BMC Remedy Action Request System (also known as Remedy, AR System and ARS) is a client–server software application development environment from BMC Software

BMC Software

BMC Software, Inc. is a multinational corporation specializing in Business Service Management software, with record annual revenue in fiscal 2009 of $1.87 billion...

 (originally developed by Remedy Corporation). Action Request System uses a third party database (Sybase

Sybase

Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....

, MS SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...

, Oracle

Oracle database

The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....

, etc.) for storing data in tables. In addition, the database stores a set of metatables known as the data dictionary. These metatables contain the source code which tells the applications how to interact with the users and the data. Action Request System has an open API

Application programming interface

An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...

, a feature which allows users to create custom client tools and scripts that talk directly to the Action Request System.

Client tools

One or more client tools (or a custom client tool) is required for users to interact with the main component, AR Server, in any way. The clients communicate with the AR Server via the open API.

• BMC Remedy User
  AR System User
  Remedy User is a client software application developed by BMC Software that allows a user to interact with Action Request System based applications. With this software a user can submit, modify, and search records within Action Request System. It is a Windows based software and must be installed...
  
   - Used to submit, modify, and search records.
• BMC Remedy Administrator
  AR System Administrator
  AR System Administrator is a client application of Remedy's Action Request System. It is used exclusively for building, customizing, maintaining, and supporting AR System applications...
  
  , BMC Remedy Developer Studio - Used to create and modify forms and workflow
  Workflow
  A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
  
   object and manage system configuration.
• BMC Remedy Mid-Tier
  AR Mid-Tier
  BMC Remedy Mid-Tier is a server component in the Action Request System architecture produced by BMC Software. It is designed to serve ARS applications and related items across the Internet and make them accessible for web based clients....
  
   - Web based user client.
• BMC Remedy Import
  AR System Import
  AR System Import is a fat client for Remedy's Action Request System that is used to import data. Only administrators of the AR System are allowed to use the import tool. The import tool uses the merge action of the AR API to create entries from a .arx or .csv file...
  
   - Used to import data in to system.
• BMC Remedy Alert - Used to send instant notifications to users.

Objects in Action Request System

• Forms

Forms are used to enter or view data in the system. Each form's data is placed into a table in the database. 'Join' forms link tables together, and 'View' and 'Vendor' forms allow access to external data sources..

• Active Links

Active links are workflow

Workflow

A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...

 objects of the Action Request System that fire on the client-side of the application. Active links can perform multiple automated tasks, including running external processes, retrieving data from other tables, and pushing data to other tables.

• Filters

Filters are server-side workflow

Workflow

A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...

 objects. They have fewer firing condition possibilities and possible actions than Active Links, but can perform many of the same actions and, as server side objects, they are not subjected to permissions. Filters are used mainly for enforcing business rules.

• Escalations

Escalations are timed filters. They will fire on either an interval or at a predefined set of date(s)/time(s).

• Guides

Guides allow the administrator to bundle workflow

Workflow

A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...

 objects (Active Links or Filters) into functions, ignoring execution order and firing conditions (but not qualifications).

• Applications

Applications permit administrators to group forms and workflow together logically. One type of applications, Deployable Applications, also permit you to package and share your application, easily migrating it to another server.

• Packing lists

Packing lists allow administrator-defined grouping of functional units.

Applications of Action Request System

Following is a list of some of the applications (sets of forms and related workflow) built within the Action Request System framework.

• BMC Atrium CMDB (previously linked to CMDB
  CMDB
  A configuration management database is a repository of information related to all the components of an information system. It contains the details of the configuration items in the IT infrastructure. Although repositories similar to CMDBs have been used by IT departments for many years, the term...
  
  )
• BMC Service Request Management (previously linked to self-service
  Self-service
  Self service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when purchasing items. Common examples include many gas stations, where the customer pumps their own gas rather than have an attendant do it...
  
  )
• BMC Remedy Help Desk (previously linked to Helpdesk)
• BMC Remedy Service Desk: Incident Management (previously linked to Service Desk (ITSM)
  Service Desk (ITSM)
  A Service Desk is a primary IT service called for in IT service management as defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library . It is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact to meet the communication needs of both Users and IT employees. But also to satisfy both Customer and IT...
  
  )
• BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management (previously linked to Service Desk (ITSM)
  Service Desk (ITSM)
  A Service Desk is a primary IT service called for in IT service management as defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library . It is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact to meet the communication needs of both Users and IT employees. But also to satisfy both Customer and IT...
  
  )
• BMC Remedy Change Management (previously linked to Service Desk (ITSM)
  Service Desk (ITSM)
  A Service Desk is a primary IT service called for in IT service management as defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library . It is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact to meet the communication needs of both Users and IT employees. But also to satisfy both Customer and IT...
  
  )
• BMC Remedy Customer Support (previously linked to Customer Support
  Customer support
  Customer support is a range of customer services to assist customers in making cost effective and correct use of a product. It includes assistance in planning, installation, training, trouble shooting, maintenance, upgrading, and disposal of a product....
  
  )
• BMC Service Level Management (previously linked to Service Level Management)
• BMC Remedy Asset Configuration Management (previously linked to Asset management)
• ExpertDesk
  ExpertDesk
  ExpertDesk is developed by Mansystems B.V. of The Netherlands.ExpertDesk is a service management solution, based on the ITIL philosophy, and compliant with ITIL-related process models like ISM and IPW...
  
  

History

Remedy Corp.
The Company was incorporated on November 20, 1990 in Delaware Headquarters Mountain View, California, USA.
Key people: Larry Garlick - Founder & CEO, Dave Mahler - VP Marketing, and Doug Mueller - Chief Architect Version 1.0.

Action Request System 1.1 -- Approx. Nov 1992

Action Request System 2.0 -- 1993

Action Request System 2.1 -- 1994

Action Request System 3.0 -- 1996

Action Request System 3.1 -- May 1997

Action Request System 3.2 -- Sep 1998

Action Request System 3.2.1 -- 1998

Action Request System 4.0 -- Jan 1999 Improved installation process and user interface.  Improvements to Fields, Objects and Workflow, and added various other features to the Remedy Administrator.

Action Request System 4.0.1 -- Sep 1999

Action Request System 4.0.2 -- Jun 1999

Action Request System 4.0.3 -- Nov 1999

Action Request System 4.5 -- May 26, 2000

• Improved installation process
• Enhanced performance and stability of the Remedy User
• Added functionality to the Remedy Administrator
• Enhanced logging functionality - records the appropriate logging (API, filter, or SQL) to the status list, and returns the log via each API call until you request a stop. You can specify getting the log directly or having the log written to a specific file.
• Provides hooks for building interfaces to allow it to authenticate against external directories.
• Groups together interrelated objects specific to an application on a packing list.  Modifies or deletes these objects through an editor in Remedy Administrator.
• Gives server logs maximum sizes and can be configured to be circular logs.
• Associates properties like version tags, version information, and labels.
• Has no constraints on the number of server threads; customers can use as many as their database and system resources can support.
• Extends the business time functionality by adding the Application-Bus-Time-Subtract command.

Action Request System 4.5.1 Maintenance -- Jun 30, 2000

Action Request System 4.5.2 Maintenance -- Feb 14, 2000

Action Request System 5.0 with Web and Windows clients -- Dec 10, 2001

Action Request System 5.0.1 -- Mar 15, 2002

Action Request System 5.1 -- Sep 11, 2002

Action Request System 5.1.2 Maintenance -- Oct 17, 2003

Action Request System 6.0 -- Feb 6, 2004

Action Request System 6.03 -- Jan 2005

Action Request System 7.0 -- May 9, 2006

Action Request System 7.0.01 -- Oct 6, 2006

Action Request System 7.1.00 -- Aug 31, 2007

Action Request System 7.5.00 -- Jan 16, 2009

Action Request System 7.6.03 -- Fall 2010

Action Request System 7.6.04 -- December 2010

External links

• BMC
• ARSList - An independent community of Action Request System users.
• MattReinfeldt.com Online resources for Remedy Administrators and Developers, to include ARSList archives, utilities, and presentations from past Remedy User Group meetings (2004, 2005, and 2006).
• ERDF - Remedy AR System Developers Forum
• Overlays in ARS 7.6.04 Tutorial - Preserving Customizations with Overlays & Custom Objects in AR System 7.6.04