/ BMC Remedy V9 Frequently Asked Questions / REVISION
1.0 / ISSUED ON
2018/10/07
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BMC Remedy FAQ List for V9

Last Updated: 2 December 2016

Last Sent Out: 22 November 2016

  1. TOPIC CHANGES:
  2. Section III, TOPIC 3: Known Issue in Smart IT Action Menu Items using “+” character at the beginning of a Custom Form.
  3. Section VII, TOPIC 2: URL Converter is not picking up the Service Request needed to call up from another Navigational Category.

  1. ITSM Foundation Data:

TOPIC 1: Conflicting numbers with Support Group Generator Numbers

REQUIREMENT: Customer has two separate AR System BMC ITSM Environments for Developer and Production purposes; however, they are bringing the two environments together. How can the Support Group ID numbers be handled if both environments are generating their own Support Groups and having the same numbers?

RECOMMENDATION: The Support Group is created within the CTM:Support Group form, which is called up from the Foundation Data > Organizational Structure > Support Groups option, is filled out and saved. Thus, the SGP number is generated from the CTM:Support Group form.

During the save process, the Filter Log process indicated a guide (CTM:GTG:CreateNewTagID) is used to process the Group ID number. This number is initially pulled from the CTM:Sys-TagGenerator form and then processed through the guide.

For the environment requirement here, one environment should remain unchanged while the ARSCHEMA table entry of the two forms (CTM:Support Group and CTM:Sys-TagGenerator) should be updated to a higher number in the nextId column where the two environments will NOT overlap when brought together.

TOPIC 2: Data Wizard Bug in v9

FINDING: While running the Data Wizard to modify a single company listed in the COM:Company and COM:CompanyAlias forms, the process worked to make the change; however, the Status records from Data Wizard remained in the Pending status. I left the process run over night without any changes. When trying to run another modification, an error appeared indicating another job was already running. Thus, the process never ended from the initial launch.

WORKAROUND: Have not investigated further to find out what is causing the issue; however, the fix that I used was the following:

  1. Open up the DLD:SYS:DataWizardStatus form and set all the Pending records to Complete with a Modify All operation.
  2. Open up DLD:Lock form and delete the record that is displayed in the search.
  3. Re-run the second job and repeat the workaround when the job is ASSUMED to have finished.

TOPIC 3: Data Wizard Bug 2 in v9

FINDING: When testing the process of selecting a Support Group within an Incident Request, the menu option to select a Support Group failed to display any groups. When typing in the designated group or selecting the Auto Assign, the functionality worked with the expected results. The following troubleshooting steps were performed to find out why the menu selection was not functioning:

  1. In running the SQL Client Side log, it was discovered that the Menu searches against T-Table 1367.
  2. Opening up the AR System Metadata: Arschema form within the BMC Remedy User Client tool, T1367 turns out to be the CTM:ServiceCompanySupportGrpAssoc form.
  3. Opening up this form and performing a search for the targeted groups displayed an older name of the Support Company listed in the Company field.
  4. NOTE: The Data Wizard was run to change the overall company from COMPANY-TEST to COMPANY GLOBAL. The process does not hit this form.
  5. Since the Company field is set to Read Only, modifying the company record was not feasible; however, this was the root cause of the problem.

SOLUTION: In the Data Wizard, the CTM:ServiceCompanySupportGrpAssoc form must be added to the process for the next time a company change is required. HOWEVER, this does not work for my situation as the primary company was already changed and the older company name cannot be selected.

Another option would be to generate an Overlay for the CTM:ServiceCompanySupportGrpAssoc form and allow for the Company field to be set to Read/Write. Then the change can be made to the records.

Finally, depending on the number of support groups affected, delete the records – which is what we did since there were only two Support Groups that were set up for test running in the beginning.

TOPIC 4: Data Management Tool Bug in v9 – Primary Site Locations not being set as Primary Alias records.

FINDING: While running a test of manually creating a Person profile, my client opted to select the Menus, starting from the Region and working down to the Site. With the appropriate Region and Site Group being selected, none of the Site Locations that were imported using the Data Management Tool (DMT) did not appear. Clearing out the Region and Site Group, and entering in the target Site Location value did appear in the process.

The process in finding the root cause was done using the following steps:

  1. Activated Filter logging to see where the Company alias record was being pushed to when generated as the new Company automatically generates an Alias record.
  2. The Filter log indicated a record was being pushed to SIT:Site Alias LookUp form.
  3. When performing a Search in the SIT:Site Alias LookUp form, it was determined that the 37 primary locations had the Primary Alias field set to No.
  4. A Modify All action was performed to update the Primary Alias field to Yes.
  5. The menu option was now working properly.

SOLUTION: I am not aware of a fix since this is being performed by the DMT process. Further investigation would have to be performed to determine where the Primary Alias is being set to No for the primary record. Could be the result of the DMT Spreadsheet on how it was filled out by us.

The Modify All operation resolved our issue with the workaround.

TOPIC 5: How to Troubleshoot Support Group to Support Staff Relationships.

There is a Support Staff profile that is not allowing the Application Administrator to add in a Support Group to the profile as the relationship was already conducted but does not display within the CTM:People profile.

SITUATION: When attempting to add in a Support Group, a Unique Error occurs, indicating that the request has already been generated. However, it does not display in the CTM:People form and the Support Group’s 10-Digit number is not listed in the person’s User profile.

RESOLUTION: When a Support Group association to a Support Staff profile is created, a record is created in the CTM:People Permission Group form. When investigating this form, it was determined that the support group was found in this form. The instance was deleted. However, when trying to add it to the profile, the new group was set as Default with the value of Yes. This was an issue as there was already a Support Group with this setting. To make this correction, there are two options:

  1. Delete all of the Support Groups but one.
  2. Set the last Support Group to be the Default group.
  3. Add back in the other Support Groups.
  4. Reset the Default Group if necessary.

Or

  1. Access the CTM:People Permission Group form.
  2. Locate the available records related to the Support Staff.
  3. Change all of the Default fields to No.
  4. Add in the missing Support Group.
  5. Ensure the right Support Group is defined.
  1. Service Desk Management:

TOPIC 1: Removing People People Records of Status other than Enabled and Proposed:

In the Type Ahead feature of the Customer*+ field, the results are returning profiles back from CTM:People based on records that are set with Archive, Delete, and Obsolete when we only need to have them return with Proposed and Enabled. How can I get this to work?

The menu that is used in the Customer*+ field depends on the rule setting that has been established as to what should be searched upon for the person’s name. Once this is set up, then one of six menus is then attached to the field for use as part of the type ahead (or Auto Complete feature). Those six menus are displayed in the screenshot below:

If you have set up the search against LastName, then the HPD:CTM:PeopleMenu-LastName menu would be loaded onto the field and used in the auto complete feature. The qualification for this menu is defined as: ((('Company' = $1000000082$) AND ($1000000082$ != $NULL$)) OR ($1000000082$ = " ")) AND ('Client Type' != "Vendor"). This does not have an entry for the qualification. To remove the non-desirable status values, then add into the qualification, ((('Company' = $1000000082$) AND ($1000000082$ != $NULL$)) OR ($1000000082$ = " ")) AND ('Client Type' != "Vendor") AND ('Profile Status' <= "Enabled").

The menus are attached based on the related Active Link – EX: HPD:INC:Init_802_SetLNameMenuToCustomerandContact.

WARNING: By changing the menu, you will lose the ability to search for tickets related to those individuals who are no longer with the company or profiled in the system. If this is necessary to keep for the search option, then you can perform the following actions:

  1. Generate a new menu without the Profile Status <= “Enabled” added.
  2. Generate an Active Link that adds the menu to the Incident form when $OPERATION$ = “QUERY”, perform a Change Field action and add the menu to the Customer*+ field. Set the Execute On to 999 so this active link fires last and replaces the out of the box menu with the updated menu on a Search window.

TOPIC 2: Setting up the Smart IT Link to access the Incident Request Form from Smart IT.

How does one provide the link to allow Support Staff members to link to the Incident Request form to modify the tickets if they are the Incident Owner but not Incident Assignee? The set up is performed within the Configuration section of Smart IT.

  1. Launch Smart IT as the Administrator.
  2. Select Configuration > Screen Configuration.
  3. Click on the Add/Remove Actions located to the right of the Incident screen options so the More option shows up on the Incident Form and not in the Global setting.
  4. Click on the Add Actions from the Add/Remove Actions feature.
  5. Leave the More Menu option set to Alphabetical Order.
  6. Click Client with URL.
  7. Click Desktop Web (UC) to have the action appear on the client.
  8. In the URL, put either one of the following listed below – one searches based on the Instance ID (Field ID 179) and the other one is based on the Incident ID (Field ID 1000000161).
  1. Set the Open Behavior to New Browser Window.
  2. Set the Label to Access ITSM INC Request.
  3. Click on the Save button.

TOPIC 3: Known issue when adding Action Menus in Smart IT

There is a known bug with adding Action Menus in Smart IT with complex formats of URLs. BMC Support indicated that the URL can be manually set with the correct link into the SMARTIT_BUSINESS -> CUSTOMIZATION_ACTION table. This was done for a custom form (Order Item) because the form would error with the +USH forms and SmartIT interface does not like the “+” characters.

  1. Change and Release Management:

TOPIC 1:

  1. Asset Management:

TOPIC 1: Findings in Asset Management v9.1 that have Changed from Asset Management V8.1.

FINDINGS: While working with a client to get their current environment upgraded to BMC ITSM v9.1, a few items have come up that were set up differently by BMC during the installation process.

  1. The BMC.SANDBOX.ASSET dataset is activated in the Asset Management Rules. It was previously set to No and had to be turned on by the customer.
  2. The RE Job for BMC.SANDBOX.ASSET has the three activities of Identification, Merge and Delete; however, the Delete activity is now set to Disabled. Not sure why this is turned off but the BMC.SANDBOX.ASSET records are still in the system. Maybe this is a performance issue by having it.

  1. CMDB Application:

TOPIC 1: Explorer Data Model Promotion Change.

When generating a Data Model using the Explorer through BMC Atrium CMDB Console, the promote activation was setting the CI records to Deployed. They are now being set to Ordered. This causes the records to NOT show up in the Asset Management Console by default and requires all of the records to be updated to the Status of Deployed as expected. This is a time consumption but unsure of the reason for the change.

  1. Service Request Management:

TOPIC 1: End Users are receiving two error messages (ARERR 331) and ARERR (8932) when trying to Log Out of Request Entry form.

SCENARIO: When users are accessing the Request Entry form, they only require Service Request User permissions and a Read License. However, when they attempt to log out, two errors appear: “SRS:CFG-Application Preferences: Access Console Last, You do not have write access to this record (ARERR 331). Also, “You do not have write license (ARERR 8932)” appears.

RESOLUTION: The first option is to grant all End Users with a Floating license. That can be very expensive and not recommended. The second option is to go into the AR System: Server Information form > Licenses tab, and set the Submitter Mode to Locked.

TOPIC 2: URL Converter is not picking up the Service Request needed to call up from another Navigational Category.

SCENARIO: We have a service request that needs to fall under two Navigational Categories as the process is the same under either one. This is to prevent the users from having to click on multiple Navigational Categories to find the right service. We tried using the URL Convertor by selecting the Service Review but the results show only the Browse option without any questions being displayed. The URL Convertor displays the following: F303900000=5&F303900900=SRGAA5V0H3YM3AO6YWZGO6DH6B0PO6&F303906700=0&F303902000=0&F303902100=0

RESOLUTION: The Category to select should be Provide Information as the value of 5 represents the Service Review and Provide Information will set this field to the number 4. After changing the number in the field reference to the number 4 in the Application Object Template, re-applying it to the Process Definition Template and Service Request Definition, the Service Request opened up. Thus, the category to select is Provide Information, not Service Review.

  1. Action Request System Items

TOPIC 1:How to Incorporate Hover Over Operations on a Question in SRM?

How to incorporate Hover Over operations on a question in SRM instead of providing an instruction? RESPONSE from Chris Lindsey: “I was able to get around it by entering into the Instruction field, the following: “i<font color=blue> <div title="Enter Question Definition">Help</div> </font</i”. The word Help gets displayed under the question and the mouse over reveals “Enter Question Definition.” It looks less cluttered than having all the help text displayed at once.

TOPIC 2: Where does the Split Window Change in IT Home Page get Stored?

When an ITSM Support User uses the IT Home Page and SAVES the split window settings, where does that get stored? There is an active link guide (CHP:save arrangement guide) that is called up when the Save button is pressed and calls Active Link CHP:do save Arrangement to perform a push field action to the AR System Home Page Layout form. This is where one can find all of the configurations set up by each user.

TOPIC 3: Hot Key to Perform Copy to New.

By pressing Ctrl – Alt – C keys at the same time will perform a Copy to New from a Modify and Search mode display in BMC Remedy. NOTE: This action is ONLY for custom forms and not BMC OOTB Primary forms like Incident and Change Requests.

TOPIC 4: Security Vulnerability with Web Servers Working with BMC Remedy AR System Servers.

Whenever one is using a URL that has an unquoted or spaces within a service path or trusted path, you are open for security hackers to get into your BMC Remedy system. BMC Support Ticket Number SW00464421 – HF-2015-03-06 and the following URL - - provides input on what the vulnerability is and what you should do to fix it in your BMC Remedy Environment.

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