I'm using 8.1 in development (planning on upgrading my user testing server soon) and the WUT is as indispensable as ever.
Thanks, Shawn Pierson Remedy Developer | Energy Transfer From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Rick Phillips Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 9:52 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: Using BPCU while ARS Upgrade? ** WUT 7.6.04 and 8.1, aye! (especially for exporting data-all columns all rows). rp On 8/28/2013 3:15 PM, Jason Miller wrote: ** 1. Correct. This really doesn't change with or without overlays. This is the same as it has been since I started working with Remedy v4. * SIDE NOTE: This is also why I was very adamant on calling BS when a BMC person (or two) try to convince our organization that by using overlays customizations are now configurations. The impact, maintenance, testing and documentation needs do not change with overlays. Sure BMC code will not intentionally change your overlay or custom object like in the past when there was only one object layer but it all still has to work together. 1. There was an oversight in 7.6.04 Dev Studio where the option to convert from unmodified to custom was left out. There is a thread from last year where Doug Mueller explained and gave some options. I would think it has been added to 7.6.04 in a patch but if not my recommendation is to upgrade Dev Studio to 8.1 since you will need to do that at some point. You will then have the option to convert unmodified to custom before the server upgrade. 2. If I remember correctly the rapp service was called via run process. You could pull a full def file of the server (or multiple by object type) and search for 'rappsvc' in a text editor to find the objects that call it. Chances are since you don't have SLA there are probably only a handful of places that use it and you won't likely miss it. I seem to remember there was one or two things about HD pre 6 that used it outside of SLA. 3. That sounds reasonable. Open Windows was one of the most frequent uses for macros. It has been so long since I have done this process that what you describe sounds familiar :) 4. Technically they are buttons but you will have to adjust how they are presented in the view. If you create a Vertical Navigation field you can click "Click here to attach orphaned items". This will show your menu bar buttons. If you want to make them individual buttons without a Nav field I am pretty sure there is a way but can't completely remember right now. * Ok, this was bugging me so I figured out how to do it (and it is super simple). Select the menu field from the Outline list, under Display Properties change Display Type from Menu to Button. 1. The User Tool is not phased out for AR System 7.6.04, just ITSM 7.6.04. You can still use WUT with a 7.6.04 AR System Server and non-ITSM applications. This configuration will be supported until 7.6.04 falls out of support. This is why we are sticking with ARS 7.6.04 for our Help Desk/custom environment and not moving to ARS 8.x. I am willing to be you will be fine with WUT 7.6.04 and AR System Server 8,1. It is not a supported configuration but it will work. All of us who are using WUT 7.6.04 with 8.0/8.1 raise our hands. .-. |U| _ _ | | /<) (>\ | | / / \ \ | | / / .-. \ \| |/ /.'`.' \ `' .' .---. | / `--. `' | \ / | | | | Jason On Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 3:42 PM, Ravi <ravi6...@gmail.com<mailto:ravi6...@gmail.com>> wrote: ** Thanks again! Jason. Really appreciate your help. You ROCK!!! Based on your response, I have few more questions if you don't mind: 1. So, I assume for the Customizations I recreated on ARS v7.6.04, I just have to document them thoroughly and then the only way to identify issues & moving forward is to test thoroughly after upgrading to ARS v8.1 and at the same time referring to the customizations doc to make sure they were carried over. 2. Converting to Custom - when I ran upgrade from ARS v5.1.2 to v7.6.04(5.1.2>6.3>7.1>7.6.04) - noticed that all the custom apps/features we had in v5.1.2 were carried over to v7.6.04. Now, they appear as Unmodified Objects and when I right click on them, it only gives me an option to "Convert to Overlay" but not to Custom. Or do I just leave them as it is as Unmodified and then run upgrade to v8.1?(hope I won't lose all these custom apps/features) 3. RAPP Service - Is there a way to identify if we are using RAPP Service in our environment, I tried to look for form for e - SHR:Rapp..., etc but didn't find any. Basically we have only HD5.6(ITSM 5.6) and ARS5.1.2, no other ITSM apps like SLA App, etc - we have our own Custom SLA App. 4. Macros - we do have lot of ALs using Run Macro actions, so I understand they will need to be converted to AL. I see the option is available in Admin Tool v5.1. When I convert Macros into ALs, it created a new AL - Run Macro action is replaced with Open Window, etc...so do I DISABLE the old AL which had macro? 5. Menu Bar- we do have lot of customizations around menu bar, so I understand I will need to create corresponding buttons and associate to them. 6. MidTier vs User Tool - Will be going through the doc to identify and note down the important points. BMC phased out User Tool after v7.6.04 but I have seen some posts - Susan, and other reported that User Tool(v7.6) is still functional. Do you think, I can use that after going to v8.1? On Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 3:10 PM, Jason Miller <jason.mil...@gmail.com<mailto:jason.mil...@gmail.com>> wrote: ** Hi everybody. Raj and I discussed off line a little more and I would like to share that for the benefit of everybody on the List. ****************** Glad I can help. It sounds like you are on the right track. 1. Your understanding is correct. The one caveat is if you have a customization that is dependant on a something that changes in Base mode then it could affect your customization in the Overlay. A few examples * If a field is deleted by the installer that your Overlay references. Say the User form has field XYZ created by BMC and you have built custom workflow that references that field. If BMC decides XYZ is no longer needed and removes it then it would impact your Overlay. I have not encountered this scenario yet so I am not sure exactly what would happen. I assume your workflow would just have a broken field reference in it and not work as expected. * A permissions change in Base. Similar to the first bullet if BMC changes the permission to (configuration) form where you have custom workflow referencing it can impact how your Overlay/Custom workflow behaves. 2. Correct. You never "have to" create an Overlay for anything. In the case of an old version of HelpDesk you will not be installing any further BMC supplied updates to it so at this point I would consider it a custom app that your organization is solely responsible for. If your organization's long-term path is to stay on HD 5.6 and continue to upgrade ARS I recommend converting everything that was built in-house or that BMC no longer supports to Custom. This will make sure you stay aligned with BMC's direction regarding how ARS development is supposed to be done. One thing I know will break on a pre 6.0 HD app is the rapp service. The rapp service will not be able to connect to an AR Server >= 6.0. In my past experiences we have found this to be acceptable because we were not actively using workflow that uses the rapp services. Pre 6.0 SLA app is dependant on the rapp service as well as a few things in HD. If you find you do not need the rapp service you can disable any workflow that calls it. 3. There is a white paper that explains the differences between the User Tool and Mid Tier. I don't think there is an updated version of this document for 8.x because that is when BMC dropped support for WUT. I think for the most part our existing forms would work fine in MT. Some of our form heavily use the Menu Bar (and the buttons that go with menus) on the top of the form. We would have to update our designs and move those buttons to navigation fields or individual buttons. This isn't too bad because you can reassociate where/how the Menu Bar buttons are located. Besides the Menu Bar we would just need to review each form to make sure it looks ok in a browser and verify the core functionality of a form. I occasionally open an old form in MT and it is minor things that don't work. Some of the forms would just have to save/search buttons or the web toolbar added, etc. Macros would be another thing you may have embedded in workflow that will not work in MT. Since our Help Desk is version 6 (which had MT access in mind) and we stopped using macros in our custom development many, many years ago this isn't an issue for us. At one point there was a tool that could convert Active Links that used macros into the appropriate actions. Similar to macros we have a number of scripts (.bat, / .vbs) to automate things that are called within the User Tool. These will work differently when called from a browser so we would probably have to make some changes here. Do you mind if I post this response to the ARSList? I think there are others that would find value in the answers? Jason On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Ravi <ravi6...@gmail.com<mailto:ravi6...@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi Jason, Really, appreciate your response. Looks like your management is supporting well and is line with what you/your team intent to do. So in my case, we are still planning on upgrading ARS from v7.6.04 to v8.1 - in that case : 1. Best Practice Mode/Customization to Core forms - As you suggested and what I understood from other responses, I have created overlays and recreating customizations on overlays with the intent that these customizations will be carried over to v8.1 and I do not have to do the manual work of recreating Customizations again...is my understanding right? 2. HD 5.6 - We do have heavy customizations on HelpDesk, since we not planning on upgrading ITSM anytime soon(as most likely we might just introduce OOTB ITSM and customize later on). So while on v7.6.04 - do I have to create overlay for HPD 5.6, I don't - right ? (as basically we are not even sure if this older ITSM HD5.6 would even be compatible with v8.1 ARS and work but hoping that it will be functional, although we know that BMC is not going to support it). Also, if we were to customize HD 5.6 later after going to ARS v8.1 - do we just do it in Base Development Mode? 3. Midtier/Use Tool - I see you mentioned about changing older forms to be web-enable - where can I find more information on this?. I would like to identify potential issues and any extra work which I might have to do to make sure all our older features/functionalities(especially HD 5.6) are available and working in v8.1 on midtier as User Tool won't be there... Once again, thank you so much for your help and valuable information. Regards, Raj On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 11:36 AM, Raj <ravi6...@gmail.com<mailto:ravi6...@gmail.com>> wrote: Thanks Jason and Kiran. Your response clarified lot of things. _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ Private and confidential as detailed here: http://www.energytransfer.com/mail_disclaimer.aspx . 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