smart-bonding-partner-api

Onboarding Process

Partner Role Requirements

Cisco recommends that the partner have people in the following roles available to support the onboarding process:

  • A project manager: Coordinate the team and their efforts, as well as define timelines, risks, and resources with the Cisco counterpart.
  • A specialist and developer of the partner’s ITSM System: To develop/consume API, define message formats, test the integration and create the user interface forms and set-ups in the partner ITSM System.
  • A case manager: For example, an incident manager to help define processes and test implementation.

More people can be engaged when necessary. For example, a network specialist to ensure the connectivity between systems.

Self-Onboarding Overview

The self-onboarding efforts can be split into phases:

  1. Analysis Phase: The partner works through the self onboarding documentation including API References, Sample Messages, Field Mapping and a test plan. The partner ITSM developer ensures that the partner ITSM can be configured to consume Cisco’s API.
  2. Implementation Phase: The partner ITSM developer configures the partner ITSM test system so that an API connection is established that pushes information and pulls information to Cisco’s Smart Bonding test system. A pool of Cisco Smart Bonding engineers is available for questions.
  3. Testing Phase: Once the implementation is completed, the partner development and case management teams can test the connection following the Cisco-provided test plan. A final implementation test with the Cisco team will be set up when all tests are completed.
  4. Go-Live Phase: The code/setups done on test systems will be deployed to production during the go-live phase. Cisco Smart Bonding and partner engineers will coordinate a production launch date/time and perform a smoke test on production.

Scope Definition

The scope of the self-onboarding connection includes:

  • Connect one partner ITSM system via Cisco Smart Bonding to Cisco TAC.
  • Incident/Service Request Tickets can be exchanged via this connection.
  • The partner test system is connected to the Cisco Smart Bonding test system.
  • The partner production system is connected to the Cisco Smart Bonding production system.
  • The partner needs to consume Cisco’s API for ticket integration in a push/pull fashion:
    • When information needs to be sent from the partner to Cisco: The partner is responsible for pushing information to Cisco by using the appropriate API.
    • The partner should pull information from Cisco in regular intervals to retrieve updates on tickets from Cisco.
  • Attachments can be sent from the partner to Cisco.

Partner Responsibilities

The partner agrees to the following responsibilities split by project phase:

  1. Analysis Phase
  • Review the self-onboarding guide and adhere to the details laid out in that document.
  • Review the Smart Bonding self-onboarding test plan.
  1. Implementation Phase
  • Set up the partner ITSM test system to consume Cisco’s APIs.
  1. Testing Phase
  • Perform self-tests according to the Cisco Smart Bonding self-onboarding test plan.
  • Inform Cisco of the successful completion of self-tests.
  • Prepare, participate, and contribute to testing meetings with Cisco.
  • After successful tests with Cisco – provide “ok” for go-live readiness.
  1. Go-Live Phase
  • Deploy all code/configuration built on the partner test system to the production system.
  • Agree on a go-live plan and date with Cisco.
  • Ensure all necessary work to production environments is done prior to/at the go-live.
  • Participate in a go-live meeting with Cisco.
  • Hand-over Partner support and operations information to Cisco.
  • Send final acceptance to the Cisco project team.

Support Contacts

A team in Cisco TAC is responsible for handling all cases related to Smart Bonding connections. The partner needs to provide a 24/7 contact email address that Cisco TAC will use to reach out in case of issues with the connection. It is the partner’s responsibility to monitor this mailbox and get in touch with TAC. If the partner has an issue, create a ticket for the Smart Bonding team . The Smart Bonding support team in Cisco TAC will handle the case. Reasons to create a ticket include the following:

  • Connection issues such as 401, 404, and 501 HTTP errors coming from Smart Bonding API
  • Changes in the connection
  • Notifications of planned maintenance.
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