Web Services and Service Manager

A Web Service enables one application to access the functionality of another application using SOAP operations (XML-based transactions) or RESTful operations, regardless of differences in their operating system platform, application language, or tool set. Micro Focus Service Manager supports two types of Web Services features:

  • Connecting to and consuming external Web Services
  • Publishing Service Manager fields and methods as Web Services

For SOAP, the Service Manager server now offers out-of-box functionality to connect to and consume external Web Services. When you connect to an external Web service, Service Manager retrieves the Web Service Description Language (WSDL) for the service. You can then write custom JavaScript to use JavaScript functions generated by Web Services and send and receive messages to the remote Web Services. For example, you might query external Web Services to:

  • Validate an email address or a phone number when updating a contact record.
  • Automatically fill in the time zone of a contact in a Service Desk interaction based on the location given.
  • Automatically perform a search for solutions using the brief description of the Service Desk interaction.

The out-of-box Service Manager includes a bundle of published tables, fields, and display actions collectively known as the Service Manager Web Services. The Service Manager Web Services includes Web Services for all the applications and uses an ITIL-compliant naming convention to refer to the Web Service object. The use of ITIL-compliant service and object names allows Web Services developers to create custom Web Services without needing to be familiar with the Service Manager database layer. To consume Service Manager tables, fields, and display actions, you must grant an operator the SOAP API or RESTful API capability word.

You can use the Service Manager Web Services to integrate applications and automate transactions. For example, you might want to publish a Web Service that enables another application or process to:

  • Automatically open, update, escalate, resolve, or close Service Manager incidents.
  • Automatically add or update a configuration item.

In addition to the tables, fields, and display actions available though the Service Manager Web Services, you can customize the Web Services available from Service Manager by adding, changing, or removing your own tables, fields, and display actions. When you customize the Web Services, Service Manager creates a new version of the Service Manager Web Services. Afterwards, any custom Web Services clients you create access this new version of the Web Service.