CA Service Management

We have a custom, in-house, CMDB that we use and I was wanting to see if there was a way to automate loads using GR Loader via a custom script? GR Loader is great for large updates but the configuration and conversion to .xml takes more time than manually loading just the few CI's we add each month. If that was not really an option, I was wondering if the MDB was updated via an INSERT statement with data from our CMDB database if CA Service Desk would recognize it? I know there are relationships, potential duplication, and other issues with that process but I would like to at least get the CI's in there real-time to prevent any delay in creating tickets. Any feedback from anyone attempting this and/or issues I may face directly updating the MDB would be appreciated.

Hi jlhawley,

I'm wondering which version of SDM you're using and whether you have investigated the option of running GR Loader against a spreadsheet?  You could set up the configuration once and run it whenever you update the sheet.  Just a thought...  Inserting directly into the MDB tables is not recommended as it bypasses CORA's checks and can cause headaches down the track.

Regards,

James

Thank you for the feedback, I am using 14.1.02. I have used the spreadsheet option and that still requires manual intervention for Family and Class attributes to be updated as there is really no 1:1 relationship with our custom CMDB structure.

Look this solution.

SUPER GRLOADER (z_loader_sdm_v103_en.zip) 

Thank you! I am looking at this now I appreciate it.

I think this will work! I will get a .csv file from our CMDB and then have it formatted and run a batch file to automate the load after it is consolidated. Thank you very much!

Hi Jessi,

You may find a sample xlsx file which may help you design your input file .

Location: C:\Program Files (x86)\CA\Service Desk Manager\samples\GRLoader

~Vinod.

Hey Jessie,

One approach may be to modify your custom, in-house CMDB application to make web service calls to Service Desk to add/update CIs and relationships.

Cheers,

Lindsay

Thank you Lindsay, that is my first choice but seems to least likely at this point to be implemented quickly (no web service calls on their side yet). I am thinking of some PowerShell scripting and formatting from the custom CMDB to prep the file for use with GRLoader. 

CA SDM: GRLoader - Everthing you need to know - Loading Configuration Item