Introduction
Integrating Control-M Workload Change Manager with BMC Helix ITSM is a transformative approach that enhances the efficiency and automation of IT change management processes, automates workflows, reduces human intervention, and improves accuracy in managing change processes across workloads in hybrid or multi-cloud environments. BMC Helix ITSM is a leading IT service management platform that helps organizations streamline their service management functions.
Key features of the integration
- Automated change requests: The integration facilitates the automatic real-time creation and status checking of change tasks and requests in BMC Helix ITSM. This helps reduce manual effort and ensures that change management adheres to organizational policies and procedures. Automated workflows can also manage repetitive tasks such as approving or rejecting changes to be implemented in Control-M.
- Real-time monitoring and alerts: The integration enables real-time monitoring of workload changes. Control-M Workload Change Manager monitors workloads across multiple platforms, and any changes trigger notifications or alerts through Control-M, providing full visibility of the infrastructure. This immediate feedback ensures that critical changes are recognized and acted upon promptly.
- Seamless communication: By connecting Control-M Workload Change Manager to BMC Helix ITSM, teams can collaborate more effectively across different departments. Change requests approvals, and status updates are synchronized, ensuring all relevant stakeholders are informed without the need for additional manual communication through “workspace notes.”
- Enhanced compliance and auditability: With automated logging and tracking, all changes made to workloads are documented. This creates an audit trail that can be used to maintain compliance with industry regulations or internal governance policies. Control-M Workload Change Manager ensures that changes adhere to pre-defined policies before they are executed, while BMC Helix ITSM tracks and logs the process.
- Improved change risk assessment: The integration enhances change risk management by providing a clear view of changes. Through historical data and change analytics, the system can evaluate and mitigate risks proactively, reducing the likelihood of disruptions during the change process.
- End-to-end process automation: Control-M Workload Change Manager automates the entire lifecycle of a change request, from initiation and validation to execution and closure. BMC Helix ITSM handles the management and documentation aspects, while Control-M Workload Change Manager ensures that the technical aspects are carried out per the approved plan. This creates a more efficient, end-to-end automated change management process.
- Multi-platform support: The integration supports workload changes across diverse environments, including on-premises infrastructure, cloud environments, or hybrid setups. This flexibility allows organizations to scale their change management operations across different platforms while maintaining centralized control via BMC Helix ITSM.
Benefits
- Increased operational efficiency: Automating change management tasks reduces the time and resources spent on manual processes, allowing IT teams to focus on higher-value tasks.
- Reduced human errors: By automating change processes, the likelihood of human errors decreases, leading to more accurate and reliable implementations.
- Faster change implementation: The integration accelerates the execution of changes, reducing the lead time from request to implementation, improving service delivery, and enhancing business agility.
- Greater visibility and control: IT teams can gain better visibility into the status of workloads and changes across the infrastructure, leading to more informed decision-making and better control over IT operations.
Figure 1. Change request status checking through Control-M.
Figure 2. Check-in aborted as the change request is not approved in BMC Helix ITSM.
- Scalability: The combined power of Control-M Workload Change Manager and BMC Helix ITSM allows organizations to scale their change management processes as their infrastructure grows, without a corresponding increase in manual effort or complexity.
- Enhanced collaboration: Communication is facilitated between development, operations, and support teams.
Figure 3. Communication between scheduler and application developer through workspace notes.
Case study
Business challenge:
One of the largest banks in the Asia/Pacific region manages hundreds of job scheduling change requests daily using Control-M Workload Automation. During this process, bank must manually create change requests and check their status in BMC Helix ITSM. Additionally, the scheduling team, responsible for the job scheduling change requests, needs to communicate with the relevant application stakeholders via emails or Teams chat, which often lead to poor tracking of conversations between different teams. The entire process, from creating the change request to verifying the status before implementation, is manual, making it inefficient and time-consuming.
Solution approach:
To address this business challenge and streamline the change management workflow for job scheduling, the bank decides to implement Control-M Workload Change Manager and integrate it with BMC Helix ITSM. This integration helps manage the change workflow in a structured manner, resulting in improved productivity. It also facilitates communication between different stakeholders through workspace notes, making tracking easier, providing real-time status updates, and ensuring that no changes are committed to the Control-M until the change request is approved.
Conclusion
The integration of Control-M Workload Change Manager with BMC Helix ITSM creates a more streamlined, efficient, and reliable approach for managing application workflow changes. It helps organizations minimize downtime, enhance compliance, and improve their overall service management capabilities while delivering a more consistent, automated change management experience. By leveraging this integration, businesses can stay ahead of the dynamic IT landscape, responding to change demands with speed and precision.
