4.5.4.4. BMC Atrium Product Catalog Integration
The primary purpose of connecting the BMC Atrium Product Catalog with IRM Library data is to create a set of entries in the BMC Atrium Product Catalog that have a direct correspondence to object Types defined in IRM. As a result, these "common" Product Catalog entries can be referenced, for example, when creating a new Asset in BMC that requires some physical hardware to be deployed into the infrastructure. This feature is enabled by the Library Synchronization mechanism specifically designed for pushing IRM object Types into a Planet Associates section of the BMC Product Catalog.
The structure of the BMC Product Catalog is based upon products defined within a three-tier structure known as Tier1, Tier2 and Tier3, using the fields “Product Categorization Tier 1”, “Product Categorization Tier 2”, and “Product Categorization Tier 3”.
The IRM grouping within the BMC Product Catalog proposes the following Tier Levels to be defined in each Tier level to support the IRM Library structure:
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Tier 1: IRM Master Library
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Tier 2: "By Function" Category
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The Library Synchronization feature allows the user to specify which "By Function" Categories are to be synchronized with the BMC Product Catalog. Additional options enable the user to include/exclude types from synchronization based on specific properties, such as a specific Lifecycle Stage.
Library Synchronization rules
The synchronization is purely additive to the BMC Product Catalog:
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it does not remove any object from the BMC Product Catalog
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no duplicate entries are created
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the BMC Product Catalog is updated with IRM-owned fields if they change on the IRM side
Once an item exists in the BMC Product Catalog, and it is part of the Library Sync Configuration of the Type being synchronized between IRM and BMC, its end of life, end of support and cost properties become the responsibility of the BMC system, while all other fields coming from IRM are the responsibility of IRM.
There are two parts to the synchronization operation:
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If any of the BMC-responsible field values change in the BMC system, then the synchronization engine updates the corresponding IRM Type entry with the revised field data
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All other fields that were pushed from IRM to BMC are checked for changes in the IRM system, and if changed on the IRM side, the corresponding BMC entry is updated.
Resuming a previous synchronization
If the Library Sync configuration was done on specific categories on a previous visit to the Library Sync feature, then unchecked, and at a future date/time it is re-checked again, the synchronization engine will ‘fix’ those re-added entries on its next pass, and add any missing entries on the start-sync.
Updating and mapping the BMC Product Catalog Form with IRM field data
The BMC Product Catalog synchronization service synchronizes all existing field entries and also checks and attempts to synchronize any New (optional) fields, if they have been added. For example, Equipment Type data fields map to the BMC “PCT:Product Model-Version” Form fields. There are also default fields on the BMC form that map to existing Equipment Type fields according to a predefined set of mapping rules.
Product Catalog Entry Lifecycle state
It is possible to manage the Lifecycle Stage of each Product catalog entry from within the BMC Product Catalog application. The Lifecycle Stage of each Product is set by the new field paiLifecycleStage, which supports the default Product Lifecycle Stages defined in IRM.
