White Paper
Understanding Remedyforce
Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
Eric J Cobb
25 March 2015
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
Welcome to the “Getting Started with BMC Remedyforce” Series
Today’s IT departments must drive business growth and innovation, while coping with less resources and increasing complexity. To do this, they
require an IT Service Management solution that provides best practices while minimizing costs. BMC Remedyforce is built on Salesforce—the world's
most widely used cloud platform—to deliver complete IT service management functionality with the secure social, mobile, and collaborative capabilities
users expect.
With the “Getting Started with Remedyforce” white paper series, our aim is to help you leverage BMC Remedyforce to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of your ITSM operations. Each paper addresses a specific area of interest and provides you with conceptual, functional and technical best
practices to make configuration decisions and take action to gain value from your BMC Remedyforce investment.
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
BMC provides you with various options for sandbox environments to ensure you are able to adequately test changes, versions, etc. before moving
them into production use. While we’ve seen customers try to shortcut the process of getting a change implemented quickly by editing the production
environment directly, creating changes in your production Remedyforce environment has never been and never will be a best practice. When changes
are made to your environment without the proper testing, there is a higher chance for things to go wrong. This is why the Remedyforce Services Team
always recommends to make any changes in your sandbox environment first. This white paper will discuss the differences between the various types
of sandboxes, what can be moved between sandboxes, and how to leverage a new feature in Winter ’15 that makes life a lot easier: the new Pentaho
Migration Package.
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes – Types of Sandboxes
There are different types of sandboxes that you can use with Remedyforce and Salesforce. Each type of sandbox provides you with different
specifications and functionalities for Remedyforce. We will explain the different types of sandboxes here and discuss the features of each.
Full Sandbox
Full Sandboxes are intended to be an exact replica of your production implementation and are to be used as a testing environment. Full
sandboxes can be added to your license agreement for an additional charge, and your Remedyforce sales representative can tell you more
about pricing and options. You can refresh your full sandbox from production only once every 29 days, so it’s a good idea to plan refreshes
carefully.
Developer Sandbox
Developer Sandboxes are intended to be used as a safe place to do coding and testing in an isolated environment. Developer sandboxes
contain a copy of your organizations metadata or configurations. This does not include any data that was configured in your production
environment. There are also set storage limits. For example, with a developer sandbox, you are limited to 200 MB of files and 200 MB of
data. The developer sandbox is provided free of charge with Remedyforce. This sandbox can be refreshed every 24 hours.
Developer Pro Sandbox
Developer Pro Sandboxes are the same as developer sandboxes, but provide you with higher storage limits. The storage limits for
Developer Pro sandboxes are 1 GB of files and 1 GB of data. There is a charge associated with this sandbox, which can be discussed with
your Remedyforce sales representative. This sandbox can also be refreshed every 24 hours.
Partial Copy Sandbox
Partial Copy Sandboxes are intended to be utilized for testing purposes. The purpose of this environment is quality assurance tasks, such
as user acceptance testing, regression testing, and training. The limits for this sandbox are 5 GB of files and 5 GB of data. There is also a
cost associated with this sandbox, which can be discussed with your Remedyforce sales representative. This sandbox can be refreshed
every 5 days.
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Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes – Types of “Data” and How to Move between Orgs
Within Remedyforce, there are different types of data. In order to keep your sandbox environment and production environment in sync, you’ll be faced
with the task of moving this data between orgs. Based on what it is you want to move, we classify it differently and have different functions on how to
move/migrate this “data.” Understanding the different data types will help later on with how you move/migrate within your orgs.
Metadata
What is metadata? Metadata lies at the heart of the Force.com platform. The Force.com IDE, Force.com Migration Tool, and the
browser-based user interface that you use to add records in your Force.com applications (BMC Remedyforce) are all powered by
metadata. There are two different forms of metadata within the Remedyforce environment: 1) metadata that is part of the Remedyforce
Managed Package and 2) metadata that is not (custom metadata). Some of the items which are part of the Remedyforce Managed
Package, if manipulated or changed, will not necessarily move from your sandbox environment to your production environment because it is
part of the Remedyforce Managed Package. This Metadata is restricted from being manipulated by BMC. For example, if you make a
change to a field set within your sandbox environment and try to promote it to production, it will not be available because it is restricted by
BMC as part of the Managed Package. The other form of metadata is custom metadata. This includes all the custom fields, custom
workflows, custom field sets, etc. that could be promoted to your production environment.
We will discuss later in this white paper the process to move metadata via change sets.
Data
In BMC Remedyforce, many of the configurations that are performed within Remedyforce are considered data. This includes Categories,
Templates, Service Requests, Impact, Urgency, Priority, Quickviews and others. Sometimes it is not clear to administrators that this data can
be moved easily from the sandbox environment to the production environment. Before the Winter 15 release of Remedyforce, administrators
would have to either use data loader to export/import this data or recreate it manually. With the Winter 15 release, we now have a Pentaho
Migration package that can do this for you.
We will discuss later in this white paper the process to move data via the new Pentaho Package.
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes – Configuration of your Sandbox
The creation of a sandbox is fairly simple and straight-forward. We will walk you through the creation of a Developer sandbox in the steps below:
Step 1: Click on Setup > Deploy > Sandboxes
Step 2: After you select sandboxes, another screen will which explains the types of sandboxes that are available to your organization. In the screenshot
below, you can see that there is only 1 Developer sandbox available for creation.
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Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
After you select New Sandbox, you will be provided with some information about each of the types of sandboxes.
Step 3: Now you will need to Name your sandbox and select Create. The name of the sandbox will be used in the login information for users. For
example, the sandbox name below is Sandbox, so the login will be [email protected].
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Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
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After you select create, you will be taken to the screen to show that it is pending creation.
Once the sandbox is created, the individual who created the sandbox will receive an email with specific information about the sandbox letting them
know that it has been created and ready for use.
If you refresh the screen that you were on when creating the sandbox, you will now see that the status is completed and it will give you the ability to
login to the sandbox. Again, your login will be [email protected]. You will use the same password that you use in your production
environment.
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Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes – Migrating Metadata
Moving metadata from the sandbox environment to your production environment is not a complicated process. This is done via Change Sets. You will
need to ensure that you have the deployment connection settings to determine which way you would like the migration process to work by going to
Setup > Deploy > Deployment Settings. It can go from the production environment to the sandbox environment, from the sandbox environment to the
production environment, or it can go bi-directionally. Once you have this connection set up, you will have the ability to move the metadata between
environments.
Figure 1 - Deployment Connection
Outbound Change Sets
Outbound Change Sets determine your source metadata that you are looking to migrate. Below is a table of all the available components that you can
add to an Outbound Change Set to move from one environment to another.
Account Criteria Based Sharing Rule
Account Owner Sharing Rule
Account Territory Owner Sharing Rule
Action (includes object-oriented quick actions
and global quick actions)
Action Link Group Template
Reporting Snapshot
Apex Class
Apex Sharing Reason
Apex Trigger
App
Approval Process (with some restrictions)
Assignment Rule
Auth. Provider
AutoResponse Rule
Button or Link
Call Center
Campaign Criteria Based Sharing Rule
Campaign Owner Sharing Rule
Case Criteria Based Sharing Rule
Case Owner Sharing Rule
Communities (Zones)
Compact Layout
Contact Criteria Based Sharing Rule
Contact Owner Sharing Rule
CORS Whitelist Origin
Custom Data Type
Custom Field
Custom Label (Not renamed labels of standard
objects. For more information, see Custom
Labels Overview.)
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Custom Object
Custom Object Criteria Sharing Rule
Custom Object Owner Sharing Rule
Custom Report Type
Opportunity Owner Sharing Rule
Page Layout
Permission Set
Post Templates for Approvals in Chatter
Custom Setting
Dashboard
Document
Email Template
Entitlement Process
Entitlement Template
External Data Source
Escalation Rule
Field Set
Lightning Page
Flow
Folder
Group
Home Page Component
Home Page Layout
Letterhead
Language Translation
Lead Criteria Based Sharing Rule
Lead Owner Sharing Rule
List View
Matching Rule
Milestone
Named Credential
Opportunity Criteria Based Sharing Rule
Queue
Record Type
Remote Site
Report
Role
S-Control
Send Action
Sharing Set
Site.com
Static resource
Tab
Territory
User Criteria Based Sharing Rule
User Membership Based Sharing Rule
Validation Rule
Visualforce Component
Visualforce Page
Workflow Email Alert
Workflow Field Update
Workflow Outbound Message
Workflow Rule
Workflow Task
Workflow Time Trigger
Copyright BMC Software, Inc. 2015
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
The main types or components of metadata that you will move from one environment to another are: Custom Fields, Workflow Rules, Workflow Email
Alerts, Workflow Field Updates, Workflow Time Triggers, Validation Rules, Custom Labels and Email Templates.
The following steps will guide you in creating the change sets:
Step 1: Go to Setup >Deploy >Outbound Change Sets and Select New
Step 2: Name the Change Set accordingly and select Save. We recommend that you name them based on the component that you are wishing to
move to the other environment.
Step 3: Now you want to add your Change Set Components that you would like to move. Select Add and you will go to the next screen that allows you
to select those components.
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Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
Step 4: Select the component by hitting the dropdown window at the top of the page. This will allow you to see what is available to be moved based on
each component. Select the items you wish to move. You can see here that we are moving custom fields for 5 different objects. Select Add To Change
Set once you have all your selections made.
Step 5: After you have added all the items, you want to see if there are any dependencies for these items. If there are, you can add them there at this
time. An example of a dependency would be an email template for a workflow email alert.
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Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
Step 6: Once you have check to see if there are any dependencies, you can upload the changes. If you have more than one target organization
available, you can select which organization you would like to upload to. Select the Radio Button, then select Upload.
Step 7: You will receive a notification that say “Your Upload is currently in progress. We’ll send you an email when it’s complete.”
This is the email notification you receive once it has been completed.
Inbound Change Sets
Inbound Change sets are considered your destination data and give you the ability to either Validate or Deploy to the environment to which you are
wishing to move.
Step 1: To deploy your Inbound Change Set you will need to go to Setup > Deploy > Inbound Change Sets. This will show you what change sets you
have available for you to deploy to this environment. It also gives you information about the source organization and who uploaded it as well.
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Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
Step 2: Click on the name of the Change Set. This will take you into the components of the change set that you wish to deploy to your production
environment. Select Deploy once you are sure that these are the components you want to deploy.
You will receive a warning about deploying the change set. Select OK. You will then receive another message stating that the change set is deploying.
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Copyright BMC Software, Inc. 2015
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes
Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
After receiving that message, you will be taken back to the Change Set Detail screen and you will see that the Deployment has started. You can select
Deployment Status to see the results.
This will provide the results of whether the deployment was successful or if it failed.
Once you check the status to make sure it was successful, all of the components that you wanted migrated will be available in the objects in which they
were created.
Understanding Remedyforce Sandboxes – Migrating Data
Migrating data from your sandbox to production environment (or vice versa) used to be a manual task. With the release of Winter 15, there has been a
new feature that has been added to assist with this data migration. Not only can you move it from one environment to another, you can move it from
one organization to another. Following is an excerpt from the BMC Remedyforce help files (wiki.remedyforce.com) that explains how to migrate data
from one environment to another. Please note additional links to wiki documentation embedded in the instructions.
Overview of Pentaho Packages
Pentaho packages, provided on the BMC Communities website, enable you to import the following data:
 Categories

Templates

Request Definitions

Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

QuickViews

Basic configurations, including: status, impact, urgency, priority
Note: If you have different default statuses in your Salesforce organization and migrated organization, after migration, the default
status of the migrated organization is retained. If you do not want the default status of the migrated organization, perform one of the
following actions:
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-Before migrating the data, remove the mapping of the BMCServiceDesk__defaultStatus__c field
-After migrating the data, open the default status of the migrated organization and clear the Default Status check box
(Remedyforce Administration > Configure Application > Status)
The Pentaho packages provided by BMC are created using two types of files, Transformation Files (KJT) and Job Files (KJB). The
transformation files contain all the scripts and connection entries and the job files run multiple transformation files. The following table lists
folders included in the zip file on the BMC Communities website, the KJB file available in each folder, and the objects that are imported
during data import.
Folder name
KJB file name
Category
CategoryMigrationJob
Template
Service RequestDefinition
SLA
QuickView
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Objects imported

Category

Category types
TemplateModuleMigration
ServiceRequestMigration
SLAMigration
QuickViewMigration

Templates

Template Field Info

Template Linking

Entitlements

Fulfillment Inputs

Fulfillment Mappings

Process Template

Request Definition
This object stores data that is shown on the General Information tab of a
request definition.

Agreement
This object stores data that is shown on the General Information tab of an
SLA.

SLA Account Link

SLA Relation

Service Target

Service Target Criteria

SLA Milestone

SLA Milestone Action

QV Folder

QV Query
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
QV FolderMapping

QV FieldInfo

QV Conditions

QV FolderAccess

QV PageReference

QV ObjectFieldMapping

QV CalenderView

QV ChartView

QV FormatRule

QV FormatCondition

QV FormatAction
Table 1 - Pentaho Folders and Files
BMC recommends that you import individual KJB files in a specified order. Another KJB file, CombinedJobs.kjb (not listed in the preceding
table), is provided to import data in the correct order for all possible configurations. This file is at the same level as the folders. For
information about the order in which to import KJB files, see To import data from another Salesforce organization.
Before You Begin…
Before importing data, you should perform the following actions:
Action
Description
Configure the object-level
differences
In the destination organization, configure the object-level differences of the source organization fields. For
example, in the source organization, you have added a custom field to the Category object. Add the same
custom field to the Category object in the destination organization. Ensure that field types of fields of the
object whose data you are importing are same in the source and destination organizations.
If you are importing data to or from a sandbox organization, you can deploy these differences by using
Salesforce change sets.
Tag the records of the
objects that you want to
import
You must select the Tag for Export check box. If this check box is not available on the UI, add the it to one
of the field sets of the object. For example, say that you created 20 new categories in your sandbox (the
source organization). To import these categories to your production organization (the destination
organization), tag them to be imported by using the Tag for Export check box.
If you tag records of an object for importing, data of the related objects is also imported. For example, if
you have marked Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for importing, data of the related objects, such as
Service Target, SLA Milestone, and so on, is also imported.
You can tag a record for export in one of the following ways:


Add or import linked data
that is required in the
destination organization
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Open the record, and select the Tag for Export check box.
Create a tab for the object whose data you are importing, such as Category. Create a new view, or edit the
existing view to include the Tag for Export check box. Edit multiple records, and select this field for all the required
records simultaneously.
Before you import data, ensure that all the required linked data is present in the destination organization.
For example, before importing request definitions, ensure that the services and service offerings are
present in the destination organization.
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Getting Started with Remedyforce Series
Mark related records for
importing
To import related records, ensure that you mark the related records for importing; otherwise, they are not
imported. For example, if you have marked an agreement for importing, but did not similarly mark related
agreements, the related agreements are not imported.
Import data of the custom
objects
If you have used a custom object field in templates, import the data of the custom object by using Data
Loader.
Import data of the Base
Elements and Base
Relationships objects
Use the Data Loader to import the data of these objects. This data ensures that you have all the services
and service offerings required to create request definitions.
Register at the BMC
Communities website
For more information, see the wiki article: Prerequisites for importing data to BMC Remedyforce.
Installing the JRE
For more information, see the wiki article: Prerequisites for importing data to BMC Remedyforce.
Download the Pentaho
Data Integration tool.
For more information, see the wiki article: Prerequisites for importing data to BMC Remedyforce.
To Import Data from another Salesforce Organization
Before importing data from another Salesforce organization, perform all of the actions in the document entitled: Before you begin.
Best Practices


For best results, import data in the following order:
1. Any custom status, urgency, priority, or impact, objects.
2. Category
3. Templates
4. Request Definitions
5. Service Level Agreements
6. QuickViews
If you need to reimport data, delete the imported data, and then import it again. If you do not delete the imported data before
reimporting it, the next import job will fail.
1.
Download the Pentaho job files from the BMC Communities page: https://communities.bmc.com/docs/DOC-33778
.
2.
To launch the Pentaho Data Integration tool, in the \pdi-ce-5.0.1.A-stable\data-integration folder, double-click the Spoon.bat file.
3.
Open the KJB file for the package that you want to import.
For example, to import categories, open the CategoryMigrationJob.kjb file from the Category folder.
Note: In the Job properties window of the QuickViews KJB file (QuickViewMigration.kjb), do not change the API versions in the values
of the SF_DESTINATION_ORG_APIURL and SF_SOURCE_ORG_APIURL parameters. The package does not work for other API
versions.
4.
In the KJB file, select Edit > Settings.
5.
In the Job Properties window, enter the username and password for the source and destination Salesforce organizations.
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Note: If your source or destination Salesforce organization is a sandbox, in the API URL of the Salesforce organization,
replace www with test. For example, in the https://www.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/25.0 URL, replace www with test. The
updated URL is https://test.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/25.0.
6.
Click
.
The following XLS files are created in the folder where you have unzipped the Pentaho packages downloaded from the BMC
Communities website:



<Object name>Collision: Lists the records that already exist in the destination Salesforce organization.
<Object name>Success: Lists the records that were successfully imported.
<Object name>Error: Lists the records that were not imported successfully.
Note: If you had mapped templates to profiles, the mapping is not imported. After importing data to the new Salesforce organization,
you must map the templates and profiles again.
In Summary
Making sure that you have an environment that you can configure and test new features or functionality is pivotal to ensuring your Remedyforce
environment is stable at all times. With the use of sandboxes, you can do all your testing in a separate environment without negatively impacting your
production environment and causing issues with your end users.
For more information on Remedyforce sandboxes, read the blog post by Joshua Green on Using Remedyforce with Salesforce Sandboxes.
BMC Remedyforce has an extremely active user community where you can get answers to additional questions on this topic. We encourage you to
take a look at bmc.com/communities.
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BMC delivers software solutions that help IT transform digital enterprises for the ultimate competitive business advantage. We have
worked with thousands of leading companies to create and deliver powerful IT management services. From mainframe to cloud to
mobile, we pair high-speed digital innovation with robust IT industrialization—allowing our customers to provide amazing user
experiences with optimized IT performance, cost, compliance, and productivity. We believe that technology is the heart of every
business, and that IT drives business to the digital age.
BMC – Bring IT to Life.