This is Part 5 in a series of blog posts on Model Management. If you have not read the others, you can find them here:
- Role Model, or Why Model Management is Important
- Models vs. Model Categories: Model Management, Part 2
- What's in a Name?: Model Management Part 3
- Which Model Is Which?: Model Management Part 4
Up to this point, I provided you with suggestions on how to name Models and how to make it easier to select the Model you want, but how do you make the Model names consistent without a lot of extra manual work?
This is where you can leverage the ServiceNow platform's normalization capabilities. Normalization allows you to find different values and set them to a single, consistent value. To keep consistent with the example from earlier posts in the series, consider the different possibilities you might end up with for a Hewlett-Packard EliteBook 850 G1 Model name.
How do you end up with inconsistent data? You may have multiple sources for your Model data:
- Discovery source
- Vendor data
- Manual input
To get consistent data, you can create a Normalization configuration to handle the different possibilities. Here are some steps you can use to create a Normalization configuration for your Model name with some recommendations to facilitate Model management. Before you begin, create a new field on the Product Model [cmdb_model] table to store the original raw value from the Name field.
- Navigate to Field Normalization > Configurations > Normalizations.
- Click New.
- Name the Normalization configuration and set the Table to Product Model [cmdb_model] and Field to Name.
- Right-click the form header and Save.
- Set the Raw field value to the field you created to store the raw value. This can be used to pull other information you might find useful, such as the Model number if your source provides that as part of the Model name.
- Create Normal Values for each of the Models you manage.
- When possible, create Rules for your Normal Values to facilitate the possibility of new options that match specific criteria. For example, you could create a Rule that finds the text elitebook and 850 and g1 to match different possible variations of the name.
- Test the Normal Values and set the Mode to Active when you are ready.
For additional safety, you can create Normalization configurations in a test instance and capture them in an Update Set.
If you are interested in more details on how to work with Field Normalization, be sure to check the Wiki for details. Normalization is also covered in more detail in our Asset Management and Discovery courses.
Coming soon: Part 6 will explore how to work with Models as the default configuration for items in the Service Catalog.
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