.delete.time.partitions property to make the Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager search duration shorter.
This property was made available with Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0.1
and later.
ccmdb.actualci.filtering.level=<0|2>
This is a required property, and must be set for Tivoli Integration Composer to
process the Actual CI mapping. There is no default setting for this property so
if it does not exist, Tivoli Integration Composer will exit. If Tivoli Integration
Composer 7.5.0 is a fresh installation, this property value is set to 2. If Tivoli
Integration Composer 7.5.0 was installed as an upgrade, this property value
is initially set to 0 so processing resembles the old Tivoli Integration
Composer version.
A value of 0 causes Tivoli Integration Composer to search for properties in
this file starting with ccmdb.classification.depth. Actual CIs are NOT
imported for those classifications set to -1. It is valid for this property to be
set to 0 with no classifications set to be filtered out.

Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter

761

The default value of 2 causes Tivoli Integration Composer to import only

Actual CIs and attributes found in the promotion scopes. If multiple promotion
scopes exist, Tivoli Integration Composer uses the superset. It is not valid for
this property to be set to 2 if no promotion scope exists.
This property was made available with Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0 and
later.
ccmdb.classification.depth.xxx.xxxx=<numeric value>
This optional property can be used as a way to filter out Actual CIs of a
specific type by setting a value to -1.
While Tivoli Integration Composer is processing a top-level CI to the max
depth, when it reaches a related CI of a type that is set to be skipped, it stops
processing that branch. This means that CIs related to the skipped
classification type are also not imported.
This property can also be used to override the default depth setting that is set
with the property ccmdb.classification.default.depth.
For example, if you normally only needed to import at a depth of 2, but for
Application CI types you required a depth of 3, you can use this property to
achieve that.
Note that since 7.5.0.1 HF 2, a subclass is processed at the super class's
depth unless the subclass is specifically set to a different depth. Therefore, if
Application was set to depth 3, the subclass of VApp is also processed at
depth 3.
If Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0 was a fresh install, the ccmdb.properties
file contains a default list of classifications set to -1 so they are not imported. If
Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0 was installed as an upgrade, the filtering is
identical to that of the older version of Tivoli Integration Composer.
Generally, filter out the following classifications:
ccmdb.classification.depth.APP.CONFIGFILE=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.APP.DB.DB2.DB2DATABASECONFIGVALUE=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.APP.DB.DB2.DB2INSTANCECONFIGVALUE=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.APP.DB.DB2.DB2SYSTEMCONFIGVALUE=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.APP.PROCESSPOOL=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.CORE.LOGICALCONTENT=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.DEV.DISKDRIVE=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.DEV.DISKPARTITION=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.DEV.MEDIAACCESSDEVICE=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.DEV.STORAGEVOLUME=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.SYS.AIXSOFTWARECOMPONENT=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.SYS.DATAFILE=-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.SYS.SOFTWARECOMPONENT=-1

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ccmdb.classification.depth.SYS.WINDOWS.WINDOWSSERVICE =-1
ccmdb.classification.depth.SYS.ZOS.ZREPORTFILE=-1
This property was available before 7.5.0.
ccmdb.classification.default.depth=<default value: 3>
This property is used as the depth for all active top-level classifications unless
overridden by the ccmdb.classificaiton.depth property. If this property is
missing, a default depth of 3 is used. It is invalid to set this property to a
negative number.
This property was available before 7.5.0.
ccmdb.taddm.exclude.filter=0
By default, Tivoli Integration Composer queries Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager to determine whether it supports the
excluding clause. If supported, Tivoli Integration Composer uses this as part
of the query to retrieve top-level CI data when filtering out any of the default
classifications. Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager versions
7.2.1 and later support this option.
The following query is used to determine whether Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager supports the excluding clause:
"select * excluding preferences from UserPreference"
Using the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager excluding
clause helps performance because the excluded classifications are excluded
by Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager rather than by Tivoli
Integration Composer.
This property was available before 7.5.0.
ccmdb.taddm.locationtag.filter=<format example:
CustomerTag1|CustomerTag2>
This optional property only works with Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager release 7.2.1.1 and higher. It can be used to filter the
imported CIs based on the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
LocationTag attribute value. With the example above, only CIs where the
top-level CI is owned by either CustomerTag1 or CustomerTag2 are imported.
This processing assumes that any related CI to the imported top-level CI is
also valid for these LocationTag values.
This property was made available with Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0 and
later.
ccmdb.enable.explicit.relationships=<true|false>
This property is used to import explicit relationships from Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager. Extra Tivoli Application Dependency

Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter

763

Discovery Manager API calls are required to import these relationships, which
affects Tivoli Integration Composer performance. The default setting is false.
If set to true, the following relationships are imported:
core.Dependency
app.dependencies.IpDependency
app.dependencies.ServiceDependency
app.dependencies.SystemDependency
app.dependencies.TransactionalDependency
dev.BasedOnExtent
dev.RealizesExtent
These relationships are imported based on the Actual CIs processed. If
Actual CI abc is processed, Tivoli Integration Composer searches where abc
is either the source or target of an explicit relationship.
This property was available before 7.5.0.
ccmdb.explicit.relationship.DEV.REALIZESEXTENT=1
This optional property is used to modify the default explicit relationship list. If
the property ccmdb.enable.explicit.relationships equals true, the seven
explicit relationships are imported unless this property is also found. If this
property is used, the default list is ignored and only explicit relationship with
the prefix ccmdb.explicit.relationship. are imported. Therefore, if you just
wanted to add one explicit to the list, you must have a property for the original
seven plus the new one:
ccmdb.explicit.relationship.APP.DEPENDENCIES.APPLICATIONTOAPPLICATIO
NDEPENDENCY
ccmdb.explicit.relationship.CORE.DEPENDENCY
ccmdb.explicit.relationship.APP.DEPENDENCIES.IPDEPENDENCY
This property was available before 7.5.0.
ccmdb.itic.num.of.threads=<thread count:cached CI data i.e. 5:20>
By default, Tivoli Integration Composer uses multiple threads to retrieve the
top-level CI data from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager.
This optional property can be used to specify the maximum number of
threads to be created and how much CI data can be cached at a time.
A warning message is logged if this property is used and the
NO_CACHE_LOAD option is not part of the following lines in the
fusion.properties file:
mxe.fusion.referencecache.Actual_Target_CI=1000,Guid,ALTERNATE_KEY,N
O_CACHE_LOAD
mxe.fusion.referencecache.Actual_CI=1000,Guid,ALTERNATE_KEY,NO_CACHE
_LOAD

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

If the NO_CACHE_LOAD option is used and this property is not set, the
default number of threads is 10 for 64-bit operating systems, and 5 for 32-bit
operating systems. The default number of cached top-level CI data is 50 for
64 bit, and 25 for 32 bit.
The system property os.arch is used to make this determination. Because
this is not always consistent, a 64-bit system might get thread setting for a
32-bit system. If that happens, this property can be used to correct the
setting.
This property was made available with Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0 and
later.
ccmdb.itic.thread.max.wait.time=<milliseconds i.e. 600000>
This optional property controls how long Tivoli Integration Composer waits for
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager to return data to the
thread. The data that the Tivoli Integration Composer is waiting for are from
the executeQuery API asking for a top-level CI for a specific depth. The
default value is 600000 milliseconds (10 minutes). If this time is reached and
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager has not returned data,
Tivoli Integration Composer stops all processing. Ten minutes is the default
for Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0.1, but the default was just 1 minute in
Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0 making it more likely that you need this
property.
This property was made available with Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0 and
later.
ccmdb.enable.skip.unavailable=<true|false>
This optional property can be used to stop Tivoli Integration Composer from
creating Actual CIs with an ACTCINUM value of UNAVAILABLE. If set to true
and Tivoli Integration Composer processes a Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager CI containing no value for the Label or DisplayName
attribute, a warning message is logged and Tivoli Integration Composer skips
that CI until a Label or DisplayName value is available.
A message is posted containing the GUID name of the CIs that were skipped.
The Tivoli Integration Composer Summary contains an extra line to post the
number skipped:
Number of skipped Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
CIs: 2
After it is set, the ACTCINUM is never modified. However, the ACTCINAME is
modified to reflect the value of the CI's Label or DisplayName attribute. The
ACTCINAME is usually what is displayed on the SmartCloud Control Desk
console, but many users prefer to skip CIs discovered at level 1 until they are
discovered at a higher level so that they contain more data.

Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter

765

This property was made available in Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0.1 Hot
Fix 2.
ccmdb.enable.depth.for.non.top.level.classes=<true|false>
This optional property causes Tivoli Integration Composer to follow
relationships for ACTIVE non-top level classifications.
Normally Tivoli Integration Composer does NOT process relationships for
ACTIVE non-top level classifications. This property modifies that behavior. All
ACTIVE classifications are traversed to the depth specified.
There are few cases where this property is required. In most situations, start
importing from a top-level class and allow the non-top-level CI classes to be
imported based on their relationship with a top-level class. With this property
set to true, if you activate a non-top level classification that is related to an
ACTIVE top-level classification, you cause Tivoli Integration Composer to
process Actual CIs multiple times. This in turn degrades performance. Use
this property with caution.

How Tivoli Integration Composer determines which CIs

to process
After the initial load, Tivoli Integration Composer will want to just process Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs that have changed for the
ACTIVE classifications. The fsnlastscan SmartCloud Control Desk database
table is used to determine whether Tivoli Integration Composer does a full or
partial load. If there are no records in the fsnlastscan table for the mapping name
being run, all Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs are
processed for those activated classifications.
If you want to force Tivoli Integration Composer to reimport all CIs for the active
classifications, clear the fnslastscan table for the mapping name you are using.
This can be done by using the Tivoli Integration Composer console with the
Delete Mapping Last Scan History option, as shown in Figure C-1 on
page 767, or by using the following SQL:
delete from maximo.fsnlastscan where mappingname='mymappingname'

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Figure C-1 Selecting Delete Mapping Last Scan History

If you just want Tivoli Integration Composer to reprocess one GUID, remove it
from the fsnlastscan table using the following SQL command:
delete from maximo.fsnlastscan where mappingname='mymappingname' and
sourceid='myguidId'
Conversely, if you create a new mapping and do NOT want Tivoli Integration
Composer to process all CIs from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager, use SQL to rename the old mapping name to the new mapping name
so Tivoli Integration Composer continues to process where it left off:
update maximo.fsnlastscan set mappingname='newmappingname' where
mappingname='oldmappingname'
Although this is helpful to know, there can be good reasons to have Tivoli
Integration Composer reprocess all the Actual CIs. For instance, if you have
upgraded Tivoli Integration Composer to a major release, there might be updates
that must be applied to all Actual CIs.
If there is even just one GUID listed in the fsnlastscan table for the mapping
name being run, Tivoli Integration Composer checks for updated Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs to process instead of
processing all Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs. This is
done in two steps:
1. For the active classifications, the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager LastModifiedTime is compared to the LastScanDT column in the
ACTCI database table. Actual CIs that have a LastScanDT time stamp older

Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter

767

than the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager LastModifiedTime

are considered updated candidates.
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs with no matching
Actual CI are considered new and are imported.
2. The Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager LastModifiedTime
represents the last time the CI was discovered, not the time stamp it was
actually modified. Because the CI could have been discovered but nothing
changed, Tivoli Integration Composer uses the Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager change history table to validate that updates did take
place.
As you can see, the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager's change
history table plays an important role in this delta processing. If you deleted all
entries in the change history table, Tivoli Integration Composer does not consider
any existing Actual CIs as updated and only processes new CIs. If the change
history table is configured to track every minor update, Tivoli Integration
Composer considers every fresh discovery as having updated CIs, which causes
more processing than necessary. If the change history table contains six years of
updates, it will be slow to query for recent changes and affect Tivoli Integration
Composer performance.
You can configure what Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
stores as updates in the change history table with the file:
<taddm install directory>/dist/ect/changeserver.xml
This file already contains good examples on the syntax that is required to
configure Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager to ignore tracking
updates to specific attributes, classes, and packages. It is worth your time to
review it.
When retrieving the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager GUIDs
for the ACTIVE classifications, Tivoli Integration Composer obtains GUIDs for all
subclasses. For example, if AppServer is activated, Tivoli Integration Composer
can be expected to process ApacheServers, WebServers, CICSRegions,
DominoServers, and so on. The filter setting affects which Actual CIs are
imported.
For classification filtering (ccmdb.actualci.filtering.level=0), if a non-active
classification that is set to -1 is a subclass of an active classification, the subclass
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs are ignored and not
imported.
For the authorized promotion scope filtering (filtering level = 2), the Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs imported must be part of a

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

promotion scope. Furthermore, when using the Promotion Scope filtering, it is

important to understand that Tivoli Integration Composer only updates existing
Actual CIs if they are linked to an Authorized CI.
An example might help clarify this:
1. Tivoli Integration Composer is used for the first time to import Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CI data as Actual CIs into the
SmartCloud Control Desk database using Auth Scope filtering.
2. Tivoli Integration Composer is run a second time to import new Tivoli
Application Dependency Discovery Manager CI data and to update existing
Actual CIs to match modified Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager CIs:
a. If a CI exists in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager but not
the SmartCloud Control Desk database, it is imported.
b. If a CI was modified in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
and both an Actual CI and an Authorized CI exist, the Actual CI is updated
to reflect the data found in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager.
c. If a CI was modified in Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
and only an Actual CI exists, the Actual CI is NOT updated. The reasoning
here is that because the Actual CI was not promoted into an Authorized
CI, it is not being managed. Therefore, there is no need to keep the Actual
CI up-to-date until it is promoted to an Authorized CI.
After establishing the initial list of GUIDs to process, Tivoli Integration Composer
uses the depth setting to import the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager CIs that are related to the top-level CIs. Define the depth setting within
the ccmdb.properties file. The default depth is only used if no other depth
applies to the active classification. A subclass obtains its parent depth unless
explicitly overridden. Tivoli Integration Composer logs which classifications and
depths are processed so you can review this in the fusion.log.
The following two DEBUG properties provide more details of Actual CI
processing:
log4j.logger.fusion.provider.cmdbapi=DEBUG
log4j.logger.fusion.provider.taddmactualci=DEBUG

Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter

769

How Tivoli Integration Composer creates and then

deletes the Actual CI relationships
Tivoli Integration Composer retrieves data from Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager for a top-level GUID to a specific depth. Tivoli Integration
Composer traverses through the ModelObject data, first for the primitive
attributes (which are stored in the ACTCISPEC table), and then for attributes that
represent a relationship.
If the target classification is to be filtered out, the relationship is ignored and the
next relationship is processed.
Otherwise, the RELATIONRULES table is consulted to see whether there is a
rule that matches the source classification, relationship name, and target
classification. If there is no rule, the reverse is searched: Target classification,
relationship name, and source classification. If a reverse rule is found, the source
and target CIs are swapped to match the rule when they are stored in the
ACTCIRELATION table. The ACTCIRELATION.SWAPPED column is set to 1 if
the relationship was modified from the order found in Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager.
If a rule was not found, the relationship is added as is to the ACTCIRELATION
table.
After the relationship is saved, the target ModelObject data is traversed so that
the target Actual CI and its attributes are created. If the maximum depth has not
been reached, the target's relationships are pursued.
This process is repeated for all relationships until the depth setting is reached.
The top level Actual CI processing starts at depth one. This means that you
import Actual CI data at the depth specified, but process relationships for the
depth minus one.
For example, if you had a depth setting of two for computer systems, you get the
computer system CIs imported, the relationships for the computer system are
followed, and those target CIs are also imported. However, the target CIs'
relationships are not followed because depth two is reached when processing
the computer system relationship targets.
ComputerSystem OperatingSystem represents depth two. CIs related to the
operating system are not created.
Tivoli Integration Composer deletes relationships only if both the source and
target CI were processed. Otherwise, Tivoli Integration Composer cannot tell if

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

the relationship that exists in the database was there by following a different path
and therefore is still valid. For example, if a relationship exists between an
application server and a computer system in the database, if Tivoli Integration
Composer only processes the computer system, there is no link to the
application server. But Tivoli Integration Composer should not delete that
relationship unless the application server was also processed and there still was
no relationship found between the two CIs.
This behavior allows the use of smaller depth settings to still reach the same
overall depth. For example, If you needed a depth of 3 for computer system data
but your Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager topology looked like
Business Application Functional Group AppServer ComputerSystem, to
have three levels for computer system, you need a depth of 6 when starting from
the Business Application.
Instead, if you activated Application and set depth to 3, Tivoli Integration
Composer reaches AppServer. You also must activate AppServer to at least a
depth of 2 to pick up the relationship to ComputerSystem. ComputerSystem must
be active and set to depth 3 to pick up the additional data you wanted to manage.
Trying to determine what classifications to set to ACTIVE for what depth can be
difficult. If you have a Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager GUID
for the topology, and Tivoli Integration Composer will be importing CIs, you can
use the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager command line API
interface to extract the type of data Tivoli Integration Composer will see.
The Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager api.sh and api.bat are
at the <taddm install directory>/dist/sdk/bin location.
./api.sh u <userid > p <password> find depth 4 guid
A9A6F80AD02D3845BB924D7CFD26615C
For this example, the simplified output is shown in Example C-1.
Example C-1 api.sh output

<Application array="1" guid="A9A6F80AD02D3845BB924D7CFD26615C"

lastModified="1350562340943"
xsi:type="coll:com.collation.platform.model.topology.app.Application">
<groups array="1" guid="284F0186EFD13A45A45B41E2C951C11D"
lastModified="1348955766545"
xsi:type="coll:com.collation.platform.model.topology.app.AppServerFunct
ionalGroup">
<members array="1" guid="C308DC3407EE347B8A47A7D32D434F22"
lastModified="1350072328679"
xsi:type="coll:com.collation.platform.model.topology.app.web.apache.Apa
cheServer">

Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter

771

<host guid="335F9D19025A3364A5C31FE92D93C92B"
lastModified="1350247649374"
xsi:type="coll:com.collation.platform.model.topology.sys.linux.LinuxUni
taryComputerSystem">
<type>ComputerSystem</type>
You can tell by the xml indentation the four depths found:
Application FunctionalGroup AppServer ComputerSystem

How Tivoli Integration Composer marks Actual CIs for

deletion
Tivoli Integration Composer does not directly delete Actual CIs, but you can
configure it to mark Actual CIs for deletion by setting the following
ccmdb.properties entry to true:
ccmdb.enable.actualci.deletion=true
When this property is set to true, Tivoli Integration Composer checks for deleted
Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager CIs before looking for new
and updated CIs. The MAXVARS table contains the time stamp that is used as
the start criteria when searching for deleted CIs:
select varvalue from maxvars where varname='CCIITICDELETETS'
This value is in milliseconds. You can use a date to millisecond calculator to help
convert this value to a date/time format, but make sure that it is 13 digits if you
modify it.
If the CCIITICDELETETS value is null, Tivoli Integration Composer uses a start
time stamp two months before the current date and time.
Tivoli Integration Composer runs the Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager getChangedClasses API to identify all Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager classifications that have deleted CIs since the start date
defined by the MAXVARS CCIITICDELETETS value.
For the classifications that exist in the ACTCI table and contain Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager deleted CIs, the Tivoli Application Dependency
Discovery Manager findChangesForDeltaSyncing API is run. This API returns a
list of GUIDs that were deleted since the start date.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

The Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager GUIDs that were deleted
(and not rediscovered) are added as entries to the SmartCloud Control Desk
database table CCIDELETEDACTCI.
The CCIDELETEACTCI escalation is created to delete the Actual CIs found in
the CCIDELETEDACTCI table.
If you want to see what will be deleted before deletion, deactivate the escalation
through the Escalations application, which can be started under the Platform
Configuration as shown in Figure C-2.

Figure C-2 Activating the Escalations application

Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter

773

To deactivate the escalation, clear the Active check box as shown in Figure C-3.
Otherwise, the default is to run every 5 minutes looking for Actual CIs to delete,
which is depicted in the Schedule field.

Figure C-3 Configuring the Escalations application

When the Tivoli Integration Composer delete process completes successfully, it

updates the MAXVARS table setting VARVALUE to YES where the VARNAME =
CCIITICCOMPLETE.
The escalation does not run unless CCIITICCOMPLETE is set to YES and it is in
the Active state.

Troubleshooting hints for delete processing

The following entry in the
Integration_Composer/data/properties/logging.properties file logs the
details of the delete processing. Use it if errors occur.
log4j.logger.fusion.provider.taddmactualci=DEBUG
If the Tivoli Integration Composer delete processing hangs, receives an
exception that the connection timed out, or receives an out of memory exception,
it is usually because too much data is being requested from the Tivoli Application
Dependency Discovery Manager change history table.
1. Determine whether the search time frame is reasonable and not for a larger
duration than necessary:
select varvalue from maximo.maxvars where varname='CCIITICDELETETS'

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Remember that this value is in milliseconds. If you decide to modify this value,
ensure that it is a 13-digit number. If you use an epoch converter, you will
have 10 digits. Add three zeros to the right of that number or use a millisecond
converter instead.
2. If the time stamp is valid but for a large interval, you can partition the time
stamp so that Tivoli Integration Composer does multiple searches against the
change history table. Use the ccmdb.itic.num.of.delete.time.partitions=
property to divide the time frame days into partitions. For example, if the time
duration is for a year, you might want to use a partition value of 12 so that
Tivoli Integration Composer requests one month worth of data at a time.
When the Tivoli Integration Composer delete process fails for one classification,
it continues to look for deleted CIs for other classifications. However, the search
time in the MAXVARS table is not updated. This means that the next time Tivoli
Integration Composer runs, it unnecessarily reprocess those classifications that
were successfully processed for deleted CIs already. If you have a long search
duration, this process might take several extra hours. If you know which
classifications failed, it saves you time to use the
ccmdb.delete.class.<SHORT.CLASSNAME=1> property:
ccmdb.delete.class.NET.L2INTERFACE=1
ccmdb.delete.class.SYS.WINDOWS.WINDOWSSERVICE=1
This causes Tivoli Integration Composer to only look for deleted Actual CIs within
those two classifications.
You must have at least Tivoli Integration Composer 7.5.0.1 to use this property.

How Tivoli Integration Composer supports a partial

execution
Tivoli Integration Composer can be configured to process a list of GUIDs read
from a file rather than going to Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
to determine which Actual CIs have changed. The GUIDs must still be of a
classification that is set to ACTIVE.
The Tivoli Integration Composer Actual CI Adapter reads the system property
GuidFileForPartialRun. If this property is set, the adapter tries to open the file to
read in a list of GUIDs for processing.
The property should contain the fully qualified file name to read and only one
GUID per line.

Appendix C. Examining the Actual CI adapter

775

If the property was set and Tivoli Integration Composer cannot open the file, an
exception is generated and Tivoli Integration Composer stops processing. If
Tivoli Integration Composer successfully reads the file, a message is logged that
contains the number of GUIDs read.
The easiest way to set this property is to copy the executeMapping.bat or .sh file,
and name the new version something that you will remember runs Tivoli
Integration Composer in this special way.
Modify the two lines that start with java to include the -D option:
-DGuidFileForPartialRun="C:\Integration Composer\partial.file"
This way, you run executeMapping for normal Tivoli Integration Composer
processing, and this new .bat/.sh for this partial execution.

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IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Related publications
The publications listed in this section are considered particularly suitable for a
more detailed discussion of the topics covered in this book.

IBM Redbooks
The following IBM Redbooks publications provide additional information about
the topic in this document. Note that some publications referenced in this list
might be available in softcopy only.
Deployment Guide Series: IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery
Manager V7.1, SG24-7616
End-to-End Service Management Using IBM Service Management Portfolio,
SG24-7677
IBM Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager Capabilities and Best
Practices, SG24-7519
IBM Tivoli Change and Configuration Management, SG24-7879
Implementing IBM Tivoli Service Request Manager V7.1 Service Desk,
SG24-7579
Migration Use Cases with the Migration Manager, SG24-7906-01
Tivoli Integration Scenarios, SG24-7878
You can search for, view, download or order these documents and other
Redbooks, Redpapers, Web Docs, draft and additional materials, at the following
website:
ibm.com/redbooks

Online resources
These websites are also relevant as further information sources:
All IBM SmartCloud Control Desk product manuals can be found in the online
InfoCenter at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v50r1/index.jsp?topic=%2F
com.ibm.tusc.doc%2Fic-homepage.html

Copyright IBM Corp. 2013. All rights reserved.

777

Help from IBM

IBM Support and downloads
ibm.com/support
IBM Global Services
ibm.com/services

778

IT Service Management Best Practices: Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

IT Service Management Best

Practices: Using IBM
SmartCloud Control Desk

(1.5 spine)
1.5<-> 1.998
789 <->1051 pages

Back cover

IT Service Management
Best Practices
Using IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Automation using
response plans,
scripting,
escalations, actions,
and workflows

SmartCloud Control Desk is a comprehensive IT Asset and Service

Management solution that helps reduce cost and minimize service
disruptions. It does so through automated service request handling,
efficient change management, and optimized asset lifecycle
management across IT and enterprise domains.

Best practices
configuration and
customization
examples

SmartCloud Control Desk helps to reduce total cost of ownership by

using one unified solution to license, install, and manage multiple
ITIL processes under one price point. It can also help reduce
business risk by using advanced impact analysis and defining
automated change procedures that ensure integrity of existing
infrastructure while supporting business agility.

Implementation of
typical real-world
use cases

SmartCloud Control Desk improves efficiency and quality of service

by unifying asset, change, and problem management. It lowers cost
and mitigates license compliance risk by performing end to end
software asset management.
It also delivers an adaptive, role-based simplified UI that can be
more intuitive for novice users, which reduces training costs, while
allowing access from anywhere at anytime through mobile device
support that includes BlackBerry, iOS, and Android.
This IBM Redbooks publication covers IBM SmartCloud Control
Desk product configuration, customization, and implementation
best practices.

INTERNATIONAL
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT
ORGANIZATION

BUILDING TECHNICAL
INFORMATION BASED ON
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE
IBM Redbooks are developed by
the IBM International Technical
Support Organization. Experts
from IBM, Customers and
Partners from around the world
create timely technical
information based on realistic
scenarios. Specific
recommendations are provided
to help you implement IT
solutions more effectively in
your environment.

For more information:

ibm.com/redbooks
SG24-8095-00

ISBN 0738438677