Migrate Knowledge Base Articles from Service Manager 2010 to 2012

To help ease the migration between Service Manager 2010 and 2012 (or even just one management group to another!) I've created a script that will export all of the Knowledge Articles, including the Rich Text used for the Analyst and End User content.

You can find the script here on the TechNet Gallery:
http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Migrate-Knowledge-Base-15b81ab6

Download and extract the zip file and put the SCSMExportKB.ps1 file in a directory you have access to.

The script also relies on the SMLets from CodePlex found here which also makes this independent of which version of Service Manager you're running.

After you've installed the SMLets, launch a PowerShell session (Elevated as Admin) and ensure that the execution of scripts is allowed by typing:
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

Next navigate to the folder with the script and run it with the paramerter of where to export the KB Articles to.  If you do not specify a path it will default to exporting the KB Articles to the users temp folder.

For example I would run this to export to my downloads folder:

.\SCSMExportKB.ps1 C:\Users\SBAdmin\Downloads

The script will then start running and you will see the progress of it exporting to RTF files any Analyst or End User content and then the rest of the KB Article details.

 



Copy these exported files to the same location on the target server (or modify the csv to point to a new location) and then use the KBImport.xml provided in the zip file along with the Knowledge.csv created by the PowerShell script to import them into the target Service Manager system using the CSV Import Wizard.

N.B. Before you do the import, be sure to remove the first line of the CSV which has the headers in it!

 

And that should be that, one set of exported and imported Knowledge Articles.

 

There is one limitation however...

In this current version only the Out-Of-Box lists are supported.  I'm working on the script to handle custom list values and will update the solution when it's automated.  Until then you will need to find the enumeration ID's from your target site and replace the source ID's in the CSV file with the corresponding ones.

 

I'd also like to thank Anton Gritsenko (aka FreemanRU) for pointing me in the right direction for this script.

Importing data into Service Manager 2010 using CSV imports

A question was asked by Peter the other day on the TechNet Gallery regarding importing data into the Asset Management Solution that I uploaded.
http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Asset-Management-d06aff1f/view/Discussions

It’s very easy to do, and hopefully this post will explain how for those that don’t know.

Imports can be performed using the “Import from CSV file…” task found in the console under Administration>Connectors.

To be able to import you need two files.

a)      An XML file that defines the columns in the CSV and the related class & properties

b)      A CSV file containing the data you want to import

For this example I’ll use the Network Infrastructure class as that was the one Peter asked about, but same procedure applies to any Service Manager class.

Let’s start with the CSV.

The Network Infrastructure class is built from inheriting the Asset Management Base class with the Network Infrastructure properties added on top:

Asset Management Base Class

Property ID	Type	Key	List Used
EquipmentType	enum	True	AssetManagementEquipmentTypes.Enum
Manufacturer	enum	False	AssetManagementManufacturerAndModel.Enum
Model	enum	False	AssetManagementManufacturerAndModel.Enum
SerialNumber	String	False
EquipmentCost	Decimal	False
OrderNumber	String	False
Supplier	enum	False	AssetManagementSuppliers.Enum
SupplierReferenceNumber	String	False
GoodsReceivedDate	datetime	False
WarrantyExpirationDate	datetime	False
InstallDeliveryDate	datetime	False
Department	enum	False	AssetManagementOrganisationalList.Enum
Directorate	enum	False	AssetManagementOrganisationalList.Enum
Section	String	False
Location	enum	False	AssetManagementLocations.Enum
ServiceDeskRef	string	False

 Network Infrastructure Class

Property ID	Type	Key	List Used
AssetTag	Int	True
MaintenanceContractReferenceNumber	String	False
MaintenanceExpiryDate	Datetime	False

In this example I’m going to import some data for:

Equipment Type (This is a Key so MUST have data in the CSV)
Asset Tag (This is a Key so MUST have data in the CSV)
Manufacturer
Model
Serial Number
Supplier
Maintenance Contract Reference Number
Maintenance Expiry Date

You could build the CSV file using the friendly display names of the equipment, but I prefer to use the enum values as this cuts down on the amount of false errors shown during import.

To get the enums, either open the xml of the management pack and search for them, or use the brilliant little tool ListGuids.exe by Rob Ford.http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Tool-to-list-Guids-of-e33ca89b

N.B. If you’re adding your own equipment types, manufactures, models etc, these must all be added, BEFORE you attempt to import.

For Equipment Type I’ll be using AssetManagementEquipmentTypes.NetworkInfrastructure.Switch.Enum as the six items are all switches.
For Manufacturer I’ll be using AssetManagementManufacturerAndModel.Cisco.Enum as the six items are made by Cisco.

For Model I’ll be using AssetManagementManufacturerAndModel.Cisco.Switch.WSC355048PSS.Enum and AssetManagementManufacturerAndModel.Cisco.Switch.WSC356024PSS.Enum as the six items are a mixture.

Serial Numbers are unique.

Supplier is using AssetManagementSuppliers.ComputaCentre.Enum

Maintenance Contract Reference Number and Maintenance Expiry Date are unique/random for the devices.

So, for this example the CSV would look something like this:

Next the XML file needs creating to define the columns used and the classes/properties being referenced.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CSVImportFormat>
      <Class Type="NetworkInfrastructureAsset">
                <Property ID="EquipmentType" />
                <Property ID="AssetTag"/>
                <Property ID="Manufacturer" />
                <Property ID="Model" />
                <Property ID="SerialNumber"/>
                <Property ID="Supplier" />
                <Property ID="MaintenanceContractReferenceNumber" />
                <Property ID="MaintenanceExpiryDate" />
      </Class>
</CSVImportFormat>

The Class Type defines the class within Service Manager to target the import at, in this example the “Network Infrastructure Asset” class.
The Property ID’s then define what each of the columns in the CSV represent.

And it’s as simple as that!

Finally to import the data, click the “Import from CSV file…” task from connectors, and use the browse buttons to select the XML file and Data (CSV) file.

Hopefully, it should import them all just fine.

As I’ve already said, this can be used for any class/property, both OOB and extended.

You can also import things like asset custodians and other relationships by modifying the XML to include SEED properties, but I’ll save that for another post.

I've uploaded the CSV and XML to my skydrive for you to download and play with.

http://cid-d130da82a6555249.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/NetworkInfrastructureAssetImport.zip

A list of classes and properties for the Asset Management solution can be found in the documentation included in the Asset Management zip file.