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# ValueEdge Integration Hub

This topic describes the purpose of the ValueEdge Integration Hub and how to use it with ValueEdge. The ValueEdge Integration Hub is currently only supported with Atlassian Jira. For details about other ValueEdge modules, see the ValueEdge Help Center.

For initial assistance, see Get more help.

In this topic:

## Overview

Micro Focus's ValueEdge Integration Hub allows you to synchronize data from sources external to ValueEdge, with ValueEdge. The ValueEdge Integration Hub is currently only supported with Atlassian Jira.

The technology used for the ValueEdge Integration Hub is Micro Focus Connect Core.

The ValueEdge Integration Hub uses a subset of the Micro Focus Connect Core capabilities to provide ValueEdge with external data to process and analyze. This integration scenario is limited as it is uni-directional, as it excludes data not relevant to the ValueEdge analytics engine, such as rich-text descriptions, comments, attachments, and many custom fields. For details, see Introducing Micro Focus Connect.

Not all ValueEdge integration scenarios are supported by the Integration Hub. The scope of the integration hub is a simple data synchronization scenario. The data is limited to what is explicitly needed for ValueEdge analytics.

In-scope fields and scenarios

The following fields are in the scope of the ValueEdge Integration Hub: name/title/subject, story points, phase/status, priority, severity, several date fields, and fields or links that represent relations between items.

In addition, the ValueEdge Integration Hub deployment includes customer-specific fields which can influence the calculation of waste time in ValueEdge, such as the triggering of business rules in ValueEdge, or providing source values for calculated fields.

The following scenarios are in-scope:

- Integration with agile management tools.

- Integration with defect/issue/ticketing management systems.

- Integration with test management systems.

- Integration with requirement management systems.

- Integration with strategic portfolio management systems.

For more information about the Micro Focus Connect Core, not specific to ValueEdge scenarios, browse this Help Center or click one of the following links:

- Micro Focus Connect Core

- Micro Focus Connect Connectors

- Micro Focus Connect Core SAP Solution Manager

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## Deployment roadmap

This section provides a high-level overview of the required steps for using the ValueEdge Integration Hub.

Caution: Refer to the Prerequisites for the ValueEdge Integration Hub. The prerequisites are mandatory—not just recommendations.

1. Request your customer-specific SaaS instance of the ValueEdge Integration Hub. Typically, the provisioning requires 1-2 business days.

2. For integration with on-premises systems, the provisioning can take up to several days or weeks, depending on the requirements of your corporate network team and infrastructure. The extended provisioning time is a result of the need to establish a network connection between the SaaS-based ValueEdge system and your on-premises system.

3. Determine access information and credentials for the systems to be integrated and for the ValueEdge system. These credentials should be system accounts—not personal user accounts.

4. Check the Prerequisites and execute preparatory configuration tasks in the systems to be integrated. Configure the ValueEdge Integration Hub for synchronization of data between one ValueEdge workspace and a single Jira project on your system. This task is critical, as an incorrect configuration can lead to the unwanted creation of multiple duplicate data entities. Execute and thoroughly test the configuration.

5. Create configurations for each remaining workspace-to-project pair that are to be integrated. Execute and test the configurations.

6. Monitor and adapt the data synchronization on an ongoing basis. If the data schema is modified in one of the systems, the configurations might need to be updated, for example, when modifying the available entries of the Status/Phase field.

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## Prepare for the integration

This section describes how to prepare for the integration of Micro Focus ValueEdge and Atlassian Jira.

Prerequisites

Before you begin working with the Integration Hub, make sure that you have:

- Solid knowledge of the ValueEdge system, its analytics engine, and all its customizations. This is a mandatory requirement.

- Solid knowledge of the Jira system, its add-ons, and its data schema customizations. This is a mandatory requirement.

- An Atlassian Jira project with agile capabilities enabled. The Jira projects must have the ability to create and utilize Jira agile boards.

- A SaaS instance of the ValueEdge Integration Hub provisioned by Micro Focus Saas team. Request your customer-specific instance of the ValueEdge Integration Hub using a Micro Focus SaaS MyAccount Service Request. Every customer is entitled to one instance free of charge. You can request additional Integration Hub instances, subject to an annual subscription charge. Typically, provisioning takes 1-2 business days.

  Note: This instance is subject to some limitations, for example the number of active allowed connections. For details, refer to the SaaS Service description that you received when you applied for the SaaS service subscription.

- Initial setup assistance, through the ValueEdge on-boarding team at DL-Connect-OnBoarding@microfocus.com.

- For integration with a Jira on-premises system: A network connection between the SaaS-based ValueEdge system and your on-premises system. Open a support ticket with the Micro Focus SaaS network team and collaborate with your corporate network team to establish connectivity between the SaaS-based ValueEdge system and your on-premises Jira system, typically via a VPN link. This type of provisioning may take up to several weeks, depending on the network requirements and infrastructure.

- Authentication information for ValueEdge: API keys for all workspaces to be integrated. These credentials must be system accounts specifically created for use by the ValueEdge Integration Hub—not personal user accounts. Access rights level must be for workspace admin.

- Access information for Atlassian Jira in the form of a system account or API key. This account should be a system account specifically created for use by the Integration Hub—not a personal user account. Access rights must include the capability to create and modify agile boards. For details, contact your Jira administrator.

Preparatory steps for Jira

Follow these additional steps to configure your Jira environment for the integration:

1. Create a new Jira agile board in every Jira project to be integrated. This new agile board will be used exclusively by the ValueEdge Integration Hub. Do not try to reuse an existing board. For details and additional preparatory steps, see Prepare Jira for synchronization.

2. Configure Jira to roll-up user story points to the parent hierarchy level. By default, Jira epics do not roll-up the story points of all their descendant user stories. However, for ValueEdge integration, this roll-up is required. Jira automation rules and certain Jira add-ons can address this gap. For example, refer to the following Jira community posts:

   Community Post: Sum up story points to epic

   Community Post: How do you sum up story points to the epic using Jira automation

3. Optionally, change the agile hierarchy in Jira. ValueEdge analytics do not consider individual user stories. ValueEdge analytics process the next level in the agile hierarchy. In ValueEdge, the immediate parent is Features, whereas in a standard Jira system it is Epics. Several Jira add-ons allow you to change this agile hierarchy, for example to introduce Features in Jira. This customization requires Jira administrative rights.

4. Create a new custom field in Jira and add it to the appropriate Jira Create screen. The ValueEdge Integration Hub can only access Jira fields that are visible on the Jira Create screen.

5. Configure the Jira automation rules as described in the Jira community posts above, or through a Jira add-on.

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## Configure data sources

This section describes how to configure data sources for Micro Focus ValueEdge and Atlassian Jira.

The Integration Hub uses data sources to define access to the various product endpoints. These data sources are designed to be shared and reused, provided that the projects and workspaces have similar configurations, for example, the same custom fields, create screens, and so forth.

To configure a data source:

1. Log into your instance of the ValueEdge Integration Hub using the link and credentials that you received as part of the provisioning.

2. After a data source has been utilized at least once, it can no longer be deleted or renamed.

3. Navigate to the Data Sources tab.

4. Click the + Data Source link and select the ALM Octane type.

5. Configure the properties of the data source. Click Next to advance in the configuration.

6. For Shared Space ID and Sample Workspace, select the shared space and workspace that you want to use for integration.

7. Choose a Default Release For Sprints. This is a required field since ValueEdge requires that every release and sprint have a start and end date, with the sprint dates contained within the release date range. In Jira, sprints are independent from releases, and they can have empty start and end dates. This difference between ValueEdge and Jira cannot be fully reconciled—Jira sprints without start and end date cannot be synchronized to ValueEdge. If no release exists, it is recommended that you create a dedicated release in ValueEdge to enable a correct synchronization.

   The following example shows a complete ALM Octane / ValueEdge data source:

8. Save the data source.

9. Add a new data source of type Jira.

10. Enter the relevant information. If your Jira authentication mechanism is OAuth, contact the On-Boarding team or open a support ticket. For details, see Get more help.

11. For Sample Project Key with Name and Sample Project with Board, select the values for the synchronization.

    The following example shows a complete Atlassian Jira data source:

12. Save the data source.

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## Configure a connection

The Integration Hub uses connections to define the data synchronization between two data sources.

These connections can be reused, provided that the same data is being synchronized. For example, if you want to synchronize several Jira projects and ValueEdge workspaces with the same types, fields, and so forth, the connection can be shared and reused for multiple synchronizations.

To create a connection:

1. Navigate to the Connections tab, and click the Add Connection button, + Connection. The Connection wizard opens. Specify a meaningful name for your connection.

2. Select your ValueEdge/Octane data source as Master and the Jira data source as Target.

3. Set the Synchronization Frequency to a value between 1 to 4 hours (60 to 240 minutes). Running connections at shorter intervals does not provide better data quality to ValueEdge. It will, however, consume more resources, affecting the total number of connections that your instance will be able to support.

4. Click Next to navigate to the second page of the connection wizard, Types and Fields. This will take several seconds while the Integration Hub creates a default mapping for the available data types and their fields.

   If you encounter a warning that some field mappings require additional attention to properly complete the definition of their value maps, accept it. Value Maps are required for enumerated fields like single or multiple selection lists.

5. The auto-mapping process creates several type mappings. Collapse all of them, so that the individual field child mappings are hidden. Click the Disable button to disable all of the auto-generated mappings.

6. Set the Default Sync Direction to To Master, to indicate that you are synchronizing from Jira (Target) to ValueEdge (Master).

7. Click the Edit Value Map button to add and edit the data types and fields that are required for ValueEdge. These types and fields are not all predefined and fixed. The data schema customizations in ValueEdge, Jira, and Jira add-ons can be modified to indicate which data types and fields need to be synchronized.

   For ValueEdge, the impact of customizations on the required mapping is strictly limited – only custom fields that are used for business rules, waste calculation and waste categorization are relevant.

   For Jira, the scenario can be more varied. Some Jira add-ons can significantly change the Jira data schema and the general way in which Jira operates.

   The example below shows a minimum mapping for non-customized Jira and ValueEdge systems. All fields shown below on the Master/ValueEdge/Octane side, must be mapped to its corresponding Jira field.

   Note:

   - You must define a value map for every enumerated field mapping. All available enumeration values on the Jira side must be mapped to an appropriate value on the ValueEdge side. The example above only shows the mapping of Jira Epic Status to the ValueEdge Feature Phase. You may also assign multiple different Jira enumeration values to the same ValueEdge enumeration value.

   - If your ValueEdge system is customized, additional fields may need to be mapped.

   - If your Jira system is customized, different or additional types and fields may need to be mapped.

   - Make sure to configure the appropriate user story roll-up field on the Jira side as described below.

8. Delete the disabled type mappings initially created by the auto-mapping process.

9. Double-check your mappings and press Next to navigate to the last page of the connection wizard, Projects and Rules. In this step, you define which Jira projects will be synchronized to which ValueEdge workspaces, using the mapping rules you defined earlier. This requires that all projects and workspaces resemble the Jira sample project and the ValueEdge sample workspace configured on the data source level.

10. Click the Edit connection type rule button , and select your project workspace in place of the default value, Common Projects. Click the + Type Rule link to add more project-workspace relations.

    Note: Do not use the Common Project area. Instead, define the Jira project to ValueEdge workspace relation individually for each type. The Common Projects area should be empty.

11. Repeat the above step for each type mapping. The example above shows the Epic > Feature mapping.

12. For each new Type Mapping, make sure to change the default selection, Common Projects, with an actual Jira project and ValueEdge workspace.

13. Double-check all your type rules and click Save to close the wizard.

Note: This documentation only covers one-to-one synchronization scenarios. To synchronize multiple Jira projects into a single ValueEdge workspace, additional synchronization rules and customizations are required. For assistance, create a support case. Certain many-to-one sync scenarios may be out of the Integration Hub's scope. One-to-many scenarios (one Jira project to many ValueEdge workspaces), are not supported by the Integration Hub.

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## Run an iteration

After your connection is set up, you can run an iteration of the synchronization.

To run an iteration:

1. Click the Modify connection button of the newly created connection.

2. Select Run One Iteration or Start Connection to test the new connection.

The initial synchronization of all configured data types requires more than a single iteration—up to three or four iterations may be necessary. For testing purposes, you can temporarily reduce the “Synchronization Frequency” to 1 minute. Do not forgot to set the Synchronization Frequency to 1-4 hours again after you have finished testing.

Note: After a connection has been run once, it can no longer be deleted or renamed.

The On-Boarding team can assist with additional advice on how best to observe and monitor a connection for testing and production environments. For details about monitoring a connection, see Audit and Connection Messages in the Troubleshooting topic.

Tip: To facilitate the routing of your support request, enter Micro Focus Connect as a prefix for the case title, and add ValueEdge Integration Hub to the top of the case description.

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See also:

- Create a data source

- Create and manage connections

- Troubleshooting

- Get more help

- ValueEdge Help Center

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