Connector to the U-CONNECT discover

Solution Description

The SimpleOne to U-CONNECT connector is designed to automate filling the SimpleOne CMDB with data about KEs detected by the U-CONNECT Discovery System, which makes this information available within the framework of IT processes automated in SimpleOne (incident management, problem management, change management, etc.), thus increasing their efficiency. Also, the connector allows remote connection to workstations directly from the KE card in SimpleOne, increasing the efficiency of technical support for users.

Solution functionality

Key product features:

1. Ability to download data from U-CONNECT:
   • on any U-CONNECT supported KE classes, including software, and connections between KEs;
   • both manually and automatically on a scheduled basis;
   • manually forced on selected KEs - from a list or KE card;
   • by products/models and any other U-CONNECT references;
2. Possibility to implement software normalization scenarios, create objects (incidents/changes/etc.) when the actual state of a KE deviates from the authorized state;
3. Manual matching wizard, which allows, when data on new KEs are received from U-CONNECT, to manually decide whether to create new KE records or to match these data with existing records in CMDB SimpleOne. The need to send new KE data to the manual matching wizard is flexibly set in the Connector settings;
4. A wide range of synchronization settings, including the following basic settings:
   • Class Matching Rules (CMR) allows you to specify the rules based on which the Connector will determine the class of a KE in SimpleOne based on the data coming from U-CONNECT. The rules can be of any complexity: simple rules based on values of certain attributes of KEs and related KEs, and formalized algorithms of any complexity - for their setting the CCRs have a special field for writing their own script;
   • Attribute Matching Rules (AMR) allow to specify rules for filling in attributes and REM-characteristics of KEs based on information coming from U-CONNECT. Similarly to MACs, PCAs can implement scenarios of any complexity: from simple filling of an attribute with a 1-to-1 value coming from U-CONNECT to writing your own algorithm for calculating the value based on both the data coming from U-CONNECT and any other data stored in SimpleOne;
   • Mapping keys allow you to map new data from U-CONNECT to existing data in the SimpleOne CMDB, including, for example, data downloaded from other systems or previously entered manually. Keys can be both simple and composite, they can be set in unlimited number, they can be different for different classes. In addition, exceptions can be set for keys;
   • Processing exceptions allow you to specify rules, according to which the data will be filtered at the very first stage of processing and will not get into the intermediate data register;
   • Manual Matching Exceptions allows you to specify rules according to which the Connector will either automatically create records in the SimpleOne CMDB for new KE data coming from U-CONNECT or send them to the manual matching wizard;
   • Periodic Job Schedule allows you to flexibly set the frequency of running the integration in the background;
5. Test update mode, which allows you to see the results of loading data from U-CONNECT without making any actual changes to CMDB SimpleOne, helps you test the integration during implementation or any significant infrastructure enhancements/changes;
6. An end-to-end detailed logging mechanism to trace data imports from requests to and responses from U-CONNECT web services to what settings were used to update a particular attribute/characteristic of a particular KE. The mechanism makes it possible to catch any errors in the integration operation and provides all the necessary information to analyze the causes of these errors. The solution allows you to set one of 3 levels of logging granularity;
7. Built-in reporting allows you to see the dynamics of integration work, displaying the number of created/matched/updated/manually matched records about KEs in the context of time periods, including in the context of KE classes.

Architectural features:

1. Connector's isolation from SimpleOneplatform and business applications - regardless of the installation customization level, importing a package with the connector will not cause collisions, and the minimum number of settings in the CMDB module required for the connector to work is performed by the administrator according to the available detailed instructions;
2. Themodule is built on the principle of ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), separating the processes of receiving, processing and updating data, which provides efficiency, speed and reliability;
3. Web services (REST API) are used to retrieve data from U-CONNECT ;
4. The solution is designed, among other things, for large quantities of data to be transferred and has been tested on volumes of several hundred thousand KE;
5. The solution is compatible with the ITAM SimpleOne application, allowing the realization of scenarios that take into account the connections between KEs and IT assets.

Benefits:

• Flexibility -- Virtually unlimited possibilities to customize data imports from U-CONNECT -- almost anything that can be imagined logically can be implemented in the connector;
• High speed of connection. Implementation time by the developer's team (from obtaining all accesses to OPE) for 20 types of KEs - about 2 weeks;
• Technical support for the developer, including solving cases and receiving all future updates.

Technical support of the hosted solution is provided by the developer of this solution.