Process Designer User Guide

8/10/2019 Process Designer User Guide

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BMC Software, Inc. 2012This document is the property of BMC Software, Inc.. and the information contained herein is confidential. This document, either inwhole or in part, must not be reproduced or disclosed to others or used for purposes other than that for which it has been supplied,without BMC's prior written permission, or, if any part hereof is furnished by virtue of a contract with a third party, as expresslyauthorised under that contract. BMC shall not be liable for any errors or omissions.

BMC Remedy IT Service Management

Process Designer

User Guide

Version 8.3.2

April 2012


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BMC Remedy IT Service Management - Process DesignerUser Guide

Copyright BMC Software, Inc.. All Rights Reserved. Page ii

Contents

CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................................................II

ABOUT THIS GUIDE ......................... ............................................................... ..................................................... 4

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... .............................................................. .. 4

AUDIENCE AND SCOPE ................................................. ................................................................. ..................... 4

CONVENTIONS ................................................................ ................................................................ ...................... 4

RELATED DOCUMENTATION ........................................................... ................................................................ 5

STARTING PROCESS DESIGNER ........................................... .............................................................. ............. 6

PROCESS DESIGNER USER INTERFACE ............................................................. ........................................... 8

PROCESS DESIGNER EXPLORER......................................................................... ...................................................... 8

IMPORTING A REMEDY DEFINITION FILE........................................................................................ ..................... 9

CREATING PROCESS TEMPLATES ............................................................. ..................................................... 9

DESIGNING PROCESS TEMPLATES ............................................................ ................................................... 11

PALETTE............................................................................................................ .................................................... 12

ADDING TASKS TO THE PROCESS DIAGRAM................................................................. ......................................... 14

SUB-PROCESS TASKS......................................................... ................................................................. ................... 16ADDING DEPENDENCIES TO THE PROCESS DIAGRAM................... ................................................................. ........ 17

COPYING AND PASTING........................................................................... .............................................................. 20

AUTO-LAYOUT............................................................................................................. ......................................... 20

ALIGNING TASKS............................................................... ................................................................. ................... 20

APPLYING ACTIONS TO TASKS..................................................... ................................................................. ........ 21

ADDING FIELDS TO TASKS............................................................ ................................................................. ........ 36

ADDING DIAGRAMNOTES....................................................................................................... .............................. 37

MAINTAINING PROCESS TEMPLATES ................................................................ ......................................... 38

CHANGING THE STATUS OF A PROCESS TEMPLATE.................................................................. .............................. 38

AMENDING A PROCESS TEMPLATE.......................................................... .............................................................. 39

MAKING CHANGES TO A LIVE PROCESS TEMPLATE................................................................. .............................. 39

REMOVING PROCESS TEMPLATES....................................................................................................... ................... 40PROCESS LOCKING............................................................ ................................................................. ................... 40

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING PROCESS TEMPLATES ........................................................ ................... 40

EXPORTING PROCESS TEMPLATES........................................................................................... .............................. 40

IMPORTING PROCESS TEMPLATES............................................................ .............................................................. 41

IMPORTING XPDLFILES................................................... ................................................................. ................... 43

SETTING OPTIONS .......................................................... ................................................................. ................... 44

COLOURS........................................................ .............................................................. ......................................... 44

LOGGING...................................................................................... ................................................................. ........ 44

MISC............................................................... .............................................................. ......................................... 44

LOGIN TO ANOTHER SERVER .......................................................................................... .............................. 45

LOCALISATION ................................................................................................ ................................................... 45


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Copyright BMC Software, Inc.. All Rights Reserved. Page iii

APPENDIX A: CONFIGURATION FOR USE WITH INTERNET PROXY SERVERS ............................. 48


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Copyright BMC Software, Inc.. All Rights Reserved. Page 4

About This Guide

Introduction

The aim of this guide is to step through all the functional components of theProcess Designer client and its use in designing processes for BMC Remedy-based applications. This guide relates to release 8 and 8.x sub-releases ofProcess Designer unless indicated otherwise.

The guide covers the on demand, on premise and standalone versions of theclient. The content covers all varieties except where indicated.

Audience and Scope

This document aims to provide an overall understanding of all functionality withinthe Process Designerclient and how it how it can be used to support a new orexisting BMC Remedy-based application. It is aimed at any end-user thatwishes to use the product with BMC Remedy AR System and does not requireany prior technical knowledge.

This guide assumes the following prerequisites:

The instructions supplied in the Process Designer Installation Guide havebeen followed such that the product is fully installed.

It is also beneficial to have read the Process Designer Concepts Guidewhich explains the concepts and terminology used in this User Guide.

Conventions

The following typographical conventions are used in this guide:

Item Convention Example

Key product terms InitialCapitals

The Process Template

A series of menu options > Choose File > Open Query


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Related Documentation

The following guides provide additional information about the Process Designerproduct:

Guide Description

Process Designer ConceptsGuideVersion 8.0

Gives an overview of the basic conceptsrelating to Process Designer and its use withBMC Remedy ARS applications.

Process Designer IntegrationUser Guide

Provides an overview of how to use ProcessDesigner with BMC Remedys ITSM andSRM applications.

Process DesignerConfiguration Guide

Details all the configuration options forProcess Designer integration with Remedyand the BMC ITSM and SRM applications.


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Starting Process Designer

On Demand

For on-demand installations, open up the Process Designer Configuration within Mid-tierand click the launch button from the Process Templates page.

This will download and start the Process Designer client and you will be automaticallylogged in.

On Premise

For an on premise installation, start Process Designer by clicking on your windows Startbutton, then select Program Files-> BMC Software -> Process Designer 8, or simply clickon the Process Designer 8 icon on your desktop.

This should launch Process Designer 8 and present you with a login screen:

Provide your BMC Remedy server name together with your login username andpassword. Optionally change the port number if your BMC Remedy server is notconfigured to use Port-Mapper.

Process Designer requires you to have previously configured a user on your BMCRemedy server as a member of either the Process Designer Admin or ProcessDesigner Sub Administrator group. You may then login as one of these users.


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If you are unsure of these details, please contact your BMC Remedy administrator forassistance.

You may also optionally enable logging via the Logging tab. When enabled, client activitywill be written into the log file displayed on the tab. Use the browse button (...) to changethe folder location where the file will be written to.

Standalone

The standalone version of the Process Designer client is also started from the shortcuticon on your desktop.


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Process Designer User Interface

Process Designer ExplorerProcess Designer 8 provides an explorer-style interface similar to Microsoft WindowsExplorer and provides a complete view of all process templates on the server currentlyconnected. The left hand pane provides the explorer tree whereby items are listed asnodes. Where nodes have further items within them, they can be expanded by clickingon the button.

When running the Process Designer on demand or on premise the top-most node is thecurrently connected server. All the processes are displayed in the company/group nodethat they belong to. Below each company node, the nodes are:

Design Lists all Process Templates with a status of Design. This is the initialdefault status.

In Test Lists all Process Templates with a status of In Test.

Live Lists all Process Templates which are Live and so available for

selection from within BMC Remedy.


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Suspended Lists all Process Templates which have been Suspended and so made temporarily unavailable from selection in BMC Remedy.

Archived Lists all Process Templates with a status of Archived.

Process nodes have a pop-up menu which will appear when selecting the node and pressingthe right-click mouse button.

For the standalone Process Designer client, all processes are effectively In Test.

Importing a Remedy Definition File

Standalone

Processes can be defined to reference Remedy forms, fields and enumerated field values.Without access to a BMC Remedy server, this can be achieved by importing a Remedydefinition file (.def). Use the File > Import Definition File... option to parse your .def file for theform names, field names, etc.

You can import and parse as many .def files as you wish; existing references will not be lost.

Creating Process Templates

Process Templates consist of Tasks. Dependency lines can be created to define therelationships between those tasks. By making a Dependency conditional, the Task can be set asa decision Task so the routing of the process can be made conditional. Within Tasks, actionscan be applied to automate some or all of the process while fields can be added for user input oruse within actions or conditional dependencies.

Only when the Process Template is set to the Livestatus will the Process Template beavailable to BMC Remedy for the Process Designer Remedy Integration (ARI) to construct the

Tasks and so on for your BMC Remedy request.

For a more detailed explanation on this and related topics, please refer to the Process DesignerConcepts Guide.

You create a new Process Template by clicking on the button on the toolbar atwhich point you will be immediately prompted to enter these details.


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Field Descriptions:

Field Description

Name The name of the Process (must be unique)

Type The Type (classification) for the new Process.This is an arbitrary value which can be used togroup processes of the same type.

SLA (Optional) Select an existing SLA or enter a new one. Notethat this is the SLA for the end-to-end processrather than task-specific.

Notes (Optional) Free text to enter any notes about this ProcessTemplate.

Request (Optional) Default parent request type for the Process usedto pre-populate the Request field for UpdateParent Request and Set Field actions.

Process Group or Company(Optional)

For non-ITSM servers, select a Remedy groupto assign the process to. For ITSM servers,select a Company to assign the process to.

Audit (Optional) Flag the Process and any Requests createdfrom it for audit reporting.

Maintain Layout in Process Tracker When checked, Process Tracker will display anexecuted instance of the process with the samelayout as designed. When unchecked, anautomatic layout algorithm will be used.


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Process Designer makes use of the Business Time forms within BMC Remedy tocalculate target completion times. For more details on defining the SLA, please refer to theProcess Designer Configuration Guide.

If you are running Process Designer on a server with BMC Remedy ITSM and/or SRMapplications then you can assign the process to a company. Then only process designerswho are defined within the people of the Company may access the process.

Similarly, if you are not using the BMC applications, you can assign the process to astandard Remedy group and the process will then be restricted to users within that group.

The button can be used to provide a quicker and easier method of locating the formfor selection.

Clicking OK on the new process dialog will create the Process Template in the right-handpane, ready to be populated with Tasks.

Designing Process Templates

When a Process diagram is opened, the Tasks and Dependency lines are drawnautomatically. (If this is a new Process Template, then the drawing will be blank.)

To add new Tasks to the Process, simply select from the Palette and drag-and-drop ontothe diagram pane. Dependency lines can be drawn using the mouse to link the two tasks,starting from the first task and drawing the line to its dependant task.

To remove Tasks and Dependencies from the Process Template, simply select them anddelete them using the Delete key.

To save changes to the Process Template, click the button or right-clickthe diagram and select the Update Process option from the pop-up menu.

When updated, the version number of the Process Template will be increased to identifythe version.


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Palette

The following palette items are available for the construction of and updates to existingprocesses. To add an item to the process, simply click and drag it onto the drawing page.

Action icons can only be dropped onto existing tasks.

Palette Item Description

This icon is used for creating standardunconditional tasks.

This icon is used for creating conditional tasks,i.e. those that have one or more possibleoutcome.

This icon is used to create a sub-process taskwhich references a sub-process of the currentprocess.

This icon is used where the outcome isdetermined by a sub-process of the currentprocess.

The Run Process command can be used to runprocesses/executables on your BMC Remedyserver.

You should use the full path in the Run ProcessCommand Field up to and including the processthat you wish to execute.

There are no return values for this option.

(Only available in the palette if Restricted flag isnot set in ABYD:UserPreferencesformOptions tabAdvanced Functionality )

This Action will use the output from thecommand executed on your BMC Remedyserver as the outcome of the Task.

You should use the full path in the Run ProcessCommand Field up to and including the process

that you wish to execute.


Direct SQL can be used to perform SQLoperations direct on the database where theSQL does not return a value.



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Palette Item Description

Set Outcome SQL can be used to perform anSQL query that will return a value which is used

to set in the Task Outcome value.The value returned should be one of theconditional outcomes on the dependencies thatrelate to the task for which the action is defined.

If more than one record is returned, then onlythe first record is used.


The Send Notification action can be used to

notify a defined group or individual. Thosebeing notified will receive their notificationthrough the default mechanism as specified intheir user record.

Change groups only apply to BMC Remedys

Change Management application.

The Email action can be used to send an emailto either a defined email address or to areferenced destination.

This action is used to set values of fields on theRemedy request that the process is running

against.

The Call Filter Guide Action can be used toinvoke a pre-defined BMC Remedy filter guide.

This icon allows you to automatically populatean Designer Related Field from the value of afield any Remedy form or the outcome of theTask.

This icon allows you to automatically populatethe Tasks outcome from the value of a field on

any Remedy form.

This action type will create a new request in anyRemedy form you specify.

This icon can be used to initiate an additionalprocess to run concurrently with the current one.

This action allows you to define an approvalfrom the process (for Service Requests andChange Requests only).


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Adding Tasks to the Process Diagram

To add tasks to the diagram, select the Task shape in the palette and drag and drop ontothe drawing window. As the Task is dropped, the task window is displayed for its details tobe entered.

Initially, the Tasks Category and Type values will default to the Type and Name of theProcess Template.

The following fields should be entered on the Classification Tab:

Field Description

Category If you have already used the Task Category itwill be available for selection from the dropdown menu otherwise a new name can beentered.

Type If an existing Task Category has beenchosen then all available Task Types for itwill appear on the drop down menu or a newname can be entered.

A new Task Type name will need to beentered if a new Task Category has beendefined.

Name The Task Name should be unique for theTask Category and Type selected.

Description (optional) A free text description of the task (up to 2048

characters). Use the [...] button to addreferences to fields, the values of which willbe substituted in the task at run-time.


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Field Description

Sub Process (check box) Indicates whether this task represents a sub-process or not.

Process Name The name of the sub-process to which thistask relates. This field will only appear if thesub-process check-box is selected.

Version The version of the sub-process to use.

Audit Flags the Task and any Request Tasks inBMC Remedy created from it for auditreporting.

The following fields should be entered on the Details Tab:

Field Description

OLA Name (optional) The Operating Level Agreement that the taskmust be completed against.

If you already have your own OLA/SLAfunctionality and dont need to monitor theprogress of tasks, then this field can beignored.

Assigned To Group*(optional)

Drop down menu with Active BusinessGroups, populated with data from the BMC

Remedy Group form. Select a value from themenu to associate with the Task.

Assignment Rule (optional) Specify an assignment rule with a conditionto be met for the task to progress.

List Position The tasks list position within the process.This must be unique and can usually be leftas the default, as the system will auto-generate and update as necessary.

Note that the list position does not affect theorder in which the tasks are processed.

Starting Task Indicates whether Process Designer shouldtreat this as a starting task in the currentprocess. Starting Tasks are always assignedwhen processing begins, even if they dependon the completion of earlier tasks.

When you add the first Task to your ProcessTemplate, you will be asked whether youwant that Task to be a Starting Task.Selecting Yes will automatically set this.

Return to Parent Only required for sub-processes to indicatewhether completion of this task should pass

control back to the process that called it.


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Field Description

Outcome Field If you wish to pre-set a process task field asthe outcome of the task when the task is

created in Remedy then select the field here.

Wizard Outcome Label Label text for the Process Wizard Outcome

* If you are building a process for execution against the ITSM applications, then you willbe able to assign the task to a support group.

Click on the Support Groups... button to select the Company, Organisation and Group forthe tasks assignment.

Task shapes can be moved or resized to by selecting the task shape to show the controlhandles. The control point in the centre of the Task allows you to move the shape whilethe outer points allow you to resize it. Use the Align to Grid option to align the tasks to thegrid lines.

Tasks can be modified by double-clicking it within the Process diagram.

Sub-Process Tasks

Process Designer allows you to link in other defined Process Templates. Should you havea common set of Tasks you can avoid re-creating the same Tasks by creating a Process


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Template with the common Tasks and Dependencies and reference it from your mainProcess Template.

This is achieved by dropping a Sub-Process Task shape onto your diagram and selectingthe Process name and version from the drop-down list. There is no limit to the number ofSub-Process Tasks your Process Template can contain. There is also no limit to thenumber of levels so a Sub-Process Template can have its own Sub-Process Tasks.

When the request is created in BMC Remedy using the top-most Parent process, the Sub-Process Tasks will not be created but will be replaced by the Tasks in the Sub-Processthe Task references.

Please refer to the Process Designer Concepts Guidefor more information.

Adding Dependencies to the Process Diagram

To add a dependency line to the process diagram, simply press the left mouse button on

the first task on the diagram and draw the line to the dependant task. The ends of theDependency line can be dragged onto tasks to join them.

Each Dependency line has two control points to allow you to move the line around anyother shapes on the diagram.

Tasks with actions are shown as the icon based on the first action within the task. If thereare no actions, the task is either displayed as standard or conditional. Tasks are shown as

conditional when they have at least one conditional dependency and standard when all itsdependencies are unconditional. When a dependency is modified, the first task shape ismodified automatically (if necessary), using this rule.


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When a dependency is selected, the connections at both ends become highlighted. Byselecting a connection, it is possible to change the dependent or pre-cursory task bymoving the connection onto one of the 4 connect points on another task.

Every dependency line must be connected to 2 different tasks.

Note: If a conditional dependency line is moved to another task, the task previouslyconnected to it may become a standard task if it now has no conditional dependenciesconnected to it, and the new task connected may change from standard to conditional.However, the task(s) will not change visually unless their dependencies are updated or theprocess is updated and re-loaded.

Double-clicking the Dependency line will bring up the following window:

Here, the dependency can be created (and modified) with the following details:

Field Description

First The first task in the dependency.

Dependent This is the task that is dependent upon thecompletion of the First Task.

Dependency Type (Either OR orAND)

Determines whether the Dependent Task isassigned on the completion of the First Task(OR), or on completion of all other linked taskswith the same AND dependency.

Conditional Outcome (optional) The condition that must be met at the completionof the First Task before the Dependent Task canstart.

Restart Task If this field is set to Yes it will automatically setthe status of the dependent task back toAssigned if it has already completed or has beencancelled.


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Field Description

Restart OLA This is only available if the Restart field above isset to Yes.

Use this value to indicate whether a re-startedTask should be completed within its original time-scales (set to No) or whether the targetcompletion time should be re-calculated (set toYes)

Dependency conditional outcomes can be set from a field on the parent by applying a SetOutcome action. See the section on Actions for more details.

Use the [...] button next to the Outcome to specify a Dependency Qualification. Thefollowing dialog will appear to specify a condition to compare the value of a parent or

process field with a literal value or the value o another process or parent field. Forexample, you may have a currency field and wish to assign a task if the currency value isabove $1000.

The Field drop-down also includes the p_task_assignment_count keyword. Thisrepresents the number of times the first task in the dependency has been assigned. If youbuild your process with a dependency to return to a previous point in the process then theassignment count is automatically incremented each time a task is re-assigned.

Therefore a qualification can be configured to use the p_task_assignment_count keywordwithin a loop if you wish to repeat a task or set of tasks a set number of times as shown inthe example below.

Note that the data types of the Field and the Value should be equivalent to correctly

evaluate the qualification.


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In the above example, the task titled Repeating Task will be assigned 4 times as definedby the qualification on the dependency from the task titled Repeat Loop. The otherdependency from this task should have the condition set to [Else] to continue out of the

loop.

Copying and Pasting

It is possible, using Edit > Copy or Ctrl-C, to copy individual tasks, sections of the processor even the whole process (using Edit > Select All or Ctrl-A) to paste either into the sameprocess or another process which you have open. Using Edit > Paste or Ctrl-V, all pastedtasks will also contain copies of any fields or actions from the original tasks.

Auto-Layout

Process Designer can automatically layout your process Diagram, with four optionsavailable; Centered, Cascading, Radialand Flowchart. To auto-layout the process,select a blank area of the diagram and right-click to open the popup menu. Then selectthe layout option you prefer.

Note that once the process diagram is altered, it cannot be undone. You will need to closethe process and not save changes (update the process) to revert back to the originallayout.

Aligning Tasks

If you wish to align tasks horizontally or vertically, select multiple tasks using the Ctrl key

and then click either the button to align them horizontally, or to align them vertically.All selected tasks will then be aligned to the first task shape selected.


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Applying Actions to Tasks

Task Actions are especially useful for automating parts or even all of your Process, suchas the conditional routing based on the value of a field on the Processs request or thespawning of a command process to initiate external processing.

The result of the Action can be used to update the Task status and thereby controlactivation of dependent Tasks in the Process.

Actions can be applied to Tasks by selecting the action item from the palette and droppingit onto the required Task. For example, dropping the Notification Action item onto a Taskwill cause this window to be presented for completion:

Field Descriptions:

Field Description

Task Name The name of the task to which this action relates.

Trigger Task Status The status of the task that will trigger the action.

Trigger Outcome The outcome of the task that will trigger the action. (Onlyapplies when task status value is Complete.)

Post-Action Task Status The status that the task should be set to when the actionis completed.


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Field Description

Post-Action Outcome The outcome that should be set on the task when theaction is completed (only applies when the post-action

status is set to Complete)

Action Specific Fields These will appear depending on the action type selected.Complete as indicated.

Once an action has been created, it forms part of the process definition and will beinherited by any requests that are based on that process.

Actions can reference fields which will then be substituted with the actual values whenexecuted within the request in your Remedy application. For example, within an Emailmessage text.

Select where you wish to insert the field and then click on the button. A pop-up list will appear presenting a list of any Designer related fields within the process andfields on the Processs request form(if selected within the Process definition).

The list also includes references to the request identifier (p_request_id) and the taskidentifier (p_task_id). These are reserved words which will also be substituted within the

action when executed.

To modify an existing one, modify the Task and then select the Actions tab. Select theAction that you want to update, and then click on the View button. To delete anAction, select the one that you want to delete, and then click on the Delete button.


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When an Action is applied to a Task, the shape reflects the action applied to it. If you havemultiple actions applied to the same Task, then the icon displayed will be that of the Action whichsets the Task to auto-complete. Only one Action can auto-complete the Task.

If you wish to display the Task name below a Task with an Action applied, select it and resize it:


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General Points on SQL statements within Actions

All SQL commands are run as the BMC Remedy database user (default ARAdmin)

No semi-colon is required at the end of the SQL statement. The command can include anyDesigner or Remedy fields.

To update the current task use the reserved word p_task_id to identify the record. E.g:

UPDATE abyd_task set action_taken = Job Done where task_id = p_task_id

To update the current request, use the reserved word p_request_id to identify the record.E.g:

UPDATE ABYD_Sample_Form set short_description = Software Problemwhere request_id = p_request_id

As the SQL statement is run from within a BMC Remedy filter, any errors resulting from

the SQL statement will be visible from the BMC Remedy filter and/or SQL log files.

Email Actions

The Email action utilises the BMC Remedy Email Engine which must be pre-configured foryour email server. Please refer to the BMC Remedy manual Email Engine Guide formore information.

Email Destination

The Email destination field on the Email action can be set to one of four pre-definedvalues or to any text string that you may want to use to control the setting of the emailaddress:

Destination Description

Defined Address Sends the email to the address provided in theDefined Address field. To send to more than oneaddress, use a semi-colon to separate addresses.

Assignee Sends the email to the assignee of the current task.

Example Uses the example filter (SAM:TAA-SM-480-GetExampleEmailAddress), to send the email to theaddress specified on the sample form.

Any Text String Define your own text string to be referenced from thecorresponding BMC Remedy filter to retrieve theemail address from the specified location. Use theExample filter above and modify accordingly.

Creating an Email action with a defined email address will send an email to that addressusing the subject and text defined in the action. The defined email address, subject andtext can include any number of Designer or Remedy fields as described above. The valueof any field used will then be substituted when the process is executed in Remedy.

Notification Action

The Notify Text can include any Designer or Remedy fields. The recipient can also be setto the value of a field on the parent request by setting the Notification Type to Request


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Field. (This requires that the parent request form be specified in the Process definition forthis option to be available).

Running Processes

The Run Process and Set Outcome Process Actions can both be used to invoke anexecutable file or script on the machine running AR Server. The permissions on the file orscript must allow execution by the operating system user running the BMC Remedy ARSserver. The command can include any Designer or Remedy fields.

(Run Process, SQL Set Outcome, Process Outcome, Direct SQL actions will onlyavailable in the palette if Restricted flag is not set in ABYD:UserPreferences

formOptions tabAdvanced Functionality for the currently logged in user in Remedy )

For existing processes, these actions will be read- only if the Restricted flag is set in the

above form. Howvever, they can still be deleted from all the processes.

Set Field action

The Set Field action sets the value of a process related field to outcome of the task, a fieldvalue from any Remedy form on your server, or from a pre-defined list of queries to obtaina count value.


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By default, the Request Form will be set to the processs parent request form. You canselect an alternative form, although if you do, you should provide a query to obtain therecord from which you wish to retrieve the fields value.

Click the Edit... button to define the query.

The query can be built from a combination of the forms fields and also process relatedfields. The p_request_id and p_task_id keywords can be used to query the form based onthe current requests request_id or current task id respectively.

When an integer process field is selected, you can set its value from a list of predefinedqueries, specifying the time period the value is to be obtained for.


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Here you can specify the company and individual making the request. Alternatively, youcan indicate that these values are the same as the originating request which is running theprocess. In this example, a Change Request will be created from a process running for aService Request.

Click Next to progress to the next stage.

The next stage prompts for details common to all the request types. You can optionallyselect an existing template and the fields will all be populated from the templates values.

All fields other than the template are mandatory for a successful request creation.

Click Next to progress to the next stage.


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If you select one of the mappings and click OK, the categorizations will be set to thoseselected. This will also confirm the Designer process which will be trigged when therequest is created in Remedy.

Click OK to confirm all the details. You can also see all the fields for the request byclicking the Full Field List... button.

Here you can then populate any additional fields you wish. The fields can be populatedwith values from the originating request (for example the service request) which is runningthe process


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The field values can be typed or selected from the drop-down list of Task Related Fields,Remedy Keywords or the variables p_request_id or p_task_id.

Creating a Purchase Request and Line Items

Here you can specify the Requested By and Requested For Company and Name.Alternatively, you can indicate that these values are the same as the originating requestwhich is running the process. In this example, a Change Request will be creating thePurchase Request.


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On the next page, you can specify the general information including an offset from thedate the purchase request is created to determine the date required. The Description andJustification can be include process and request field values, added through the []buttons.

Unless the auto-assignment of purchase requests is configured within ITSM, you will needto specify the assignment here.


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Finally you provide the address details which can optionally be set from request orprocess field values.

Click OK to complete the action configuration.

Note that you should select a process field to store the id of the created PurchaseRequest if you wish to also create line items within the Purchase Request.

Once you have an action to create a purchase request, you can then define an action tocreate line items.


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The first step is to select the process field which was selected to store the id of the createdpurchase request in the previous action. This will define the link and ensure the line itemsare created within the same purchase request.

On the next tab, provide general information using process or request fields whererequired.


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Finally provide licence information if applicable.

Update Parent Request action

The Update Request action allows you to update the Tasks parent request with valuesspecified in the list, in the same way in which you specify values in the Create NewRequest action as shown above.

Start New Process action

This action will trigger another pre-defined Process to be initiated. The existing Processwill still progress as usual, running concurrently with the new Process. Unlike sub-

processes, the tasks within the Process defined within this action will not be created untilthe action is triggered.

Approval Action

This action allows you to select an approval process and specify an individual approver forthe request. The approver can also be defined from a process related field, making therequests approver completely dynamic at run-time.


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The approval action can only be used with processes defined for Service Requests (SRM)and Change Requests (Change Management). Please see the Process DesignerConfiguration Guide for more details.

Adding Fields to Tasks

Fields can be added to tasks to support the business process without physically addingfields to forms within BMC Remedy and also reduce the need to create workflow to hide orshow the fields based on the status of the Process.

Fields can be applied to Tasks by selecting the Fields tab on the Task definition form.To create a new field, click on the New button. This will open the Field form. Tomodify an existing field, select the field that you want to update, and then click on theEdit button. To delete a field, select the field that you want to delete, and then click onthe Delete button.

If you are designing a process for use with the Process Designer Wizard (for userdata entry) you can define the order in which the fields will appear. Use the up and

down arrow buttons to change the sequence.


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Within the Field definition, you must specify the field name and the type. The type offield is a subset of the main field types supported within BMC Remedy. Setting theoption to indicate that the field is mandatory will prevent the user from completing theTask in Remedy unless the field is populated.

A default value can optionally be specified which can be based on a relevant BMCRemedy keyword. For example, a date/time field can be set to be the current$TIMESTAMP$. Default values will be set once the Task is assigned.

A minimum and maximum value can enforce either minimum and/or maximum length of acharacter or diary field, or minimum/maximum values for integer and real number fieldtypes.

A description can be entered to provide help text to the user when entering the fieldsvalue from within the requests Task in BMC Remedy.

Character field types can also have a menu attached that has been pre-defined withinBMC Remedy Administrator tool or BMC Developer Studio.

You can also select an existing field from another task in the same process. When theprocess is running in Remedy all fields of the same name will have the same value.

Adding Diagram Notes

Notes can be added to the Process diagram to aid documentation by moving the cursor toan empty point on the diagram and dragging the cursor to draw the note at your requiredsize.


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Double-click the note to add or change the text within it.

All diagram notes are saved with the Process.

Maintaining Process Templates for On Demand and On Premise

Changing the status of a Process Template

Process Templates are initially created with a status of Design. This allows you to add,remove or change its Tasks, Dependencies, etc. If you wish to make changes to aProcess Template but keep a backup of the previous version, set the status of theProcess Template to In Test and re-open it for designing.

To set the Process Templates statusselect the Process Template in the tree and selectPromote to Test from the right-click menu.

Once the status change is confirmed, these menu options will be changed to reflect thenew status. The Process Template will be moved in the tree to within the node for the new

status.


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To make use of a Process Template for requests in BMC Remedy, its status must be setto Live. Note that when a Process Template is either Live, Suspended or Archived, itcannot be updated. Tasks, Dependencies, Actions and Fields can be viewed but are read-only.

When promoting a Process Template to Live, a check is made to ensure there is notalready another version of it Live. If there is, you will be promoted to confirm whether youwish to replace the current Live version or not. If you do, the previous version will beautomatically set to the status of Archived.

Note that you must be a member of the Process Designer Admin group in Remedybefore you can promote a Process Template to Live status.

Amending a Process Template

It is possible to amend the details of the Process Template which were entered when itwas initially created by selecting its node in the tree and selecting Properties from theright-click menu.

When selected, the Process Template form will appear with the current details. Click OKto confirm your changes.

Making changes to a Live Process Template

As a Live Process Template is available for use for requests created in BMC Remedy, it is

protected against any updates and can only be viewed read-only in Process Designer.Should you need to make changes to a Process Template with a status of Live, you cancreate an In Test copy of it and then replace it once you are happy with your changes.

To do this, perform the following steps:-

1. Select the node for the Process Template in the tree or the list (if you have selectedthe Live node in the tree). From the right-click menu, select Create Test Copy.


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You should receive confirmation that a copy has been created. This new copy will belisted within the In Test node on the tree with a new version number.

2. Make your changes to the newly created In Test Process Template as necessary.For more information, see the sections titled Designing Process Templates.

3. Change the status of the In Test Process Template to Live. Details on this can beseen in the section titled Changing the status of a Process Template.

4. When prompted, confirm that you wish to replace the current version of the ProcessTemplate. This will set the status of the current version to Archived and set thenewly updated one to Live.

Removing Process Templates

Process Templates with a status of Design, In Test and Archived can be deleted fromthe Database by selecting it in the tree or the list and from the right-click menu, selectDelete. Confirming the deletion will then remove the Process Template, including allTasks, Dependencies, Actions and Fields within it.

Process Locking

Process locking ensures that two users cannot update the same Process Template at thesame time. When a process is opened for edit, a lock is taken out against that user so noother user can load the same process. Process locks can be manually removed ifnecessary through the Process Designer Console from within the BMC Remedy User Tool(or mid-tier login). See the following section for more details.

Importing and Exporting Process Templates

Process Designer provides the facility to selectively import and export Process Templatesto/from an XML format file. This allows Process Templates to be easily migrated betweenservers.

Exporting Process Templates

To export one or more Process Templates, select File -> Export from the toolbar menuand then select and confirm which Process Templates you wish to export.


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Select the Process Templates that you wish to export or select all processes using theSelect All button. Then click on the OK button.

A File Save window will appear in which you can specify the path and filename of theexport file. Click-on the Save button to initiate the export process.

Importing Process Templates

Process Designer provides the facility to selectively import Process Templates from anXML format file. This allows Process Templates to be easily migrated between servers.

To import Process Templates, select File -> Import... from the toolbar menu.

A File Open window will appear and prompt you to select the path and filename of the fileto import.

Click on the Open button to read the Process Templates from the specified file. Aseparate window will appear to allow the selection of processes from that file for importing:


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Select the process Templates that you wish to import or use the Select All button. If theProcess Template already exists with the same version number then you can specify theoption to import it as a new version of the process. If the existing process is in the Live orSuspended state, then the imported version can be set to In Test.

Processes can now be imported only by attaching any company (ITSM)/ group (non-ITSM) user has access to. This can be done by selecting a company in the individualprocess records or by specifying a default for all selected companies in the option belowthe table.


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If company or group is specified at both places, the company that is selected for allprocesses (Import company dropdown below the table) will override any companies (ifselected) in the table list.

If processes have to imported by selecting company individually for all selectedprocesses, then the Import process company option below the table should be left blank.

Importing XPDL Files

The XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) file format allows the transfer of businessprocesses between alternate process modelling tools. If you are currently using a tool formodelling your business processes that exports to the XPDL format, you can then importthese format files into Process Designer. The processes can then be executed in yourBMC Remedy application like any other Designer process.

To import from an XPDL file, select File -> Import... from the toolbar menu and then selectthe file with the .xpdl file extension. Process Designer will scan the file for the package

and workflow processes included.

Click OK to confirm that you wish to import the processes from the file. Process Designersupports the following features of XPDL:

Workflow Processes

Activities

Transitions (including conditions)

Data Fields

Data Types (including String, Float, Integer, DateTime, Boolean and enumeration values)


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Setting Options

The options available from the Tools->Options menu are as follows:

Colours

The colours of the shapes within the Process diagrams are fully configurable. The shapesconsist of two colours (referred to as the Primary and Secondary), with one blending intothe other. Clicking the colours on the form allows you to pick an alternative colour. Thepreview will update to indicate how the shape will look.

Click the Designer Classic button should you wish to set the colours to those used forProcess Designer 7.

Should you make any changes, these will not be fully reflected until Process Designer isrestarted.

Logging

Enable logging and specify the location of the Process Designer.log file on your client tolog all client activity. Logging will continue until you disable logging or close Designer.

Misc

New Actions auto-complete Tasks

Set this option on to default new task actions to auto-complete the task that they areapplied to.

Show Gridlines on startup

Set this option for gridlines to be set on for diagrams when starting Process Designer.


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Login to another server

For the on premise installation you can re-login to the Process Designer desktop client by

clicking on Tools

Login. This will bring up the login dialog as below with the currently logged inuser and server details:

User can then re-login to the same Remedy server or login to a different one (that has ProcessDesigner installed on it).

Localisation for On Demand and On Premise

Process Designer Wizard can now be localised to display the wizard in different languages. TaskName, Task Description, Process Field, Process Field Help Text, Wizard Outcome label andWizard Outcome value can be configured in the Designer client as below:


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Fields Description

Company Company to which the field type is attached

Field Type Can be Task Name, Task Description, Process Field,Process Field Help Text, Wizard Outcome label

Locale Different country and language combinations

Original Text Text for each field type that needs to be localised.

Existing values(accessible to the user) for all field typeswould be displayed in the dropdown list for selection

Localised Text Text for each field type that will be displayed for theassociated field type

Keyword Unique identifier for each Company, Field Type, Locale andOriginal Text combination. Keyword gets converted intouppercase and all characters other than alphabets andnumbers will get converted into underscores.

Maximum length:255


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AR System User Preference record in Remedy should be set to the desired locale for theDesigner wizard to be displayed in that locale.

For e.g.: When the wizard launches for de_DE locale (German), it will look as in the belowscreenshot at runtime:


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Documents

Process Designer User Guide