Using IBM Maximo with IBM App Connect Enterprise

IBM® Maximo® is an enterprise asset management solution that enterprises can use to track and manage assets throughout their life cycles, manage procurement, contracts, services, people, and work orders, and optimize work processes. IBM App Connect Enterprise provides an IBM Maximo Request node, which enables you to connect to IBM Maximo and issue synchronous requests to create, retrieve, update, delete, replace, or download objects such as assets, contracts, purchase orders, service requests, and work orders.

About this task

IBM App Connect Enterprise communicates synchronously with IBM Maximo through the IBM Maximo Request node, which is available on Windows, AIX, and Linux® systems.

You can use the IBM Maximo Request node to connect to IBM Maximo and perform actions on objects, including the following:
Assets (mxapiasset)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace assets, or download assets as CSV files
Assets (mxasset)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace assets, or download assets as CSV files
Companies (mxapivendor)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace companies, or download companies as CSV files
Contracts (mxapicontract)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace contracts, or download contracts as CSV files
Crafts (mxapicraft)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace drafts, or download crafts as CSV files
Labors (mxapilabor)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace labors, or download labors as CSV files
Locations (mxapilocations)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace locations, or download locations as CSV files
Person groups (mxapipersongroup)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace person groups, or download person groups as CSV files
Person users (mxapiperuser)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace person users, or download person users as CSV files
Purchase orders (mxapipo)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace purchase orders, or download purchase orders as CSV files
Service addresses (mxapiseraddress)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace service addresses, or download service addresses as CSV files
Service requests (mxapisr)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace service requests, or download service requests as CSV files
Work orders (mxapiwo)
Create, retrieve, update, delete, or replace work orders, or download work orders as CSV files

For additional information about configuring the IBM Maximo Request node, see IBM Maximo Request node.

Procedure

  1. In the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, create a flow containing an IBM Maximo Request node.
  2. Select the IBM Maximo Request node in the flow to show the node properties in the editor.
  3. On the Basic tab, click Launch Connector Discovery.
    A panel is displayed in which you specify the name of the policy project and vault details to be used during connector discovery.
  4. Specify the details of the policy project and vault to be used during connector discovery:
    1. In the Policy Project field, specify the policy project that is used to store the policies that are created during connector discovery.
      Alternatively, you can create a new policy project by clicking New and then specifying the name of the new policy project. Then click Finish.
    2. Specify the vault to be used during connector discovery. By default, credentials that are used during connector discovery are stored in an external directory vault, which is an App Connect Enterprise vault that can be used by any integration server. Alternatively, you can store the credentials in an integration server vault, which is created in the integration server's work directory and can be used only by that specific integration server.
      To specify the vault to be used for storing the credentials, complete the steps in the Using the Connector Discovery wizard section of one of the following topics:
    3. In the Vault key field, enter the vault key that is used to access the credentials stored in the vault. The vault key must be at least 8 characters in length.
    4. Optional: By default, the specified vault location and vault key are saved as preferences in the Toolkit so that the values are preset when you launch Connector Discovery. If you do not want the preferences to be saved, deselect Save in vault preferences.
  5. Click Launch Discovery to start the Connector Discovery wizard for the IBM Maximo connector.
    The Connector Discovery window is displayed. If existing IBM Maximo connections (accounts) are available, a list of those connections is displayed. If there are no existing connections, the status of the IBM Maximo connector is shown as Not connected.
    • If one or more IBM Maximo connections (accounts) are available, complete the following steps:
      1. Select the connection (account) that you want to use by clicking on it.
      2. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on the object. For example, click Assets (mxasset) and then Retrieve assets.
    • If there are no existing connections (accounts), complete the following steps:
      1. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on that object. For example, to retrieve asset details from IBM Maximo, click Assets (mxasset) and then Retrieve assets.
      2. Click Connect.
      3. Select the authorization method that you want to use for the connection to IBM Maximo, by clicking one of the following options from the drop-down list:
        1. Provide credentials for App Connect to use (BASIC)
        2. Provide credentials for App Connect to use (API KEY)
      4. Click Continue.
      5. A window is displayed in which you enter the connection details for your account, according to the authentication method that you selected in the previous step (BASIC or API KEY):
        • If you selected BASIC authentication, enter the following details:
          • Maximo URL: The URL of your Maximo instance, in the format <http or https>://<hostname>:<port>
          • User name: The username for the Maximo account
          • Password: The password for the specified username
          • WebSphere Application Server user name: If the IBM Maximo instance is installed on WebSphere® Application Server, provide the user name of the WebSphere Application Server account to be used for WebSphere authentication
          • WebSphere Application Server password: If the IBM Maximo instance is installed on WebSphere Application Server, enter the password for the specified WebSphere Application Server account to be used for WebSphere authentication.
        • If you selected API key authentication, enter the following details:
          • Maximo URL: The URL of the Maximo instance in the format <http or https>://<hostname>:<port>
          • API key: The API key that is used to authenticate the REST API calls
          • WebSphere Application Server user name: If the IBM Maximo instance is installed on WebSphere Application Server, provide the user name of the WebSphere Application Server account to be used for WebSphere authentication
          • WebSphere Application Server password: If the IBM Maximo instance is installed on WebSphere Application Server, enter the password for the specified WebSphere Application Server account to be used for WebSphere authentication.
      6. Click Connect.

        The credential is stored in the vault, and the other connection details are saved in the IBM Maximo policy.

        For more information about connecting to IBM Maximo, see How to use IBM App Connect with IBM Maximo in the IBM App Connect Enterprise as a Service documentation.

  6. Set the required connector properties in the wizard.
    You can add conditions for the retrieval of the data, by clicking Add condition and then selecting the property that you want to filter on. For example, to retrieve assets with a particular asset number, click Add condition, then Asset (assetnum), and then enter the required asset number. You can also set properties that specify the maximum number of records to retrieve and the action to be taken if that limit is exceeded.

    When you have finished specifying the properties in the Connector Discovery wizard, click Save. The values of the properties that you set in the wizard are returned to the IBM Maximo Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.

  7. When you have finished discovery and saved the property values, exit the Connector Discovery wizard by clicking the X in the upper-right corner of the window.
  8. Return to editing the IBM Maximo Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.
    The connector properties that were set in the Connector Discovery wizard (in step 6) are now visible on the IBM Maximo Request node. The Basic tab shows the values of the Action and Object properties that you set in the wizard. For example, if you selected Assets (mxasset) > Retrieve assets in the wizard, the following properties will be visible on the Basic tab of the node:
    • Action - RETRIEVEALL
    • Object - mxasset

    The values of the Action and Object properties are displayed in read-only format. If you want to change these values, you can do so by clicking Launch Connector Discovery again and setting new values in the Connector Discovery wizard. You can modify other properties by clicking the Edit button next to the property.

    The Schema base name property specifies the base name of the schema files that describe the format of the request and response messages sent and received from the IBM Maximo connector. The schema base name is set automatically the first time you run discovery for the node, and it is based on the current flow name and node name. If you set this property manually before running discovery for the first time, the value that you set will be used. If you rename the schemas after discovery, you must edit this property so that it matches the schema base name used by the renamed schemas in the project. If you change this property after discovery, you must either rename the schema names to match or run discovery again.

    Depending on the action that was selected during discovery, the Connector Discovery wizard generates either a request schema and a response schema, or a response schema only. A request schema is generated only if the selected action and object require a request message. The generated request schema is used for validation of the request message. If the action was RETRIEVE or DELETE, only the response schema is returned by the connector.

    The generated schema files are added to the project and can be used by a Mapping node for transforming input or output data. The full filename of the schema is derived from the schema base name, suffixed with either response.schema.json or request.schema.json. You can open the schema by clicking Open request schema or Open response schema.

  9. Check that the property settings on the IBM Maximo Request node are correct and then save the message flow.
  10. On the Connection tab of the IBM Maximo Request node, the Policy property shows the name of the policy that contains the details of the security identity to be used for the connection. The policy has a type of IBM Maximo.
  11. Optional: Set the Timeout property on the Connection tab to specify the time (in seconds) that the node waits for IBM Maximo to process the operation. The default is 60 seconds.
  12. The Filter tab of the IBM Maximo Request node contains properties that control the way in which the message flow selects data. The initial values of these properties are taken from the property values that were set for the IBM Maximo connector in the Connector Discovery wizard (as described in step 6). If you subsequently return to the Connector Discovery wizard and change the values of any properties (by adding new conditions, for example) those updates are reflected in the properties set on the node.

    The Filter Options properties control which objects are to be operated upon when the IBM Maximo Request node executes. The Filter Limit properties control the maximum number of items to be retrieved and the action to be taken if the limit is exceeded.

    You can modify the values by clicking Edit next to the value that you want to modify in the Filter Options section, and by changing the property values that have been set in the Filter Limit section.

    The property values can be either text values or ESQL or XPATH expressions that are resolved from the contents of the message passed to the IBM Maximo Request node as it executes.

  13. On the Request tab, set the Data location property to specify the location in the incoming message tree that contains the object data to be created in IBM Maximo. This data forms the request that is sent from the IBM Maximo Request node to the IBM Maximo system.
  14. On the Result tab, set the Output data location property to specify the location in the output message tree that will contain the data of the record that is created in IBM Maximo.
  15. By default, request messages are validated against the request schema that was generated during connector discovery. You can turn off request validation or change the validation settings by using the Validation properties of the IBM Maximo Request node.
  16. Save the message flow.