Import components and their vendors from IT-Pedia®

IT-Pedia® is a comprehensive IT product library that provides an up-to-date source of data about IT products of all types including, for example, hardware, software, and network devices. Alfabet FastLane provides an out-of-the-box integration with IT-Pedia that allows you to import components and the vendors that supply them to the Alfabet FastLane repository.

The IT-Pedia Model Catalog as well as the My Product Catalog are available for IT-Pedia integration. When an IT product is imported form IT-Pedia, it is imported as a component. Components and vendors already imported from IT-Pedia can be synchronized on a periodic and ad-hoc basis.

The following data will be imported with the component:

• Start and end dates: The following table shows the mapping of the IT-Pedia product dates to the attributes for components in Alfabet FastLane.

  IT-Pedia Product Date	Alfabet FastLane Component
  Release Date	Start Date
  End of Extended Support	End Date

• Lifecycle: The component lifecycle will be automatically created based on the lifecycle data in IT-Pedia. Components created based on IT-Pedia products may have the lifecycle phase Manufacturer Support or Manufacturer Extended Support. The following columns show in the IT-Pedia selector are relevant for mapping dates and lifecycle phases to Alfabet FastLane components:

  lifecycle

  The lifecycle describes the planned schedule of a current real-world object in different lifecycle phases of a product. Lifecycle phases will be different depending on the object class. Lifecycle phases for an application are Pilot, Production, Retired, and Sunset.

  • Release Date
  • End of Support
  • End of Extended Support

  The table shows how these IT-Pedia product dates are mapped to the start and end dates of the component lifecycle phases in Alfabet FastLane.

  IT-Pedia Product Date	Alfabet FastLane Component
  Release Date	Start date of lifecycle phase Manufacturer Support. The component's Start Date is the same date as the start date of the component's lifecycle phase Manufacturer Support .
  End of Support	End date of lifecycle phase Manufacturer Support.
  End of Support	Start date of lifecycle phase Manufacturer Extended Support.
  End of Extended Support	End date of lifecycle phase Manufacturer Extended Support. The component's End Date is the same date as the end date of the component's lifecycle phase Extended Manufacturer Support.

  Rules will apply about what shall happen when there are no dates in the relevant columns for IT-Pedia products.

  The following values may be displayed in the IT-Pedia Product selector:

  IT-Pedia Value	Meaning	Rule to Set Dates in Alfabet FastLane
  Expired	The product is no longer supported and the exact date is not known.	If no start or end dates exist for the component, the Start Date is set to the start of the last year and the End Date is set to the end of last year. If a start or end date already exists for a component, a lifecycle phase Manufacturer Support will be created using the same rule to create the lifecycle phase's start and end date.
  Discontinued	The product is no longer sold/distributed and the exact End of Sale date (which has passed) is not known.	If no start or end dates exist for the component, the Start Date is set to the start of the last year and the End Date is set to the end of last year. If a start or end date already exists for a component, a lifecycle phase Manufacturer Support will be created using the same rule to create the lifecycle phase's start and end date.
  Not Applicable	The product does not have the related date because the product is one where no date would be relevant per manufacturer.	The Start Date and End Date will remain undefined (NULL).
  Not Yet Announced	The product has been researched and the publisher has not released or provided any public end-of-life data.	The Start Date and End Date will remain undefined (NULL).
  Indefinite	The support for this product has no specific end date.	The Start Date and End Date will remain undefined (NULL).
  Not Yet Published	The product was researched but the manufacturer/publisher did not publish the date.	The Start Date and End Date will remain undefined (NULL).
  Pending Research	The product has not been fully researched to confirm the date.	The Start Date and End Date will remain undefined (NULL).
  Unprocessed	The product has been added to ITMC Lifecycle™, but has not been synced to IT-Pedia yet.	Ignored
  Known	The product has been researched and a related date was published. Applies to ITMC Lifecycle only.	Ignored

• Vendors: The vendor that supplies the component will be specified based on the Manufacturer of the imported product. If the vendor already exists in the repository, the vendor will be automatically associated with the component. If the vendor does not yet exist in the repository, it will be automatically added to the repository along with the new component based on the Manufacturer.

Import components and vendors from IT-Pedia. In the navigation panel, go to Components to open the data workbench for components.

1. Click the three vertical dots  button in the right corner of the toolbar and select Import from IT-Pedia.
2. Specify whether you want the data to be imported from Model Catalog or My Product Catalog.
3. Click the Update button to fill the selector with initial data.
4. You can use the following fields to enter search criteria to find the IT products to add to Alfabet FastLane. You can enter the name or just part of the name.
   • Product: Enter the name or part of the name of the products you want to find.
   • Version: Add the version number to limit the results found based on the product name.
   • Edition: Add the edition to limit the results found based on the product name.
   • Manufacturer: Enter the name or part of the name of the manufacturer of the products.
   • Model: Enter the product model name to find the products.

Review the IT-Pedia product data for components. Components that have been imported from IT-Pedia will be added to the Components data workbench.

• Click Structure and select relevant columns for various IT-Pedia product attributes such as Product Name, Product ID, Manufacturer Name, Manufacture ID, Model Name, and Model ID.
• You can add columns to the data workbench to ensure that your components and IT-Pedia are aligned:
  • To ensure that a component is kept-up-to-date with information in IT-Pedia, click Structure and select IT-Pedia Enrichment. In the IT-Pedia Enrichment column, select Yes if the component shall be included via the update job that runs daily.
  • To ensure that the My Product Catalog is also updated with the component data in Alfabet FastLane, click Structure and select Synchronize with IT-Pedia. In the Sycnhronize with IT-Pedia column, select Yes if the component shall be included when you trigger synchronization via   > Synchronize with IT-Pedia.
• You can view a composite of all information about the IT-Pedia product that a component is based on. In the data table, click the navigate  button of the component you want to view. In the content area, click More > IT-Pedia Data to view all relevant information about the IT-Pedia product.

Review the IT-Pedia product data for vendors. Vendors that have been imported from IT-Pedia will be added to the Vendors data workbench.

Synchronize the My Product Catalog in IT-Pedia with your component data.

Typically a scheduled batch job will run daily in the background to synchronize component information in the My Product Catalog. You can also trigger the synchronization on an ad-hoc basis at any time.

1. Ensure that the Synchronize with IT-Pedia column is displayed in the data workbench and select Yes for the components that shall be included when you trigger synchronization.
2. Click the three vertical dots  button in the right corner of the toolbar and select Synchronize with IT-Pedia.

The products used to create components in Alfabet FastLane will be updated in My Product Catalog in IT-Pedia. The component's start and end date as well as lifecycle and vendor information will be updated. Components that have been deleted in the repository will also be deleted from My Product Catalog.

Merge duplicate components.Duplicate components can be merged to a selected component.

1. Click the three vertical dots  button in the right corner of the toolbar and select Merge Duplicate Components.
2. A window opens showing a list of duplicate components based on the IT-Pedia ID. Select a component that shall be the master component and click OK. The master component will remain in the repository and the other components will be deleted. Any local components, platform elements, or IT capabilities assigned to the deleted components will be moved to the new master component.
3. Click the three vertical dots  button and select Synchronize with IT-Pedia to delete the components in IT-Pedia and update the My Product Catalog.