Can/should an assignment group also be a CI as well as the users that belong to that group?

[JVOGEL11]

If we look at them as being assets, we could use dependency views to show interrelationships between them and the items they support.  

[AmarjaD]

While a CI is not inherently a part of an Assignment Group in the same sense as users or tasks might be assigned to a group, there are scenarios where Assignment Groups may be associated with CIs in ServiceNow. Here's how:

1. Ownership Assignment: An Assignment Group might be responsible for managing or maintaining certain CIs. In this case, there could be a relationship established between the CI and the Assignment Group to denote ownership or responsibility. This relationship can be managed through reference fields or custom relationships in the CI record.

2. Incident and Change Management: When an Incident or Change request is raised for a CI, the Assignment Group responsible for managing incidents or changes related to that CI may be automatically assigned to the ticket. This assignment can be based on business rules, workflows, or other criteria configured in ServiceNow.

3. CMDB Relationships: In ServiceNow's Configuration Management Database (CMDB), CIs can have relationships with other CIs, such as being dependent on or composed of other CIs. In some cases, these relationships may involve Assignment Groups. For example, a server CI might be associated with an Assignment Group responsible for server maintenance tasks.

4. Service Mapping: In ServiceNow's Service Mapping module, CIs are mapped to business services and applications. Assignment Groups may be associated with these services or applications, indicating the group responsible for managing and supporting them.

While CIs and Assignment Groups serve different purposes within ServiceNow, there can be relationships and associations between them depending on your organization's configuration and requirements. These relationships help streamline IT processes, improve accountability, and ensure effective management of IT assets and services.

[VEEN PRANEETH K]

Hi @JVOGEL11 

Assignment groups and CIs should not be the same thing because their functions are fundamentally distinct. An assignment group is a logical collection of users, whereas a CI is an entity within the CMDB that represents a physical or logical asset.
Nonetheless, a CI and an assignment group can be linked. For instance, the assignment group in charge of that CI can be identified in a field in your CI record.

Example Scenario:

Imagine you have a CI representing a specific server, "Server A". You have an assignment group called "Server Maintenance Team". Instead of making "Server Maintenance Team" a CI, you would do the following:

CI Record: "Server A" CI includes a field called "Assignment Group" where you select "Server Maintenance Team".
Assignment Group: "Server Maintenance Team" is a group consisting of users responsible for server maintenance tasks.
Users: Members of the "Server Maintenance Team" are associated with "Server A" as the team responsible for its maintenance.
By structuring it this way, you maintain the integrity and separation of responsibilities within ServiceNow while also ensuring clear relationships and responsibilities between CIs and the teams that.