ServiceNow CI Duplicates: Help me understand !

[RahulY00040]

Hello friends,

I am struggling to understand duplicate CIs detection in ServiceNow CMDB.

I can see that duplicate_of field is populated on newer duplicate CI. and i read the same in ServiceNow documentation as stated here.

But today, i came across very peculiar use case, where I could see that my duplicate CI is OLD CI which is retired but supposed be Main CI.

Any idea? Does Retired Operational Status matter?

Thanks in advance,

Rahul

[Sreeram Nair]

The operational Status of a CI can affect which record is treated as the “main” one during duplicate detection. When ServiceNow identifies duplicate CIs, it compares multiple factors such as the last updated date, identification rule matches, reconciliation priorities, and sometimes the CI’s operational status.

Generally, active CIs are favored as the main record, but if a retired CI has a stronger identifier match (for example, same serial number or hostname) or comes from a higher-priority data source based on reconciliation definitions, ServiceNow may still treat it as the main CI.

This is why you might see a newer active CI marked as a duplicate of an older retired one. To prevent this, you can adjust your Duplicate CI Identification Rule to exclude CIs with a “Retired” status or update your reconciliation priorities so that active sources take precedence.