Robotic processes and CMDB

[jna2756]

Hi All,

Our Enterprise architects and our RPA team are looking to start recording the different automations/processes (about ~200) that their bots our preforming so we can have accurate inventory and ownership captured in the CMDB. How would you capture these processes/automations in the CMDB and in what tables? The Enterprise architects would like to store it in the Business Application table so the can see it with all the other applications at our company but that doesn't feel like the right place for it. Is there an existing CMDB table that aligns with the CSDM approach that would be better suited for this?

Thanks

Joshua Anderson

[Alex_Dundon]

Hi Joshua,

We have a similar query at our company. When looking at the CI Class Manager, there is a Base Bot Process [cmdb_ci_rpa_robot_process] table, that sits under the Business Process table hierarchy, and a Base Robot [cmdb_ci_base_rpa_robot] table, that sits under Application [cmdb_ci_appl] hierarchy. Based on my understanding of the higher level tables, Base Bot Process [cmdb_ci_rpa_robot_process] defines the actual process and functionality that the robot delivers. The Base Robot [cmdb_ci_appl] I think represents the individual running instance of the Base Bot Process record. But I was hoping to confirm that with the community here. 

Per the CSDM, INC/PRB/CHG records are supposed to be logged against the items in the cmdb_ci_appl table, when it comes to bots (See page page 25 of CSDM 4.0). While I can I understand the logic from a monitoring/alerting standpoint, I struggle how teams would be able to identify a unique Bot record if all instances of it have the same name, which leads me to think that practically speaking, creating the CHG against the cmdb_ci_rpa_robot_process record is a better user experience.

My additional question to the hive mind here: has anyone had any luck integrating a list of Bots from another platform into ServiceNow? For example, Blue Prism is a popular platform for building bots, but has anyone been able to pull metadata from Blue Prism or some other tool to populate the CMDB?

Thanks,

Alex