Working with external systems

To perform an integration with an external system, follow these steps:

Search for	Example	Results
A single word	`cat`	Topics that contain the word "cat". You will also find its grammatical variations, such as "cats".
A phrase. You can specify that the search results contain a specific phrase.	`"cat food"` (quotation marks)	Topics that contain the literal phrase "cat food" and all its grammatical variations. Without the quotation marks, the query is equivalent to specifying an OR operator, which finds topics with one of the individual words instead of the phrase.

Search for	Operator	Example
Two or more words in the same topic	`AND` `and` `+` (plus symbol) `&` (ampersand)	`cat AND dog` `"cat food"+milk` `"cat food"&"dog food"`
Either word in a topic	`OR` `or` `\|` (pipe)	`cat OR dog` `cat \| dog`
Topics that do not contain a specific word or phrase	`NOT` `not` `!` (exclamation point)	`NOT cat` `! dog`
Topics that contain one string and do not contain another	`^` (caret)	`cat ^ mouse`
A combination of search types	`( )` parentheses	`cat + (dog \| mouse)` `cat \| dog + (! mouse)`

Add an external system. For more information, see How to add an external system.

Assign the external system to a group, using the External system field on the Groups page. This makes the group an external group. For more information, see Groups.

Select an incident in Incident Management or a request in Service Request Management or a change in Change Management.

In the General tab, under Assignment, select an external group from the drop-down list for the Service desk group or Expert group field, according to the option selected for the Current assignment field.

A new section, External Assignment, is added to the incident, change, or request page. The data in this section is populated automatically by the external system.

How to add an external system

From the main menu, select Administration > Utilities > Integration > External systems.

Click

New to open the New External system dialog box.

Enter a System id for the external system. This is used to identify this external system and should be included in the payloads sent to Service Management.

Enter a Description for the external system. You can describe the tool that is connected, or how the tool is used.

Select an Authorized user from the drop-down list. This is the authorized Service Management user that is used by the external system to access Service Management.

Click Save.

How to edit an external system

From the main menu, select Administration > Utilities > Integration > External systems.

Select an external system in the left pane to display it in the center pane and click Edit on the toolbar.

In the Details section, edit the required information:

Enter a System id for the external system. This is used to identify this external system and should be included in the payloads sent to Service Management.
Enter a Description for the external system. You can describe the tool that is connected, or how the tool is used.
Select an Authorized user from the drop-down list. This is the authorized Service Management user that is used by the external system to access Service Management

In the Outgoing Exchange Operations section, edit the required information:

Select an endpoint from the drop-down list. Only endpoints of the type Rest ExecuterDomain-1.0 with credentials are available in the list.
Under Incident, select Enabled for the required operations. For each operation enabled, click the parameter links and select or enter the required parameters. Alternatively, to apply a predefined configuration, click Apply configuration, select the required configuration from the drop-down list, and click Confirm.
Note
- Applying a configuration overwrites any operations configured previously.
- The Apply configuration option is relevant for the integration with Operations Manager i only.

Click Save.

Supported operations

The following operations are supported in an integration with an external system:

Operation	Description
Create	Create a new record in the external system.
Update	Update the linked record in the external system, or create one if no linked record currently exists. Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Reopen, Cancel, Reject, or Resolve
Resolve	Notify the external system that the record has been resolved in Service Management. Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Reopen, Cancel, or Reject
Reopen	Notify the external system that the record has been reactivated from a resolved or closed state. Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Cancel, Reject, or Resolve
Close	Notify the external system that the record has been closed in Service Management. Can be followed by: Reject or Cancel
Assign	Notify the external system that it now has ownership of the record. Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Accept, Update Cancel, Reject, or Resolve
Accept	Notify the external system that Service Management has taken ownership of the record. Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Assign, Update, Cancel, Reject, or Resolve
Reject	Notify the external system that the link is invalid (the record should not have been opened in the external system). This will break the link between the two records. Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Cancel, or Resolve
Cancel	Notify the external system that the internal record has been canceled. Can be followed by: Close, Reopen, Reject, or Resolve

Operation

Description

Create

Create a new record in the external system.

Update

Update the linked record in the external system, or create one if no linked record currently exists.

Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Reopen, Cancel, Reject, or Resolve

Resolve

Notify the external system that the record has been resolved in Service Management.

Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Reopen, Cancel, or Reject

Reopen

Notify the external system that the record has been reactivated from a resolved or closed state.

Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Cancel, Reject, or Resolve

Notify the external system that the record has been closed in Service Management.

Can be followed by: Reject or Cancel

Assign

Notify the external system that it now has ownership of the record.

Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Accept, Update Cancel, Reject, or Resolve

Notify the external system that Service Management has taken ownership of the record.

Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Assign, Update, Cancel, Reject, or Resolve

Reject

Notify the external system that the link is invalid (the record should not have been opened in the external system). This will break the link between the two records.

Can be followed by: Accept, Close, Cancel, or Resolve

Cancel

Notify the external system that the internal record has been canceled.

Can be followed by: Close, Reopen, Reject, or Resolve