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2013
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BMC Remedy IT Service Management-
Process Designer Concepts Guide

Version 8.3.03
February 2013



BMC Remedy IT Service Management - Process Designer
Concepts Guide


Copyright 2013 BMC Software, Inc. Version 8.3.03
Date: February 2013
Page: 2


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BMC Remedy IT Service Management - Process Designer
Concepts Guide


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OVERVIEW OF BMC REMEDY ITSM PROCESS DESIGNER ........................................................ 3
ARCHITECTURE ..................................................................................................................................... 4
FEATURES ................................................................................................................................................. 5
VERSION CONTROL .................................................................................................................................... 5
PROCESS AUTOMATION ............................................................................................................................. 5
COMPONENTS ......................................................................................................................................... 6
USER INTERFACE ....................................................................................................................................... 6
PROCESS TRACKER.................................................................................................................................... 8
PROCESS WIZARD ...................................................................................................................................... 9
PROCESS TEMPLATES .............................................................................................................................. 10
Process template states ....................................................................................................................... 11

Overview of BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is a tool that you can use to build and implement
processes for requests such as change and service requests. It provides a graphical
interface for building processes that can be executed within BMC Remedy ITSM
applications based on tasks, dependencies, decisions, and rules, without the need to
develop new applications, customize existing applications, or customize or update multiple
complex templates. BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is useful for systems that require
multiple different processes and tasks depending on the type of request.
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer also provides the following functionality:
A Process Tracker to view the status and history of each instance of the process
Release management with full auditing and rollback capability
Decision tree support and a data entry wizard
Full integration with the out-of-the-box BMC Remedy ITSM applications and custom-
built applications
Import and export capability for migrating processes between servers

Using BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer with BMC Remedy ITSM provides the
following benefits:
Processes that fit your business You can design and implement processes that fit
your business without having to customize existing out-of-the-box applications.
Understand and review the processes easily You use a graphical format to build and
review processes in exactly the way that they are implemented.
Faster deployment at lower cost You can use a simple graphical interface to
implement processes without having to customize BMC Remedy ITSM applications.
Reduced support and upgrade costs BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer helps
reduce time and effort to support the BMC Remedy ITSM applications because no
additional development or customization is needed.
Streamlined processes BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer enables automation of
processes by implementing automated actions and approvals.
Adherence to management, compliance, and audit requirements The Process
Diagram and Process Tracker provide a diagrammatic view of the process and its
current status, and a historical flow of every transaction through the process.



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Simplified user interface You can build decision trees quickly to provide a simplified
user interface for the data required to support processes.
Automated, built-in version control Processes are automatically version-stamped,
which enables you to easily roll back to or report usage of earlier versions.

Architecture
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer functions on the basis of process inheritance,
wherein a process within the BMC Remedy ITSM application inherits workflow rules from a
process template designed by using BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer.
You can select a process template when a new ticket or a request is raised in the BMC
Remedy ITSM applications. You select the process template based on the Operational and
Product Categorizations, or directly within a SRD.
After you associate the process template with the request, the BMC Remedy Java API is
used to generate a set of tasks, dependencies, service level agreement (SLA) targets,
actions, and validations for related fields or that particular request. Tasks are assigned to
the business groups on the basis of the information stored within the process definition. The
task name, type, category, description, and assignee are copied from each process
template task to each corresponding task record in the BMC Remedy ITSM applications.
The BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer client communicates with the BMC Remedy
Action Request System server by using the BMC Remedy AR System Java API or by using
XML over an HTTP connection to a server in the cloud.



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The following figure explains the architecture of BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer.
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer architecture


Features
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer consists of the following features:
Version control
Process automation
Version control
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer uses version numbers to provide configuration
management of processes. Every process template is automatically assigned a unique
version number, which helps you to restore to earlier versions of the template when you
perform testing.
Process automation
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer provides full automation of service management
processes, which helps eliminate the overhead of manual work and improve the efficiency



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and accuracy of component activities. You can define business rules in BMC Remedy ITSM
Process Designer that are required to automate each step in an individual process. BMC
Remedy ITSM applications interpret these business rules at runtime and use them to
automatically process each step without the need for manual intervention.
You can automate a chain of process steps that ultimately can automate the complete
process, letting the users manage exceptions and nonstandard requests.
Components
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer consists of the following components:
User interface
Process Tracker
Process wizard
Process templates
User interface
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for
creating process diagrams. The user interface is divided into a palette, an explorer view,
and an interactive drawing page.
The explorer view on the left of the interface lists all versions of the processes arranged in a
logical hierarchy. You create objects by dragging icons from the palette to the drawing page
on the right side of the interface.
The following screenshot shows the user interface:



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Date: February 2013
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BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer user interface

Each component consists of a set of attributes that are displayed when an icon is dragged
to the drawing page and when the object is selected for editing. The attributes include
name, type, task category, description, assigned group, SLA target, related actions, and
related fields in the application that need to be completed for each task.
The dependency lines are used to connect two existing objects together. These lines can be
marked conditional (based on an outcome value) or unconditional.
The following screenshot shows an example of a task list generated from a BMC Remedy
ITSM Process Designer ITIL Change Management process when used in conjunction with
the BMC Change Management application.



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Task list generation from BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer

BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer not only generates the task list but also enforces
task dependency rules within the process based on the selected outcome values. BMC
Remedy ITSM Process Designer also sets the planned end date based on the task SLA,
validates required fields, and runs any actions that have been defined for each task.
For more information about process creation and maintenance, see BMC Remedy ITSM
Process Designer User Guide.
Process Tracker
Process Tracker is a component of BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer that you use to
graphically track the progress of requests based on the tasks completed, assigned, and are
outstanding (pending). Each task is color-coded to indicate the current status, as defined in
the legend.
Process Tracker is installed as a Data Visualization Module (DVM) and viewed in the data
visualization field. The installation of the DVM is performed automatically as part of the
Process Designer Integration Configuration Tool (PDICT) Core application installation. If
you want to manually install Process Tracker, see (link to installation topic).
Process Tracker runs on BMC Remedy Mid Tier. Errors occur in the display of Process
Tracker diagrams when the following conditions exist:
BMC Remedy Mid Tier configuration is incorrect.
The BMC Remedy Application server is not connected to a BMC Remedy Mid Tier
server. A valid BMC Remedy connection is not available to the session or is broken
during generation of the diagram.



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The following screenshot shows Process Tracker:
Process Tracker

Process wizard
The Process wizard in BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer:
Provides a method of entering data for a request
Helps navigate the best-practice process flow without the need for specialized training
on the BMC Remedy ITSM application
The Process wizard is generated directly from the BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer
process definition. Therefore, you can customize this wizard to select what data must be
captured from the requests and what work instructions must be provided.
By using the Process wizard to capture data, you eliminate the need to customize your
application and reduce the effort and risk associated with future application upgrades.
The following screenshot shows the Process wizard:



BMC Remedy IT Service Management - Process Designer
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Date: February 2013
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Process wizard


You can use the Process wizard with BMC Remedy ITSM 7.6.04 and later applications,
including Incident Management, Problem Management, BMC Change Management, Work
Orders, BMC Service Request Management, and any custom applications.
Process templates
Processes created within BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer are stored in the BMC
Remedy database. Each process that consists of a collection of tasks, dependency rules,
SLA targets, actions, and related fields is called a process template.
A process template is a combination of a header record and a logical grouping of tasks. The
header record holds information about the status of the process and its version number,



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name, type, and SLA. It is called a template because it can be used as the basis for a
process that relates to an application record such as a fault, incident, or change request
within the BMC Remedy ITSM applications.
Both processes and tasks have associated SLAs, which define the time that is allocated to
complete the process and its component tasks.
Process template states
The various process template states and the valid transitions between those states are
shown in the following diagram:
BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer states and transitions