Contents
About this Release
Welcome to Serena Service Manager 5.2.1.
Refer to the What's New? tab for a complete list of new features in this release.
Please note the following important information:
- On-premise customers: Before you install this release, you must install and configure SBM 11.0 or higher as described in the SBM Installation and Configuration Guide.
- Service Manager is available in English only.
- This readme pertains to both the on-demand and on-premise versions.
Packaging Changes and Impact on Upgrades
The following changes have been made to the installer packaging:
- The SSM 5.2.1 framework is powered by SBM Tomcat and requires that you install or upgrade to SBM 11.0.
- Serena Service Manager and Serena Request Center are the only solutions are delivered by the Service Manager installer. Serena Release Control is no longer delivered in the same installer as Serena Service Manager.
- The Demand Manager solution is no longer included in the installer.
New Installations of Service Manager
- Download SBM 11.0 or higher from http://www.serena.com/support.
- Follow the instructions in the SBM Installation and Configuration Guide to install and configure SBM.
- Verify that SBM successfully installed and configured.
- Download Service Manager 5.2.1 from http://www.serena.com/support.
- Follow the installation instructions in the Serena Service Manager Getting Started Guide.
Upgrades from Previous Versions
- Installation Upgrade
In the installation upgrade phase, you install and configure the latest versions of the framework files for Serena Request Center and features such as service level agreements (SLA). The solutions that you have implemented from previous releases are supported with the upgraded framework files.
- Solutions Upgrade
In the solutions upgrade phase, you import new solution files and merge changes into your current solutions. Before attempting this upgrade, review the list of changes to determine the benefit of upgrading your solutions.
For upgrade instructions, refer to the Serena Service Manager On-Premise Upgrade Guide or Serena Service Manager On-Demand Upgrade Guide.
Note the following important upgrade considerations:
- If you are upgrading from version 5.2, Serena recommends that you
only upgrade the SSM installation and skip the solutions upgrade phase. The
versions of the process apps are nearly identical between 5.2 and 5.2.1, with
the exception of a few minor defect fixes. This means that you can upgrade from
5.2 to 5.2.1 simply by upgrading the framework.
If you upgrading from an older version such as SSM 4.5, you can still just upgrade framework, but the 5.2.1 solutions offer several enhancements that you might consider using.
- If you are upgrading from a previous version that included Serena Release Control, the Serena Release Control files are not upgraded by the Service Manager installer. The Service Manager installer only upgrades your Service Manager framework files and delivers the Service Manager 5.2.1 solutions to Application Repository.
- If you have an existing installation of Serena Release Control, it will continue to operate after you upgrade to Serena Service Manager 5.2.1.
- If you plan to use Serena Service Manager and Serena Release Control, ensure that you have installed and configured your desired version of Release Control before you upgrade Service Manager to version 5.2.1. You cannot run an earlier installer (such as the 5.1.1 installer to install Release Control) after you have run the Service Manager 5.2.1 installer.
Installer Components
The installer delivers three components:
- Solution Files – Solution files are process app snapshots
and blueprints that contain the latest changes and updates for the
Service Manager
process workflows and data models.
The following Service Manager solutions are delivered by the installer:
- Serena Request Center
- SRC - Starter Pack Forms - IT
- SRC - Knowledge Management
- SRC - Service Request
- Serena Service Manager
- SSM - Change Management
- SSM - Configuration Management System
- SSM - Problem Management
- SSM - Incident Management
- SSM - Asset Management
- SSM - Integrations
- Serena Request Center
- Framework Files – The framework files augment your underlying installation and enable certain features in the Service Manager process apps. The framework files include new templates, images, and code that are backward compatible with your existing installation.
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) Files – SLAs define the level of service that an organization commits to its customers. SLAs contain performance metrics that correspond to these commitments.
Third-party Tools
For more information regarding third-party software copyrights and license information, refer to the files under "Downloads" or "News" at http://www.serena.com/support.
What's New?
The following features and changes are new in this release.
Compatibility with SBM 11.0 and Tomcat
Request Center Improvements
- Multi-Language Support for User Defined Objects
Administrators can now translate strings for the following user defined objects in Request Center:
Request Center Properties
- Banner title
- Contact info title
- Contact info content
Categories and Category Containers
- Name
- Description
Services
- Name
- Description
- Summary
- Charge back
- SLA summary / Alternative SLA summary
This means administrators can now export strings for these objects to XML from Application Administrator, translate them per locale as needed, and then import the XML so that users with different locales will see the translated strings when viewing these objects in Request Center.
For details refer to "Translating Strings for User Defined Objects" in the Serena Service Manager Getting Started Guide. For more information about the Localization feature in SBM, refer to "About Localization" in the SBM Application Administrator Guide.
Compatibility with SBM 11.0 and Tomcat
Beginning in SBM 11.0, the SBM Java components are powered by SBM Tomcat (which replaced Serena Common JBoss). If you have upgraded to SBM 11.0 and you currently use SSM, you should at least upgrade the SSM framework to SSM 5.2.1 to ensure that all the features and capabilities provided by the SSM framework continue to function as expected.
Note that SBM 11.0 is only supported on 64-bit Windows servers. Upgrade support for migrating SBM from 32-bit to 64-bit is handled through a new SBM install on one or more 64-bit Windows servers.
Additional Improvements
- SBM Application Administrator
Accessible from Request Center
Administrators can now launch SBM Application Administrator directly from within Request Center instead of having to open Work Center or SBM User Workspace to access it.
- Complete User Profile Accessible from Request Center
Users can now access all tabs in their user profile from within Request Center. In prior versions, only the General tab content was available from within Request Center. To ensure that users can access their complete profile, grant the Modify User Profile Settings privilege in Application Administrator to your users or groups.
Known Issues
For a complete list of known issues and potential workarounds, refer to the Knowledge Base.