Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-03-04 Thread Peters, Ron
Thanks Jason,

I have another file that contains more detailed information for 
installation/configuration as well as the create_incident script and sample 
rule/config files and the directory structure for implementation. It's pretty 
close to a drop in install. You would just need the box to put it on. I won't 
be officially supporting the package but I'll help as much as I can since it 
benefits me to have more than just my eyes on it. I'd be interested in finding 
out what, if any, changes are necessary for the version.

Thanks,
Ron

From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Jason Miller
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2013 10:59 PM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

**
Very cool!  I really like the approach you detail.  Today we build all of the 
rules and processing in AR workflow.  I think we need to look into using 
Procmail since we haven't started to (re)build email integration with our new 
out of the box system.

Jason

On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 9:35 AM, Peters, Ron 
rpet...@columbia.commailto:rpet...@columbia.com wrote:
**
Fortunately I already had our system pretty much documented for support 
purposes. I did some cleanup and posted it. The document posted is an overall 
design with use cases.

Thanks,
Ron

From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORGmailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Jason 
Miller
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 11:21 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORGmailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: OT: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

**
Hi Ron,

It sounds like you have some great knowledge and experience with email 
integration and using Procmail.  I know time is an issue for many of us but it 
would be great if you would be able to create a 
documenthttps://communities.bmc.com/communities/community/bmcdn/bmc_atrium_and_foundation_technologies/choose-container!input.jspa?contentType=102containerType=14container=2002
 in the in AR System section of the BMC Communities.  This topic sounds like 
something many people would benefit from having a document to follow and some 
sample use cases.

Jason


On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 8:20 AM, Peters, Ron 
rpet...@columbia.commailto:rpet...@columbia.com wrote:
**
I'd echo everything said below for the pros and cons. We heavily use email 
integration and the OOTB email engine primarily for incident creation and 
routing. I moved all the email decision making and ticket creation logic out of 
Remedy and use Procmail which is designed for the task. I have a single script 
that is used to generate a ticket though the ticket can be fully customized and 
assigned directly based on the variables used when the script is called. I have 
dozens and dozens of rule sets that are used for many different reasons and 
implementing new ones is fairly trivial. The system processes through ~5000 
messages a week.

Automated messages from UPS's around the company can auto create tickets for 
their support team if the right message comes in or simply ignore and drop the 
message. Monitoring systems send messages that are routed to other groups. 
Messages from end users sent through special distribution lists auto-route to 
the proper support group (Asia, Europe etc.). Tickets are created for specific 
customers or a faceless default account depending on the need. Any message that 
shows up and doesn't have a specific rule that applies generates a ticket for 
my team to investigate. I don't want to miss anything. I've eliminated (so far) 
all the mail loops through a set of system rules (drop messages coming from 
Remedy etc.). All this from primarily a single script that is tightly 
controlled. The business has become very aware of what we can do and I commonly 
get requests for more integration in other areas.

Hope that helps and if you're interested, let me know.

$.02

From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORGmailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Brittain, 
Mark
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 7:21 AM

To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORGmailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

**
Email is the easiest to implement and troubleshoot. Polling can be an issue if 
you are doing a hot handoff where your customer is tier 1, you are tier 2 and 
the their end user's phone call will be transferred to you. Even if polling is 
1 minute on each end that can seem like eternity.  The other advantage of email 
is simulation. Typically in a  web services approach you are not going to have 
access/control end to end. You can send the email from your desktop mimicking 
the customer/process, see any error messages and verify any custom workflow. 
Email is also better if you are having periods of downtime. The incoming email 
will be in the mailbox until the Remedy server comes back up. In the case of a 
web service the SOAP call fails and the request is gone

Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-03-01 Thread Peters, Ron
Fortunately I already had our system pretty much documented for support 
purposes. I did some cleanup and posted it. The document posted is an overall 
design with use cases.

Thanks,
Ron

From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Jason Miller
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 11:21 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: OT: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

**
Hi Ron,

It sounds like you have some great knowledge and experience with email 
integration and using Procmail.  I know time is an issue for many of us but it 
would be great if you would be able to create a 
documenthttps://communities.bmc.com/communities/community/bmcdn/bmc_atrium_and_foundation_technologies/choose-container!input.jspa?contentType=102containerType=14container=2002
 in the in AR System section of the BMC Communities.  This topic sounds like 
something many people would benefit from having a document to follow and some 
sample use cases.

Jason


On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 8:20 AM, Peters, Ron 
rpet...@columbia.commailto:rpet...@columbia.com wrote:
**
I'd echo everything said below for the pros and cons. We heavily use email 
integration and the OOTB email engine primarily for incident creation and 
routing. I moved all the email decision making and ticket creation logic out of 
Remedy and use Procmail which is designed for the task. I have a single script 
that is used to generate a ticket though the ticket can be fully customized and 
assigned directly based on the variables used when the script is called. I have 
dozens and dozens of rule sets that are used for many different reasons and 
implementing new ones is fairly trivial. The system processes through ~5000 
messages a week.

Automated messages from UPS's around the company can auto create tickets for 
their support team if the right message comes in or simply ignore and drop the 
message. Monitoring systems send messages that are routed to other groups. 
Messages from end users sent through special distribution lists auto-route to 
the proper support group (Asia, Europe etc.). Tickets are created for specific 
customers or a faceless default account depending on the need. Any message that 
shows up and doesn't have a specific rule that applies generates a ticket for 
my team to investigate. I don't want to miss anything. I've eliminated (so far) 
all the mail loops through a set of system rules (drop messages coming from 
Remedy etc.). All this from primarily a single script that is tightly 
controlled. The business has become very aware of what we can do and I commonly 
get requests for more integration in other areas.

Hope that helps and if you're interested, let me know.

$.02

From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORGmailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Brittain, 
Mark
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 7:21 AM

To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORGmailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

**
Email is the easiest to implement and troubleshoot. Polling can be an issue if 
you are doing a hot handoff where your customer is tier 1, you are tier 2 and 
the their end user's phone call will be transferred to you. Even if polling is 
1 minute on each end that can seem like eternity.  The other advantage of email 
is simulation. Typically in a  web services approach you are not going to have 
access/control end to end. You can send the email from your desktop mimicking 
the customer/process, see any error messages and verify any custom workflow. 
Email is also better if you are having periods of downtime. The incoming email 
will be in the mailbox until the Remedy server comes back up. In the case of a 
web service the SOAP call fails and the request is gone. The down side is the 
polling and security. Also there is the perception that email is low tech, and 
not reliable (AKA not cool).

The biggest shortcoming is going to be the other ticket system. I have worked 
with Remedy, NimSoft, Service Desk Manager, and Service-Now and each has its 
own challenge.  If they are using a shared/on-demand version then 
customizations on their end are difficult to impossible. Attachments can be 
tricky. Data lengths can be an issue where your fields are shorter than their 
fields. If you have data length or required field conflicts you might want to 
consider a staging form where you take their request, massage it and push to a 
new ticket. If you use a staging form have workflow push the ticket number back 
to the staging form because your response back to the customer is from the 
staging form.

If an incoming email can update your ticket, and you send email updates to 
their tickets, beware of auto-replies. My biggest fear is a email loop. I 
handle this two ways, outgoing updates are from a bogus email address so it 
won't come back at me and incoming update workflow includes $USER$ != Remedy 
Application Service in the qualilfication.

Hope

Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-03-01 Thread Jason Miller
Very cool!  I really like the approach you detail.  Today we build all of
the rules and processing in AR workflow.  I think we need to look into
using Procmail since we haven't started to (re)build email integration with
our new out of the box system.

Jason


On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 9:35 AM, Peters, Ron rpet...@columbia.com wrote:

 **

 Fortunately I already had our system pretty much documented for support
 purposes. I did some cleanup and posted it. The document posted is an
 overall design with use cases.

 ** **

 Thanks,

 Ron

 ** **

 *From:* Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:
 arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] *On Behalf Of *Jason Miller
 *Sent:* Thursday, February 28, 2013 11:21 AM
 *To:* arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
 *Subject:* OT: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

 ** **

 ** 

 Hi Ron,

 ** **

 It sounds like you have some great knowledge and experience with
 email integration and using Procmail.  I know time is an issue for many of
 us but it would be great if you would be able to create a 
 documenthttps://communities.bmc.com/communities/community/bmcdn/bmc_atrium_and_foundation_technologies/choose-container!input.jspa?contentType=102containerType=14container=2002
  in
 the in AR System section of the BMC Communities.  This topic sounds like
 something many people would benefit from having a document to follow and
 some sample use cases.

 ** **

 Jason

 ** **

 ** **

 On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 8:20 AM, Peters, Ron rpet...@columbia.com wrote:
 

 ** 

 I’d echo everything said below for the pros and cons. We heavily use email
 integration and the OOTB email engine primarily for incident creation and
 routing. I moved all the email decision making and ticket creation logic
 out of Remedy and use Procmail which is designed for the task. I have a
 single script that is used to generate a ticket though the ticket can be
 fully customized and assigned directly based on the variables used when the
 script is called. I have dozens and dozens of rule sets that are used for
 many different reasons and implementing new ones is fairly trivial. The
 system processes through ~5000 messages a week.

  

 Automated messages from UPS’s around the company can auto create tickets
 for their support team if the right message comes in or simply ignore and
 drop the message. Monitoring systems send messages that are routed to other
 groups. Messages from end users sent through special distribution lists
 auto-route to the proper support group (Asia, Europe etc.). Tickets are
 created for specific customers or a faceless default account depending on
 the need. Any message that shows up and doesn’t have a specific rule that
 applies generates a ticket for my team to investigate. I don’t want to miss
 anything. I’ve eliminated (so far) all the mail loops through a set of
 system rules (drop messages coming from Remedy etc.). All this from
 primarily a single script that is tightly controlled. The business has
 become very aware of what we can do and I commonly get requests for more
 integration in other areas.

  

 Hope that helps and if you’re interested, let me know.

  

 $.02

  

 *From:* Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:
 arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] *On Behalf Of *Brittain, Mark
 *Sent:* Thursday, February 28, 2013 7:21 AM


 *To:* arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
 *Subject:* Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

  

 ** 

 Email is the easiest to implement and troubleshoot. Polling can be an
 issue if you are doing a hot handoff where your customer is tier 1, you are
 tier 2 and the their end user’s phone call will be transferred to you. Even
 if polling is 1 minute on each end that can seem like eternity.  The other
 advantage of email is simulation. Typically in a  web services approach you
 are not going to have access/control end to end. You can send the email
 from your desktop mimicking the customer/process, see any error messages
 and verify any custom workflow. Email is also better if you are having
 periods of downtime. The incoming email will be in the mailbox until the
 Remedy server comes back up. In the case of a web service the SOAP call
 fails and the request is gone. The down side is the polling and security.
 Also there is the perception that email is low tech, and not reliable (AKA
 not cool). 

  

 The biggest shortcoming is going to be the other ticket system. I have
 worked with Remedy, NimSoft, Service Desk Manager, and Service-Now and each
 has its own challenge.  If they are using a shared/on-demand version then
 customizations on their end are difficult to impossible. Attachments can be
 tricky. Data lengths can be an issue where your fields are shorter than
 their fields. If you have data length or required field conflicts you might
 want to consider a staging form where you take their request, massage it
 and push to a new ticket. If you use a staging

Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-28 Thread Brittain, Mark
Email is the easiest to implement and troubleshoot. Polling can be an issue if 
you are doing a hot handoff where your customer is tier 1, you are tier 2 and 
the their end user's phone call will be transferred to you. Even if polling is 
1 minute on each end that can seem like eternity.  The other advantage of email 
is simulation. Typically in a  web services approach you are not going to have 
access/control end to end. You can send the email from your desktop mimicking 
the customer/process, see any error messages and verify any custom workflow. 
Email is also better if you are having periods of downtime. The incoming email 
will be in the mailbox until the Remedy server comes back up. In the case of a 
web service the SOAP call fails and the request is gone. The down side is the 
polling and security. Also there is the perception that email is low tech, and 
not reliable (AKA not cool).

The biggest shortcoming is going to be the other ticket system. I have worked 
with Remedy, NimSoft, Service Desk Manager, and Service-Now and each has its 
own challenge.  If they are using a shared/on-demand version then 
customizations on their end are difficult to impossible. Attachments can be 
tricky. Data lengths can be an issue where your fields are shorter than their 
fields. If you have data length or required field conflicts you might want to 
consider a staging form where you take their request, massage it and push to a 
new ticket. If you use a staging form have workflow push the ticket number back 
to the staging form because your response back to the customer is from the 
staging form.

If an incoming email can update your ticket, and you send email updates to 
their tickets, beware of auto-replies. My biggest fear is a email loop. I 
handle this two ways, outgoing updates are from a bogus email address so it 
won't come back at me and incoming update workflow includes $USER$ != Remedy 
Application Service in the qualilfication.

Hope this helps

Mark


From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Steve Kallestad
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 11:58 PM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

** There's no best-practice that's globally correct across all potential 
applications.

If there's a canned solution for a particular vendor, then that's the one to 
use 9 times out of 10.

Email is good because it has built in store-and-forward and failover 
mechanisms.  Email is bad because it introduces points of failure that may not 
be in your control and it can be slow.

There are several options, but the most utilized would be geared towards either 
Web Services or API level integration - ensuring that server side workflow 
processing, permissions structures, etc. are all handled.

Between remedy servers, DSO (Distributed Server Option) is most frequently 
used.  On occasion, people just use custom designed workflow.

It's always good practice to utilize an abstraction layer so that an upgrade on 
one side of the integration does not necessarily mean an upgrade on the other 
side of the integration.

Integrator is based on 
Pentahohttp://www.pentaho.com/explore/pentaho-data-integration/ so that can 
be used as an integration mechanism as well - although I haven't played with 
integrator a whole heck of a lot just yet.

On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 7:24 AM, Christine Milton Hall 
christine_milton_h...@pepperidgefarm.commailto:christine_milton_h...@pepperidgefarm.com
 wrote:
**
Hi everyone - It is has been a while...

Looking for some feedback on integrating external ticketing systems with our 
Remedy Environment. (currently 7.5.1, windows platform)


1.   What is the most common and best practice method?  Right now the most 
requests seem to be requesting the utilization of email notifications with 
other external systems.

2.   How difficult is it integrate with another non-Remedy environment?

3.   What would be the worst case and best case in work effort/duration?

4.   Is there any pitfalls that I should be aware of if we move towards 
this type of solution?

Any guidance or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
c

*

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential 
information and is intended solely for use by the individual to whom it is 
addressed. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender, do 
not disclose its contents to others and delete it from your system.

*
_ARSlist: Where the Answers Are and have been for 20 years_

_ARSlist: Where the Answers Are and have been for 20 years_


This e-mail is the property of NaviSite, Inc. It is intended only for the 
person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain

Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-28 Thread Peters, Ron
I'd echo everything said below for the pros and cons. We heavily use email 
integration and the OOTB email engine primarily for incident creation and 
routing. I moved all the email decision making and ticket creation logic out of 
Remedy and use Procmail which is designed for the task. I have a single script 
that is used to generate a ticket though the ticket can be fully customized and 
assigned directly based on the variables used when the script is called. I have 
dozens and dozens of rule sets that are used for many different reasons and 
implementing new ones is fairly trivial. The system processes through ~5000 
messages a week.

Automated messages from UPS's around the company can auto create tickets for 
their support team if the right message comes in or simply ignore and drop the 
message. Monitoring systems send messages that are routed to other groups. 
Messages from end users sent through special distribution lists auto-route to 
the proper support group (Asia, Europe etc.). Tickets are created for specific 
customers or a faceless default account depending on the need. Any message that 
shows up and doesn't have a specific rule that applies generates a ticket for 
my team to investigate. I don't want to miss anything. I've eliminated (so far) 
all the mail loops through a set of system rules (drop messages coming from 
Remedy etc.). All this from primarily a single script that is tightly 
controlled. The business has become very aware of what we can do and I commonly 
get requests for more integration in other areas.

Hope that helps and if you're interested, let me know.

$.02

From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Brittain, Mark
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 7:21 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

**
Email is the easiest to implement and troubleshoot. Polling can be an issue if 
you are doing a hot handoff where your customer is tier 1, you are tier 2 and 
the their end user's phone call will be transferred to you. Even if polling is 
1 minute on each end that can seem like eternity.  The other advantage of email 
is simulation. Typically in a  web services approach you are not going to have 
access/control end to end. You can send the email from your desktop mimicking 
the customer/process, see any error messages and verify any custom workflow. 
Email is also better if you are having periods of downtime. The incoming email 
will be in the mailbox until the Remedy server comes back up. In the case of a 
web service the SOAP call fails and the request is gone. The down side is the 
polling and security. Also there is the perception that email is low tech, and 
not reliable (AKA not cool).

The biggest shortcoming is going to be the other ticket system. I have worked 
with Remedy, NimSoft, Service Desk Manager, and Service-Now and each has its 
own challenge.  If they are using a shared/on-demand version then 
customizations on their end are difficult to impossible. Attachments can be 
tricky. Data lengths can be an issue where your fields are shorter than their 
fields. If you have data length or required field conflicts you might want to 
consider a staging form where you take their request, massage it and push to a 
new ticket. If you use a staging form have workflow push the ticket number back 
to the staging form because your response back to the customer is from the 
staging form.

If an incoming email can update your ticket, and you send email updates to 
their tickets, beware of auto-replies. My biggest fear is a email loop. I 
handle this two ways, outgoing updates are from a bogus email address so it 
won't come back at me and incoming update workflow includes $USER$ != Remedy 
Application Service in the qualilfication.

Hope this helps

Mark


From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Steve Kallestad
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 11:58 PM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORGmailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

** There's no best-practice that's globally correct across all potential 
applications.

If there's a canned solution for a particular vendor, then that's the one to 
use 9 times out of 10.

Email is good because it has built in store-and-forward and failover 
mechanisms.  Email is bad because it introduces points of failure that may not 
be in your control and it can be slow.

There are several options, but the most utilized would be geared towards either 
Web Services or API level integration - ensuring that server side workflow 
processing, permissions structures, etc. are all handled.

Between remedy servers, DSO (Distributed Server Option) is most frequently 
used.  On occasion, people just use custom designed workflow.

It's always good practice to utilize an abstraction layer so that an upgrade on 
one side of the integration does not necessarily mean

Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-28 Thread Garrison, Sean (Norcross)
A lot depends on the requirements of the integration.


1.How does the other system keep track of their open incidents in Remedy

2.   How do they add notes to the incident?

3.   Can they close or cancel a incident?

You can assume they use e-mail but when integrating with another system you 
have the Email Loop problem you have to solve.   I.e. you send an e-mail to 
create a ticket ... their system responds with a Thank you  email which 
generates another ticket in your system.  Gratefully your system responds which 
creates a ticket in their system 

Web Services or using direct java api can provide a better interface.  You also 
may want to consider a publish/subscribe solution like webMethods.  I would 
only do that if it is not a point to point integration and multiple systems 
have to integrate with Remedy.

Thanks,

Sean

From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) 
[mailto:arslist@arslist.org] On Behalf Of Christine Milton Hall
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 10:25 AM
To: arslist@arslist.org
Subject: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

**
Hi everyone - It is has been a while...

Looking for some feedback on integrating external ticketing systems with our 
Remedy Environment. (currently 7.5.1, windows platform)


1.   What is the most common and best practice method?  Right now the most 
requests seem to be requesting the utilization of email notifications with 
other external systems.

2.   How difficult is it integrate with another non-Remedy environment?

3.   What would be the worst case and best case in work effort/duration?

4.   Is there any pitfalls that I should be aware of if we move towards 
this type of solution?

Any guidance or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
c

*

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential 
information and is intended solely for use by the individual to whom it is 
addressed. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender, do 
not disclose its contents to others and delete it from your system.

*
_ARSlist: Where the Answers Are and have been for 20 years_

___
UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org
Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years


OT: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-28 Thread Jason Miller
Hi Ron,

It sounds like you have some great knowledge and experience with
email integration and using Procmail.  I know time is an issue for many of
us but it would be great if you would be able to create a
documenthttps://communities.bmc.com/communities/community/bmcdn/bmc_atrium_and_foundation_technologies/choose-container!input.jspa?contentType=102containerType=14container=2002
in
the in AR System section of the BMC Communities.  This topic sounds like
something many people would benefit from having a document to follow and
some sample use cases.

Jason


On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 8:20 AM, Peters, Ron rpet...@columbia.com wrote:

 **

 I’d echo everything said below for the pros and cons. We heavily use email
 integration and the OOTB email engine primarily for incident creation and
 routing. I moved all the email decision making and ticket creation logic
 out of Remedy and use Procmail which is designed for the task. I have a
 single script that is used to generate a ticket though the ticket can be
 fully customized and assigned directly based on the variables used when the
 script is called. I have dozens and dozens of rule sets that are used for
 many different reasons and implementing new ones is fairly trivial. The
 system processes through ~5000 messages a week.

 ** **

 Automated messages from UPS’s around the company can auto create tickets
 for their support team if the right message comes in or simply ignore and
 drop the message. Monitoring systems send messages that are routed to other
 groups. Messages from end users sent through special distribution lists
 auto-route to the proper support group (Asia, Europe etc.). Tickets are
 created for specific customers or a faceless default account depending on
 the need. Any message that shows up and doesn’t have a specific rule that
 applies generates a ticket for my team to investigate. I don’t want to miss
 anything. I’ve eliminated (so far) all the mail loops through a set of
 system rules (drop messages coming from Remedy etc.). All this from
 primarily a single script that is tightly controlled. The business has
 become very aware of what we can do and I commonly get requests for more
 integration in other areas.

 ** **

 Hope that helps and if you’re interested, let me know.

 ** **

 $.02

 ** **

 *From:* Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:
 arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] *On Behalf Of *Brittain, Mark
 *Sent:* Thursday, February 28, 2013 7:21 AM

 *To:* arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
 *Subject:* Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

 ** **

 ** 

 Email is the easiest to implement and troubleshoot. Polling can be an
 issue if you are doing a hot handoff where your customer is tier 1, you are
 tier 2 and the their end user’s phone call will be transferred to you. Even
 if polling is 1 minute on each end that can seem like eternity.  The other
 advantage of email is simulation. Typically in a  web services approach you
 are not going to have access/control end to end. You can send the email
 from your desktop mimicking the customer/process, see any error messages
 and verify any custom workflow. Email is also better if you are having
 periods of downtime. The incoming email will be in the mailbox until the
 Remedy server comes back up. In the case of a web service the SOAP call
 fails and the request is gone. The down side is the polling and security.
 Also there is the perception that email is low tech, and not reliable (AKA
 not cool). 

 ** **

 The biggest shortcoming is going to be the other ticket system. I have
 worked with Remedy, NimSoft, Service Desk Manager, and Service-Now and each
 has its own challenge.  If they are using a shared/on-demand version then
 customizations on their end are difficult to impossible. Attachments can be
 tricky. Data lengths can be an issue where your fields are shorter than
 their fields. If you have data length or required field conflicts you might
 want to consider a staging form where you take their request, massage it
 and push to a new ticket. If you use a staging form have workflow push the
 ticket number back to the staging form because your response back to the
 customer is from the staging form.

 ** **

 If an incoming email can update your ticket, and you send email updates to
 their tickets, beware of auto-replies. My biggest fear is a email loop. I
 handle this two ways, outgoing updates are from a bogus email address so it
 won’t come back at me and incoming update workflow includes $USER$ !=
 “Remedy Application Service” in the qualilfication.

 ** **

 Hope this helps

 ** **

 Mark

 ** **

 ** **

 *From:* Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [
 mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] *On Behalf Of *Steve
 Kallestad
 *Sent:* Wednesday, February 27, 2013 11:58 PM
 *To:* arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
 *Subject:* Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

 ** **

 ** There's no best-practice that's globally

Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-27 Thread Christine Milton Hall
Hi everyone - It is has been a while...

Looking for some feedback on integrating external ticketing systems with our 
Remedy Environment. (currently 7.5.1, windows platform)


1.   What is the most common and best practice method?  Right now the most 
requests seem to be requesting the utilization of email notifications with 
other external systems.

2.   How difficult is it integrate with another non-Remedy environment?

3.   What would be the worst case and best case in work effort/duration?

4.   Is there any pitfalls that I should be aware of if we move towards 
this type of solution?

Any guidance or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
c

*

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not disclose its contents to others and delete it from your system.

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Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-27 Thread Warren R. Baltimore II
Like anything with Remedy, there a bunch of ways to approach it.  From
email integrations (clunky) to Web Services.  First question, Are the 2
systems on the same network?  If not, will the 2 networks be able to talk?

What version of Remedy?  What is the other system?

Warren

On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Christine Milton Hall 
christine_milton_h...@pepperidgefarm.com wrote:

 **

 Hi everyone – It is has been a while…



 Looking for some feedback on integrating external ticketing systems with
 our Remedy Environment. (currently 7.5.1, windows platform)



 1.   What is the most common and best practice method?  Right now the
 most requests seem to be requesting the utilization of email notifications
 with other external systems.

 2.   How difficult is it integrate with another non-Remedy
 environment?

 3.   What would be the worst case and best case in work
 effort/duration?

 4.   Is there any pitfalls that I should be aware of if we move
 towards this type of solution?



 Any guidance or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!



 Thanks!

 c

 *


 This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential
 information and is intended solely for use by the individual to whom it is
 addressed. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender,
 do not disclose its contents to others and delete it from your system.

 *

 _ARSlist: Where the Answers Are and have been for 20 years_




-- 
Warren R. Baltimore II
Remedy Developer
410-533-5367

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Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-27 Thread Schon, Stuart
1  Webservices is general best, assumes ability to connect
which is not always a given

2  how long is a piece of string, if can be simple or
complex depending on your requirements. Incidents are much easier then
changes/service requests.

3  2-3 weeks to 6 months

4  different statuses flows, differing classifications
methodologies esp. Remedy to other ITSM systems, are you sending or
receiving, is this an create, update or a resolution. Are there SLA's
involved. Are approvals involved, are tasks involved (v complex then).
Do you use middleware - I strongly recommend you do on both sides to
buffer ITSM apps and comms. Are you a third party, first level or second
level desk? Are CI's required if so are they integrated?

 

For BMC use Atrium Orchestrator, other ITSM suites have their
equivalent.

 

Even if its Remedy to Remedy I would not recommend a direct interface,
especially if it makes API calls - this is not suitable long term as it
is very easy to break and hard to upgrade.

 

I have managed heaps of integrations generally there is always a gotcha,
with mapping of classifications as the biggest bugbear. Generally this
needs to be done on the instigators side but could depending on the
design be on the other side.

 

 

 

Stuart Schon
Service Desk Systems - Manager



From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Christine Milton Hall
Sent: Thursday, 28 February 2013 2:25 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

 

** 

Hi everyone - It is has been a while...  

 

Looking for some feedback on integrating external ticketing systems with
our Remedy Environment. (currently 7.5.1, windows platform)

 

1.   What is the most common and best practice method?  Right now
the most requests seem to be requesting the utilization of email
notifications with other external systems.  

2.   How difficult is it integrate with another non-Remedy
environment?

3.   What would be the worst case and best case in work
effort/duration?

4.   Is there any pitfalls that I should be aware of if we move
towards this type of solution?

 

Any guidance or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

c


* 

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential
information and is intended solely for use by the individual to whom it
is addressed. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the
sender, do not disclose its contents to others and delete it from your
system. 


* 

_ARSlist: Where the Answers Are and have been for 20 years_ 


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Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-27 Thread Steve Kallestad
There's no best-practice that's globally correct across all potential
applications.

If there's a canned solution for a particular vendor, then that's the one
to use 9 times out of 10.

Email is good because it has built in store-and-forward and failover
mechanisms.  Email is bad because it introduces points of failure that may
not be in your control and it can be slow.

There are several options, but the most utilized would be geared towards
either Web Services or API level integration - ensuring that server side
workflow processing, permissions structures, etc. are all handled.

Between remedy servers, DSO (Distributed Server Option) is most frequently
used.  On occasion, people just use custom designed workflow.

It's always good practice to utilize an abstraction layer so that an
upgrade on one side of the integration does not necessarily mean an upgrade
on the other side of the integration.

Integrator is based on
Pentahohttp://www.pentaho.com/explore/pentaho-data-integration/ so
that can be used as an integration mechanism as well - although I haven't
played with integrator a whole heck of a lot just yet.


On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 7:24 AM, Christine Milton Hall 
christine_milton_h...@pepperidgefarm.com wrote:

 **

 Hi everyone – It is has been a while…



 Looking for some feedback on integrating external ticketing systems with
 our Remedy Environment. (currently 7.5.1, windows platform)



 1.   What is the most common and best practice method?  Right now the
 most requests seem to be requesting the utilization of email notifications
 with other external systems.

 2.   How difficult is it integrate with another non-Remedy
 environment?

 3.   What would be the worst case and best case in work
 effort/duration?

 4.   Is there any pitfalls that I should be aware of if we move
 towards this type of solution?



 Any guidance or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!



 Thanks!

 c

 *


 This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential
 information and is intended solely for use by the individual to whom it is
 addressed. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender,
 do not disclose its contents to others and delete it from your system.

 *

  _ARSlist: Where the Answers Are and have been for 20 years_

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Re: Remedy Integration with other Ticketing systems

2013-02-27 Thread Rick Cook
I prefer to not use email or web services, because at any significant
volume, throughput becomes an issue.  I prefer to use either the Integrator
app or the API calls in a Perl or Java script.

Rick
On Feb 27, 2013 8:59 PM, Steve Kallestad st...@tabtonic.com wrote:

 ** There's no best-practice that's globally correct across all potential
 applications.

 If there's a canned solution for a particular vendor, then that's the one
 to use 9 times out of 10.

 Email is good because it has built in store-and-forward and failover
 mechanisms.  Email is bad because it introduces points of failure that may
 not be in your control and it can be slow.

 There are several options, but the most utilized would be geared towards
 either Web Services or API level integration - ensuring that server side
 workflow processing, permissions structures, etc. are all handled.

 Between remedy servers, DSO (Distributed Server Option) is most frequently
 used.  On occasion, people just use custom designed workflow.

 It's always good practice to utilize an abstraction layer so that an
 upgrade on one side of the integration does not necessarily mean an upgrade
 on the other side of the integration.

 Integrator is based on 
 Pentahohttp://www.pentaho.com/explore/pentaho-data-integration/ so
 that can be used as an integration mechanism as well - although I haven't
 played with integrator a whole heck of a lot just yet.


 On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 7:24 AM, Christine Milton Hall 
 christine_milton_h...@pepperidgefarm.com wrote:

 **

 Hi everyone – It is has been a while…



 Looking for some feedback on integrating external ticketing systems with
 our Remedy Environment. (currently 7.5.1, windows platform)



 1.   What is the most common and best practice method?  Right now
 the most requests seem to be requesting the utilization of email
 notifications with other external systems.

 2.   How difficult is it integrate with another non-Remedy
 environment?

 3.   What would be the worst case and best case in work
 effort/duration?

 4.   Is there any pitfalls that I should be aware of if we move
 towards this type of solution?



 Any guidance or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!



 Thanks!

 c

 *


 This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential
 information and is intended solely for use by the individual to whom it is
 addressed. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender,
 do not disclose its contents to others and delete it from your system.

 *

  _ARSlist: Where the Answers Are and have been for 20 years_


 _ARSlist: Where the Answers Are and have been for 20 years_

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