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BMC Atrium and Foundation Technologies

2 Posts tagged with the web tag
Matt Laurenceau

-by Matthieu Laurenceau, Technical Marketing, ESM R&D

 

My biggest frustration: Applications not allowing easy access with my favorite browser.

Some applications (or features) do not support usual browsers or require some heavy download, making the experience unpleasant or painful.

 

Supporting your preferred Browser

A lot of my friends are Firefox fans, but they sometimes are forced to use IE since some applications (or web sites) only support this browser from Microsoft. I spend most of my time using Chrome, but also have to use IE from time to time for some specific capabilities where vendors locked me down.

laptop.jpg

Changing browser creates various issues for the user:

  • Unfamiliar with the capabilities
  • Need to maintain security settings (certificates, etc.) twice
  • Cookies become useless
  • Credentials (login and/or passwords) have to be saved again
  • Several Places to maintain Favorites

 

Most companies use Internet Explorer, so why is this an issue ?

Well, IE cannot fit for all:
  • What should Unix/Linux/MacOS users do ?
  • There are always some individuals (like me or my friends) who prefer non-IE browsers for various (good or bad) reasons (personal choices, not required by Management)
  • Some government organizations have made opensource browsers choices

 

From a branding point of view, not pleasing users of non-IE browsers can be very dangerous: most of the Linux/MacOS users (for example) are very active on Twitter and other Social Media sites, so they will have nasty words about the Vendor brand, and the market will know about it.

 

Full-web or not ?

Most Vendors claim they are full-web.
But some Applications are not lightweight, and may still use Java Applets. These vendors obviously try to hide it, but this creates a lot of very costly implementation issues (project delays or even failures):
  • A JRE has to be used, quite often creating conflicts on the client (the JRE version for one feature not being compatible with the JRE version required by another app/feature)
  • A Java Applet performs really poorly over the WAN or a 3G network, making it eventually useless (and customers have to deploy Citrix or other costly solutions)

 

These issues often appear on key features, like CMDB, and have to be watched really carefully by customers.

The question that customers should ask is not "Are you full-web ?" (all vendors will say Yes) but "What features require a local client or a Java Applet or any other plug-in download ?"

 

 

BMC Cares about End-User Experience

BMC has always had a broad and shared platform support for it's Service Management Solutions (for browsers, and also OS, database or Web/JSP Server).
The BMC Atrium platform technology (AR System) supports a lot of browsers (and versions), for example IE6+, FF 2.0+, or Safari 3.0+, and never requires a Java Applet on the browser. It only uses lightweight web technologies, like on most Web 2.0 sites (we sometimes use Flash, like YouTube does )

 

I use several BMC-powered solutions all day long, hosted all over the world (so across the WAN for me), and have great experience using Chrome 3.0 (that works very well even if not supported yet). Co-workers using IE, FF or Safari have a great time also.

 

Customers can enjoy this browser-proof and WAN-proof experience for a lot of BSM products, for example:
  • Self-Service for all employees (SRM)
  • Service Desk, Change & Release Management, Asset Management
  • Atrium CMDB, Atrium Integration Engine, SLM
  • And more!

 

By sharing the platform, we make End-User and Administrator experience far more seamless. It also helps our applications to evolve faster than competition since each application focuses on its specific processes/features, not on web technology or database or user management details (read more on Low M&O Costs).

 

Take-aways

Using a browser is a no-brainer in a Web 2.0 World.

Supporting several browsers (and versions) is key to make all User Communities happy.

Always using lightweight technologies is the best way to achieve great and consistent end-user experience.

Customers need to ask the rights questions to avoid hazardous choices.

 

Matt

The postings in this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent BMC's opinion or position.

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4 Comments Permalink Tags: shared, web, value, bsm, platform, remedy, ar_system, atrium
Matt Laurenceau

-by Matthieu Laurenceau, Technical Marketing, ESM R&D

 

One of the most fundamental components of BMC Atrium is BMC Remedy AR System.

It's the Workflow Engine, initially used by all Remedy Products (ITSM or CSS for example), and now leveraged by more and more Products in various BSM disciplines.

 

Fundamental Issues fixed

Let's think about the value for a customer.

For each BSM Product you implement (CMDB, SLM, Change, Service Desk, Asset Management, Self-Service, etc.), you have to think about lot's of details (that's what I can read in each RFP).

 

The first part is quite technical:

  • What Operating System is supported? Can it run on virtual machines?
  • What are the databases supported? (pls confirm that I only need one database, and I can use my preferred vendor)
  • Which vendor/version of Web/JSP Server should I use?
  • Is my current browser version supported? (pls confirm that no Java applet will be used)
  • Can it work in multi-lingual? does it support Unicode? How can I add another locale that is important for my business?
  • How to achieve High Availability? Is it transparent to load-balancing?
  • How to achieve scalability across the WAN?
  • Can it work in a fully distributed fashion, allowing a real follow-the-sun approach?

 

Even more important, you need to understand how it will integrate with the rest of the IT:

  • Can I use External Authentication? How to integrate with Kerberos and LDAP/AD?
  • How can I implement Single Sign On?
  • Can screens be displayed in my Enterprise Portal, using JSR-168?
  • What APIs are provided? C++, Java, web-services?
  • Does it allow both real-time reporting and multi-dimensional reporting?
  • How to integrate with my current CMDB, or my Business Repositories?
  • How can I maintain People and Group information?
  • Do I have to maintain specific User Preferences (like user_locale or permission - including multi-tenancy) for this technology?

 

Since these questions are just technical questions, the answer should be the same for all products: CMDB, Service Desk, Asset Management, Change, SLM, etc.

 

That's what AR System delivers, a unified platform to support these applications. It solves these issues once for all.

Here are some pragmatic take-aways that the Business will love:

  • Applications share a unified database (and OS, and Web/JSP Server), enabeling low Maintenance & Operation costs (no need to maintain several databases and sync them)
  • Applications share the same User Interface, making users far more efficient without costly training (no disruption when using several products)
  • Cross-workflow make sure that the processes are integrated between all these Products, allowing cross-team efficiency

 

Shared Components

Let's finish with the most impressive area, some rule-based Engines are shared between Products, for example

  • Approval Engine
  • Assignment Engine

 

Indeed, the process to Approve looks the same between a Change, a Purchase request, or Self-Service Move Request (for example).

Depending on the context, the Manager may be involved, or the Business Process Owner, or the LOB-Manager.

So the Engine is that same, and is used by each Product in their respective context.

 

The same applies for Assignments: whatever the context (new Service Catalog entry, Infrastructure Change, Incident, Problem, Purchase Request, etc.), we'll have to find groups (or individuals) based on a couple of criteria: time-of-day, location, technical context, operational context, etc.

 

Why is this important ? Since Engines are shared,

  • They are maintained (by you, and us also) once (no duplicate work)
  • They are far more robust than an individual feature of a given product
  • There is no learning curve for your teams to get familiar with another similar feature of another product, they are ready (and trained) on day 1

 

Again, this means big money for the business.

 

Where to go from here?

AR System doesn't require technical knowledge for the platforms it leverages (Operating System, Web/SJP Server, database Server), it solves (once for all) fundamental technical issues (including integrations) for customers.

It allows Businesses to centralize and standardize processes, generating huge savings and efficiency improvements.

You can read more on AR System on David's great blog.

The postings in this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent BMC's opinion or position.

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0 Comments Permalink Tags: platform, bsm, worklfow_engine, web, single, ar_system, atrium, bmc_atrium, shared, efficiency

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