Remedy OnDemand: Analytics Content Promotion

Transcription

1 Remedy OnDemand: Analytics Content Promotion

2 Analytics Content Promotion The BMC Analytics for Business Service Management (BMC Analytics for BSM) application provides outof-the-box interactive reporting and analysis that enables technical and non-technical users to quickly examine data for trends and details associated with how IT is supporting business services and goals. BMC Analytics for BSM uses SAP BusinessObjects BI (Business Intelligence) platform, a third-party business-intelligence system, as the host for the semantic layer (universes) and the reporting engine that administers and publishes the reports. Lifecycle management console for SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4.0 is a web-based tool that enables you to move business intelligence (BI) content (customized reports, universes, etc.) from one environment to another. This document details the tasks/steps involved in moving BI content. Pre-Requisites Lifecycle management tool is available with SAP BusinessObjects BI platform version 4.0 and above. BMC Analytics and the underlying SAP BusinessObjects BI platform is upgraded along with ITSM application. If your ITSM and Analytics applications are not upgraded please continue to reach out to BMC Support for Analytics change management. How to check - Log into Analytics admin console i.e., BusinessObjects CMC (Central Management Console) - If you see Promotion Management under the Manage section, you can use the Lifecycle management tool to move content. High Level Tasks 1. Backup content in the destination environment 2. Export content from the source environment 3. Import content into the destination environment 4. Validate 5. Rollback, if necessary

3 Detailed Instructions Backup content in the destination environment Although, rolling back a move is possible, it is a good practice to backup content in the destination environment before moving a new version from the source environment for quick restoration if the systematic roll back fails or if there are any other issues. - Log into CMC and select Promotion Management. - In the "Promotion Jobs" home page, select New Job (menu item on top left). The "New Job" window appears. - Enter the name, description (optional), and keywords (optional) for the job in the appropriate fields. Best Practice: Jobs should be named appropriately for reference and reuse. Example: For a universe backup job the name can be Custom ITSM Unv Backup. - In the Save Job in field, browse and select the folder in which you want to save the job. o The default Promotion Jobs folder can be used. For better organization, sub-folders can be created and used. - From the Source drop-down list, select Login to a New CMS o In the Login To System window select the first item from the System drop-down list, enter the user name, password and click Login. (Use the same user name and password used to log into CMC.)

4 - From the Destination drop-down list, select Output to LCMBIAR File and click Create. o The job is created and "Add Objects" screen appears. The folder and subfolders are displayed in a tree structure. - Navigate to the folder from which you want to select the infoobject(s). - The list of infoobjects in the selected folder is displayed. - Select the infoobject(s) that you want to add to the job, and click Add. Best Practice: SAP BusinessObjects recommends that you select a small number of infoobjects, which should not exceed 100 at a time, for promotion to obtain optimum performance of the lifecycle management console tool. Tip: By default, the Add Objects window displays the report folders. Scroll down / collapse the All Folders structure to view and add other infoobjects (Universes, etc.). - Once all infoobjects are added, click Close to update the list and save the changes. - Job window appears with the list of selected infoobjects. - Click Promote. The "Promote" window appears. - Click Export. o Depending on the number of infoobjects selected, the LCMBIAR file generation can take a while. Wait until the file is generated and prompted to be downloaded/saved. - The LCMBIAR file is created. Save the LCMBIAR file to the local file system with an appropriate name.

5 Best Practice: LCMBIAR file should be named appropriately for reference and reuse. Example: For a universe backup job the file name can be _PROD_Custom_ITSM_Unv_Backup.lcmbiar. - Click Cancel to close the Promote window. - Close the job tab. - The job is saved under the Promotion Jobs folder. The job can be edited to add or remove infoobjects. - To edit a job, o In the "Promotion Jobs" home page, select the job that you want to edit, and click Edit. o The details of the selected job are displayed. Based on your requirements, you can add or remove infoobjects. Note: Once edited, a job should be re-exported to ensure that the updated list of infoobjects are exported into the lcmbiar file. Best Practice: Keep the Promotion Jobs folder organized by deleting one time jobs and/or organizing jobs into sub-folders as appropriate. Export content from the source environment - Log into CMC (Central Management Console) of the source environment and select Promotion Management. Tip: If you are moving infoobjects from Development to QA environment, Development will be the source and QA will be destination environment. For QA to PROD move, QA will be source and PROD will be destination environment. Log into the appropriate source environment. - In the "Promotion Jobs" home page, select New Job (menu item on top left). The "New Job" window appears. - Enter the name, description (optional), and keywords (optional) for the job in the appropriate fields.

6 Best Practice: Jobs should be named appropriately for reference and reuse. Example job names: Custom ITSM Unv for a universe move; CRQ Custom Reports for report folder move. Include the CR (change request) number as part of the name for reference. For universes and a set of reports, a standard name can be used as the job can be reused. - In the Save Job in field, browse and select the folder in which you want to save the job. - From the Source drop-down list, select Login to a New CMS o In the Login To System window select the first item from the System drop-down list, enter the user name, password and click Login. (Use the same user name and password used to log into CMC.) - From the Destination drop-down list, select Output to LCMBIAR File and click Create. o The job is created and "Add Objects" screen appears. The folder and subfolders are displayed in a tree structure. - Navigate to the folder from which you want to select the infoobject(s). - The list of infoobjects in the selected folder is displayed. - Select the infoobject(s) that you want to add to the job, and click Add. Best Practice: SAP BusinessObjects recommends that you select a small number of infoobjects, which should not exceed 100 at a time, for promotion to obtain optimum performance of the lifecycle management console tool. Tip: By default, the Add Objects window displays the report folders. Scroll down / collapse the All Folders structure to view and add other infoobjects (Universes, etc.).

7 - Once all infoobjects are added, click Close to update the list and save the changes. - Job window appears with the list of selected infoobjects. - Click Promote. The "Promote" window appears. - Click Export. o Depending on the number of infoobjects selected, the LCMBIAR file generation can take a while. Wait until the file is generated and prompted to be downloaded/saved. - The LCMBIAR file is created. Save the LCMBIAR file to the local file system with an appropriate name. Best Practice: LCMBIAR file should be named appropriately for easy reference. Example file names: Custom ITSM Unv - Dev to QA.lcmbiar for universe move; CRQ Custom Reports QA to PROD.lcmbiar for report folder move. Include the CR (change request) number as part of the name for reference. The same export from Development can be used to move content to QA and PROD. In that case, use a generic file name like Custom ITSM Unv Dev Export lcmbiar. - Click Cancel to close the Promote window. - Close the job tab. - The job is saved under the Promotion Jobs folder. The job can be edited to add or remove infoobjects. Best Practice: Keep the Promotion Jobs folder organized by deleting one time jobs and/or organizing jobs into sub-folders as appropriate. - To edit a job, o In the "Promotion Jobs" home page, select the job that you want to edit, and click Edit. o The details of the selected job are displayed. Based on your requirements, you can add or remove infoobjects. Note: Once edited, a job should be re-exported to ensure that the updated list of infoobjects are exported into the lcmbiar file.

8 Import content into the destination environment - Log into CMC of the destination environment and select Promotion Management. - In the "Promotion Jobs" home page, click Import file sub-menu from Import menu (top left). - The Import from file window appears. - Click Choose File/Browse and select the LCMBIAR file exported from the source environment in the previous task. - Click Ok. Tip: Depending the number of infoobjects / size of the LCMBIAR file, upload can take a while. Wait until the file is uploaded and job details window appears. - From the Destination drop-down list, select Login to a New CMS o In the Login To System window select the first item from the System drop-down list, enter the user name, password and click Login. (Use the same user name and password used to log into CMC.) - Click Create. The job is created. The job windows display the list of infoobjects. - Click Promote. The "Promote - Job Name" window appears. - Confirm the source, destination and the infoobjects to be promoted, and click Promote to promote the contents into the destination system. - The Promotion Jobs window lists all the jobs, including the one just created. - Click Refresh (menu item on top left) and verify the status of the job. Tip: Depending on the number of infoobjects imported, the job could run for a while. Wait for the status to be updated. For more details, select the job and click History to view the status and all instances of the job. Validate - In CMC, verify the modified date of the infoobjects moved into the destination environment. - If a universe is moved, run a few reports based on the universe. - If new objects are added to the universe, create and test reports using the new objects. - If existing objects are modified, run and validate reports based on those objects; create and test reports using the modified objects. - If reports are moved, open, view and run the reports in the destination environment.

9 Rollback The lifecycle management tool enables you to roll back infoobjects that are included in a job. The Rollback option enables you to restore the destination system to its previous state, after a job is promoted. To roll back a job: - Perform any of the following operations: o Right-click the job that you want to rollback, and select Rollback. o Select the job that you want to rollback, and click Rollback. - The "Rollback" window appears. - Select the job instance you want to rollback, and click Complete Rollback. Note: You can roll back only the most recent instance of a job promotion. You cannot roll back two job instances at the same time. Partial Rollback Option You can roll back either some infoobjects in a job or all the infoobjects. To roll back the infoobjects included in a job: - Perform any of the following operations: o Right-click the job you want to rollback, and select Rollback. o Select the job you want to rollback, and click the Rollback tab. - The "Rollback" window appears. - Select the job instance in the list, and click Partial Rollback. - The list of infoobjects in the selected job is displayed in the "Job Viewer" page. - Select the infoobjects that you want to roll back, and click Rollback.

10 Best Practices Do s - Move fewer infoobjects in each pass. o SAP BusinessObjects recommends that you select a small number of infoobjects, which should not exceed 100 at a time, for promotion to obtain optimum performance of the lifecycle management console tool. - Keep the Promotion Jobs folder organized o delete one time jobs o name jobs appropriately - Keep infoobjects in all the environments (Development, QA and Production) in sync o Move content from Dev to QA and then from QA to PROD. - Work with BMC Support, if moving a universe for the first time or moving a particular universe for the first time. Universe doesn t associate with the connection in the destination environment when moved for the first time. Universe should be re-configured to associate the connection in the destination environment. Don ts - Do not change / move OOTB (out-of-the-box) content o OOTB content includes the ITSM universe and all reports under BMC Analytics for BSM folder. o ITSM Universe has environment specific objects. Moving OOTB content will cause errors. - Do not move connections o Connections are configured to point to respective database environments. Moving connections will cause universes and reports to fail. - Do not move infoobjects (universes, reports) with environment specific definitions. o For example if the custom universe has an object that points to mid-tier URL, the object should be modified after moving to the destination environment. Please work with BMC Support & Operations for moving objects with environment specific definitions.

11 Troubleshooting The export or import of the.lcmbiar file could either fail or succeed partially. The below table lists the common errors and instructions to troubleshoot. Error LCM tool is unresponsive or throws an error during import or export. Export of the.lcmbiar file does not complete. Import of.lcmbiar file is unresponsive. Import job finishes with Partial Success status. Steps to resolve This could be due to browser version. Try on other browsers. This could be due to selection of large number of objects in the job. Reduce the number of objects in the job. Large number of objects should be imported/exported in batches. This could be due to the large size of the.lcmbiar file. Reduce the number of objects in the job; re-export and re-import. If the import job is not able to import all the objects in the job, it finishes with a Partial Success status. In the history tab of the job, click on the status to see the details. The Promotion Status window shows both successful and failed objects. Failure tabs lists the objects that failed. This could be due to duplicate objects in the target environment. Objects are identified by internal IDs and not by names. So if the object names are identical in the source and target environments, but the internal ID is different, the import will fail. Resolution: Delete the object in the target environment and re-import. Note: If you are importing into Production environment and if the object has recurring schedules, deleting the object will delete the recurring schedules as well. In this case, the object in the source environment should be renamed to avoid any conflicts during import, particularly when importing into Production environment. It is a best practice to keep all environments in sync. For all other issues, please reach out to BMC Support.