Orphan relationship cleanup

[Poonam_joshi]

How we can delete orphan relationship records without impacting the system. we have around 1.6 M reocrdsDo we have functionality from service now to deal with this clean up process. Please suggest .

[Vishnu-K]

Hi @Poonam_joshi 

Avoid deleting orphan relationship records directly, especially at a scale of ~1.6M records. This can negatively impact CMDB integrity and platform performance.

Recommended Approach – CMDB Data Manager (Rome+ instance):

• Use CMDB Data Manager, which provides a policy-based, supported cleanup mechanism.

• Cleanup runs in controlled batches (default 1000 records) using the system property 

  glide.cmdb.data.manager.delete.batch.size.

• Policies are evaluated daily, keeping the target list dynamic and safe.

Suggested Policy Flow:

1. Retire Policy – Set Lifecycle Stage = End of Life for target CI classes (typically non-asset CIs).

2. Archive Policy – Archive CIs that are already End of Life.

3. Delete (Optional, Later) – Only after retention requirements are met.

Important Notes:

• Do not delete CIs or relationships immediately after retirement.

• Align with organizational data retention policies (e.g.archive after 2 years, delete after 5–7 years).

• Prefer cleanup for CI classes without assets; asset-linked data usually requires longer retention.

Hope this helps you, Please do mark it as helpful . And accept the solution.