TNI: Network Sites & Locations

Pratiksha · an hour ago

Overview

The Telecommunications Network Inventory (TNI) application uses two distinct concepts to represent physical places in a telco network: Locations and Network Sites. Understanding the difference between them is essential for correctly modelling a telecom network in ServiceNow.

In a telco environment, the network spans a large number of physical sites — data centres, street exchanges, transmission huts, cell tower sites, and customer premises. Each of these needs to be represented accurately so that equipment, connections, incidents, and changes can all be managed effectively.

The Core Difference

	Location (cmn_location)	Network Site (cmdb_ci_ni_site)
What it is	A physical address record	A CI representing an operational network point
Lives in CMDB?	No — outside the CMDB	Yes — it is a Configuration Item
Has operational status?	No	Yes — derived from equipment within it
Used in Incidents / Changes?	No	Yes
Appears on a map?	Yes (source of lat/long)	Yes (inherits from Location)
Stores address / lat/long?	Yes (stored here)	No (references Location for this)
Can have parent/child?	Yes (optional)	Yes — recommended for multi-floor sites

Simple Way to Remember

Think of it like this:

Location = the address on Google Maps — just a reference record with coordinates and a street address
Network Site = the operational entity at that address — what ServiceNow manages, monitors, and raises tickets against
Every Network Site needs a Location to know where it is on the map
But a Location alone cannot participate in TNI — it has no operational status and cannot be used in incidents or changes

How They Work Together

Every Network Site references a Location to inherit the address, latitude, and longitude. This avoids duplicating address data across thousands of site records and allows Network Sites to be displayed accurately on maps.

The recommended structure for a multi-floor telco site (e.g. a data centre or central office building):

Layer	Entity	Telco Example
Address record	Location	Central Office Building — 1 Network Street (street address, lat/long)
Operational site entity	Parent Network Site	Central Office — Main (references the Location above)
Sub-areas within the site	Child Network Sites	Central Office — Floor 1, Floor 2, Floor 3

Parent / Child Network Sites

Network Sites support a parent-child hierarchy. This is used when a single physical site contains multiple distinct operational areas — such as floors, rooms, cable chambers, or equipment zones within a large exchange or data centre.

ServiceNow recommends the following approach:

Create one Location record for the physical building (address, lat/long)
Create one parent Network Site referencing that Location
Create child Network Sites for each floor, room, or equipment zone within the building
Link parent to children using the Contains (Parent) CI relationship
Do not create separate Location records for each floor — one Location per building is sufficient

This approach reduces model complexity and ensures TNI accurately uses the location data from the parent site across all child sites.

Common Telco Site Types — What Gets What

Telco Site Type	Gets a Location?	Gets a Network Site?	Typical Structure
Core data centre	Yes	Yes (parent)	One Location + one parent NS + child NS per floor/zone
Each floor / equipment room in DC	Not needed	Yes (child)	Child Network Sites under the parent DC site
Central office / telephone exchange	Yes	Yes (parent)	One Location + one parent NS + child NS per floor if needed
Transmission hut / repeater station	Yes	Yes	Single site — one Location, one Network Site
Cell tower / base station site	Yes	Yes	Single site — one Location, one Network Site
Customer premises (CPE / demarcation)	Yes	Yes	Where the customer circuit originates or terminates
Points of Presence (PoP)	Yes	Yes (parent)	One Location + parent NS + child NS per rack room if needed

Why This Matters Operationally

Getting the Location and Network Site model right directly enables the following operational outcomes in a telco ServiceNow environment:

Incident Management: Incidents can be raised against a Network Site, allowing all equipment and circuits at that site to be linked to the event
Change Management: Planned maintenance at a site can be tracked against the Network Site CI, with visibility of all affected equipment
Service Impact Analysis: When a Network Site goes down, ServiceNow can trace upward through the service model to identify impacted circuits and customer services
Map Visualisation: Network Sites appear on the TNI map using the lat/long from their referenced Location, enabling geographic network views
Operational Status: The Network Site's operational status reflects the health of the equipment and connections within it — a key operational indicator for NOC teams

Key Rules to Follow

Important Guidelines from TNI:

A Network Site is a CI — incidents, changes, and operational status all apply to it
A Location is NOT a CI — it is purely referential data (address, lat/long) and sits outside the CMDB
One Location per parent Network Site is the recommended approach — do not create a Location per floor
Child Network Sites inherit their map position from the parent Network Site's referenced Location
CI relationships between Network Sites (parent/child) must currently be created in the classic platform UI, not in Network Inventory Workspace
A Network Site can have an operational status that is derived from the equipment and connections it contains

Regards,

Pratiksha Khandelwal