Flashboards 700

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards
May 2006 Part No: 58470
Copyright 19912006 BMC Software, Inc. All rights reserved. BMC, the BMC logo, all other BMC product or service names, BMC Software, the BMC Software logos, and all other BMC Software product or service names, are registered trademarks or trademarks of BMC Software, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective companies. BMC Software, Inc., considers information included in this documentation to be proprietary and confidential. Your use of this information is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable end user license agreement or nondisclosure agreement for the product and the proprietary and restricted rights notices included in this documentation. For license information about the OpenSource files used in the licensed program, please read OpenSourceLicenses.pdf. This file is in the \Doc folder of the distribution CD-ROM and in the documentation download portion of the product download page. Restricted Rights Legend
U.S. Government Restricted Rights to Computer Software. UNPUBLISHED -- RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER THE COPYRIGHT LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. Use, duplication, or disclosure of any data and computer software by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions, as applicable, set forth in FAR Section 52.227-14, DFARS 252.227-7013, DFARS 252.227-7014, DFARS 252.227-7015, and DFARS 252.227-7025, as amended from time to time. Contractor/Manufacturer is BMC Software, Inc., 2101 CityWest Blvd., Houston, TX 77042-2827, USA. Any contract notices should be sent to this address.
Contacting Us If you need technical support for this product, contact Customer Support by email at support@remedy.com. If you have comments or suggestions about this documentation, contact Information Development by email at doc_feedback@bmc.com. This edition applies to version 7.0 of the licensed program.
BMC Software, Inc.

www.bmc.com
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Obtaining system requirements and software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 AR System documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Learn about the AR System Developer Community . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Why should you participate in the Developer Community? . . . . . . . . 11 How do you access the Developer Community? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 1
Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards . . . . . 13

Upgrading to BMC Remedy Flashboards 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Before installing BMC Remedy Flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 WindowsInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards. . . . . . 15 UNIXInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards . . . . . . . 17 Running the Flashboards server after exiting a shell . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Using a headless environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Forms installed with BMC Remedy Flashboards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Installing and configuring Flashboards samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Contents of Flashboards samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Running the Flashboards driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Licensing BMC Remedy Flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Contents
BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0
Chapter 2
Introducing Flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Flashboards uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Types of flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Bar chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Stacked bar chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Pie chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Line chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Area charts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Stacked area chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Meter chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Text chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 BMC Remedy Flashboards architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Data flow when creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards . . . . . . . 32 Data flow when retrieving historical or summary data . . . . . . . . . . 33 Backward compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 3
Planning to create a flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Planning a flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Defining business needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Defining the purpose of the flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Designing the flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Process for creating a flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Importing and exporting Flashboards objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Flashboards servers in server groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Multiple Flashboards servers and AR System servers. . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Flashboards and accessibility users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 4
Preparing to create flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Creating variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Modifying or deleting variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Creating alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Modifying or deleting alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4 Contents
Chapter 5
Creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards . . . . . . . . . . 57

Creating flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Modifying or deleting flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Refreshing flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Using the mouse-over option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Limitations to AR System operations in Flashboards. . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Unicode, Flashboard fields, and the mid tier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Packing lists and workspace views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Preference options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Adding a flashboard to an AR System form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Displaying flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Viewing flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 6
Changing flashboard parameters using workflow . . . . . . . . . 77

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Flashboard parameter and value conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Changing display parameters for flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Modifiable parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Customizable parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Display parameters for charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 General parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Identification parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Login parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Meter parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Time parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Changing a flashboard with active link workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Using dynamic qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Appendix A
Creating sample flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Setting up server statistics collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Creating non-cumulative server statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Creating cumulative server statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Importing flashboard definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Contents
Appendix B
Troubleshooting flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Troubleshooting flashboard displays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 No data is displayed in the flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Error messages displayed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 New data is not displayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Data display has changed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Data displayed is incorrect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Users cannot see the flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Multiple pie charts display in one flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Improving performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Customizable options do not work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Server cannot find history or summary data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Using the FBImageServlet to test your flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6 Contents
Preface
Important: The compatibility information listed in the product documentation is subject to change. See the compatibility matrix at http://supportweb.remedy.com for the latest, most complete information about what is officially supported.
Carefully read the system requirements for your particular operating system, especially the necessary patch requirements.
Audience
This guide is written for administrators, subadministrators, and developers who use BMC Remedy Administrator to create and configure Flashboards components. This guide assumes that administrators and subadministrators are familiar with AR System.
Preface
Obtaining system requirements and software

System requirements vary for server systems and client systems, and for international environments. You might need to upgrade your operating system (or, in the case of servers, your database) to be compatible with the new version of AR System. See the following documents for the most current information about system requirements, including international and client requirements and patch requirements: Release notes: http://supportweb.remedy.com Product compatibility matrix: http://supportweb.remedy.com/
CompatibilityMatrix/index.html
Note: To access the Customer Support website, you must have a support contract.
AR System software is available by HTTP download or on CD-ROM. If you download AR System, you will receive a password when you make your purchase. You must have a password to download the software and documentation. For more information about obtaining software, contact your sales representative, or go to http://www.remedy.com.
AR System documents
The following table lists documentation available for AR System products. Unless otherwise noted, online documentation in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format is available on AR System product installation CDs, on the Customer Support site (supportweb.remedy.com), or both.
8 Preface
You can access product Help through each products Help menu or by clicking on Help links.
Title Concepts Description Audience
Overview of AR System architecture and features with Everyone in-depth examples; includes information about other AR System products as well as a comprehensive glossary for the entire AR System documentation set. Procedures for installing AR System. Administrators
Installing Getting Started
Introduces topics that are usually only learned when first Everyone starting to use the system, including logging in, searching for objects, and so on. Describes components necessary to build applications in Developers AR System, including applications, fields, forms, and views. Contains all of the workflow information. Contains information about configuring AR System servers and clients, localizing, importing and exporting data, and archiving data. Developers Administrators
Form and Application Objects
Workflow Objects Configuring
Installing and Administering BMC Remedy Mid Tier Integrating with Plug-ins and Third-Party Products Optimizing and Troubleshooting
Contains information about the mid tier, including mid Administrators tier installation and configuration, and web server configuration. Discusses integrating AR System with external systems using plug-ins and other products, including LDAP, OLE, and ARDBC. Administrators /Developers
Server administration topics and technical essays related Administrators to monitoring and maintaining AR System for the purpose of optimizing performance and troubleshooting problems. Database administration topics and rules related to how Administrators AR System interacts with specific databases; includes an overview of the data dictionary tables. Server administration and procedures for implementing Administrators a distributed AR System server environment with the BMC Remedy Distributed Server Option (DSO). Flashboards administration and procedures for creating Administrators and modifying flashboards and flashboards components /Programmers to display and monitor AR System information.
Database Reference
Administering BMC Remedy DSO Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards
AR System documents
Title C API Reference C API Quick Reference Java API * Administering BMC Remedy Email Engine Error Messages Master Index Release Notes BMC Remedy User Help BMC Remedy Import Help BMC Remedy Administrator Help BMC Remedy Alert Help BMC Remedy Mid Tier Configuration Tool Help
*.
Description Information about AR System data structures, C API function calls, and OLE support. Quick reference to C API function calls. Information about Java classes, methods, and variables that integrate with AR System. Procedures for installing, configuring, and using the BMC Remedy Email Engine. List and expanded descriptions of AR System error messages. Combined index of all books. Information about new features list, compatibility lists, international issues, and open and fixed issues. Procedures for using BMC Remedy User. Procedures for using BMC Remedy Import. Procedures for creating and modifying an AR System application for tracking data and processes. Procedures for using BMC Remedy Alert.
Audience Administrators /Programmers Administrators /Programmers Administrators /Programmers Administrators Administrators /Programmers Everyone Everyone Everyone Administrators Administrators Everyone
Procedures for configuring the BMC Remedy Mid Tier. Administrators
A JAR file containing the Java API documentation is installed with the AR System server. Typically, it is stored in C:\Program Files\AR System\Arserver\Api\doc\ardoc70.jar on Windows and /usr/ar/<server_name>/api/doc/ardoc70.jar on UNIX.
10 Preface
Learn about the AR System Developer Community

If you are interested in learning more about AR System, looking for an opportunity to collaborate with fellow AR System developers, and searching for additional resources that can benefit your AR System solution, then this online global community sponsored by BMC Remedy is for you. In the Developer Community, you will find collaboration tools, product information, resource links, user group information, and be able to provide BMC Remedy with feedback. The Developer Community offers the following tools and information: Community message board Community Downloads AR System Tips & Tricks Community recommended resources Product information User Experience Design tips
Why should you participate in the Developer Community?

You can benefit from participating in the Developer Community for the following reasons: The community is a direct result of AR System developer feedback. BMC Remedy provides unsupported applications and utilities by way of Community Downloads, an AR System application. BMC Remedy posts the latest AR System product information in the Developer Community to keep you up to date. It is an opportunity to directly impact product direction through online and email surveys. Its free!
How do you access the Developer Community?

Go to supportweb.remedy.com, and click the Developer Community link.
Learn about the AR System Developer Community
11
12 Preface
Chapter
Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards

This section explains how to install and uninstall the Flashboards server on Windows and UNIX systems. It also covers how to license the BMC Remedy Flashboards. You can create and display flashboards without installing the Flashboards server, but you must install the server before you can use the data collection option to collect historical information and the summary option to summarize the historical data. Flashboards forms are installed with the AR System. This section also includes post-installation steps, and describes how to change the configuration of the mid tier to view your flashboards. The following topics are provided: Upgrading to BMC Remedy Flashboards 7.0 (page 14) Before installing BMC Remedy Flashboards (page 14) WindowsInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards (page 15) UNIXInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards (page 17) Forms installed with BMC Remedy Flashboards (page 21) Installing and configuring Flashboards samples (page 22) Running the Flashboards driver (page 24) Licensing BMC Remedy Flashboards (page 25)
Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards
13
Upgrading to BMC Remedy Flashboards 7.0

If you are migrating from Flashboards 6.3 to Flashboards 7.0 and you do not want to overwrite your existing Flashboards files, transfer the files into a separate directory that is not the default installation directory before you install Flashboards 7.0. For best results, uninstall any previous Flashboards version before you install Flashboards 7.0. All Flashboards components, except the Flashboards server, are incorporated into BMC Remedy Administrator and BMC Remedy Mid Tier. Use BMC Remedy Administrator to create, modify, and delete flashboards.
WARNING: You must install AR System 7.0 before you install BMC Remedy Flashboards 7.0, or BMC Remedy Flashboards might not function properly.
Before installing BMC Remedy Flashboards

Before you install Flashboards: Check the product compatibility matrix on the BMC Remedy Customer Support website at: http://supportweb.remedy.com Read the release notes at: http://supportweb.remedy.com
14 Chapter 1Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards
WindowsInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards

You can install the Flashboards server on any computer. However, the Flashboards server can communicate only with one AR System server at a time.
To install Flashboards server on Windows

1 Make sure that you have installed AR System 7.0 and BMC Remedy Mid Tier
7.0.
2 Run the Flashboards server executable.
This executable is on the AR System CD or included with the AR System installation files you downloaded.
3 Click Install Products. 4 Click BMC Remedy Flashboards.
The Welcome dialog box appears.

5 Click Next.
In the Flashboards Setup dialog box, click Yes to accept the license.
6 In the Choose Destination Location dialog box, accept the default directory
or click Browse to choose another directory.

7 Click Next. 8 In the AR Server To Support Flashboards dialog box, enter the name of the
AR System server that supports Flashboards. If you are not using a portmapper for this AR System server, enter the port number. Enter an RPC socket number if you will be using a private queue.
9 Click Next. 10 In the Administrator Logon Information Required dialog box, enter the
AR System administrators user name and password. This is the AR System user who can import forms to the AR System server. The AR System administrator must be a member of the Administrator group (Group ID 1).
11 Click Next.
WindowsInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards
15
12 In the Application Service Password dialog box, enter the Application Service
Password. Use the Application Service Password that has been defined on the AR System server. AR System 7.0 requires an Application Service Password. To find out if there is a password, in BMC Remedy Administrator, click a server name, choose File > Server Information, click the Connection Settings tab, and check the Application Service Password. You also supply this password, if applicable, to install other products, such as the Approval Server.
Note: If you change the Application Service Password in BMC Remedy Administrator after you install Flashboards, see Running the Flashboards driver on page 24.
13 Click Next.
The Start Copying Files dialog box appears.

14 Click Next to begin the installation. 15 Click Finish in the Setup Complete dialog box to complete the installation.
Note: If the Flashboards server you are installing is part of a server group and is not the primary server in that group, Flashboards forms are not installed when you install that server because they were installed when you installed the primary server.
You can uninstall the Flashboards server from the Windows Control Panel. After you uninstall the server, restart Windows. Use BMC Remedy Administrator to uninstall Flashboards forms manually.
UNIXInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards

You can install the Flashboards server on any computer. However, the Flashboards server can communicate only with one AR System server at a time.
Note: The Flashboards installation script displays information in between the steps that this procedure discusses. This procedure discusses only the steps that require you to enter information.
To install Flashboards on UNIX

1 Stop all applications. 2 Log in as the root user. 3 Access the installation software. 4 If you are installing from a CD:
Mount the CD locally or remotely. Change to the directory containing the Flashboards installation script as follows:
# cd <CD-ROM_mount_point>/arsystem
For example:
#cd cdrom/arsystem
The default mount point is /cdrom.

5 Run the Flashboards installation script:
#. /fb_install
6 Enter and confirm the Java installation directory. If you do not have Java
installed, stop the installation, install Java, and start the Flashboards installation again.
7 Enter the name of the AR System server that supports Flashboards. 8 Enter the AR System server TCP port number or accept the default (0).
If you are not using a portmapper for this AR System server, enter the port number.
17
9 Enter the AR System server RPC port number or accept the default (0).
If you will be using a private queue, enter an RPC socket number.

10 Enter the AR System administrators user name. This is the AR System user
who can import forms to the AR System server. The AR System administrator must be a member of the Administrator group (Group ID 1).
11 Enter the AR System administrators password. 12 Enter the Application Service Password.
Use the Application Service Password that has been defined on the AR System server. AR System 7.0 requires an Application Service Password. If you change the Application Service Password in BMC Remedy Administrator after you install Flashboards, see Running the Flashboards driver on page 24. To find out if there is a password, in BMC Remedy Administrator, click a server name, choose File > Server Information, click the Connection Settings tab, and check the Application Service Password. You also supply this password, if applicable, to install other products, such as the Approval Server.
13 Enter the product directory name, which is the CD mount directory (such as
cdrom) at the prompt.
14 When prompted, enter 1 to accept the software licensing agreement. 15 Enter the installation directory for BMC Remedy Flashboards.
The installation script displays a list of extracted files and confirms that it imported the forms successfully. The installation is complete. After you complete the installation, see the Configuring guide for information about how to obtain a license.
Uninstalling
To uninstall the BMC Remedy Flashboards, delete the Flashboards server install directory. Use BMC Remedy Administrator to uninstall forms manually.
Stopping a Flashboards server (on Solaris)

To stop an individual Flashboards server on Solaris, change directories to the installation directory of that server. Then, run the following command:
server.sh stop
If you are running two Flashboards servers on the same machine and enter the server.sh stop command, both servers will stop. To stop only one Flashboards server if two are on the same Solaris machine, enter the following command:
server.sh stop -p <port number>
Running the Flashboards server after exiting a shell

If you plan to exit a shell after starting the Flashboards server in that shell, enter the following command to start the server:
nohup server.sh start &
When you enter this command, the Flashboards server continues running in the background after you exit the shell.
Using a headless environment

If you use a terminal to connect to a headless UNIX system where you have installed the web server and mid tier, you might get an error, or you might be unable to open your flashboards on the web. To make sure that Flashboards works in a headless environment, you must set Java VM options on the servlet engine that controls BMC Remedy Mid Tier.
To set up the headless environment

1 In the servlet engine ServletExec administrator page, choose Virtual Machine
> Options.
2 Enter the following VM option into the options text box:
-Djava.awt.headless=true
3 Click Submit.
19
4 Enter the following VM option into the options text box:

-Dsun.java2d.fontpath=<JRE_install_dir>/lib/fonts
Or, for Java SDK:

-Dsun.java2d.fontpath=<SDK_install_directory>/jre/lib/fonts
If you are using ServletExecAS (the standalone version), add the appropriate VM option to the ServletExec startup script.
5 If you are using version 1.3, set up a virtual frame buffer: a Install xvfb, which you can download from http://
www.idevelopment.info/data/Unix/General_UNIX/ GENERAL_XvfbforSolaris.shtml.
b Run xvfb to establish a virtual frame buffer/X windows session. c Point your DISPLAY variable to that session. For example:
<directory>/bin/Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1152x900x8 &
Your new DISPLAY attribute in your web server's startup script would be:
DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:1.0; export DISPLAY
6 Restart the servlet engine.
Use this procedure to add VM options to other servlet engines.
Forms installed with BMC Remedy Flashboards

The following table lists and describes the AR System forms that are installed with Flashboards.
WARNING: Do not modify these forms.
Form name
FB:Alarm Events FB:AlarmMonitor* FB:DataSource* FB:DataSourceVariables* FB:Flashboards* FB:History
Function Records the Flashboard server alarms. Stores the Alarm Object. Stores the DataSource Object. Stores the DataSource Object variables and data source identification numbers. Stores the Flashboard Object. Records the results of queries at the intervals specified by any active variables that have the data collection option enabled. Results stored in this form are collected using the criteria you entered in the Schedule tab of the Create Variables window. Records the results of the summary data. Results stored in this form are collected using the criteria you entered in the Schedule tab > Summary Properties of the Create Variables window. Stores the Variable Object. Stores the Flashboard Object when the server configures how the variables appear on a graph.
FB:History Summary
FB:Variable* FB:Variable Attributes*
* If you are upgrading from 6.3 or prior Flashboards versions, this form is converted to a vendor form that uses a data visualization field to store the data.
Forms installed with BMC Remedy Flashboards
21
Installing and configuring Flashboards samples

This section contains the procedure to install the Flashboards samples, and two post-installation procedures that you must follow to make sure your Flashboards samples function correctly. The Flashboards samples show how to gather statistics. The Flashboards server installer does not prompt you to install Flashboards samples. You must install the samples manually. For more information about how to create different types of flashboards, see Chapter 3, Planning to create a flashboard, and Appendix A, Creating sample flashboards.
To install Flashboards samples manually

1 In BMC Remedy Administrator, select the name of the server where the
samples should be installed.

2 Choose Tools > Import Definitions > From Definitions File. 3 In the Import File window, navigate to the location of the ServerStat.def
file. The file is located in:

C:<Flashboards_server_install_directory>/ServerStat.def
4 Select the ServerStat.def file. 5 In the Import File window, click Open. 6 In the Import Definitions dialog box, click Add All. 7 Click Import. 8 In the Import Complete dialog box, click OK.
To access the Flashboards samples, open BMC Remedy Administrator, select the server name for the server that contains the samples, and select the type of sample to view.
To configure the Flashboards samples

1 Open BMC Remedy Administrator. 2 Select the server that contains the installed samples. 3 Choose Find > Server Information. 4 Click the Advanced tab.
5 In the Default Web Path field, enter the following web path:
http://<web_server_name>:<port>/arsys
where <web_server_name> is the name of the web server on which the mid tier is installed and <port> is the port number. The port number is optional.
6 In the Server Statistics section, select the Cumulative Queue option. 7 To save your changes, click OK.
To configure Flashboards sample variables

1 In BMC Remedy Administrator, select the server that contains the installed
samples.
2 From the list of Flashboards objects, select Flashboards Variables. 3 In the Flashboards Variables list, double-click the Set Entry Calls Per Hour
variable.
4 Click the Schedule tab. 5 In the Data Collection section on the Schedule tab, select the On option. 6 Choose a data collection interval. 7 Choose File > Save Flashboards Variables to save your changes. 8 Repeat this procedure for the Set Entry Calls Per Second and Total Number
of Fixed Licenses variables.
Contents of Flashboards samples

The Flashboards samples contain the following Flashboards components: Forms: FB:CumulativeServerStatistics FB:NonCumulativeServerStatistics Flashboards Server Statistics Sample
Installing and configuring Flashboards samples
23
Filters: FB:CumulativeServerStat FB:CumulativeServerStatCalculate FB:CumulativeServerStatCalculate2 FB:NonCumulativeServerStat Active links: Flashboard Server Statistics Sample Set Default Flashboard Server Statistics Sample Show Licenses Statistics Flashboard Server Statistics Sample Show Set Entry Calls 12 Hours by Hour Flashboard Server Statistics Sample Show Set Entry Calls Hour by Minute Flashboards and variables: Set Entry Calls Per Hour Set Entry Calls Per Second Total Number of Fixed Licenses
Running the Flashboards driver

If you change the Application Service Password in BMC Remedy Administrator after you install Flashboards, you must run the Flashboards driver to reset the password before running the Flashboards server again. If you do not reset the password, the Flashboards server will not be able to log in to the AR System server.
To run the Flashboards driver from the command line

1 From the UNIX command line or the Windows Command Prompt, change
to the Flashboards installation directory.
2 Enter the following commands:
Windows:
java -classpath arutil70.jar;flashd70.jar; -DflashInstallPath=<FB_install_dir> FBDriver
UNIX:
java -classpath arutil70.jar:flashd70.jar: -DflashInstallPath=<FB_install_dir> FBDriver
3 Type spw to set the password. 4 Follow the instructions on the screen.
For more information about the Application Service Password, see BMC Remedy Administrator help.
Licensing BMC Remedy Flashboards

If you purchased AR System, you can create unlimited flashboards with an unlicensed BMC Remedy Flashboards product. However, if you do not obtain a Flashboards license, Flashboards limits you to view only five flashboards. If you try to view more than five flashboards, you receive an error message that you have exceeded the maximum number of flashboards allowed. You can reset an unlicensed BMC Remedy Flashboards product and display new charts by restarting the web server. If you license the BMC Remedy Flashboards, you will be able to view an unlimited number of flashboards. For information about obtaining and activating licenses, see the Configuring guide.
Licensing BMC Remedy Flashboards
25
Chapter
Introducing Flashboards
This section introduces BMC Remedy Flashboards and its components, provides system requirements, and describes the Flashboards architecture. The following topics are provided: Flashboards uses (page 28) Types of flashboards (page 29) BMC Remedy Flashboards architecture (page 32) Backward compatibility (page 34)
Introducing Flashboards
27
Flashboards uses
A flashboard is a dynamic, graphical representation of data in AR System forms. You can use flashboards to perform the following data manipulations: Process, store, and display data from the AR System in the form of graphs, charts, text boxes, and meters. To display information about several variables or to compare historical data, use a chart. To display information about single variables, use meters or text boxes. Text boxes display information in text form, whereas meters display a statistic whose value normally lies within a specific range. Meters display only the most recently received values. Summarize and display real-time, historical, or summary data in new or existing AR System forms for trend or historical analysis. To display historical or summary data, use the following types of flashboards: line, bar, stacked bar, area, and stacked area.
Note: You cannot use pie, meter, or text flashboards to display historical data.
Provide visual alerts with the alarm component. Drill down to see what data was gathered to produce a flashboard. You must refresh your flashboard to view the most recent historical, summary, and real-time data. BMC Remedy Flashboards is fully incorporated with, and provides additional functionality to, BMC Remedy Administrator.
28 Chapter 2Introducing Flashboards
Types of flashboards
You can create flashboards that display real-time data as a single point, or flashboards that display historical or summary data over a period of time. To display historical data, use the following types of flashboards: line, bar, stacked bar, area, and stacked area. You cannot use the following types of flashboards to display historical or summary data: pie, meter, text. For more information about how to represent data in a flashboard, consult a statistics book.
Note: Use a maximum of 50 data points (points on the graph) for each flashboard. If you try to display more than 50 data points, you might affect the mid tiers performance.
Bar chart
Bar charts are most often used for direct comparison of magnitude between categories. Bar charts can also be used to show time-dependent data when the time interval is small. For example, a bar chart might be useful to compare the number of tickets assigned to various employees in one month. When the bars in a bar chart are of equal width, the length of each bar is proportional to its value, allowing you to compare the differences between bars more easily. Vertical bar charts are most often used to portray time series, such as the number of high tickets during the course of a month. Horizontal bar charts are most often used to compare data directly, such as the number of tickets assigned to several employees. If there is a lot of text in your bar labels, consider using horizontal bars that allow you to have more room on the vertical axis.
29
Stacked bar chart

Stacked bar charts consist of segmented bars. Each of the segments represents a share of the total value in the bar. Stacked bar charts are suitable for presenting discrete data. They are not recommended for subtle comparisons, as comparisons are difficult among the second, third, or subsequent segments in a stacked bar because there is no common baseline. In addition, stacked bar charts are not recommended for components that exhibit irregular or sharp changes in the represented values.
Pie chart
Pie charts are most often used to display a few components that are easily distinguishable. Typically, each slice of a pie chart displays statistics from one variable. For example, a pie chart might be suitable to display one employees High, Medium, and Low tickets. When you display a pie-chart flashboard, the individual percentages of each slice are displayed. You can display both percentages and actual values of each slice by setting the showvalues parameter to one (showvalues=1). Pie charts are not recommended to display subtle or slight changes in the segments, to display many components at once, to discern the relative size of components, or to display variables using a double Group-By option. If you choose a double Group By for your variable, your flashboard displays data in multiple pie charts instead of one pie chart. For example, if your flashboard is a pie chart and you grouped a variable that retrieves tickets by assignee, and then by priority, your resulting flashboard display will consist of several pie charts, each of which corresponds to one assignee. You cannot use a pie chart flashboard to display historical data or summary data. If you try to use a pie chart to display this type of data, you will get an error.
Note: You cannot use a pie chart to display historical or summary data.
Line chart
Line charts are most often used to display trends. Line charts display values along a common baseline, which allows quick and accurate comparisons. You can also use line charts to display grouped data represented by different symbols and colors for each component. For example, you can display the number of High tickets (yellow diamonds), Medium tickets (red squares), or Low tickets (green triangles) that were closed last month.
Area charts
Area charts are used to display a limited number of related, continuous variables.
Stacked area chart

Stacked area charts consist of irregular segments, each of which represents a share of the total value in the graph. Stacked area charts are suitable for displaying the trend of a values over categories or time. They are not recommended for subtle comparisons, as comparisons are difficult among the second, third, or subsequent segments because there is no common baseline.
Meter chart
Meters measure the most recent variable value from the variable associated with that meter. Meters can be configured to show increasing levels of severity. For example, you can create a meter that measures the total number of unassigned High priority tickets. You can configure the meter to display the total number of tickets in colored zones (up to 20 ticket counts in the green zone, between 20 and 40 tickets in the yellow zone or Warning Threshold, and 40 to 50 tickets in the red zone or Alert Threshold). You can also set up a Flashboards Alarm to send a warning to a specified recipient when the needle enters the Alert Threshold zone.
31
Text chart
Text charts display one value and its associated text. For example, you might use a text chart to display the average number of daily unassigned tickets at the end of one week.
BMC Remedy Flashboards architecture

The following sections describe Flashboards architecture.
Data flow when creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards

You create, modify, and delete flashboards in BMC Remedy Administrator. As Figure 2-1 shows, BMC Remedy Administrator sends user requests to the AR System server. The AR System server performs the operation and returns the information about the new or modified flashboard to BMC Remedy Administrator. Administrators view new or modified flashboard information in BMC Remedy Administrator.
Figure 2-1: Data flow when creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards
Users enter flashboard information or request.
Remedy Administrator
Request (create, modify, delete, flashboard) Server performs request and returns info to Admin.
Users display flashboard info
AR System Server
The mid tier passes access permission information to the AR System server, holds requested Flashboards image information in a cache, and translates the image information so it can be viewed by the display client. When a display client requests a Flashboards image, the mid tier checks to see if the information is in the mid tier cache and if the cache is not expired. If the information is in the cache and the cache is not expired, the mid tier generates an image and sends it to the display client. If the information is not in the cache or the cache has expired, the mid tier requests the information from the AR System server, updates the cache, generates an image, and sends it to the display client.
Data flow when retrieving historical or summary data

You can use flashboards to retrieve historical data and summary data from the AR System. This section describes the process for creating the data and then retrieving it.
To create historical and summary data

1 As determined by the collection interval, the Flashboards server retrieves
statistics on the form data from the AR System server.

2 The Flashboards server returns statistical data to the AR System server and
data is added to the FB:History form.

3 As determined by the collection interval, the Flashboards server retrieves data
from the FB:History form through the AR System server.

4 The Flashboards server summarizes the historical data. 5 The Flashboards server adds it to the FB:History Summary form through the
AR System server.
To retrieve historical and summary data

1 Users enter the information about the data requested into forms in BMC
Remedy User or a browser.

2 Users view the history information from the FB:History form in a flashboard. 3 Users view the data from the FB:History Summary form in a flashboard.
BMC Remedy Flashboards architecture
33
Backward compatibility
If you created flashboards in previous versions, note the following behaviors: If you are using a 6.3 server, but you are using BMC Remedy Administrator 7.0, you will not see any data sources, as they are no longer valid objects in AR System 7.0. If you are using BMC Remedy Administrator 6.3 on a 7.0 server, you can view but not create or edit flashboards. When you upgrade, the 7.0 installer will delete the following flashboards forms: FB:AlarmMonitor FB:DataSource FB:DataSourceVariables FB:Flashboards FB:Variable FB:Variable Attributes The installer will replace the forms with vendor forms that have same names so that the new data visualization field can hold your flashboards. For more information about data visualization fields, see the Form and Application Objects guide and the Integrating with Plug-ins and ThirdParty Products guide.
Note: When you upgrade ITSM 6.0 from AR System and Flashboards 6.3 to AR System and Flashboards 7.0, a Permissions tab is added to the Flashboards Variables object, and all variables are given Public permissions.
If you have applications installed in a pre-7.0 server and then upgrade to 7.0, the server upgrade installer updates the flashboards. If you install old applications on a 7.0 server, the applications installer uses .arx files to store the flashboards information, and .arx file data cannot be imported in 7.0 server because the old flashboards forms are changed to vendor forms. The following procedure will help you work around this issue.
To use flashboards created prior to version 7.0

1 Export all of the Flashboards components from the 6.3 server into a
definition file. The components are as follows: Flashboards Flashboards data sources Flashboards variables Flashboards alarms For more information about exporting and importing data, see the Configuring guide.
2 Import that definition file to the 7.0 server through the 7.0 BMC Remedy
Administrator tool.
Backward compatibility
35
Chapter
Planning to create a flashboard
This section uses an example to illustrate how you plan and create a flashboard. The following topics are provided: Planning a flashboard (page 38) Process for creating a flashboard (page 39) Importing and exporting Flashboards objects (page 39) Flashboards servers in server groups (page 40) Multiple Flashboards servers and AR System servers (page 40) Flashboards and accessibility users (page 41)
Planning to create a flashboard
37
Planning a flashboard
The following sections describe how to plan a flashboard.
Defining business needs

Jane is the manager of a small department that is responsible for resolving the companys hardware and software issues. Company employees who experience problems with their computers create tickets in BMC Remedy User. The tickets are assigned to Mary, Pat, and Chris, who report to Jane. Chris is assigned to the department only part time. Jane wants to assign Chris to help Mary and Pat on the day that receives the highest number of tickets. The employees in her department tell her that Mondays are the highest traffic days, but she wants to be sure before she rearranges Chris schedule.
Defining the purpose of the flashboard

Jane wants to create a flashboard that meets the following criteria: Collects data for each day of the week for one week. Summarizes that data per day. Displays the summarized data each day of the week for one week. Allows Jane and her group to view the data. Afterwards, Jane might like to add a notification function to the flashboard so that Chris is notified if the total number of tickets on a particular day exceeds an acceptable number, so he can rearrange his schedule to respond to the extra calls.
Designing the flashboard

Janes flashboard must display data gathered over the course of one week, so she chooses a bar graph flashboard to display the historical data. She could also choose a line chart or area chart, but not a pie, meter, or text flashboard because these types of flashboards cannot display historical data. If Jane chose a pie chart to display historical data, she would later get the following error message:
Pie charts cannot be selected for History/Summary display type (ARERR 3523)
38 Chapter 3Planning to create a flashboard
The information will be gathered over a short period of time, so choosing a stacked chart would not be a useful way to display the data. For more information about choosing the best type of flashboard for your needs, see Types of flashboards on page 29.
Process for creating a flashboard

Creating a flashboard is accomplished through the following process:
Step 1 Create the variable. (See Creating variables on page 44.) Step 2 Create the flashboard. (See Creating flashboards on page 58.) Step 3 Add the flashboard to the form. (See Adding a flashboard to an AR System
form on page 73.)

Step 4 View the flashboard. (See Viewing flashboards on page 75.)
Importing and exporting Flashboards objects

Flashboards cannot be exported through the Export Definitions window (Tools > Export Definitions > To Definitions File). They can be exported in either of the following ways: Exported with the deployable application to which the flashboards are linked. (When the application is imported, the flashboards are imported, too.) Exported as data (from BMC Remedy User or the web) into a csv or arx file. After you set up your flashboards, you can use BMC Remedy Administrator to import Flashboard objects independently. See the Form and Application Objects guide for more information about importing objects. If your objects do not display correctly after you import, see Appendix B, Troubleshooting flashboards.
Process for creating a flashboard
39
Flashboards servers in server groups

AR System servers that belong to a server group provide automatic fail-over for its member servers for some operations, such as escalations. Multiple AR System servers and their associated Flashboards servers function as one server. Only one Flashboards server is active at a given time, while the other Flashboards servers in the server group act as backup servers. When a computer failure or AR System failure occurs, the active Flashboards server on that computer will also shut down. In this case, an associated AR System server detects the shutdown and activates a backup Flashboards server in the same group. When the computer becomes active, the AR System server reactivates the first Flashboards server and deactivates the backup server. However, when a Flashboards server fails on a computer that is still functioning correctly, the AR System server cannot detect the failure and cannot activate the backup server. To monitor your Flashboards servers for server failure, use the following command:
java -jar FlashboardsAgent.jar ping -h serverhostname
This command returns a 0 to standard out when the server is functioning correctly, and returns a -1 to standard out if the server fails. To make sure that the server restarts again, run the server.bat (Windows) or server.sh (UNIX) commands.
Note: If a Flashboards server and an AR System server are part of the same group, they must be installed on the same computer.
Multiple Flashboards servers and AR System servers

If you run multiple AR System servers with multiple Flashboards servers on the same system, only one Flashboards server is active at any given time. This section describes procedures to override this setting to start one or more additional servers manually. For example, you might want to run multiple Flashboards servers if you run multiple AR System instances when each instance is connected to a different database that uses a different language.
Note: One of the Flashboards servers can be installed on a remote system to avoid having to start one service manually.
To start a server manually

1 Change the value of the Remote Method Invocation (RMI) port in the
server.conf file to any port that is not in use. For example: RMIRegistryPort=1099
2 To start the server, run the server.bat file (Windows) or the server.sh file
(UNIX), located in the Flashboards server installation directory. For example, if you want to run two Flashboards servers (servers 1 and 2) against two AR System servers, you must install all four servers on the same machine. After installing, enter the RMI port values into the Flashboards server. conf files in the BMC Remedy Flashboards installation directory that correspond to each Flashboards server, as follows:
server.conf 1 RMIRegistryPort=1099 server.conf 2 RMIRegistryPort=1066
The port numbers must correspond to unused ports.
Flashboards and accessibility users

Accessibility readers can use the keyboard and screen-reading software, such as the JAWS for Windows screen reader from Freedom Scientific, to read a flashboards underlying data as a table. Developers must set accessibility options to enable the software to present the data as a table and then read the table.
To set accessibility options

1 Open BMC Remedy User. 2 Open the AR System User Preferences form. 3 Click the Web tab.
Flashboards and accessibility users
41
4 In the Accessibility section, choose the following accessibility options:
Accessible ModeScreen Reader / No Vision Accessible MessageAll Actions Menu Access OptionKeyboard Menu Display Size20 (default) Session Timeout in Minutes90 (default) For more information about how to set accessibility options, see the white paper Designing AR System web applications for Section 508 compliance, on the Customer Support website at: http://supportweb.remedy.com.
Chapter
Preparing to create flashboards
This section explains how to create, modify, and delete variables and alarms. You must create variables before you can create flashboards. The following topics are provided: Creating variables (page 44) Creating alarms (page 52)
Preparing to create flashboards
43
Creating variables
Variables specify the information you want to monitor from a single form. A variable represents the data, such as a slice of a pie graph, a bar in a bar graph, or a line in a line graph. For example, high-priority service requests, requests created within the last hour, or requests assigned to one employee could each be represented by a bar. Variables have unique names and can be associated with more than one flashboard.
Note: Display time is optimized if you use fewer variables in your flashboard.
Use the procedures in this section to create variables for your flashboards. You can add more than one variable to a flashboard.
To create a variable
1 In the BMC Remedy Administrator main window, choose File > New Server
Object.
2 In the New Server Object dialog box, select Flashboards Variables, and click
OK. The Create Flashboards Variables dialog box appears.
44 Chapter 4Preparing to create flashboards
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards Figure 4-1: Create Flashboards Variables dialog boxProperties tab
3 Use the following table to complete the fields in the Properties tab. Option Name Select Form Description A name that reflects the function of the variable. For example, the variable name could be Total Number of Fixed Licenses Issued. Name of the form that has the fields used to build the variable.
Creating variables
45
Option Drill-Down
Description Name of the component to which you want to drill down. The options are: ViewThe view on the form that users see when they drill down. You can choose Default Admin View or a view you have created to allow users to drill down to see the underlying information in that view. For example, you might create a different view for managers that displays only information that will affect them directly. To view the underlying information in a completed flashboard: Click the flashboard view that has the drill-down option enabled to display the information table. Refresh the flashboard field. EventThe value that is entered if the $EVENTTYPE$ keyword is used in an active link that is triggered when an item on a flashboard is clicked. For more information about sending events, see the Workflow Objects guide.
Note: This option is available for real-time data, but not for historical or
summarized data. Qualification A search criteria including field references, values, and arithmetical and relational operators used to find a set of data that matches the conditions specified. A qualification allows you to define the data condition that causes the action that the variable defines. For example, Jane Manager wants to create a variable that displays the total number of requests for each day, but she does not want to include Low priority requests. For example, to exclude the Low requests, Jane might enter the following qualification:
'Priority' != "Low"
Qualifications are not required to create the variable. 4 Click the Operation tab, and use the following table to complete the fields.
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards Figure 4-2: Create Flashboards Variables dialog boxOperation tab
Option Operation
Description Statistical operations that the server performs on the data that the query returns. The five operations are: Count, Sum, Minimum, Maximum, and Average. Operations are not required to create the variable. For example, you might select Average to display the average number of calls that Customer Support receives in one week. You might select Minimum or Maximum to display the lowest or highest number of calls received during the same week. And you might select Sum to display the sum of all the calls received during the month.
Creating variables
47
Option Expression
Description Numerical definition of the type of operation to perform. An expression performs an operation on the selected form fields and keywords. (Required if the operation is Sum, Minimum, Maximum, or Average. Optional for Count.)You can use expressions with operations that use numeric data types, but not with operations that use character or diary data types. For example, your customer support employees might receive many calls from an important customer, whose customer support identification number (Cust ID) is 25. You already have a form that collects all the calls to Customer Support over the course of one month. You might then create individual flashboards with each of the Average, Minimum, Maximum, and Sum operations selected in the Operation option. Each of these flashboards would contain the following expression:
'Cust ID' = "25"
Your flashboards display the average, minimum, maximum, and sum of the number of calls from customer 25 over the course of one month. Group By Option that displays statistics for the distinct values within a field. For example, if you group a Count operation by Status, the resulting flashboard will be a graph of the counts of each individual status value, such as New, Assigned, or Closed. The server assigns predetermined variable colors to the different variables if the Group-By option is chosen, but you can change the colors after you create a flashboard using the gbcolorsparameter described in Chapter 6, Changing flashboard parameters using workflow.
Note: For Group By fields, you cannot perform an operation, such as Count, on a
primary Flashboards field if that field is a currency field, unless you specify the currency field part. For example, if your flashboard displays a count on Field A that is grouped by Field B, you must specify the type of currency parameter for Field A, for example Curr1.date or Curr1.value, not just Curr1. In addition, you cannot use a currency field for the Group By field, Field B. 5 Click the Schedule tab, and use the following table to complete the fields.
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards Figure 4-3: Create Flashboards Variables dialog boxSchedule tab
Option Data Collection
Description Select On to enable data collection of the data you want to view in your flashboard. Make sure that you start the Flashboards server before you collect data. To start the server on Windows, use the Control Panel or type start.bat from the command prompt. To start the server on UNIX, type server.sh start from the command line.
Summary Properties
Summary of the data that populates the flashboard. The server saves the collected information in the FB:History Summary form in the AR System database. In the Collection Interval tab option described in this table, you set intervals for how often data should be collected to populate the flashboard. In the Summary Properties section, you choose parameters to summarize the initial data that is collected. To summarize the data, choose Summary On and click the Summary Properties button to view the Summary dialog box.
Creating variables
49
Option
Description
In the Summary dialog box, enter the summary data: Collection intervalChoose how often to summarize the data: By year, on a particular month and day. By month, on a particular month and day, or on the same day each month. By week, on a particular day of the week, every week, or at other weekly intervals. By day, on a particular day or every day. For example, you might choose to count the total number of help desk tickets received in one hour, and summarize the average ticket count for each day at the end of the day.
Note: You must select a summary interval that is one level above your data
collection interval. For example, you cannot choose to summarize hourly on data that is collected hourly; you must summarize the data by the day, week, month, or year. Delete intervalSelect whether to expire or delete the summary of the data. Data set to expire after a given period cannot be displayed but remains in the database. Data set to delete after a given period cannot be displayed and is removed from the database. Consider for how long you will need your data and how much database space is needed to keep it. Start The date and time to begin data collection.
Option Collection Interval
Description Interval that sets the frequency at which the Flashboards server polls the AR System database for information that matches a query. The server saves the collected information in the FB:History form in the AR System database. Collection intervals are not required to create the variable. The options are: By year on a particular month and day, or at a particular time during a month, such as the first of the month. By month, on a particular month and day, or on the same day each month. By week, on a particular day of the week, every week, or at other weekly intervals. By day, on a particular day or every day. By hour, at a particular hour and day, between certain hours. Consider how often the server generates the type of data you are interested in and how much database space the data requires.
Delete Interval
Interval that sets the frequency at which the Flashboards server deletes or expires data. If you choose to delete the data, you will not be able to retrieve it again. Deletion intervals are not required to create the variable. Data set to expire after a given period cannot be displayed but remains in the database. Data set to delete after a given period cannot be displayed and is removed from the database. Consider for how long you will need your data and how much database space is needed to keep it. 6 Click the Permissions tab, and move the appropriate groups to the
Permission box to give them permission to the variable.

7 Click the Change History tab, and enter the name of the variable owner. 8 Choose File > Save Flashboards Variables.
If you set the drill-down option in the Create Flashboards window (see Drill-Down on page 46), you must also set this option in the flashboard variable.
Creating variables
51
Modifying or deleting variables

Use the procedures in this section to modify or delete variables.
WARNING: If you modify or delete variables, you will affect the flashboards and alarms associated with them. For example, you might need to modify any filters you created for the alarms.
To modify or delete variables

1 In BMC Remedy Administrator, open the Server window and click the server
icon of the server that contains the variable to modify.

2 Click Flashboards Variable.
A list of available variables appears in the right section of the Server window.
3 Double-click the variable name. 4 Select the appropriate tab and modify the data as needed. 5 Select the Help Text tab and enter the new description. 6 Select the Change History tab and enter the changes. 7 In the BMC Remedy Administrator main window, choose File > Save
Flashboards <component> Changes. To delete a variable, click the variable name and choose Edit > Delete Flashboards <object_type>.
Creating alarms
An alarm provides the ability to send notifications to specific users based upon a threshold value. Alarms can trigger notifications through email or BMC Remedy Alert based on the threshold level of the associated meter. The Flashboards server checks the threshold, based on the Check interval. If the threshold limit is reached, the server generates an entry in the Alarm Events form. Use the following procedures to create alarms.
To create an alarm
1 In the BMC Remedy Administrator main window, choose File > New Server
Object.
2 In the New Server Object dialog box, select Flashboards Alarms, and click
OK. The Create Flashboards Alarms dialog box appears.

Figure 4-4: Create Flashboards Alarms dialog box
3 Use the following table as a guide to enter values in to each tab. Tab Configure Alarm Option Name Variable Name Description Name of the alarm (required). Name of the variable associated with this alarm.
Creating alarms
53
Tab
Option Threshold
Description Threshold level beyond which the alarm will trigger. Choose an operator and enter an integer value, depending on the type of statistics your flashboard gathers. For example, you might have a flashboard that tracks the number of unassigned help desk tickets. Based on the number of unassigned tickets from previous days, you know that you must assign tickets immediately if the number of unassigned tickets reaches 50. So, you set the threshold level to trigger the alarm when the number of tickets reaches 50.
Reminder Interval
Frequency with which reminders are sent to the user defined in the Notify Properties section of this tab, while the threshold conditions are met (required). Amount of time that must pass before the variable value is checked to verify that the alarm conditions are still in effect. If the conditions are not in effect, the server resets them. The default value is five minutes. Name of the user who receives the alert message or the email notification. Delivery mechanism for the message that the alarm sends out when the trigger conditions are met: Alert (through BMC Remedy Alert) Email (through BMC Remedy Email Engine) User Default, which obtains the users default mechanism from the User Form None You might choose None if you want to gather information in the FB:Alarms form to be analyzed at a later date. You might also want to create workflow on the data.
Check Interval
User Mechanism
Change History
Message Owner New Description
Message that the alarm or email displays (required). Alarm owners name (optional). Description of the alarm and any changes that you have made to it (optional).
4 In the main window of BMC Remedy Administrator, choose File > Save
<object_type>.
Modifying or deleting alarms

Use the procedures in this section to modify or delete alarms.
To modify or delete alarms

icon of the server that contains the alarm to modify.

2 Click Flashboards Alarm.
A list of available alarms appears in the right section of the Server window.
3 Double-click the alarm name. 4 Select the Configure Alarm tab and modify the data as needed. 5 Select the Change History tab and enter the changes. 6 In the BMC Remedy Administrator main window, choose File > Save
<object_type>.
Note: To disable an alarm, clear the Enable check box in the Configure Alarm tab.
7 To delete an alarm, click the alarm name and choose Edit > Delete
Flashboards <object_type>.
Creating alarms
55
Chapter
Creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards

This section explains how to create, modify, and delete flashboards. Before you create a flashboard, you must create its associated variables, as discussed in Chapter 4, Preparing to create flashboards. The following topics are provided: Creating flashboards (page 58) Modifying or deleting flashboards (page 69) Refreshing flashboards (page 70) Using the mouse-over option (page 70) Limitations to AR System operations in Flashboards (page 71) Adding a flashboard to an AR System form (page 73) Displaying flashboards (page 74) Viewing flashboards (page 75)
Creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards
57
Creating flashboards
You must create variables before you create the associated flashboard. For more information, see Chapter 4, Preparing to create flashboards. Different flashboards can use the same variables. Use the same conventions that you would for the AR System to enter information into BMC Remedy Flashboards. The following procedure explains how to create flashboards charts, text boxes, and meters.
Note: To view variable definitions, click View Variable in the Configure Variables tab.
To create a flashboard
1 Create variables for your flashboard as described in Creating variables on
page 44.
2 in the BMC Remedy Administrator main window, choose File > New Server
Object.
3 Select Flashboards, and click OK.
58 Chapter 5Creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards Figure 5-1: Create Flashboard dialog boxFlashboard Type tab
4 In the Flashboard Type tab in the Create Flashboards dialog box, enter a
name in the Object Name field (required). The name of the flashboard should reflect its function. For example, a flashboard that collects tickets that the server receives might be called TotalTickets.
5 (Optional) In the Title field, enter the title that you want to appear in the
graphical display on the form. The flashboard title should reflect its function. For example, a flashboard that collects tickets that the server receives in one month might be titled: Total Tickets for November 2005.
6 Select the type of flashboard in the Select Flashboard Type area.
If your flashboard displays historical or summarized data, you cannot choose a pie, meter, or text flashboard because these types of flashboards can display only real-time data. Instead, choose a bar, line, or area chart. Stacked charts are best used for flashboards that display a large amount of data. For more information about choosing the best type of flashboard for your needs, see Types of flashboards on page 29.
59
7 Click the Add Variables tab, and move the appropriate variables to the
Selected Variables column.

Figure 5-2: Add Variables tab
8 If you are creating a line, bar, pie, or area chart, click the Configure Variables
tab. If you are creating a meter, go to step 11 on page 66. If you are creating a text box, go to step 12 on page 67.
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards Figure 5-3: Create Flashboards dialog boxConfigure Variables tab
9 Use the following table to complete the fields in the Configure Variables tab. Option Enable Drill Down in Variables Description Option for flashboard users to enable drill-down in the flashboard to see the underlying data associated with the visual display. This option enables you to click your flashboard and see, modify, and delete the values that the mid tier used to create that section of the flashboard. For example, you can enable the drill-down option for a previously created flashboard that shows all the locations of training classes by site.
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Option Customizable Options
Description Option that Flashboards administrators can set for Flashboards users, which allows them to customize the flashboard. The Flashboards administrator determines whether users can customize options. Default customized Flashboards options: Chart title Chart type Legend title X axis label Y axis label Time frame to be displayed For more customizable options, see Modifiable parameters on page 82. The Flashboards administrator can determine which options are customizable. You can determine which options are customizable. Use the following procedure to limit the number of options that users can choose:
1 Open the form that contains the data visualization field for your flashboard. 2 Double-click the field to open the Field Properties dialog box. 3 In the Custom Properties field on the Display tab, enter the expression customizableparams= immediately followed by the customizable options
to display, in lower case and separated by single spaces. For example, if you enter the following line in the Custom Properties field, users will only be able to customize the chart title, chart type, and X-axis labels:
customizableparams=charttitle charttype xaxislabel 4 After you choose to enable the customizable option, save your flashboard,
and view the customizable options menu on the flashboard in BMC Remedy User. For example, to change the chart title, choose Chart Title from the menu in the flashboard, then click Customize Chart to edit the title. To change the time frame display, choose Time Frame from the menu, and then choose the time frame (for example, Today).
Option
Description
Note: Your flashboard will not show the customize menu options unless you
have set the Customizable Options option. Display Type Type of display. Real TimeDisplays the data as it is collected. HistoryDisplays the historical data collected over a time interval. SummaryDisplays a summary of historical data. This feature allows you to display variable data in real time, as historical data, or as summarized data, regardless of how the variable object is configured. For example, if a variable is set to collect historical data, you can use this option to display the same variable information in real time. You can also use this option to share variables in different flashboards and display the variable data in different formats. For example, you can create three flashboards that all reference the same variable. In the first flashboard, you choose the Real Time display type. In the second variable, you choose the Historical display type. In the third variable, you choose the Summary display type. You do not have to create three separate variables.
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Option
Description
Configure Properties for Choose the Color, Style, and Variable Label for your variables. Selected Variable To change the color of the selected variable, click the ... button next to the Color field. In the dialog box that appears, select a color and click OK. If you want to display a graduated color pattern, select the Gradient option, and a second color option and gradient pattern choices will appear. If you chose the Group-By option in the Operation tab of the Flashboards Variables dialog box to group your variables, Flashboards automatically assigns colors to the Group By variables. However, you can change the variable colors after you create the flashboard by using the gbcolors parameter, which is described in Chapter 6, Changing flashboard parameters using workflow. Select Variable The variable you want to configure. 10 Click the Axis & Legends tab, and use the following table to complete the
fields.
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards Figure 5-4: Axis & Legends tab
Option Label (X-Axis) Show Time Frame
Description Label to display on the X axis. Option to display the time frame on the X axis. You can choose to display all dates, or a specific date, such as yesterday. This option is disabled if you chose Real Time as the display type in the Configure Variables tab.
Note: You must choose the Show Time Frame option if your flashboard is a line
chart and contains a variable that is enabled for data collection (see the Schedule tab and data collection sections in Chapter 4, Preparing to create flashboards). Start/End Data and Time Label (Y-Axis) Range Starting and ending time to display data on the X axis. Label to display on the Y axis. Range of values: CustomMinimum and maximum range of values to display on the Y axis. AutomaticRange of values that the Flashboards server chooses. Color Background color for the flashboard display. Choose a color that increases readability and contrast.
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Option Show Grid Lines Show Legend Orientation
Description Options to show grid lines. If you use grid lines, your flashboard might display more slowly. Option to show a legend on the flashboard display. Orientation of the axes.
Go to step 15 on page 69.

11 If you are creating a meter, click the Configure Meter tab, and use the
following table to complete the fields.

Figure 5-5: Configure Meter tab
Option Enable Drill Down in Variables
Description Option for flashboard users to enable drill-down in the flashboard to see the underlying data associated with the visual display. This option enables you to click your flashboard and see, modify, and delete the values that the mid tier used to create that section of the flashboard. For example, you can enable the drill-down option for a previously created flashboard that shows all the locations of training classes by site.
Display Type
Type of display. Real TimeDisplays the data as it is collected. HistoryDisplays the historical data collected over a time interval. SummaryDisplays a summary of historical data.
Select Variable Background
The variable you want to configure. Background color. To change the color of the selected variable, click the ... button next to the Color field. In the dialog box that appears, select a color and click OK. If you want to display a graduated color pattern, select the Gradient option, and a second color option and gradient pattern choices will appear. Label for the variable. Minimum and maximum values. The Warning Threshold sets the start point for a yellow band on the meter, which stops where the Alert Threshold starts. The Warning Threshold must be lower than the Alert Threshold. The Alert Threshold sets the start point for a red band on the meter, which stops at the Range Maximum value.
Label Range Thresholds
Go to step 15 on page 69.

12 If you are creating a text box, click the Configure tab to select the variable,
display time, background, and label. Choose whether to enable the drill-down option. This option enables you to click your flashboard and see, modify, and delete the values that the server used to create that section of the flashboard. For example, you can enable the drill-down option for a previously created flashboard that shows all the locations of training classes by site.
13 To modify font, color, and other properties of a legend, axis, chart, or meter
flashboard, click the Advanced Properties tab.
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BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0 Figure 5-6: Advanced Properties tab
To change the property, click in the Value field for the property you want to change. Formats for the properties are as follows: Font properties
<Type>-<Size>-<Font Name>
For example:
0-10-SanSerif
The options for <Type> are 0 for plain, 1 for bold, and 2 for italic. Color properties
<heximdecimal color code>
For example, 0000FF would render a blue color. Gradients use the following format:
<color order><color placement><color code 1><color code 2> <color order> determines the gradients pattern. The options are:
LFor linear colors RFor reflected colors
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards <color placement> determines the gradients pattern. The options are:
HFor a horizontal pattern VFor a vertical pattern For example, the following property would render a horizontal gradient with the colors black and white.
LH000000FFFFFF
On/off properties0 indicates that the property is turned off, and 1 indicates that the property is turned on. For example, if showxaxis is set to 1, the x axis will appear in the flashboard. Offset propertiesThe number of pixels that the image is offset.
14 Click the Permissions tab, select the groups you want to have permission to
the flashboard, and move them to the Permission column.

15 Click the Change History tab and enter flashboard details, such as the name
of the owner. The Change History dialog fields display historic information.
16 In the main window of BMC Remedy Administrator, choose File > Save
Object to save the flashboard information. See the information in Adding a flashboard to an AR System form on page 73 to place the flashboard in an AR System form.
Modifying or deleting flashboards

The procedures that follow explain how to modify or delete a flashboard, or drill-down to view, modify, and delete the values that the server used to create that section of the flashboard.
To modify a flashboard
icon of the server that contains the flashboard.

2 Click Flashboard.
A list of available flashboards appears in the right section of the Server window.
3 To modify a flashboard, double-click the flashboard name to display its
properties.
Modifying or deleting flashboards
69
4 Click the appropriate tab and modify the data as needed. 5 In the BMC Remedy Administrator main window, choose File > Save Object
to save the changes. You can view your modifications by opening the form in BMC Remedy User.
6 To delete a flashboard, select the flashboard name and choose Edit > Delete
Flashboards.
Refreshing flashboards
To enable users to refresh a flashboard, you can implement one of several methods: The user can refresh a flashboard by closing and re-opening the form that the flashboard is on. You can create a Refresh button that activates a Set Fields active link that resets the flashboard field. You can create a Refresh button that activates a Set Fields active link that resets the flashboard field. Simply set the field to itself for the Set Fields action to refresh the field. You can create a Set Fields active link at a specified interval to refresh a flashboard. For more information about the Set Fields action, see the Workflow Objects guide.
Using the mouse-over option

You can also place your mouse over the flashboards field to show the corresponding values of the underlying data. For example, you can mouse over the column representing Sams tickets and see the total number of tickets assigned to Sam. The mouse-over option is set automatically.
Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards Figure 5-7: Mouse-over option
The mouse-over option is available with all types of charts.
Limitations to AR System operations in Flashboards

BMC Remedy Flashboards has the following limitations.
Unicode, Flashboard fields, and the mid tier

To view Unicode characters in a Flashboards field on the mid tier, you must have the appropriate language packages installed on the system on which the Mid Tier is running.
Packing lists and workspace views

You can use Flashboards with deployable applications and AR System applications. However, if you use Flashboards with AR System applications, you cannot view Flashboards objects in packing lists or in the applications window (workspace view). You must access the objects through a Server Window instead.
Preference options
BMC Remedy Administrator allows you to choose user preferences for many AR System products in the Preferences window (File > Preferences). The following graphic shows the available preferences.
Limitations to AR System operations in Flashboards
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BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0 Figure 5-8: Preferences window
For Flashboards, however, you can only choose to display or not to display the status bar. You cannot choose to change any of the other options.
Adding a flashboard to an AR System form

To view a flashboard, you must add a data visualization field that references the flashboard to an AR System form. You can attach the field to any AR System form. After you insert the field into a form, you can associate the field with workflow in the same way that you would for other AR System form fields. To allow other users to view the form, you must place the form where they can access it. You can add the same data visualization field to many forms.
To add flashboards to AR System forms

1 Open the form on which to place the flashboard. 2 In BMC Remedy Administrator, choose Form > Create a New > Data
Visualization.
3 Double-click the field to open the Field Properties dialog box. 4 On the Display tab, enter any properties you want to add to the Custom
Properties field. For more information, see Changing display parameters for flashboards on page 79.
5 Click the Advanced Properties tab, and complete the fields: a Select Flashboard from the Module Type field. b Select the server from the Server field. c Select the flashboard from the Definition Name field. 6 Set the rest of the properties on the tabs as appropriate. (See the Form and
Application Objects guide for detailed descriptions of each tab.)

7 Save your changes.
View the forms (and changes to the forms or flashboard) in BMC Remedy User or your browser.
Adding a flashboard to an AR System form
73
Displaying flashboards
The mid tier displays flashboards in BMC Remedy User or in a web client and generates Flashboards images from information in the mid tier cache. You can change mid tier cache update times from Flashboards Settings in the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Configuration Tool.
To change mid tier cache update times

1 Enter the following URL to open the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Configuration
Tool:
http://<web_server_that_supports_flashboards>/arsys/apps/shared/ config/config.jsp
The default login password is arsystem.

2 Click Cache Settings to open the Cache Settings page.
Figure 5-9: Cache Settings page in BMC Remedy Mid Tier Configuration Tool
3 Make changes to the Update Flashboards Definition Interval settings.
The Flashboards definition is the graph and data representation. The definition interval is the interval (in seconds) at which the server updates the Flashboards cache information. The default value for both Windows and UNIX is 0, which means that caching is disabled.
4 Click Save Changes to save the new values.
To configure the AR System to view flashboards using the default URL path
1 Log in to BMC Remedy Administrator, and select the server that contains the
flashboard.
2 Choose File > Server Information. 3 Click the Advanced tab. 4 Set the default URL path in the Default Web Path field to:
http://<hostname>:<port>/arsys
where <hostname> is the location where you installed the BMC Remedy Mid Tier and <port> is the port number. The port number is optional. For example, if your host name is abc, and your port number is 230 (optional), your default URL path would be: http://abc:230/arsys. Use BMC Remedy User or your browser to view the flashboards and forms.
Note: You must refresh your flashboard to view the most recent historical, summary, and real-time data.
Viewing flashboards
After you add the flashboard to the form and configure the mid tier and AR System, use this procedure to view your flashboard.
Note: To view Unicode characters in a Flashboards field on the BMC Remedy Mid Tier, you must have the appropriate language packages installed on the system on which the mid tier is running.
To view the flashboard

1 Open BMC Remedy User or a browser. 2 Open or browse to the form that contains the data visualization field with the
flashboard.
Viewing flashboards
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Chapter
Changing flashboard parameters using workflow

The following sections describe flashboard parameters and conventions, and explains how to use active link workflow to change a flashboard parameter value. The following topics are provided: Overview (page 78) Flashboard parameter and value conventions (page 78) Changing display parameters for flashboards (page 79) Modifiable parameters (page 82) Changing a flashboard with active link workflow (page 91) Using dynamic qualifications (page 92)
Changing flashboard parameters using workflow
77
Overview
You can use Set Field actions to modify flashboard fields at run time. For example, you might want to change the flashboard data display from a bar chart to a pie chart, or attach a different flashboard to the field. Active links affect only the properties you modified, and the modifications you make apply only until you close the form.
Note: If the server does not support the modifications you make, you might cause unexpected results if you override the existing parameter values. Test your modifications before you apply them.
For more information, see Changing a flashboard with active link workflow on page 91, which describes how to change parameters in your flashboards.
Flashboard parameter and value conventions

Apply the following rules when you enter flashboard parameters or values into workflow: Type key names without regard to case sensitivity. Enter dates in seconds since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 GMT for date/time related properties. You cannot use values from date/time fields.
Note: The active link uses aliases for selection fields, such as radio buttons and menus, rather than the enumerated values of the selection fields. For example, if you use "chartTitle="+$Status$ in an active link in BMC Remedy User, BMC Remedy User will convert it to chartTitle=Fixed if you chose the Fixed value in the Status field.
Enter the parameters and values without using spaces, and use commas to separate the parameter=value pairs in the field values, for example: "chartType=0,chartTitle=TestFB"
78 Chapter 6Changing flashboard parameters using workflow
Use the following escape characters:

Active link value comma (,) double quote (") keyword Escape character for value comma (,) double quote (") backslash Example
"chartTitle=FB,,Test,chartType=0" "chartTitle=FB""Mine"",chartType=0" "dataFilter='Submitter'=$\USER$"
Changing display parameters for flashboards

This section describes two procedures to change flashboard display parameters. The first procedure describes how to enter or change parameters in a flashboard field. The second procedure describes how to enter or change parameters in an active link. See Display parameters for charts on page 85 for a list of all display parameters.
To enter parameters in the Field Properties dialog box

1 Create a data visualization field on a form as described in Creating
flashboards on page 58.

2 Open the Field Properties dialog box for the field. 3 In the Custom Properties field on the Display tab, enter the parameter and
the value using the following format:

<parameter>=<value>
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BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0 Figure 6-1: Field Properties dialog box
4 Save your form.
To enter parameters in an active link

1 Create a Set Fields action in an active link.
Figure 6-2: Create Active Link dialog box
2 In the Name list, select Flashboards Field. 3 In the Value field, enter the parameters and values to apply to the field in the
following format (comma separated):

<parameter>=<value> "width=100, height=10"
For more information about display parameters, see Modifiable parameters on page 82.
4 Save your active link.
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Modifiable parameters
The tables in this section display the name and value of the parameters that you can change with active links and workflow. The following parameters are required in all active links and workflow related to a flashboard: flashboard height server username (BMC Remedy User automatically assigns a user name if the browser is not specified) width
Note: In addition to the parameters listed in the following tables, you can modify the parameters listed on the Advanced tab of the Create Flashboards window. For more information, see step 13 on page 67.
Customizable parameters
This table describes customizable parameters.
Parameter
customizable
Description Value indicating whether to display the user customization flashboard option on the chart. Possible values are: 0Do not display the flashboard customization option 1Display the flashboard customization option If this option is enabled, users see a flashboard that contains a Customize Chart button and two menus: Customizable option type menu Customizable option value menu The default customizable options and values displayed are: Chart TitleAny value. Chart TypeLine Chart, Bar Chart, Stacked Bar Chart, Area Chart, Stacked Area Chart, Pie Chart Legend TitleAny value. X-Axis labelAny value. Y-Axis labelAny value. The six default customizable options display automatically. See Customizable Options on page 62 and the description of the customizableparams parameter that follows for more information about limiting the customizable options that users see.
customizableparams The parameters specified in the Custom Properties field of the Field
PropertiesData Visualization dialog box. In the Custom Properties field, enter the expression customizableparams= followed by the customizable options to display, in lowercase and separated by single spaces. For example, if you enter the following line in the Custom Properties field, users will only be able to customize the chart title and chart type:
customizableparams=charttitle charttype customQual
A custom qualification you specify that overrides the qualification defined in the variable. See Using dynamic qualifications on page 92. The customQual parameter is used for real-time data. If you want to query on scheduled data, use varhistoryqual or varsummaryqual.
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Parameter
varhistoryqual
Description A qualification used for scheduled data. The values are varindex and historyqual, for example:
varhistoryqual=varindex1;historyqual1;varindex2;historyqual2 varindex is 0 to the number of variable in the flashboard, and the index is the
position at which it appears in the Configure Variables tab of the flashboard. The history qualification can contain the following special fields:
ValueThe statistical value SampleTimeThe time at which the history sample was taken PrimaryGBValThe primary Group By value SecondaryGBValThe secondary Group By value (Note that even though this value is not plotted one can still use it for qualifications for history and summary).
For example:
'SampleTime' > "10/10/2005" AND 'SampleTime' < "11/10/2005" AND 'PrimaryGBValue' = "john" varsummaryqual
A qualification used for scheduled data. The values are varindex and historyqual, for example:
varhistoryqual=varindex1;historyqual1;varindex2;historyqual2 varindex is 0 to the number of variables in the flashboard, and the index is the
position at which it appears in the Configure Variables tab of the flashboard. The summary qualifications can contain:
ValueThe statistical value PeriodStartTimeThe starting time for the summary interval PeriodEndTimeThe ending time for the summary interval PrimaryGBValThe primary Group By value SecondaryGBValThe secondary Group By value enableDrilldown
Value indicating whether to allow data drill-down. Possible values are: 0Disable drill-down 1Enable drill-down
Display parameters for charts

This table describes chart parameters.
Parameter
axisOrientation
Value Axis orientation. Values: 0X bottom Y left 1X top Y left 2X top Y right 3X bottom Y right 4Y bottom X left 5Y top X left 6Y top X right 7Y bottom X right
backgroundColor chartBorderWidth chartTitle chartType
Background color, specified as a hexadecimal string in the format RRGGBB, where RR, GG, and BB represent values for red, green and blue, respectively. Width of the chart border in pixels. Chart title. Type of chart. Values: 0Line 1Bar 2Stacked bar 3Area 4Stacked area 5Pie
display3d
Value indicating whether to display the Flashboard in 3D. Possible values are: 0Do not display in three dimensions (default). 1Display in three dimensions.
displayTable
Value that indicates whether to display chart data in table form. Possible values are: 0do not display chart data in table form (default) 1always display chart data in table form
endDate
Time frame custom end date, in seconds, since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT. You can only change this parameter if the timeframe parameter is set to Custom. Applies only to trend charts.
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Parameter
fgTransparency flashboardType
Value Foreground transparency level for the flashboard. This value must be a real number between 0 and 1. Type of flashboard to be displayed. Possible values include: 0Chart 1Meter 2Text
foregroundColor
Foreground color, specified as a hexadecimal string in the format RRGGBB, where RR, GG, and BB represent values for red, green and blue, respectively.
Note: You can only specify the foreground color for meters but not for other
types of flashboards.
gbcolors
Specifies the colors of the chart elements, such as individual bars, for the GroupBy variables. The color order is dependent on the Group-By order. The gbcolors is specified as a hexadecimal list separated by spaces in the format RRGGBB, where RR, GG, and BB represent values for red, green and blue, respectively For example, a value of FF0000 designates a red color, a value of 00FF00 designates a blue color, and 0000FF designates a green color. The syntax for this example would be:
gbcolors=FF0000 00FF00 0000FF
In this example, the resulting chart would display a bar chart with red, blue, and green bars for the corresponding Group-By order.
height label legendBorderWidth legendPlacement
Height of the flashboard image in pixels. Label for meters or text boxes. Width of the legend border in pixels. Location of legend in display. Values: 0Right 1Left 2Top 3Bottom
legendShow
Value indicating whether to display the legend. Possible values are: 0Do not show legend (default). 1Show legend.
legendTitle
String to be used as the legend title.
Parameter
outlineLegendKeys
Value Value that indicates whether to draw an outline around legend keys. Possible values are: 0Do not draw outline. 1Draw an outline (default).
rangeMaximum
Maximum Y axis value, if yAxisRangeAuto is: Not set. Maximum value on a meter.
rangeMinimum
Minimum Y axis value, if yAxisRangeAuto is: Not set. Minimum value on a meter.
showValues
Value indicating whether to show point values in the flashboard. Possible values are: 0Do not show point values on chart (default). 1Show point values on chart (values will display only in line, bar, and pie charts, not in stacked charts).
startDate
Time frame custom start date, in seconds, since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT. You can only change this parameter if the timeframe parameter is set to Custom. Applies only to charts that show trends. The number of primary group-by values to be drawn on the flashboard and shown on the legend. The default value is 0, which indicates that the top legend values are off. Value indicating the sort order for the legend. Possible values are: 0Ascending order; shows the bottom n values. 1Descending order; shows the top n values. This is the default.
topgbnum
topgbsort
topgbotheralias
The alias for the Other group-by value in the legend and tooltips. The default is Other. The format is as follows:
topgbotheralias=<string>
topggbothercolor
The color value to be used while drawing the Other item. The default is auto color choosing. The format is as follows:
topggbothercolor=<color_string>
varDataType
The type of variable information to display. Possible values are: 0Real time 1History 2Summary
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Parameter
width xAxisLabel
Value Width of the flashboard image in pixels. Label to appear on the X-axis. Not applicable to pie charts.
xAxisShowGridLines Value indicating whether to show gridlines on the X-axis. Possible values are:
0Do not show gridlines (default). 1Show gridlines. Not applicable to pie charts.
xAxisTime
Value indicating whether to display time on the X axis. Possible values are: 0Do not display time. 1Display time. This parameter is not applicable to pie charts. With xAxisTime set to 1, you can create a real-time based chart when you group by a date/time or date field.
yAxisLabel
Label to appear on the Y-axis. Not applicable to pie charts. Value indicating whether to automatically determine the range of the Y-axis. Possible values are: 0Do not automatically determine range. 1Automatically determine range (default). Not applicable to pie charts.
yAxisRangeAuto
yAxisShowGridLines Value indicating whether to show gridlines on the Y axis. Possible values are:
0Do not show gridlines (default). 1Show gridlines. Not applicable to pie charts.
General parameters
This table describes parameters that apply to all flashboards.
Parameter
dataFilter
Description Query string that limits the data that the variable returns on Group-By fields. Precede keywords by a dollar sign ($) and backslash (\), and append with a dollar sign. For example, for the keyword USER, use $\USER$. To use the keyword LIKE in a data filter, you must use a percentage (%) sign. For example:
dataFilter=SubmitterLIKE"%Joseph%"
Flashboards supports the following expressions with the LIKE operator: Anywhere: %string% Starts with: %string Ends with: text% Exact match: text Any non-empty string: % Any empty string See Using dynamic qualifications on page 92 for more information about filtering data.
Identification parameters
This table describes identification parameters.
Parameter
flashboard server
Value Name of the flashboard. AR System server where you created the flashboard.
Login parameters
This table describes login parameters that you should use when no session is running.
Parameter
auth locale
Value Authorization string for the AR System server user. Browser locale.
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Parameter
pwd username
Value AR System login password. AR System server login user name.
Meter parameters
This table describes parameters that apply to meters.
Parameter
alertThreshold label meterType
Description Percentage of the meter range dedicated to the alert threshold (red section). Meter label. Type of meter displayed. Possible values are: 0Pie (part of a circle) 1Circle (full circle) 2Chord (half a circle) 3Thermometer
rangeMaximum rangeMinimum title warningThreshold
Maximum Y-axis value of the variable if yAxisRangeAuto is not set or is set to the maximum value on a meter. Minimum Y-axis value of the variable, if yAxisRangeAuto is not set or is set to the minimum value on a meter. Meter title. Percentage of the meter range dedicated to the warning threshold (yellow section).
Time parameters
This table describes time-related parameters for flashboards that display trends (history and summary charts).
Parameter
customTimeFormat
Description Customized time format. For more information about time formats, see the Configuring guide.
timeFormat
Browser time format. Possible values are: 0Date and time is displayed. 1Time is displayed. 2Date is displayed.
timeFrame
Value indicating the span of time to display if the X-axis displays time. Possible values are: 0All dates 1Custom dates (specify the start and end dates) 2Today 3Yesterday 4This month 5Last month 6Year-to-date 7Last year
timeZone
Browser time zone.
Changing a flashboard with active link workflow

You can use active link workflow to change the characteristics of a flashboard, such as the way that a flashboard is displayed.
To change a flashboard with active link workflow

1 Create a Set Fields action in an active link. 2 Enter a flashboard in a Name field.
Changing a flashboard with active link workflow
91
3 In the Value field, specify parameter changes.
For example, if you want to display the chart1 flashboard in the field1 flashboard field as a pie chart:
a Select field1 in the Name list in the Set Fields action. b Type "flashboard=Chart1,chartType=5" in the value field.
Or Use the following field reference to dynamically select the flashboard name from the FlashboardName character field and chart type from the ChartType integer field:
"flashboard="+$FlashboardName$+",chartType="+$ChartType$
When you modify flashboard values, use the conventions in Flashboard parameter and value conventions on page 78. See the Workflow Objects guide for more information about active links.
Using dynamic qualifications

You can use the customqual parameter to enable dynamic qualifications in a form. For example, suppose you create an AllBugs variable that tracks all bugs. You then associate the variable with the Bug Tracking form, where bug information is collected. The Bug Tracking form has a field named Assigned To. You also create a flashboard that appears on a second form (called the Bugs Console) to display the bug information. The Bugs Console form has a field called Submitter. The Submitter field is a dynamic field whose value changes depending on who accesses the Bugs Console form. In this case, the field is populated with the name of the person who is viewing bugs assigned to him or her. You must create workflow to populate the Submitter field with the $USER$ value. For example, Chris, a coworker, wants to know how many bugs are assigned to him. To enable him to view the tickets assigned to him, you can use the customqual parameter for the flashboard URL qualification in an active link. The customqual parameter will enable dynamic qualification on the Submitter field, so all submitters can view tickets assigned to them.
To use the customqual parameter to enable dynamic qualifications

1 Open the active link that contains the Set Fields action you want to modify. 2 Click the tab that corresponds to Set Fields action.
In this example, click the If Action tab.

3 In the Fields section, type the customqual parameter expression in the Value
field. Generic syntax:

"customqual='FieldName'=" +""""+ $Field$+""""
Syntax for this example:

"customqual='Assigned To'=" + """" + $Submitter$ + """"
FieldName is the corresponding field in the Bug Tracking form (Assigned To), and $Field$ is the value of the Submitter field on the Bugs Console form.
Note: When you use the customqual parameter to enable a dynamic qualification on the value of a selection field, make sure set the qualification equal to the label value and not the alias value. Using the alias value will generate an error while parsing the qualifier.
Using dynamic qualifications
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BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0 Figure 6-3: Value field containing the customqual parameter
4 Choose File > Save Active Link.
Note: If you had originally entered a qualification in the AllBugs variable, and then you used the procedure in this section, the qualification would be overridden.
After he saves the active link changes, Chris opens the Bugs Console. He sees the bugs assigned only to him.
Note: The changes you made will be in effect only during the present session. The original variable syntax remains intact in the variable definition.
Appendix
Creating sample flashboards
This section provides instructions for creating sample flashboards to collect server statistics. Some of the BMC Remedy Flashboards objects mentioned in this section can be imported from the ServerStat.def file. The following topics are provided: Setting up server statistics collection (page 96) Creating non-cumulative server statistics (page 97) Creating cumulative server statistics (page 99) Importing flashboard definitions (page 101)
Creating sample flashboards
95
Setting up server statistics collection

This example shows you how to create a server statistics flashboard for such flashboard data as the number of fixed licenses per minute or the number of Set Entry Calls per second. For the purposes of this document, cumulative and noncumulative server statistics are defined as follows: A cumulative statistic is statistical data that the AR System server returns and that consists of the total number of data points from the time that the server started until the current time. For example, Set Entry Calls will display the total number of Set Entry Calls from the time the server started until the current time. A noncumulative statistic is a statistic that displays data at the time of collection. For example, the Number of Fixed Licenses on the Server Statistics form will display the number of fixed licenses in use at the time the data is collected.
Note: Each of the statistics found on the sample forms can be collected with the following example methods.
Setting up data collection at minute intervals could cause a large number of records to be saved to the FB:History form in a short time. If you want fewer records in the FB:History form, change the data collection interval to one hour or greater.
To set up server statistics collection

1 Open BMC Remedy Administrator. 2 Select the server from which you want to collect statistical data.
Import all of the following objects into your server from the following file:
<flashboards_server_install_dir>\ServerStat.def
FB:CumulativeServerStatistics form FB:NonCumulativeServerStatistics form FB:CumulativeServerStatCalculate filter FB:CumulativeServerStatCalculate2 filter
96 Appendix ACreating sample flashboards
FB:CumulativeServerStat filter FB:NonCumulativeServerStat filter

3 Choose File > Server Information. 4 In the Server Information dialog box, click the Advanced tab. 5 Choose the Cumulative or Individual Queue option in the Server Statistics
section and enter 60 in the Recording Interval section (or choose another time in seconds, depending on the type of statistics you will collect).
6 Click OK.
Creating non-cumulative server statistics

In this section, you create a flashboard and flashboard components to display the total number of fixed licenses.
To create a non-cumulative server statistics variable

1 In BMC Remedy Administrator, choose File > New Server Objects >
Flashboards Variables.
2 Click OK. 3 In the Create Flashboards Variables dialog box: a Enter the variable name: Total Number of Fixed Licenses. b Choose the FB:NonCumulativeServerStatistics form from the menu. c Enter the following text in the Qualification field:
'Queue' = "CUMULATIVE"
In this example, you enter CUMULATIVE here because you chose the Cumulative option in the Server Statistics Server Recording Mode section of the Advanced tab (choose File > Server Information > Advanced tab). If you chose the Cumulative and Individual Queue option for the recording mode, you can specify any of the queues from the Server Statistics form.
4 Click the Operation tab and complete the following steps: a Choose the Sum operation. b Choose Fixed Write Connections from the list.
Creating non-cumulative server statistics
97
5 Click the Schedule tab and complete the following steps: a Choose On for the Data Collection option. b Select Minutely in the Collection Interval section. c Enter 1 in the Sample data every minute field. d Select the days and times to collect data. e Set the Delete Interval to Delete, enter 12 in the After field, and choose
Hours from the list.

6 Click the Permission tab and add the permissions for the variable. 7 Save and close the variable.
To create a non-cumulative server statistics flashboard

Flashboards.
2 Click OK. 3 In the Create Flashboards dialog box: a Enter the flashboards name: Total Number of Fixed Licenses. b Choose AREA in the Select Flashboard Type section. (You can also choose
LINE or STACKED AREA.)

4 Click the Add Variable tab, add the variable Total Number of Fixed Licenses
to the Selected Variables list.

5 Click the Configure Variables tab, and set the properties for each variable. 6 Click the Axis & Legends tab and complete the following steps: a Choose the Show Time Frame option. b Choose Today as the Timeframe. c Enter the following Y-axis label: Number of Fixed Licenses. d Choose the background color (optional). e Select the Show X and Show Y grid lines. 7 (Optional) Click the Advanced Properties tab, and modify the properties as
needed. See step 13 on page 67 for more information.

8 Save and close the flashboard.
Creating cumulative server statistics

In this section, you create a flashboard to display Set Entry Calls per second. If the collection interval that you entered in the Server Information Dialog Box is not 60 seconds, enter the interval you chose into the Per Time Unit per Seconds field in the FB:CumulativeServerStatistics form.
To create a cumulative server statistics variable

Flashboards Variables.
2 In the Create Flashboards Variables dialog box: a Enter the variable name: Set Entry Calls per Second. b Choose the FB:CumulativeServer Statistics form. c Enter the following text in the Qualification field:
Active Ticket = YES AND Queue = CUMULATIVE
In this example, you enter CUMULATIVE here because you chose the Cumulative option in the Server Statistics Server Recording Mode section of the Advanced tab (choose File > Server Information > Advanced tab). If you chose the Cumulative and Individual Queue option for the recording mode, you can specify any of the queues from the Server Statistics form.
3 Click the Operation tab and complete the following steps: a Choose Average operation. b Enter the following text in the Expression field:
('Set Entry Calls Count Diff' / 60)
Note: Divide by the interval you chose in the FB:CumulativeServerStatistics form.

4 Click the Schedule tab and complete the following steps: a Choose On for the Data Collection option. b Select Minutely for the Collection Interval. c Enter 1 in the Sample data every minute field.
Creating cumulative server statistics
99
d Select the days and times to collect data. e Set the Delete Interval to Delete, enter 12 in the After field, and choose
Hours from the menu.

5 Click the Permission tab and add the permissions for the variable. 6 Save and close the variable.
To create a cumulative server statistics flashboard

Flashboards.
2 Click OK. 3 In the Create Flashboards dialog box: a Enter the flashboards name: Set Entry Calls per Second. b Choose LINE in the Select Flashboard Type section. (You can also choose
AREA or STACKED AREA.)

4 Click the Add Variable tab, and add the variable Set Entry Calls per Second
to the Selected Variables list.

5 Click the Configure Variables tab, and set the properties for each variable. 6 (Optional) Click the Advanced Properties tab, and modify the properties as
needed. See step 13 on page 67 for more information.

7 Click the Axis & Legends tab and complete the following steps: a Choose the Show Time Frame option. b Choose Today as the Timeframe from the menu. c Enter the following Y-axis label: Set Entry Calls per Second. d Choose the background color (optional). e Select the Show X and Y grid lines. 8 Save and close the flashboard.
Importing flashboard definitions

After you set up your flashboards with the examples provided, use BMC Remedy Administrator to import the ServerStat.def file, which contains the forms and active links to display your flashboards. If your flashboards do not display correctly after you import the file, see Appendix B, Troubleshooting flashboards. Use BMC Remedy Administrator to import the ServerStat.def file, which contains the forms and active links you will use to view your flashboards, after you create the server statistics flashboards.
Importing flashboard definitions
101
Appendix
Troubleshooting flashboards
This section provides troubleshooting tips for your flashboards. The following topics are provided: Troubleshooting flashboard displays (page 104) Using the FBImageServlet to test your flashboard (page 108)
Troubleshooting flashboards
103
Troubleshooting flashboard displays

This section describes how to troubleshoot flashboard display issues.
No data is displayed in the flashboard

If you see an empty display in your flashboard, or you get a message telling you that there is no data to display in a pie chart, ask the following questions: Is the Flashboards server running and functioning correctly? If you are gathering historical or summary data, have these components been running during your collection interval? Is your collection interval or summary interval: Set incorrectly or not set at all? Set to begin collection or summary at a later date or time? Is your variable set correctly? Does your flashboard contain the correct variables? Is your flashboard linked to the correct form? Did you link your flashboard field to the correct server and flashboard in the Flashboards Field Custom Properties dialog box? Is the ServerRefreshRate value in the server.conf file (located in the <Flashboards_server_installation_directory>) equal to zero (0)? If this value is equal to zero, the server is not refreshing the cache or updating the flashboard information. Set this value to a higher rate, depending on how often you collect flashboard data. The default value is 1800 seconds (30 minutes). You might want to change this value to 1 second to test your flashboard. Did you change the Application Service Password after you started BMC Remedy Flashboards? If you change the Application Service Password in BMC Remedy Administrator after you install Flashboards, see Running the Flashboards driver on page 24.
104 Appendix BTroubleshooting flashboards
Error messages displayed

This section describes some of the display-related Flashboards error messages. The messages are displayed in the flashboard field on the form or as a separate message box.
Page cannot be displayed
Is the mid tier running and functioning correctly? Did you enter the default web path in BMC Remedy Administrator?
Could not log into the server
Is the AR System server running and functioning correctly?

Exceeding maximum number of flashboards allowed
If you try to view more than five flashboards with an unlicensed BMC Remedy Flashboards product, you will receive an error message to let you know that you have exceeded the maximum number of flashboards allowed.
Cannot display a graph that contains more than 3000 data points
The number of data points to be plotted on a flashboard exceeds a configurable limit set by Microsoft. The default is 3000 data points. To increase this limit, add the following property to the config.properties file, which is located in the <mid_tier install_directory>/WEB-INF/classes directory:
flashboards.maxDataPoints=<number of data points>
For example:
flashboards.maxDataPoints=4000
Note: Do not exceed 10,000 points.
105
New data is not displayed

If your new data is not displayed in your flashboard, ask the following questions: Did you refresh your flashboard? You must refresh your flashboard to view the most recent historical, summary, and real-time data. Has your flashboards server been functioning correctly during the collection interval? If your server is not functioning correctly, it will not collect data.
Data display has changed

If you are collecting historical or summary data, your data will change over time, depending on your collection interval and whether there is new data to be displayed. However, you must refresh your flashboard to see the changes. If you are collecting real-time data, your flashboard is refreshed automatically when there is new data.
Data displayed is incorrect

The data that your flashboard displays might be incorrect or might not display as you expected if you: Did not choose the Show Time Frame option in the Axis and Legends tab of the Creating Flashboards dialog box and you are collecting historical or summarized data. Made modifications to your parameter values using workflow, and the server does not support the modifications. Test your modifications before you apply them. See the Schedule tab and data collection sections in Chapter 4, Preparing to create flashboards, and the information about the Axis and Legends tab in Chapter 5, Creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards.
Users cannot see the flashboard

Your user will not be able to see the flashboard in the form if: You did not grant permission to view the flashboard. Your users will receive a message telling them that they do not have permissions to the flashboard. You did not grant permissions to view the flashboard field. Your users will see the form but not the flashboard. You did not grant permissions to view the form associated with the flashboard. Users will not be able to view the form at all. You did not add the flashboard to the form.
Multiple pie charts display in one flashboard

If you choose a double Group-By option for your variable, your flashboard will display data in multiple pie charts instead of one pie chart. For example, if your flashboard is a pie chart and you grouped a variable that retrieves tickets by assignee, and then by priority, your resulting flashboard display will consist of several pie charts, each of which corresponds to one assignee. If you need to display a flashboard with a double Group-By option, use another type of flashboard.
Improving performance
To improve Flashboards performance, create flashboards that conform to the following criteria: Use only the necessary variables in a flashboard. Your display time will decrease if you have multiple variables on the same flashboard. Avoid grouping many variables into one flashboard. If you do have many variables, you can improve performance by accessing the Configure Variables tab of the flashboard and deselecting the variables that you do not need. However, the best way to improve performance is to have your variables distributed into flashboards. Try to use a maximum of 50 data graph points per flashboard. Use a display that does not include grid lines.
107
Customizable options do not work

Administrators must select the Customizable option in the Configure Variables tab when creating or modifying a flashboard to enable users to customize the flashboard. See step 8 on page 60.
Server cannot find history or summary data

If you receive an error message that no history or summary data is found, or you see an empty chart, open the FB:History and FB:History Summary forms in BMC Remedy User to see if data was collected. If there is no data in these forms, check the Flashboards server log file (arfbserver.log) to see if the Flashboards server retrieved the data. For example, when debug logging is enabled, you should see the following type of message:
- Executing history collection job for variable <variable_name>
To enable debugging, open the server.conf file and set the value of the log_level property as follows:
log_level=DEBUG
Using the FBImageServlet to test your flashboard

The FBImageServlet is a server that generates flashboard images. You can use the FBImageServlet to test your flashboard. If your flashboard is correct, you will see the flashboard image after you run this test.
To test your flashboard using FBImageServlet

1 Access the following URL:
http://<host_name>/arsys/servlet/FBImageServlet
2 Pass your test parameters as properties.
For example, all the parameters passed as properties in the following example are required parameters (you must use these every time you test your flashboard), except for the last one (display3d), which is optional.
http://<host_name>/arsys/servlet/ FBImageServlet?user=<username>&pwd=<password> &flashboard=<flashboard_name>&width=<width_of_flashboard_image> &height=<flashboard_image_height>&display3d=<1>
Index
A
accessibility options, Flashboards 41 active link workflow, changing flashboards with 91 adding flashboard to a form 73 advanced properties 67 alarms, flashboards creating 52 deleting 55 disabling 55 modifying 55 aliases, using instead of selection fields 78 Application Service Password, entering 16, 18 architecture, Flashboards 32 area charts, described 31 audience 7 creating cumulative server statistics components 99 flashboard alarms 52 flashboard variables 44 flashboards 39, 58 non-cumulative server statistics components 97 sample flashboards 95 cumulative server statistics and sample flashboards 99 customizable option problems 108 customqual parameter, using to enable dynamic qualifications 93
D
data flow and Flashboards 32, 33 data not displayed 104 deleting flashboard alarms 55 flashboard variables 52 flashboards 69 designing a flashboard 38 disabling alarms for flashboards 55 display parameters for flashboards 79, 85 display problems with flashboards 104, 105 displaying flashboards 74 drill-down, flashboard variable 46, 67 driver, running Flashboards 24
B
backward compatibility 34 bar chart, described 29
C
cache update times 74 changing variable colors 48, 64 colors for flashboards 67 variables and 48, 64 compatibility, backward 34 configuring Flashboards sample variables 23 Flashboards samples 22 conventions for flashboard parameters 78
Index
109
dynamic qualifications enabled using the customqual parameter Flashboards 93 using with flashboards 92
M
meter chart, described 31 meter parameters for flashboards 90 mid tier cache update times, changing 74 modifying flashboard alarms 55 flashboard variables 52 flashboards 69 mouse-over option for a flashboard 70 multiple AR System servers and Flashboards servers 40
E
error messages related to flashboard display 105 escape characters for flashboard parameters 79 exporting Flashboards objects 39
F
fault tolerance for Flashboards servers 40 FBImageServlet, using to test flashboards 108 fonts for flashboards 67 forms adding flashboards to 73 installed with Flashboards 21
N
non-cumulative server statistics and flashboard components 97
O
operations for variables 47 options, Flashboards customizable 62 mouse-over 70 preference 71 overview, Flashboards 28
G
general flashboards parameters 89
H
headless environment and Flashboards 19 historical data, retrieving 33
I
identification parameters for flashboards 89 importing flashboard definitions 101 Flashboards objects 39 improving performance of flashboards 107 installing Flashboards (UNIX) 17 Flashboards (Windows) 15 Flashboards samples 22 system requirements for Remedy Flashboards 8
P
packing lists, using with flashboards 71 parameters, flashboard changing using workflow 77 conventions for 78 customizable type 83 display type 85 dynamic qualifications 93 escape characters 79 general type 89 identification type 89 login type 89 meter type 90 modifiable 82 time related 91 password, Application Service 18 performance and Flashboards 107 permissions groups, in flashboard variable 98 troubleshooting for a flashboard 107 pie chart, described 30
L
licensing, Flashboards 25 limitations for flashboards 71 line chart, described 31 login parameters for flashboards 89
110 Index
planning a flashboard 38 preferences, Flashboards 71 process for creating flashboards 39 properties for flashboards 67
V
variables, flashboards creating 44 deleting 52 modifying 52 viewing flashboards 75
Q
qualification, flashboard variable 46
R
refreshing a flashboard 70 retrieving summary data 33 running Flashboards server (UNIX) 19
W
Windows, uninstalling Flashboards 16 workflow, using to change flashboard parameters 77 work-space views, using with Flashboards 71
S
sample flashboards configuring 22, 23 contents 23 creating 95 cumulative server statistics 99 installing 22 non-cumulative server statistics 97 server groups and Flashboards 40 stacked area chart, described 31 stacked bar chart, described 30 statistical operations 47 statistics, setting up for flashboards 96 stopping Flashboards server (Solaris) 19 summary data and Flashboards 33 system requirements for installing Remedy Flashboards 8
T
testing flashboards using FBImageServlet 108 text chart, described 32 time parameters for flashboards 91 troubleshooting flashboards 103 types of flashboards 29
U
Unicode 71 uninstalling Flashboards (UNIX) 18 Flashboards (Windows) 16 UNIX, uninstalling Flashboards 18 upgrading the Flashboards version 14
Index
111
112 Index
*07485* *07485* *07485* *07485*
*58470*

Flashboards 700

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BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.

Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards

May 2006 Part No: 58470

BMC Software, Inc.

Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards . . . . . 13

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

Planning to create a flashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Preparing to create flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards

Creating, modifying, and deleting flashboards . . . . . . . . . . 57

Changing flashboard parameters using workflow . . . . . . . . . 77

Creating sample flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

Troubleshooting flashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

Obtaining system requirements and software

Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards

Installing Getting Started

Form and Application Objects

Workflow Objects Configuring

Administering BMC Remedy DSO Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

Procedures for configuring the BMC Remedy Mid Tier. Administrators

Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards

Learn about the AR System Developer Community

Why should you participate in the Developer Community?

How do you access the Developer Community?

Learn about the AR System Developer Community

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards

Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

Upgrading to BMC Remedy Flashboards 7.0

Before installing BMC Remedy Flashboards

14 Chapter 1Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards

Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards

WindowsInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards

To install Flashboards server on Windows

The Welcome dialog box appears.

or click Browse to choose another directory.

WindowsInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

The Start Copying Files dialog box appears.

16 Chapter 1Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards

Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards

UNIXInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards

To install Flashboards on UNIX

The default mount point is /cdrom.

UNIXInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

If you will be using a private queue, enter an RPC socket number.

18 Chapter 1Installing and uninstalling the BMC Remedy Flashboards

Administering BMC Remedy Flashboards

Stopping a Flashboards server (on Solaris)

Running the Flashboards server after exiting a shell

Using a headless environment

To set up the headless environment

UNIXInstalling and uninstalling BMC Remedy Flashboards

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0

4 Enter the following VM option into the options text box:

Or, for Java SDK:

6 Restart the servlet engine.