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This chapter contains the following topics:
You can set up a variety of behaviors in the Administration module to accommodate the rules and business practices of your company.
You can perform the following tasks through the Administration module:
Directories are repositories of user data. Administration allows you to configure your system to link to and utilize data from an enterprise directory and other sources of user data. In particular, you can synchronize user profile information with the directory server database.
For detailed information about Directory Integration, including worksheets to help you organize the information necessary for integration, detailed mapping information, and special considerations, see the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Integration Guide.
You can enable or disable authorizations and reviews, and set up site-wide authorizations using the Authorizations tab of the Administration module. Such site-wide authorizations can be used in addition to, or instead of, authorizations established for individual organizations and services or service groups.
Authorizations are tasks that require the assigned authorizer to reject or approve a service request. Reviews are tasks that require the performer to indicate that they have reviewed a step in the delivery process.
Service Catalog supports several types of authorizations and reviews.
Financial Authorization |
Authorization to determine if a requested service or item is within budget. This authorization cannot be overridden at the organizational unit level. |
Departmental Authorization |
Authorization by business unit manager for purchase approval. |
Departmental Review |
Review of requested service or item by a department to see if it is appropriate. |
Service Group Authorization |
Authorization by a service team manager for purchase approval. Usually, the service team manager authorizes for people who are on his service team. |
Service Group Review |
Review of requested service or item by a service group to see if it is appropriate. |
Setting up an authorization process consists of three steps:
Up to five authorization types can be enabled for a site on the Authorizations tab of the Administration module.
To change the status of an authorization type, under the Action column for the authorization type you want to change, click Edit and choose Enable or Disable from the Status drop-down menu. To change the order of execution, in the Action column click the Up or Down Arrows until it is in the correct sequence.
If an authorization/review type is enabled, you can then specify details for that authorization/review type. Authorization details can be defined:
For Departmental Authorizations/Reviews you have the option to:
For Service Group Authorizations/Reviews you have the option to:
If you choose the “Use site authorization structure only” or “Use service group authorization structure only” option, then no further steps are required. Otherwise, you may choose the Authorization Type you wish to configure:
![]() Note | All authorization and review tasks must be completed before the delivery process begins. |
On the Authorizations tab of the Administration module, in the Actions column next to the authorization or review you want to edit, click Edit. Based on the authorization type you choose, either the Authorizations – Sequential Process or Reviews – Concurrent Process subtab appears.
This following table defines the fields on the Details screen (which appears after you click Add on one of these subtabs, or choose a previously defined authorization/review role by checking the check box to the left of the Name field in one of these subtabs). Click Update to save changes. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.
Field |
Description |
---|---|
Name* |
Name for the new responsibility being performed by the authorizer or reviewer. |
Duration* |
Amount of time, in hours, allotted for the authorization or review task. |
Subject* |
Name of the authorization or review task that this responsibility performs. This value appears in the Task List that authorizers and reviewers see in Service Manager. You can use namespace variables in the task titles. A string enclosed in hash marks (#) denotes a namespace variable. The variable is replaced by the service name being ordered. See the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide for details. |
Effort* |
Amount of time that it takes to perform the review or authorization. This is typically less than the Duration. |
Workflow Type |
Choose internal if the authorizer is someone within the system, or choose an available external workflow to perform the authorization via a Service Link task. |
Assign |
Choose one of the following from the drop-down menu:
|
Assign to |
Click
|
Escalation Tiers |
Click one of the following: |
Condition |
Expressions containing conditions which need to be met for approval. Using True or False, it indicates if the task will occur or not. If you do not enter an expression, the default value is True and the authorization will always be executed. Click Validate to verify that the expression you are using will work. Validation only executes a syntactical check; the validation function does not check to see if the data you are referencing actually exists in the request. |
Evaluate condition when |
Choose either:
|
Re-evaluate expression as authorizations/reviews proceed |
Check the check box if you wish the performer name or task name to be re-evaluated after every authorization task, and updated as necessary. Due dates for the authorization do not change. This setting should be used if the performer is assigned via an expression, and a previous authorization step may have allowed the authorizer to change the value of a field used in that expression. |
Notify when authorization/review starts |
Email templates are automatically sent at every phase appropriately. A list of email templates available in the system is displayed in the drop-down list.
|
Notify when authorization/review completes |
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Notify when requisition/activity is canceled |
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Notify when requisition/activity is rejected |
|
Notify when task is rescheduled |
|
Notify when task is reassigned |
|
Notify when external tasks fail |
Escalations are a process wherein an activity that has not been performed within the designated duration is flagged and sent to the appropriate performer, supervisor, or customer for resolution. Recipients receive notification of the delayed task in the form of an email.
When setting up an escalation process, note the following:
Escalations are actually sent out by the Escalation Manager, which is part of the Business Engine, the workflow manager. By default, the Escalation Manager checks for late tasks with associated escalations once an hour, on the hour, during normal work hours. So, it is not quite correct to state, as above, that an email notification is sent after the authorization has been late for the designated number of hours. The notification will actually be sent the next time the Escalation Manager checks for late tasks after the escalation period has expired. For example, if an authorization was due at 12:30 PM, and an escalation notice is set to be sent 1 hour later (at 1:30 PM), the notification will actually be sent at 2 PM, the next time the Escalation Manager runs.
The administrator can change Escalation Manager settings. For details, see Maintaining Prime Service Catalog.
Service Catalog includes a set of preconfigured email templates. You can set up a delivery plan of a service to automatically send these in response to events that occur. The Administration module allows you to create new and modify provided templates used in email notifications. These email are used to inform recipients of steps within the approval and delivery process.
Templates used by Service Catalog are found under the General link. Templates used by Demand Center are found under Agreement Email Templates. You can set up Administration so that the system automatically sends these in response to events that occur. For example, when a service requires authorization from a manager, the system can send the manager an email notifying that a service request requires approval. You can change the included templates or add templates suitable for your organization.
You can view email template information using one of the following methods:
Clicking the template name displays the template styling options and content. A sample Service Catalog template is shown below.
To configure an email template, supply the following information:
Field |
Description |
---|---|
Name |
Name of the new email template. |
Subject |
email subject; may use namespaces. |
From |
Sender's valid email address. |
To |
Valid email address for recipients; multiple recipients can be separated by semicolons; typically uses namespaces. |
Bcc |
Valid email address for recipients that you want to copy privately. |
Language |
Display language. |
HTML Part |
Click to show the template as it would appear in an HTML-aware email system. When clicked, HTML Editor tools appear to allow you to format the email template. |
Text Part |
Click to show the HTML tags and text used to format the template. |
You can delete any email template that you created and that is not in use. Preconfigured templates cannot be deleted.
Service Catalog sends the email notification formatted as a MIME multi part message with both a text part and an HTML part. Most email clients ignore the text part and display the html part.
For instructions on using the HTML editor, see the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide.
See the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide for details on formatting emails with dynamic data content.
The recipients of the notification depend on the event which triggers sending the email. For example, the customer (#Requisition.Customer.Email#) should typically receive notifications about significant changes in the status of a request.
If the event is an authorization or review, it may be prudent to include the authorizer's delegate in the list of recipients (#Requisition.Alternate.Email#). If no delegate is currently designated, the namespace value will be blank and will not affect the appearance of the notification.
Administration allows you to modify standard lists of values used across the site and in related reports and publish available languages.
Use the Lists tab to configure the following lists:
List name |
Description |
---|---|
Cost Drivers |
Cost Drivers are available when configuring Cost Details for services in Service Designer. |
Objectives |
The Objectives list is used to configure Objective Metrics that are available in a drop-down list when creating Objectives in Service Designer. |
Unit of Measure |
Units of Measure are used in conjunction with Metrics to configure Objectives in Service Designer. |
Language |
The Language list is used to manage the list of languages that are available for users to choose in the Preferred Language drop-down list in the user profile and in the person information. For more information, see the Language. |
The Service Catalog module is available in multiple languages. The Language list is used to manage the list of languages which are available for users to choose in the Preferred Language drop-down list in their Person Profile (see the Language Settings). By default, only US English is available in the Preferred Language drop-down list. Other languages can be made available by adding them to the Language List. Click Add, choose the language from the drop-down list, and then click Update. No additional configuration steps are required.
For Service Catalog, the supported languages are as follows:
For localization of all other modules, see ‘Localizing Service Catalog Strings’ chapter in Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide.
Administration allows you to customize a variety of behaviors to suit the policies and working practices of your organization. You can set these options by clicking the Settings tab. The Settings tab displays the following options:
Page |
Description |
---|---|
Configure site-wide settings for various modules. |
|
Set the type of information that displays when conducting a person search. |
|
Specify the definitional data that can be modified on the sites of an implementation. |
|
Ensure that all new users use the updated language and the corresponding currency. |
|
Define policies for configuring passwords. |
|
Specify whether to display debugging information within the user interface. |
|
View the data sources registered with the application. |
|
Define and specify the organizations to which they apply. |
|
Configure public and private keys for AMQP. |
Customizations allow you to set options according to the business practices of your organization. The Customizations settings are divided into groups depending on the module or modules affected and the capabilities provided by each setting.
The following values are available for customization:
Show Resource String ID |
Controls whether the string IDs are displayed alongside the product and content strings. This setting is useful when performing string localization or translation. |
KpiSourceOfData |
Controls where the KPI charts retrieve data. Should be set to “Datamart”. |
SessionTimeOut |
Sets the session time out; default is 20 minutes; may be any interval up to two hours (240 minutes). |
API SessionTimeout |
Sets the session Timeout for all APIs. If any nsAPIs are directly called with credentials (without calling nsAPI login) then the Session should be automatically terminate after the response is sent. |
Fiscal Year End |
Sets the month and day of fiscal year end for fiscal calendar related calculations. |
Attachment Maximum Size |
Sets the maximum size of the file that can be uploaded as an attachment to a service request. 0 indicates no maximum size. |
Attachment File Type Restrictions |
Defines the file types that are allowed/prevented from being attached. Specify these as a list of file extensions separated by comma; for example: .exe, .bmp, or .zip. |
Image Maximum Size |
Sets the maximum size of the file that can be uploaded as an attachment 0 indicates no maximum size. |
Image Types Allowed |
Defines the image types that are allowed. Specify these as a list of file extensions separated by comma. For example: .jpg,.img,.bmp. By default, the following images types allowed: .jpg,.png,.gif,.jpeg,.tiff,.exif,.svg |
Order Confirmation Email Template |
Email notification to be sent when a customer submits a requisition. |
Order Failure Email Template |
Email to be sent if the order submission process fails unexpectedly. This entry takes effect only if the “Submit, Approve and Review Tasks Asynchronously” setting is on. |
Add Comments Email Template |
Email to be sent if an comment is added to the requisition. |
Approval Failure Email Template |
Email to be sent if an approval or review task performed by the user fails unexpectedly. This entry takes effect only if Submit, Approve and Review Tasks Asynchronously setting is on. |
Approval Failure Email Template |
Email to be sent if an approval or review task performed by the user fails unexpectedly. This entry takes effect only if “Submit, Approve and Review Tasks Asynchronously” setting is on. |
Maximum number of results returned by non-directory-enabled person popup |
Maximum number of people returned when end-users attempt select (*) type queries in non-Directory-enabled Person Popup dialogs by entering only wildcard characters (default is 1000 people; 0 indicates all people). |
Mail Server Address |
Set host name of server used for e-mail communication. Host Name, Port and Support Email Address are mandatory to test connection. |
Mail Server Port |
Port used for communication by mail server. |
Support Mail Address |
Email address of support team. |
Browser Cache Version |
The Browser Cache setting enables the browser-side caching of images, JavaScripts, css, and so on, which may improve performance. When the Version setting value is incremented, the login process is interrupted until the browser's cache is deleted. Default is Disabled. |
SDP Admin UserName |
Enter Base URL in the Format of HostName and PortNumber. |
SDP Admin Password |
|
SDP Host and Port |
|
JMS Username |
Enter the JMS username and password values that are first captured when the application is installed. Subsequent changes to the credentials on the application server side (as necessitated by corporate password policies or other requirements), the updated values need to be entered here to allow the Prime Service Catalog application to continue to have access to the JMS queues. |
JMS Password |
|
Service Catalog Description limit |
Sets the maximum number of characters of the service description that is displayed in Service Catalog. The max limit is 4000 characters. If this field is left blank or set to 0, the entire description is displayed. |
Audit History Retention Period |
Sets the period for which the Audit history data is retained. The default value for retention period will be 60 days. The minimum will be 1 day and maximum will be 365 days. When Prime Service Catalog is upgraded to a newer version the audit history data will be retained after upgrade if the data falls within the retention period specified. Based on the retention period specified in the Administration > Customizations, system will check for the records older than the specified duration and will delete those data from audit history tables. By default, the scheduler processes the older data once in every week. You can modify the duration of the scheduler in the newscale.properties file." |
Maximum number of saved views in MyStuff |
Sets the maximum number of views that can be saved by users in MyStuff. Minimum allowed value is 5 and maximum allowed value is 20. |
Service Catalog search pagination size |
Sets the maximum number of records, which can be returned using the search services functionality. This search functionality allows infinite scroll, owing to which end users need to simply scroll down to trigger the next search. The minimum and maximum values allowed are 20 and 50, respectively. |
My Stuff Default View |
Sets the default view for all users in My Products & Services who do not have a default named view. The default view set by the administrator can be overwritten by the users in My Stuff with their own named view. |
Path of the folder containing the FTL Files |
Mention the fully qualified path name of the folder containing the FTL templates for VDC-based email notification. The file path should be in Linux convention, which uses / as the file separator. |
Order confirmation Deliver to format |
Sets the format used in Service Catalog for displaying 'deliver to' user details in cart and order confirmation pages. |
In order for Service Catalog to process a service request, it must create a series of records in the transactional database corresponding to the authorization and delivery tasks that comprise the service workflow. For complex delivery plans, creating these tasks and computing the scheduled start and end dates of all tasks, based on the participants assigned, their work calendars and the specified task duration, may consume a substantial amount of time, during which the user (whether the requestor or the last approval) must sit and wait for acknowledgment that their attempt to submit the service request has been processed.
To eliminate this wait time, Service Catalog provides the option to implement asynchronous task instantiation. That is, when the request is submitted (or last approval completed, if the request has any authorizations or reviews), Service Catalog will only update (or create) the service request itself before allowing the user to continue. The remaining processing—of creating the tasks and computing due dates—are performed asynchronously, in the background.
This results in one major change in the user interface (elimination of the wait time!) and some minor changes. After requisition submission, the status becomes “Ordered” until it is processed by the Business Engine. Afterwards, the status becomes “Ongoing”.
In the rare case when Service Catalog encounters an error in creating all the tasks, a notification email can be sent to concerned parties. Two email templates can be designated: one for use if a request fails to be submitted, and the second if the last approval fails to be processed correctly. Templates are designed using the Notifications option in the Administration module and associated with each event via the Administration > Settings > Customizations settings. Failed requests can be viewed and sent for retry on the Administration Debugging page. See the Monitor for Asynchronous Submission Messages for more details.
Asynchronous task instantiation is off by default. You must activate this behavior by turning on the “Submit, Approve and Review Asynchronously” setting in the Common section of Administration > Settings > Customizations.
This setting enables the use of browser caching for application files that are mostly static in a production environment. Use of this feature could significantly improve page load times for users in remote locations by leveraging cached objects and prompting refresh only when version changes are detected.
When browser caching is enabled, a cookie is placed in the browser client to track the last accessed version, and allows the application to make use of the cached version of the following types of objects:
When an application change event happens (for example, deploying a service with modified images through Catalog Deployer), administrators can prompt users to delete their browser cache by incrementing the version number.
Users who have browser cookies registering a different version from the one in the Administration Settings will be prompted to delete the browser cache. Once the browser cache has been deleted, they can click “Login Again” (or “Continue”, when Single Sign-On is enabled) to access the application.
The JMS username and password values are first captured when the application is installed. Subsequent changes to the credentials on the application server side (as necessitated by corporate password policies or other requirements), the updated values need to be entered here to allow the Prime Service Catalog application to continue to have access to the JMS queues.
The Common Settings affect the behavior of multiple modules.
Enable Custom Header Footer |
Enable custom header and footer. Default is off. |
Enable Custom Style Sheets |
Use a custom style sheet for formatting the site, allowing for the changing of logos, color schemes, fonts, and other HTML attributes. Default is off. |
Enable Custom Styles for Login Logout |
Use custom styles for formatting the login and logout screens, including the labels such as username and password, allowing for the changes in font and size. Default is off. |
Directory Integration |
Enable the Directories feature that searches for and imports users into the site from an external datasource. Default is off. |
Restrict Site Administrator URL |
Allow only those users with the Site Administrator role to log in using the administrative URL to bypass Single Sign-On. Default is off. |
Use Image Path Replacement |
Use a dynamic variable in place of the server portion of presentation image URLs. Default is off. |
Show KPI Portlet |
Turn the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) portlet feature on or off. If the feature is on, users who can run My Services Executive will be able to see KPIs on their My Services home page. KPIs are always viewable in the Reporting dashboard for users with permissions to access the Reporting module. Default is off. |
Submit, Approve, and Review Asynchronously |
Enable or disable background processing of requisition submit, and of completion of approvals and reviews. Default is off. |
Deploy Entries (data) in Standards Tables |
Enable or disable the inclusion of entries (data) from Standards tables, in addition to the definition of those tables, when creating Catalog Deployer packages. Leave this Off if you do not wish to have Standards data overwritten by a package deployment. Default is on. |
Show Login Name |
Show or hide the display of person login name on the view person profile popup page. Default is off. |
Accept encrypted Password |
When enabled, the password used for inbound HTTP requests must be in encrypted format. Default is off. |
Enable Historical Requisitions View |
When enabled, Historical Requisitions can be accessed in MyServices and Service Manager. Default is off. |
Enable Historical Requisitions Scheduler |
Requisitions that have been completed for more than 365 days are migrated to the historical transaction tables by default. The scheduler processes 1000 requisitions with a batch size of 100 for every 30 min of interval by default. These properties are configurable in the newscale.properties file and may be modified based on the specific needs of your organization. When enabled, Closed Requisitions will be archived. Default is off. For more information, see Run Processes and For details on directory integration, see the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Integration Guide. |
Enable Service Catalog |
When the setting is on, the module menu shows Service Catalog and Order Management instead of My Services. You may override this common setting by changing their profile preference. Default is on. |
Enable Audit History |
When enabled, Audit History will be tracked. Default is off. |
Enable YUI |
When the YUI setting is enabled, the YUI library is loaded in the Service Form. This ensures that the customizations that use the YUI, for example, the service wizard, works seamlessly. Disable the YUI setting if the YUI library need not be loaded in the Service Forms. Default is on. |
Enable Go Button |
When enabled, Go button will be available for active service, which is not orderable. Default is off. |
Enable logs for Security Events |
When enabled, log will be available for Security Events. Default is off. |
Enable Solr Search |
When enabled, Service Catalog search will use Apache Solr Engine. Default is off. |
Turning on custom style sheets and headers and footers is just the first step to configuring a customized appearance for the web pages. Administrators need to design the styles to be used, upload appropriate files to the application server, and use the option of Administration to associate styles with the site or with specific organizations within the site.
Turning on directory integration is just the first step to integrating Service Catalog with an enterprise LDAP directory, which provides personnel (person and organization) data for use in Service Catalog, as well as external authentication against that directory and Single Sign-On capability. Directory integration can temporarily be turned off by changing this setting to “Off”.
Directory integration configuration includes the ability to override external authentication or Single Sign-On, for troubleshooting, testing, or other reasons. This administrative override should typically be restricted to users who have Site Administrator privileges.
For details on directory integration, see the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Integration Guide
When Catalog Deployer deploys a service, the definitions of any standards referenced by that service (typically in the form of data retrieval rules) are automatically deployed and entries (data) for those standards are also deployed. The setting to “Deploy Entries (data) in Standards Tables” allows you to override that behavior. If set to “No”, Catalog Deployer does not deploy standards data to the target environment. It is assumed that data is loaded into the target environment via alternate methods, either through manual entry using Lifecycle Center or by importing the standards data.
For more information, see the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide.
The My Services settings control the behavior and appearance of the My Services module.
Field |
Description |
||
---|---|---|---|
Show Plan In My Services |
Allow customers to see the status of tasks in the delivery plan for their requested services. Default is off. |
||
Allow Update Quantity |
Allow My Services users to update the quantity for service requests. Default is off. |
||
Use Categories In Search |
Include category names in the My Services search feature. Services contained within matching categories appear in the search results. Default is on. |
||
Display Empty Category |
Show or hide categories that do not contain services in the My Services portal. Default is off. |
||
Hide Form Monitor |
Show or hide the Service Form dictionary monitor. For more information see section Form Monitor. Default is off. |
||
Show Rating and Reviews |
Default is on. |
||
View Authorization Portlet |
Turn the My Services Authorization portlet feature on or off. When enabled, all users will see the Authorization portlet. This setting can be overridden by the corresponding setting in each user's Profile. For more information see section Service Items Portlet. Default is on. |
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View Service Items Portlet |
Turn the My Services Service Items portlet feature on or off. When enabled, all users will see the Service Items portlet unless they turn it off in their profile. For more information see section Service Items Portlet. Default is off. |
||
View Common Tasks Portlet |
Turn the My Services Common Tasks portlet feature on or off. When enabled, all users will see the Common Tasks portlet. For more information see section Common Tasks Portlet. Default is on. |
||
View Requisitions Portlet |
Turn the My Services Requisitions portlet feature on or off. When enabled, all users will see the Requisitions portlet. For more information see section Requisitions Portlet. Default is on. |
||
Allow Order On Behalf For All Users |
Grant access to Order on Behalf Of feature for all users.
Default is off. |
||
Show All Users For Order On Behalf |
Allow the person using the Order on Behalf Of feature to order services for any user in the site, regardless of organizational unit- or person-specific Order on Behalf permission settings. Default is off. |
||
Open Authorization Task in a popup |
When enabled, Authorization tasks in My Services will open in a different popup window. Default is off. |
||
Allow Bill To OU Selection |
Allow My Services users to change the Bill To organizational unit in their service requests. Default is off. |
The My Services portlets (for Authorizations, Service Items, Requisitions, and Common Tasks) are preconfigured. All, some or none can optionally appear on the left side of the My Services home page. If no My Services portlets appear, the content portion of the page (the Service Catalog) expands to take up the entire width of the page.
The My Services portlets are preconfigured to have the content and appearance described above. If you want to further customize the use or appearance of portlets, you may do so using the Cisco Portal Designer, described in the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide.
The Form Monitor appears to the right of a service form. It displays the dictionaries in the form. A dictionary is checked when all mandatory fields in that dictionary have been provided values. The mandatory field status check is not applied to grid dictionaries.
It may be confusing if a dictionary is hidden by a rule or ISF code after the service form appears; the dictionary will still be listed in the Form Monitor.
The Authorizations Portlet provides a quick way to view and access any authorizations assigned to the current user. If users are able to view their authorizations, this portlet appears on the left side of the My Services screen.
The Authorizations Portlet provides a quick view of the five most recent authorizations and a means of displaying all authorizations assigned to the current user. Authorizations are also accessible via the Common Tasks > Authorizations link and the Authorizations tab in the navigation bar of the My Services module.
The Service Items Portlet provides a quick way to view and access any service items assigned to the current user. This portlet is available only for sites that have licensed Lifecycle Center.
The Service items Portlet provides a quick view of the five most recently provisioned service items and a means of displaying all service items assigned to the current user. Service Items are also accessible via the Service Items tab in the navigation bar of the My Services module.
The Common Tasks Portlet provides short cuts to commonly used My Services actions. When enabled, this portlet appears on the left side of the My Services screen.
The Requisitions Portlet provides a quick way to view and access the five most recently submitted ongoing requisitions. When enabled, this portlet appears on the left side of the My Services screen.
Requisitions are also accessible via the Requisitions tab in the navigation bar of the My Services module.
Service Manager settings affect the appearance and behavior of the Service Manager module.
Setting |
Description |
||
---|---|---|---|
Show Task Link |
When displaying delivery process tasks, include a hyperlink on all of the tasks, allowing the user to quickly jump to other tasks in the plan. Default is on. |
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Related Tasks Default To Wait |
When creating Ad-Hoc Tasks, set the option to pause the current task. This can still be overridden at the moment of creating the Ad-Hoc Task. Default is off. |
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Effort Entry Is Mandatory |
Providing an entry in the Effort field is mandatory for completion of a task. Default is off. |
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Enable Ad-Hoc Task Email |
When enabled, Service Catalog will automatically send the “Ad-Hoc Task Started” notification email to the performer of any new Ad-Hoc Task created. Default is on. |
||
Show Undefined Roles |
In the staffing section of monitor tasks, display roles that have not been defined in the service delivery plan. Default is off. |
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Service Performers Can Search All Performers |
When enabled, users can search for all other people with access to Service Manager in the Performer search feature. Otherwise, users are restricted to just those people that are in their service teams. Default is off. |
||
Allow Task Supervisors To Cancel Tasks |
Allow task supervisors to cancel or skip the delivery tasks that they are assigned to supervise for the service. Default is off. |
||
Enable completion of external tasks |
Enable the display and completion of external tasks in Ongoing status in Service Manager. Such tasks are typically shown only in the Service Link module’s View Transactions. This setting applies to all external tasks that are added to a delivery plan while the setting is enabled. Those tasks will still be available for completion in Service Manager even if the setting is disabled afterwards. The system administrator should keep the setting consistent. Default is off. |
||
Show Bundle Data |
Display a composite order form of all dictionaries on the Data page for a bundled service when on any task within the service. When disabled, only those dictionaries for the selected included service appear. Default is on. |
||
Open Task in a popup |
When enabled, Tasks in Service Manager will open in a different popup window. This allows users to have a primary window that shows the task list and a secondary window that displays the details of tasks selected. The task list is refreshed when Refresh is clicked or when the page is reloaded. Reducing the frequency of the task list refresh places less load on the application and helps to improve overall application performance.
Default is off. |
The Compress Messages setting controls whether Service Link messages (both the internal nsXML message and the external message) are compressed when they are held in the repository. Since the internal nsXML message can be quite large, compression is recommended. Other means to reduce the amount of storage required for Service Link messages are to configure the agent to minimize message content or to periodically purge messages for completed tasks. These options are explained in the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Compress Messages |
Messages in the database are compressed when this flag is turned on. Messages will use less space, but will not be easily read by the human eye. Default is on. |
Service Item settings affect the appearance and behavior of the Service Item module.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Service Item permissions refresh |
Enabling this property will refresh user permissions on service items at user login. Default is off. |
Tenant Management settings affect the appearance and behavior of the Tenant Management module.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Show Organization Permission |
Display or hide the Organization > Permission tab. Default is on. |
Show Organization Roles |
Display or hide the Organization > Roles tab. Default is on. |
Show Functional Position |
Display or hide the Organization > Functional position tab. Default is on. |
Show User Extensions |
Display or hide the User > Extension tab. Default is on. |
Show User Permission |
Display or hide the User > Permission tab. Default is on. |
Show All Roles |
This will allow user to search all roles. If it is OFF, it will display only custom roles. Default is on. |
Allow Service Ordering |
If tenant management is enabled, it is required that, each user to be part of tenant before ordering any service. If we set it to false, it will allow user to order the service even though he is not part of any tenant. Default is on. |
The Person Popup allows you to configure which data appears on the Person Popup window that appears when a user performs a person search. Person searches can be performed:
You can specify how you wish the heading to appear and what information populates each field. By default, Name is populated with the string defining the person's first and last name. You can have a maximum of four fields of information about a person.
Any field except Name may be removed from the display by blanking out the Column Heading and corresponding Person Data.
The definition of a Person Popup shown above results in a Person Search popup that looks like:
The Entity Homes feature provides a means to enforce corporate change management policies. In a multi-site implementation (Development, Test and Production), you may decide to isolate where certain entity types may be modified to create a system of record for the entity. This is a common approach for managing content change. For example, you may want to isolate service definition changes to be allowed only on the Development site and use Catalog Deployer and associated tools to promote changes to Production. In this case, the service definition's system of record or “home” is Development.
Entity Home Settings are essentially “documentation only” until a site protection level other than “None” is assigned to the site.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
None |
No protection is enabled on this site. |
Create only |
Non-home entities cannot be created on this site. |
Create, Modify |
Non-home entities cannot be created or modified on this site. |
Create, Modify, Delete |
Non-home entities cannot be created, modified, or deleted on this site. |
The site protection levels govern the appearance and behavior of the pages in Service Designer or Organization Designer that allow users to modify entities. They override any capabilities or permissions that have been granted to a user via roles or direct permission assignments. For example, if the user has the capability to manage service definitions in a site, but the Entity Home setting for service definitions does not allow updates on the site, the user will not be able to make any changes.
Together, Entity Homes and the Catalog Deployer module allow you to establish a change management process and policy that meets your business requirements. For details instructions on setting up Entity Homes and using Catalog Deployer, see the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide.
During localization if you add a new language in the Localization module, you will need to update the language to all existing and new users.
The settings in the Application Locale are used to configure the settings for creating new users. After the settings are configured and saved, users created will have the default settings. However, these settings can be overridden at the user creation time.
For more information about localizing the application, see ‘Localizing Service Catalog Strings’ chapter in Cisco Prime Service Catalog Designer Guide.
To enable a new language and the corresponding currency to all users:
An application needs to have strong passwords to avoid malicious attempts. Strong passwords protect the application and data from various threats and vulnerabilities. You enforce password policies on your application to encourage users to employ strong passwords and change them often.
You either integrate your application with LDAP or with the local database for user management and authentication. LDAP user passwords are part of an external system and are administered or governed separately i.e outside Prime Service Catalog. Therefore, when LDAP users login via Single Sign-on and/or External User Authentication these password policies are not enforced.
If you have used the local application authentication for user management, you must configure password polices in the Prime Service Catalog administration module to make your application more secure for the end users to access. The application applies password policies when you change passwords and displays error messages when there is policy violation.
Password policies are enabled by default. You can modify or disable any policy based on your requirement. Any changes to the password policies are applicable to the users during the next login validation.
If the user violates any password policy mentioned in the Table 1, the user account is locked and the user must contact system administrator to reset the password. For more information about password reset, see Configuring People.
To configure or update password policies:
Step 1 | Choose . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Step 2 | Update policies as per Table 1. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Step 3 | Click
Submit.
|
Consider a password as Catalog@2014. Table 1 table explains how the password measure policy is calculated based on configuration mentioned in Table 2.
Row Number |
First and Last Character Position |
Characters |
Score per Character Type |
Total Score |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
1 to 1 |
C |
4 per character |
4 |
2 |
2 to 8 |
atalog@ |
2 per character |
14 |
3 |
9 to 20 |
2014 |
1.5 per character |
6 |
4 |
21 to End of String |
not considered because the password does not have more than 20 characters. |
1 |
0 |
5 |
1 to End of String |
Catalog@2014 |
6 |
6 |
Total Score = 30 is greater than 12 ie Minimum Password Strength Recommended |
||||
Result Password Accepted |
The Debugging settings allow you to configure the system to display debugging information that can help diagnose problems and provide help to the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC).
Turning on a “Debug” setting displays additional information on the standard screens. These settings are typically used only when working on a development or QA installation or temporarily in a production instance, to gather details on a previously noted problem.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Debug |
Turns on the display of basic debugging information to the user, including the URL and parameters of the current page and, in case of an error, a stack trace. |
Directory Map Testing |
Enables testing of a mapping used by directory integration. For more information see the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Integration Guide. |
The message monitor is used only when the “Submit, Approve and Review Tasks Asynchronously” setting is on. In the rare case when Service Catalog encounters an error in processing a requisition submission or task authorization request asynchronously, the failed messages appear in the internal messages monitor section.
You can rectify the underlying issues based on the error message shown, and resume the processing of the failed messages by clicking Retry.
The Service Catalog uses data sources defined in the data source registry to access application and to access user data stored in relational databases. By default, Service Catalog instances have two data sources, one for accessing the transactional data, and a second for accessing the data marts and reporting options. In addition, administrators may create additional data sources to support components including external dictionaries, SQL options lists, and active form data retrieval rules.
The Data Source registry lists all data sources available. To create a data source, see the Cisco Prime Service Catalog Installation and Upgrade Guide .
The Public Key is used to secure the sensitive field using the public key and this secure field will be decrypted by the external system by using the corresponding private key. Public keys are used to encrypt AMQP messages in Secure String Format. The default secure string format is Bytes. For information, see section Managing AMQP Connections.
Field |
Description |
---|---|
Name |
Enter the name of the recipient that must be included in the outbound message to achieve authentication and confidentiality. |
Modulus |
Enter the encrypted data. |
Exponent |
Enter a prime number that is not too large. |
GUID |
Based on the values specified for Name, Modulus and Exponent, the system generates a GUID that cannot be modified/edited. Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) also known as Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). This GUID is used for adding external layer of security for password and token. |
Cipher Algorithm |
Enter a Cipher Algorithm. It is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption-a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. To encipher or encode is to convert information into cipher or code. |
Impl Class Name |
Enter a referred Class name to Key generation. |
Support Utilities includes the following:
![]() Note | In order to see and use Support Utilities, the Use Support Utilities capability must be enabled for the user (see the Capabilities for Administration). |
If not already chosen, click Logs and Properties to view the Logs and Properties page.
![]() Note | In order to see and use Logs and Properties, both the Use Support Utilities and Access Logs and Property Files capabilities must be enabled for the user (see the Capabilities for Administration). |
To use Logs and Properties, the application server's log folder needs to be specified. Also a destination folder needs to be created and specified to store the compressed Zip files (containing the log and property files) until you delete them. You can create and specify a different destination folder for each file type.
To specify the destination and log folders:
Step 1 | Create a new destination folder (or destination folders for each file type). These folders can be anywhere. | ||||
Step 2 | The destination
folder or folders location and maximum size are specified in a
support.properties file. There are two support.properties files—one for Service Catalog and one
for Service Link.
These support.properties files are located in the following deployed directories:
Open the support.properties file in a text editor. An example support.properties file in a Linux environment is shown below.
![]() | ||||
Step 3 | Enter the full
directory path of the destination folder for the “*.destinationFolder.location”
parameter. For UNIX/Linux: Use a single-forward-slash as a directory separator;
for example, /opt/CiscoServicePortal/RC_log_dest. For Windows: Use a
double-back-slash as a directory separator; for example,
C:\\CiscoServicePortal\\RC_log_dest.
In the example above, “C:\\CiscoServicePortal\\RC_log_dest” is set as the location of the destination folder for the Service Catalog log files. | ||||
Step 4 | For WebLogic servers, enter the full directory path of the application server’s log directory in the “*.log.location” parameter. For JBoss, the “*.log.location” parameter should be left blank. | ||||
Step 5 | Set the maximum
size of the destination folder in the “*.destinationFolder.size.limit”
parameter. The unit for the destination folder maximum size is GB. Fractions
can be used. For example, if you want to use 500 MB, enter 0.5; for 250 MB,
enter 0.25. If the files in this folder exceed this size an error message
appears.
In the example above, 1 sets the maximum size of the destination folder to 1 GB. | ||||
Step 6 | Save the support.properties file. | ||||
Step 7 | Reboot the Service Catalog server. |
To view and download files:
Step 1 | On the Logs and Properties page, choose a file type from the
drop-down menu on the top left.
Four types of files can be chosen: | ||
Step 2 | Click a file in the top pane to choose it. If needed, click Refresh to see the latest files. | ||
Step 3 | To view a file, choose the number of last lines to view by
choosing the number from the drop-down menu on the bottom of the top pane, and
then click
View.
The file opens in a popup window. | ||
Step 4 | Click Close to close the window. | ||
Step 5 | To download one or more chosen files (Ctrl-Click to choose multiple files) to a location of your choice, click Compress. | ||
Step 6 | On the bottom pane, click
Refresh to see the compressed file
or files in the bottom pane. The file is compressed into the Zip format and a
time stamp is added to the name. For multiple files, a single Zip file is
created (named only from the file type and time stamp) containing all the
chosen files.
| ||
Step 7 | On the bottom pane, click the Download icon for a single file.
A File Download dialog box appears. Click Save. | ||
Step 8 | A Save As dialog box appears allowing you to save the file to a location of your choice. | ||
Step 9 | Navigate to the location you want and click Save. | ||
Step 10 | After saving the file or files, you can delete the chosen compressed file or files (Ctrl-Click to choose multiple files) from the bottom pane by clicking Delete. |
Choose
.![]() Note | In order to see and use Purge Utilities, both the Use Support Utilities and Access Purge Utilities capabilities must be enabled for the user (see the Capabilities for Administration). |
The three types of purge utilities are described below:
The requisition purge utility removes those requisitions that meet the purge filter criteria and all transactional data associated with those requisitions, including tasks and Service Link messages. Results from the actual requisition purge are also appended to the LogPurge table in the RequestCenter database.
The Business Engine purge utility may require an hour or more to execute if you have a large database. Hence the purge should be done during a low activity time window. A practice run is recommended on a sandbox environment to establish how long the utility will run for your database.
To perform a purge:
Step 1 | Click the radio button next to Requisition, Service Link, or Business Engine to choose the type of purge. |
Step 2 | Enter date ranges to filter the data to be purged. For a Requisition purge, you may also optionally filter the data by Requisition ID, Requisition Status, and Service Name. |
Step 3 | (Optional) Before performing a Requisition purge, click Analyze to perform a “dry run” purge. Click OK to continue. This allows you to see the requisitions that would be removed without actually deleting anything. This can serve as a validation for the filter criteria in effect. Go to Step 7. |
Step 4 | Click Purge to start the purge. |
Step 5 | Click Yes to continue. |
Step 6 | The purge starts. Click OK. |
Step 7 | Click Refresh after some time. When the purge or analysis completes, a new date/time entry is added in the Purge History pane at the top of the list. You must refresh the screen to see the new purge completion date/time entry. |
Step 8 | In the Purge History pane, click the purge completion date/time entry to see purge or analysis information in the Log Content pane on the right. |
Step 9 | If you did a Requisition purge analysis (Step 3), go to Step 4 above to start the actual purge. |
Purging can be performed while the Service Catalog application is up and running. However, you should limit the amount of purge activities during peak hours, and instead plan on doing large volume purging during off hours.
The purge utilities are also available as SQL scripts or batch programs that can be scheduled for execution. See the Optimizing Performance through Purging and Partitioning for more information.
Click Administration > Utilities > Version History to view the Version History page.
![]() Note | In order to see and use Version History, both the Use Support Utilities and Access Version History capabilities must be enabled for the user (see the Capabilities for Administration). |
The Version History page displays the current product version number of Service Catalog and a version history of build upgrades and patches.
Click Administration > Utilities > Form Data Viewer to view the Form Data Viewer page.
![]() Note | In order to see and use Form Data Viewer, both the Use Support Utilities and Access Form Data Viewer capabilities must be enabled for the user (see the Capabilities for Administration). |
The Form Data Viewer, used primarily by service designers to verify the design of a service, allows you to see what values are actually stored for service forms in saved or submitted requisitions. It is useful when form rules associated with a service form are taking effect during form load. In this case, what is shown in the user interface does not really reflect what has been stored.
Enter a Requisition Entry number and click Retrieve to see the stored values in the table below. Click Export to Excel to export the values to an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis.
The Requisition Entry number can be located in the browser URL while you are on the Edit Service or Service Status page in My Services. It is shown as “reqentryid”.
Undelivered Email utility provides a list of authorization, review, or notification emails that were undelivered to the recipient. You can view, resend, or delete the undelivered emails appropriately.
To resend undelivered emails:
You can use this utility to migrate historical requisitions to the historical data tables on an adhoc basis. The manual migration process in an off-peak period will reduce the system overhead.
The values that are configured in newscale.properties file are displayed in the cut-off date, batch size, and maximum number of requisitions fields accordingly. You can further edit the settings and then click Start to enable the scheduler.
The processing rate and duration vary based on the average size of the requisitions. Work with your database administrator to perform trial runs and estimate the time required for the first-time execution, before executing the migration process in your production environment. For more information, see Optimizing Performance through Purging and Partitioning.
To start the migration process:
Step 1 | Select . |
Step 2 | Select a cut-off date using the calendar. |
Step 3 | You can also choose to enter a batch size and the maximum number of requisitions that you can process. |
Step 4 | Click
Start to
begin the migration process.
Ensure that the Enable Historical Requisitions Scheduler setting in Administration > Settings tab is turned off. You can choose to process historical migration either by enabling the historical scheduler in or by using the Run Process Utility. |
When multiple users create service in active forms, it is difficult to know the changes what each user has done. Prime Service Catalog helps you to track these changes in service design using the Service Design Change History option. This will help to make the change details available for user access in Service Designer. For more information on how to track service design change history, see Cisco Prime Service 11.0 Catalog Designer Guide.
Audit History can be enabled by selecting "Enable Audit History" option in the Common settings. If Audit History is disabled then no new audit history entries will be stored, but the older data will be retained if the data falls within the retention period specified. When upgrading from an older version to a new version the audit history data will not be lost during upgrade.
By default, the scheduler processes the older data once in every
week. To modify the duration of the scheduler, edit the audit poller in
newscale.properties file.