Tauf,
First, I am not sure where the statement "introduces so much new workflow" comes
from. There is NO new workflow introduced by this feature at all.
If you do not modify anything, there is nothing at all present in the "overlay".
If you change one definition, there is ONE definition in the overlay (and so on)
No matter how carefully you document changes, no matter how particular you are
about following best practices, it is difficult to have everything you have
changed and everything you have added (and know the difference). It is
difficult to understand that the original definition is on things you have
changed. It is difficult during upgrade to preserve your changes --
especially to things that you MUST change on the definition and there is no
way to have a parallel definition (like table field properties or view layouts
or the like).
What the overlay feature does is to simply allow you to do the following:
1) Add new items that are identified as custom items you have added. They are
flagged as custom items in the displays. You can easily sort by and get a
list of custom items. And it is COMPLETE. You don't have to worry if you
are missing one or if you forgot about something you added.
2) Update existing items by leaving the original definition there and updating
a copy of that definition with your changes.
a) all the benefits of #1 are present AND your changes have the exact same
name/identification as the original
b) you can at any time see your version vs. the original to see exactly what
has changed from out of the box
c) Not have to deal with "ripple changes". By this I mean that if in the
past you copied a filter to a new name (to avoid overwrite at upgrade),
you had to copy any guide that included it and then any workflow that
called the guide to use the new name. The fact that the items are the
SAME ITEM means that there is no need to change other things.
d) When an upgrade occurs, the definitions in the base layer are changed but
NOTHING about the items you have overlaid (or added custom) are changed.
So, your changes are not overwritten. In fact, your changes continue to
be the overlay and continue to sit on top of and override the definition
that was newly imported with the same name/id.
e) After the upgrade, you can again compare your overlay with the new out of
the box definition to see if there is anything that should change. Maybe
the out of the box does the right thing now and you should remove your
overlay or maybe there is an extended set of actions and you need to pick
up one or more of the new actions in your overlay.
The key is that it provides an automatic and inherent layer that is YOUR layer
that sits over the out of the box definition and allows you to safely, clearly,
and cleanly adjust or augment the defintions if needed for your environment.
This is a feature that allows you to gain further and tighter control over
your environment. It is something that provides you with the ability to better
understand what is stock and what is custom and what is changed about the
solution. It is one that preserves all changes you have made across upgrades
with a layer of independence and yet links so that changes stay tied into the
solution without the change you have made being updated by the upgrade itself.
The feature is useful for and I would advocate its use by EVERY customer.
Whether you may many customizations (not the best idea), just a few, or none at
all, this feature allows you to keep control and organization of the solution
and anything that you adjust about it.
Now, although the feature is a powerful one for changing the rules about
customization of applications, it is still the most interesting and powerful
feature of the product that I DON'T WANT YOU TO USE. Customizations should
still be done as little as possible and with care and forethought. If the
change doesn't make better business for your organization, why make the change?
Doug Mueller
-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chowdhury, Tauf
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 5:55 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: ITSM 7.6.4
I would be curious to understand what all of your thoughts were on the
Overlay feature. It's supposed to support the best practices
customization strategy for BMC. However, what I've heard is that it
introduces so much new workflow (and that it is essentially a brand new
feature), that it doesn't make sense if you keep your customizations to
a minimum and have them well documented. Anyone else have real life
experience using overlays and actually troubleshooting any issues that
are related to it?
Tauf Chowdhury | Forest Laboratories, Inc.
Analyst, Service Management
Mobile:646.483.2779
-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Joe Martin D'Souza
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 3:26 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: ITSM 7.6.4
Having worked for a little more than a decade with these products, I
often
echo similar sentiments.. It makes some of our experiences less
significant
although not completely obsolete.
Having said that though I sometimes do appreciate some of the changes.
The
one change that I often found myself condemning often was the change
with
the development tool formally known to us as the Admin tool.
I almost resisted that change until I really worked with the new tool.
Having experienced some of the benefits of the new Dev Studio, I really
wonder if I would be willing to switch back over to the old one.
I still do not like some of the control taken away from developers, with
the
introduction of numerous plugins, some of which depend on external jar
files
etc. that cannot easily be customized. Well it can but not with a point
and
click like in the past. You cant help but notice though the significant
change in look and feel of consoles that would just not be possible
without
these changes.. So I guess it has all come at some cost. Its no longer
fully
true that you can customize the applications in under a few weeks like
Remedy used to claim in the past, which at one point was their biggest
marketing propaganda. Gives us all a little extra work.. Can you
complain..
:-)
Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: Sanford, Claire
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 3:13 PM Newsgroups:
public.remedy.arsystem.general
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: ITSM 7.6.4
I don't understand why BMC is making this product so much harder for
people
to upgrade and use. My whole user base will have to learn a whole new
product this time around. The selling point was that they were used to
Remedy and there wouldn't be so much pain involved. We have so many
people
that depend on the classic view and the ability to have a "private" tab.
(((Just my opinion)))
-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Easter, David
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 12:52 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: ITSM 7.6.4
Not a rumor. There is a Statement of Direction posted:
24-Sep-2010 Provides end of life information for BMC Remedy ITSM Classic
views.
http://documents.bmc.com/products/documents/46/22/174622/174622.pdf
-David J. Easter
Manager of Product Management, Remedy Platform BMC Software, Inc.
The opinions, statements, and/or suggested courses of action expressed
in
this E-mail do not necessarily reflect those of BMC Software, Inc. My
voluntary participation in this forum is not intended to convey a role
as a
spokesperson, liaison or public relations representative for BMC
Software,
Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Philip, Saji L
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 10:47 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: ITSM 7.6.4
Yes there is still a classic view. By default, the best practice view
is
shown. But I have heard rumors, that BMC will stop the classic view
altogether.
Saji
-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Atul Vohra
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 12:45 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: ITSM 7.6.4
Yes
There is a separate form for Help Desk (do not remember the name) for
classic view. Also the view (form) shown is configurable from the
Application Administration Console.
Atul
-----Original Message-----
From: "Frank Caruso" [[email protected]]
Date: 03/08/2011 01:35 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: ITSM 7.6.4
** Can anyone confirm for me whether there is now only one view of the
Help
Desk form, the Best Practice View?
Older versions you cold toggle between the BPV and the Classic View.
Thank you
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