How the Normalization works on Hardware Product Model table

[MalathiP]

Hello Everyone

1. Please can someone explain how the Normalization works.

2. There are already records with the status as 'Normalized' but Discovery is either creating a new record or overwriting the fields. PFA. How to overcome this? 

3. Reg the ‘New’ status, need to know why the CIs are not getting inked to either of the normalized records that were created earlier.

[M Iftikhar]

Hi Malathi,

Great questions! Let me break down how normalization works and address your concerns:

1. How Normalization Works

Normalization is the process of cleaning up and standardizing hardware model names discovered from different sources. For example, "Latitude E5430", "Dell Latitude E5430", and "E5430" might all be mapped to a standard "Dell Latitude E5430" model in the Hardware Product Model [cmdb_hardware_product_model] table.

The system uses identification and reconciliation rules to match discovered CIs to existing normalized records. The statuses you see indicate different stages:

• Normalized: Successfully matched to a standard model

• Partially Normalized: Some attributes matched but not all

• New: No match found, created as a new record

• Match Not Found: Couldn't find a matching normalized model

2. Why Discovery Overwrites Normalized Records

This usually happens when the reconciliation rules aren't configured optimally. If Discovery finds a better match or if the rules allow overwriting, it might update existing records.

Solution: Check your Reconciliation Rules for hardware models. You might want to:

• Adjust the matching criteria (make them more specific)

• Review the order of rule execution

• Ensure normalized records have unique identifiers populated

3. Why New CIs Don't Link to Existing Normalized Records

When status shows "New," it means the reconciliation engine couldn't find a suitable match. This could be due to:

• Insufficient matching attributes in the reconciliation rules

• Differences in model names that seem obvious to humans but aren't caught by the rules

• Missing manufacturers or other key identifiers

Quick Fix: Review the "New" records and see what pattern they follow. You might need to:

• Add more synonyms to your normalized models

• Create additional reconciliation rules

• Manually merge duplicates if appropriate

The Normalization Statistics dashboard can help you spot trends and bulk-fix common issues.

Hope this helps! 
Thanks & Regards,
Muhammad Iftikhar
If my response helped, please mark it helpful & accept the solution so others can benefit as well.

[MalathiP]

Thanks a lot Iftikhar for sharing a lots of information. Now I could understand the concept behind this.

Reg Reconciliation Rule, I could not see anything related to the Hardware Model table. Please correct me if I am checking wrong. 

[M Iftikhar]

Glad my explanation helped you understand the concept 🤗

About your follow-up question,  you are right, reconciliation rules directly for cmdb_hardware_product_model table won’t be visible because that table is actually a child of cmdb_model (Product Model). The reconciliation logic runs mainly at the Product Model (cmdb_model) level, and hardware models inherit from there.

👉What this means:

• You won’t usually see a dedicated reconciliation rule only for cmdb_hardware_product_model.

• Instead, Discovery and IRE (Identification & Reconciliation Engine) work on cmdb_model records, and your hardware models (child records) get affected based on that.

• If you want to fine-tune, you’ll need to adjust the Model Identification Rules or normalization rules under the Product Model level.

For management, you can always navigate to:
Product Catalog > Product Model > Hardware Models
(Users with model_manager role can add, update, and review these hardware models.)

So in short, nothing wrong at your side, it’s just that reconciliation is not scoped specifically to the child table, but to the parent Product Model.

Hope this clears it up!

Thanks & Regards,
Muhammad Iftikhar
If my response helped, please mark it helpful & accept the solution so others can benefit as well.

[MalathiP]

• Instead, Discovery and IRE (Identification & Reconciliation Engine) work on cmdb_model records, and your hardware models (child records) get affected based on that.

             - Yes, understood that there are no rules defined directly on the Hardware Product Model table.  But which IRE rule is used to process the Model table? 

• If you want to fine-tune, you’ll need to adjust the Model Identification Rules or normalization rules under the Product Model level.

          --Sorry I couldn't see any Identification Rules or Normalization Rules under the Model table?