Why do they call it love when they mean sex…
… or why do they call it form when they mean table … or why do they call it filter when they mean trigger ….
BMC Action Request System has a completely different language to define the standard concepts of programming. For newbies, Remedy is an old mate, and it is currently the result of a long journey of improvements and developments over the original product. At the beginning, the programming language was not as normalized as today. Also, the first objective of the platform was the automation of the process of attending requests (thats the reason of the name Action Request System). Both things have determined an special language: a set of terms.
At this post I will review all of these terms, and relate them to the correct term (a.k.a. how the rest of the word define this concept). I think that when starting a Remedy project, it is advisable to give a copy of this dictionary to the technical staff of the client in order to use a common language.
- Form: A form in Remedy is a Table for the rest of the world, that is, a set of fields. In fact all the forms are directly mapped to a table (Regular Forms) or a view (Join Forms) at the database.
- View: A view in Remedy is a Form for the rest of the world. It is a graphical representation or a user interface. A view is always a part of a Form, and provides the GUI for it (or a Form is always a representation of a Table).
- Field: A field in Remedy is a control, or a graphical element inside a view. As a control, it can represent a field of the table. But other graphical elements like lines, buttons or squares are also Remedy fields.
- Table: A table is an special field used to represent a set of requests in a view. It is a graphical table showing the results.
- Request: A request in Remedy is a register. This can be very confusing for ITIL applications like, ITSM, where a request is a defined concept. It is very frustrating to have “requests” of “incidents”.
- Qualification: A qualification in Remedy is a filter used in a search. That is, the normal WHERE sentence used to define a set of registers, or request as they’re called in Remedy.
- Filter: A filter in Remedy is like a database trigger. That is, a part of code that is executed at some action with the database (like inserting, updating or deleting).
- Active link: An active link in Remedy is an event, that is, a part of code that is executed in response to some action of the user (like pressing a button).
- Escalation: An escalation in Remedy is a programmed task, that is, a part of code that is executed periodically on time.
- Guide: A guide in Remedy is a program or function, that is, a set of programming sentences. There are filter guides and active link guides.
I think that it is very easy to misunderstand a requirement of the client in a conversation between a Remedy consultant and a client technical staff, with the result of scope creep during the project when the misunderstanding becomes known.
I just have a comment about the first sentence of this blog.
An escalation is not equivalent to a database trigger. It is an independent time based search.
A filter is a trigger, it triggers when a transaction is sent to the server.
Best Regards – Misi, RRR AB, http://rrr.se
You’re right Misi. The first sentence of this blog is a bug! That’s starting with a good reputation!
This is what your readers are here for, right? To help improve the contents.
With a blog as ambitious as this one, I am sure that there are people willing to help you. A small typo will not scare us away.
Best Regards – Misi, RRR AB, http://rrr.se