Understanding Enterprise Attributes

Enterprise attributes are attributes mapped from the enterprise identity management system (commonly LDAP) configured for Servigistics InService. For information on configuring enterprise attributes for use with profiles and service groups, see Mapping User Enterprise Attributes.

When a user is initially added toServigistics InService, they are automatically added to profiles and service groups based on their enterprise attributes. The values of the user’s enterprise attributes are checked against the enterprise attribute defined on the profiles and service groups in the system. If the new user’s enterprise attribute values match those defined on a given profile or service group, the user is automatically added to that profile or service group.

The enterprise attribute values for users are automatically refreshed to match their attributes in the enterprise identity management system at regular intervals, as determined by the Automatic User Synchronization > Refresh Interval in Hours and Refresh Start Time preferences (These preferences are set by the Servigistics InService administrator, and are not visible within service groups). The enterprise attributes for an individual user can be refreshed as needed by clicking Refresh when viewing the user details in the Users utility.

When the Automatic User Synchronization > Enable user-profile synchronizationpreference is set to True (the default), the automatic synchronization of users and profiles, based on enterprise attributes, is enabled for the system (This preference is set by the Servigistics InService administrator, and is not visible within service groups). Any profile which has attributes defined on the Attributes tab can turn on this synchronization by selecting the Enable enterprise attributes synchronization checkbox. If no attributes are specified for the profile, the checkbox is disabled. To disable the synchronization for the profile, clear the Enable enterprise attributes synchronization checkbox.

User membership in the profile, based on enterprise attributes, is automatically synchronized at regular intervals, as determined by the values of the Automatic User Synchronization > Refresh Interval in Hours and Refresh Start Time preferences. During the synchronization, the enterprise attributes of all users in the system are checked and compared with the enterprise attribute currently defined for the profile. Users with matching enterprise attributes are added as members of the profile, while any users who are members of the profile whose enterprise attributes no longer match the profile are removed from profile membership. If there are users who have been explicitly added to a profile and should not be removed by the synchronization, disable the synchronization for that profile.

The synchronization of user membership in profiles happens at the time specified in the Refresh Start Time preference, after the interval specified in the Refresh Interval in Hours has passed. The system default for these preferences is for the first synchronization to happen at 2 a.m., 48 hours after installation. If the values for these preferences are changed, the new values take effect only after the initial synchronization based on the original default values has taken place.

Enterprise attributes are used to automatically add users to service groups only when a user is initially added to Servigistics InService. Create and define your service groups before adding users to the system, to take advantage of this automatic service group membership functionality for newly added users.

Changes made to the enterprise attributes defined on a service group do not impact users already present in Servigistics InService, nor are users updated automatically when new service groups are added to the system. In these cases, users must be explicitly added or removed from service groups as needed.