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FAQ AR System
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1.- Administration
- What are the limitations of attachments in AR System?
The default limit of attachments in the Action Request System is 1 MB. This can be greater depending on the database vendor. For example the maximum value for the Oracle database is 32MB. Note that this value is based on the compressed size of the attachment.
- What mechanisms do exist to migrate & manage changes of application from test to Q/A to production environment.
Remedy provides a migration tool for moving changes from development to production.
- Which is the AR System license cost structure?
Remedy applications are licensed by Server and by User.
- Does the license include perpetual use by customer of Test/QA, Development and Archive servers?
Testing and development licenses are purchased separately at a discounted price.
- How is licensing handled?
BMC offers 3 License types with the Remedy System: Read, Fixed Write and Floating Write.
A Read license enables the user to search and display existing requests and to submit new requests. A user cannot modify or save data in existing requests*. This type of access to the system is also called View Access. Remedy offers this type of license at no charge.
A Fixed license includes all the capabilities of a Read license, and also enables the user to modify and save data for existing requests. AR System administrators and sub-administrators must have a Fixed license. These licenses are assigned to one person and only that person can use the license. This is best suited for heads-down users or people who often need to change and update the status of tickets. It allows one assigned person to modify tickets.
A Floating license includes all the capabilities of a Read license, and also enables the user to modify and save data for existing requests. These licenses are seen as "tokens" in the system, which can be used by several technicians or employees. For example, if you have a 5-pack of floating licenses and all licenses are being used, a sixth user will not be able to save modifications to the request. The user will receive a notification that there are no licenses available at this time. When one of the users logs off, a token becomes available for use by another user. Floating licenses are tied to the server and are not assigned to one particular person. It allows concurrent users to modify tickets.
*The administrator may configure the system to allow single users to modify their own requests.
- Are there any constraints on operator intervention during production?
Remedy solutions do not impose constraints on operator intervention during production, per se. Remedy Applications are designed to allow for changes to the system on the fly and many customers place a high value on this feature. However, many companies prefer that proper application development change processes be followed to minimize production interference.
- What are the ongoing resources required to support AR System?
From a Remedy application support stand point; Remedy recommends that at least one full time dedicated resource be assigned as the Remedy Administrator role. Remedy offers a full line of education offerings to support the role.
- What is Remedy's position regarding the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002? Would ITIL Help?
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is in place to ensure that companies and their chief officers are accountable for the accuracy of the information given across their entire organization. Remedy solutions and ITIL can play a part in that by making sure that their infrastructure tools and processes are accurate and traceable. Accounting and financial accuracy follow another set of rules and regulations that ITIL does not really get into (small part in that).
Remedy ITSM suite solutions and ITIL disciplines’ are built around IT Service Management, and as such, ensure accuracy and correct implementation of processes around the IT organization. In other words, Remedy and ITIL’s role in this Act is to ensure that organizations’ infrastructure tools and processes are accurate and traceable.
Remedy ITSM suite for the Enterprise helps you meet the requirements of a Sarbanes-Oxley IT control audit with:
· A single consolidated change management system that meets application change control objectives including approval workflow and a complete audit trail
· An asset and configuration management solution that meets configuration software-licensing requirements
· A complete configuration/asset database that tracks assets and configurations
· An automated Service Level Management system
· And more…
- Do AR System support Standard Network Management Protocol SNMP?
At this time, Remedy solutions integrate with third part tools that utilize the SNMP framework. We support MAPI and SMTP interfaces out of the box. Remedy Email engine enables bi-directional synchronization with MS Exchange or any MAPI compliant Groupware.
Current plans are for the next release of the AR System to include a SNMP agent for use in monitoring by cross-system tools.
2.- API
- Does it Provide open APIs to leading email systems (e.g. MS Exchange)?
Remedy provides an industry standard 32 bit, multithreaded API as one of its numerous integration methods. The integration to MS Exchange for incoming i.e. creating incident records in Remedy from e mail content and outgoing e mail for notification purposes is inherent in the Remedy ITSM suite. We also integrate into POP3 mail, UNIX mail, Lotus Notes and other bespoke email and groupware systems.
- Does AR System support ActiveX?
Yes, Remedy applications work with ActiveX.
3.- Architecture
- Adaptability to changing technologies and business needs is required. How this is accomplished?
The Action Request System can easily be tailored to adapt to your changing business requirements through simple point-and-click customization, giving you virtually unlimited capability to extend your existing Action Request System solutions or create new solutions to meet any business need. Changes made through the Action Request System’s point-and-click interface automatically carry through to the underlying database, eliminating the challenge of modifying the database manually.
As Remedy updates the platform with new features, functions and integrations, the platform underlying the applications can be upgraded separately to allow the applications to take advantage of some of the new features.
Remedy applications are developed in C++. They are developed on the AR System to provide continuity and seamless integration between the various application modules, thereby allowing the customer to have a flexible, adaptable and scalable platform from which to grow and adapt as their business and technology changes.
- What tools are available to enable threshold monitoring, alerting and in-band monitoring?
Remedy can reside on systems configured to monitor key database and system processes. Auto-alert generation is accomplished through BMC Patrol products as well as 3rd-party tool.
- Which is the system architecture?
The AR System is divided into four simple layers: Client Tier, Mid-Tier, Server Tier and Data Tier. At each layer, AR System addresses scalability. These is the AR System Tier Definitions:
Client Tier - The Client Tier is the presentation layer that provides the user interface and user interaction aspects of the product. Most clients are for end-user interaction, but the tools for system administration are also clients.
Clients can run within a Web browser, on Windows, on Palm OS devices, on wireless devices such as cell phones, and in other environments as well. Regardless of the type of client, the AR System will support the client platform you chooses.
Mid-Tier - The Mid-Tier provides components and add-in services that run on a Web server, enabling you to deploy your applications on the World Wide Web. The Mid-Tier and the Server Tier together handle the processing of business rules. The Mid-Tier translates browser requests, communicates with the AR Server, and generates a response for the browser. As an organization continues to grow, it will need to address the needs of the remote browser-based user. When operating in a wireless or Web-enabled environment, the AR System Mid-tier architecture will allow you to scale to many users by adding additional Mid-Tier servers.
Server Tier - The Server Tier contains the AR System Server, which controls workflow processes and access to databases and other data sources in the Data Tier.
The ability of multiple AR System servers to exist on a single host machine aids greatly in scalability. This capability enables mutually exclusive groups of users to access separate AR System servers on a single host machine. This feature allows Application Service Providers (ASPs) to provide AR System applications to specific customers. An organization might use this functionality to host both a Development and Test environment on a single server, negating the purchase of additional hardware.
Data Tier - The Data Tier contains database servers and other data sources that can be accessed by the AR System Server. The database server acts as the data storage and retrieval engine.
AR System allows you to have multiple servers accessing the same database. An advantage is that this capability enables multiple servers to access multiple applications from a single high-performance database sharing the same data. It provides a single point of database management. It allows for easy backup and replication at the database level. It also increases scalability by increasing the bandwidth applied to a single data set.
- What is the Action Request System?
Action Request System® is the premiere application platform and development environment for automating Service Management business processes. The foundation for Remedy's IT Service Management and Customer Service and Support applications, AR System® is also the development environment for thousands of customer and partner-built applications. More than 7,000 customers and 75% of the Fortune 100 companies know that AR System is the fastest, most cost-effective way to automate key business processes and improve service levels throughout their organizations. With its request-centric, forms-driven, workflow-based architecture, the AR System development environment is optimized for efficiencies in automating service-related business processes. Developed for non-programmers, AR System simplifies development tasks through its simple point-n-click, drag-n-drop user interface and includes pre-built service management modules, such as notifications, escalations, and approvals. AR System is compatible with your existing infrastructure and includes a broad suite of intuitive integration tools for application-to-application integration, including support for Web Services with no programming required.
- Why do you need Action Request System?
Built for adaptability in a continuously changing business environment, AR System allows you to rapidly prototype, deploy, maintain and iterate Service Management applications for affordable, continuously optimized solutions.
Managing processes using traditional paper-based and email communications is cumbersome, labor-intensive, and slow. Manual processes hamper the ability of your employees to organize their efforts and manage tasks efficiently through all the steps and approvals required for completion. They also make it difficult for management to to document service levels and ensure optimal performance. AR System lets you replace outdated manual systems with workflow automation that speeds the handling of unique processes and optimizes user productivity. The result - higher employee effectiveness and morale, lower costs, and improved visibility for management.
With the continually accelerating pace of business, finding new ways to enhance bottom-line efficiencies has never been more important to your organization's success. AR System gives you the tools you need now to keep pace with expanding business demands ... so you can ensure that your organization is consistently aligned with the overall goals of your business.
- Does your system support clustering, load balancing and fail over?
Yes. Remedy can be run in these configurations
- How is the solution (AR System and Help Desk) to be configured for the specific business needs of the company?
Configuration of your information can be accomplished via Forms, which are the foundation of the AR System and the Help Desk. Help Desk Case forms can be modified by an administrator to include client information, technical details and notes regarding the issue all in one easy to use single interface.
Configuration of the Help Desk application can be accomplished using the Remedy Configuration Manager. Part of the responsibility of the application administrator is to configure the Remedy Service Management applications to contain custom entries about the various people, groups, skills, responsibilities, and geographic locations associated with your organization.
You configure the applications using the Remedy Configuration Manager. The forms are only available to the AR System administrator and the RSM application administrators.
The configuration console consists of four tabs. They are:
· General · Support Specifics · Address · Advanced
The tasks on the General and Support Specific tabs are required procedures, while the tasks on the Address and Advanced tabs are optional.
When you need to return to these forms to reconfigure (for example, as you add new members or locations to your organization), you can access the tasks directly from the tabs of the Remedy Configuration Console.
- What is the Remedy Help Desk?
Remedy Help Desk is the most easily implemented solution available today to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your internal support organization. Remedy Help Desk drives down the total cost of ownership of your IT infrastructure by being the fastest to deploy, most adaptable problem/incident management application available today. With extensive usability testing, the interface is easy to use and reduces training time with built-in procedure guidelines.
Remedy Help Desk consists of four integrated, best-in-class capabilities that help manage functions, which are critical to the organizations infrastructure:
· Incident Management · Problem Resolution · Asset Inventory · Change Tasking
Remedy Help Desk speeds time-to-benefit and ensures a rapid return on investment (ROI) by including features for requesters, support staff and managers. It also offers a high degree of flexibility to allow the application to evolve in support of unique business process needs.
Remedy Rapid Results for Help Desk is a Professional Services program which provides expertise in deployment and configuration, so you can get your new solution up and running in 15 days, with minimal impact to your business operations.
- Why do you need Remedy Help Desk?
The out-of-box features in Remedy Help Desk are designed to allow rapid time-to-benefit for the principal functions of an internal support organization. In addition, the unparalleled adaptability of Remedy Help Desk – courtesy of the underlying workflow automation platform, the Action Request System – permits the alteration of the product to fit specific or unique business process requirements for each customer.
The support of specific business processes, during initial implementation and through on-going evolution of the product during its operational life, ensures you can always serve the needs of your rapidly changing business environment. It also facilitates the transition of IT services in line with changing end-user demands, thereby constantly improving end-user satisfaction.
Rich User Experience
Remedy Service Management Solutions provide the same dynamic and intuitive experience whether your users are working with a Microsoft Windows client or a Web browser. The suite includes built-in Web-authoring capabilities along with out-of-the-box Web and wireless views—bringing ease of use and high productivity to users and support personnel. Support for Wireless Access Protocol (WAP)-enabled and Wireless Markup Language (WML) devices means field technicians can query and update tickets using WAP-enabled phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) with WML browsers, such as the Palm Powered Handheld™, Pocket PC and Blackberry RIM (Research in Motion) devices. This ensures a more accurate, up-to-date reflection of issue status.
- Are there any architectural designs that would limit the number of users?
There is no hard limitation on load. The AR System has been designed to both scale up (scalability increases as more system resources are added) and scale out (scalability can be increased by deploying multiple servers in a load balanced environment). So performance degradation can be avoided by either adding additional system resources or by installing the AR System in a load-balanced configuration.
- What are the elements of the technical architecture of the ARS solution?
The AR System is based on a multi-tier client/server architecture summarized below:
· The client tier is the presentation layer that provides the user interface and user interaction aspects of the product. Most clients are for end-user interaction, but the tools for system administration are also clients. Clients can run within a web browser, on Windows, on Palm OS devices, on wireless devices such as cell phones, and in other environments as well.
· The mid tier provides components and add-in services that run on a web server, enabling you to deploy your applications on the web. The mid tier and the server tier together handle the processing of business rules.
· The server tier contains the AR System server, which controls workflow processes and access to databases and other data sources in the data tier.
· The data tier contains database servers and other data sources that can be accessed by the AR System server. The database server acts as the data storage and retrieval engine. The combined servers act like a library with reference material and librarians available to assist patrons. The client is like a library patron who asks for material or assistance in accomplishing his or her work.
AR System Clients
AR System clients can be broadly divided into two groups: end-user clients and administrative clients.
End-user Clients
Several end-user clients are available that use the standard user interfaces for the web, Windows, Palm OS, and wireless devices within their respective environments.
· Web clients use a browser to provide a user interface to AR System applications. These applications can be complete e-business/e-commerce webbased solutions for submitting new requests, searching and modifying existing requests, charting data, generating reports, and receiving and responding to AR System notifications.
· Remedy User is a GUI based client tool that provides the day-to-day user interface to AR System applications for users of Microsoft Windows. It is used to submit new and modify existing requests, to search for requests, and to generate reports.
· Wireless clients that use Wireless Markup Language (WML), such as cell phones and two-way pagers, can also communicate with the AR System.
· Remedy Alert GUI based client tool and is also available in the browser that is sometimes thought of as a “desktop pager,” can notify users of events by making an icon flash, making an audible “beep,” playing a sound file, running a process, or opening a message window. For example, it can display a message alerting help desk personnel that a new problem has been assigned to them. The user can display a list of alerts in Remedy User, even if Remedy Alert is not installed.
Administrative Clients
Administrative clients allow you to create, modify, extend, and set permissions on applications that you create with the AR System. Most administrative clients run on Windows.
· Remedy Administrator is used by AR System administrators to create new and modify existing applications. All of the components that make up an application, such as forms and workflow elements, are created and modified using Remedy Administrator.
· Remedy Import is used to load external data into AR System forms. For example, employee information could be extracted from a human resources application and loaded into a People Information form as a batch process, eliminating the need to retype data.
· Remedy Migrator is used by AR System administrators to migrate applications between servers. This tool helps you reduce the difficulty and amount of time required to synchronize your development and production AR System servers.
Integration Clients
Remedy also offers a number of tools for expanding the capabilities of the core system. These tools act as clients of the AR System and include Enterprise Integration Engines (EIE), Knowledge Based Systems (KBS), Network Management Platform Integration Accessories, and Systems Management Integration Utilities. These are independent parts of the AR System that are separate from the standard desktop tools.
The AR System Mid Tier
The mid tier translates client requests, interprets responses from the server, and runs server-side processes that bring AR System functionality to web and wireless clients. For example, unlike Remedy User for Windows, a web browser is a generic client that has no inherent knowledge of any application that might run within it. By acting as an interpreter, the mid tier allows a web browser to become a fully functional AR System client.
The mid tier is available for each of the following operating systems and web servers:
The AR System Server
The AR System server processes all of the data entered by a client. As the workflow engine between the client and the database server, the AR System server writes data into the database when a request is created, and retrieves that data when a client requests it. The server verifies that a user has permission to do each transaction that is performed, thereby enforcing any access control that you have defined as part of an application. The server also continuously evaluates the data in the database and each transaction to determine whether workflow should be triggered.
Operating Systems Web Servers
· HP-UX Apache, iPlanet · IBM AIX Apache, iPlanet · Linux Apache · Microsoft Windows Server IIS, iPlanet · Sun Solaris Apache, iPlanet
The AR System server communicates with the mid tier, AR System clients, and external applications by means of a well-defined application programming interface (API). The server is available for each of the following operating systems:
· HP-UX · IBM AIX · Microsoft Windows Server · Sun Solaris
Database Servers
The AR System uses standard relational databases for storing and retrieving data. Architecturally, the database server is a set of processes that are completely separate from the AR System server processes. Physically, the database server processes can be running on the same computer as the AR System server or on a different computer. The database server can be run on any platform that the particular database supports.
Because all of the workflow is managed by the AR System server, applications are independent of the database. Therefore, applications created on an AR System server running one type of database can be easily moved to a server running a different database. Remedy provides a simple export/import utility for this purpose.
The AR System can use any of the following databases:
· DB2 · INFORMIX · Microsoft SQL Server · Oracle · Sybase
A flat-file storage system is also available, primarily for evaluating the product and for prototyping applications. The AR System can work with data stored in databases and other data sources that are not managed by the AR System. These data sources are accessed through view forms. In addition, the AR System can work with data not stored in databases as if the data were owned locally using the AR System database connectivity (ARDBC) feature.
Licensing and Access Control
When creating users, you must assign a license type to each user. The type of license a user has determines the user’s ability to access AR System objects and to perform tasks. The following section explains AR System license types. It also introduces a setting that overrides a user’s need for a write license when modifying fields in requests for which the user is the initial submitter.
License Types
One component that determines the access that a user will have to AR System is the type of license you assign. A complete discussion of licensing is found in the Installing AR System guide, but the important license elements as they relate to access control are summarized in the following table.
License Type Description
Read Enables users to search and display existing requests. Users cannot submit new requests, or modify or save data in existing requests. This type of access to the system is also called View access.
Fixed Write Includes all of the capabilities of a Read license, and also enables users to modify and save data for existing requests based on the groups to which the user belongs. AR System administrators and sub-administrators must have a Fixed Write license. Other AR System users who consistently need to modify requests should also have Fixed Write licenses.
Floating Write Includes all of the capabilities of a Read license, and also enables users to modify and save data for existing requests based on the groups to which the user belongs. Floating Write licenses can be used by multiple users, one user at a time. This type of license is designed for users who occasionally need to modify and save data for existing requests.
License Pools
You can reserve a number of floating licenses for a group, subject to the number of floating licenses available in the database. When a member of a group logs in, a license from the license pool for that group is granted. When the user has finished with the license it is released back into the pool.
If there are no licenses available in the pool, a check is made to see if the user is a member of any other group that has a license pool. If there are no licenses available in any pool the user is a member of, a check is made for floating licenses not associated with any pool. At no time is a user granted a floating license from a pool of which he is not a member.
License pools allow you to give priority to a group that needs licenses more urgently. The group with the smallest group ID has the highest priority. When a non-reserved floating license becomes available, it is granted to the next user who needs it, regardless of the priority of that user’s access to the system.
- Is client distribution browser based, web, thin, or distributed client?
Remedy can be distributed to the client via any 3rd party distribution tool. In addition, full web access and capabilities are provided for the Remedy Asset Management application out-of-box.
- What is the ability to split web, database, middleware and application tiers?
Remedy can be distributed to the client via any 3rd party distribution tool. In addition, full web access and capabilities are provided for the Remedy Asset Management application out-of-box.
4.- Assignment
- Is it possible to route to agents via email?
Remedy supports default email assignments to a specified group. Using pre-defined email templates, (typically email submissions via the web) the system can be tailored to route submitted emails based on the issue type, customer, etc. based on defined assignment rules.
- How are user roles and their respective permissions maintained?
Configuration Manager, which is a “wizard-like” set of menus and task to update the data model for your deployment. Pre-defined groups/roles are managed with their respective permissions. Creating new groups and users is very easy.
Using the Remedy Administrative Console you would add these new groups to the applications.
5.- Backup
- Does the system support the ability to recover from unexpected failures (i.e., redundancy, failover and backup capability)?
The AR System utilizes a multithreaded architecture, which allows the server to efficiently process client requests. This architecture includes a Thread Manager that is responsible for monitoring and restarting threads during unexpected failures. Additionally, Remedy provides the Distributed Server Option, an intelligent data replication tool. To ensure service continuity, DSO can be used in conjunction with best of breed High Availability solutions that can automatically route client requests to a backup AR System server. In the event of a crisis, client requests can also be rerouted to an AR System server at a remote site.
6.- Customization
- How custom coding of a production system will be migrated with a release or version upgrade?
Configuration changes made using the Configuration Manager are data driven and will automatically move with upgrades. Changes made to tables and data structure can be moved with the Remedy Migrator Tool.
- How the customization of the product is performed?
One tool does it all: the AR System Administrator Tool. The AR System Administrator Tool provides the administrator with one tool to design all aspects of the forms that are used by their users: fields, buttons, menus and all the workflow associated with the form such as notifications, escalations, assignments, and ticklers. All the customization is done through point-and-click minimizing the need for consulting or programming resources.
- How the additional/custom fields are addressed with a new release of software?
Remedy recommends that all customizations to the Remedy applications take place through the Remedy Administrator. This insures that the base structures, fields and forms exist that future releases of the product would make reference to. Through the use of suggested customization guidelines provided by Remedy training and manuals, migration of additional/custom fields can be accomplished in the upgrade process.
7.- Database Support
- What are the installation reguirements of your product's administration tool(s)?
The installation of the Remedy Administrative tool does require installation of software components at both the Server and Workstation level. An exact list of these components is not available.
- Client installation requirements
The client installation of the software only requires the install of software components at the workstation level. The user.exe is installed along with some other pieces. These would be located in the Program Files folder of your workstation.
- The format of the repository must be relational database (open)? What is the solution format?
The supported databases are: Oracle, 9i, MS SQL Server, Informix, Sybase DB2.
The AR System data dictionary is composed of tables that contain the structural definitions of all the forms, filters, escalations, active links, character menus, and containers that are entered into the system.
All of these tables together contain the complete definition of the structures and workflow defined in your implementation of AR System. As you add new or alter existing structures in your system, appropriate updates are made to these tables to reflect the changes.
8.- Development
- Which are the Third party development tools used to develop product(s)?
Remedy utilizes different technologies and languages to develop on the variety of platforms and technologies we support. Some of the languages are C, C++, Java, XML, etc. Some of the tools utilized in development are Visual C++, Visual Café, Dream weaver, and the like.
- What is the evaluation and prioritization process for client/users group enhancement requests?
Enhancement requests from client / user groups are highly prioritized as is all feedback from Remedy users. Enhancement request prioritization is evaluated on the needs of the users, number of users effected, the version of the solution for which the enhancement is required and the timing of a next release, which may include such features.
- How quickly will the application software be certified against a new major version release of the database subsystem?
Remedy utilizes different technologies and languages to develop the variety of platforms and technologies we support. Some of the languages are C, C++, Java, XML, etc. Some of the tools utilized in development are Visual C++, Visual Café, Dream weaver, and the like. We generally support the versions that the vendor supports in their mainline support (not extended maintenance support). We always try to support a major release relatively soon after it's introduced. For example, if PeopleSoft releases a new version, our integration would be reviewed out against it. Should development work be required, it may be deferred until the next release (maintenance, update, major) of our product.
9.- Flashboards
- What is AR System Flashboards?
Remedy Flashboards allows you to visually measure the success of your business operations. By combining historical and real-time metrics in a concise and graphical form, you can seize opportunities to improve quality and accelerate responsiveness of your processes.
Remedy Flashboards is flexible enough to track any of your business processes. Alerts help you quickly and expertly re-deploy your resources to optimally resolve current issues and address potential problems.
Remedy Flashboards presents key metrics from your Remedy applications graphically, dynamically, and in real time. Graphical displays highlight problem areas using color-coding to alert you visually that conditions are outside of acceptable ranges. Remedy Flashboards gives you immediate insight into issues and problems so you can handle customer needs proactively.
Remedy Flashboards is the ideal solution for helping your department succeed at providing the highest levels of service to your customers. It ensures that your managers can access information quickly and in an intuitive format, and it lets you be proactive in understanding bottlenecks and issues.
- What alert capabilities does the AR System have?
Alerts - Alerts are an out of the box Remedy Help Desk feature. Remedy Alert is a client program that functions as a "desktop pager." This component within the AR System server supports desktop pages such as flashing icons, audible beeps, sound files, and message windows. For example, it can display a message alerting help desk personnel that a new problem has been assigned to them.
Using Reminders- Reminders enable you to create notes for yourself and others. You can send them by email or through Remedy Alert, and you can specify when they will be sent. You can create generic reminders, or you can create reminders that are associated with a specific help desk case. For example, you can send yourself a note about a specific help desk case to remind yourself to monitor it. On the Web, you can access reminders only from the Remedy Support Console. In Windows, whether you access reminders from the console or from within a help desk case determines which reminders you will be able to view: |