Confirming location of an asset would be CI Attestation or Data Certification?

[jordimsant]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some conceptual guidance to better understand the philosophy behind two ServiceNow features: CI Attestation and Data Certification.

I am struggling to understand where the line is drawn between them, especially when it comes to a specific real-world scenario: confirming the physical location of a CI.

If I need a user to periodically verify and say, "Yes, this laptop/server is still in Room 302," which concept should I be leaning towards?

• From what I understand, Data Certification is about validating that the data in our system is accurate and up to date. Confirming a location feels like a data accuracy check.

• On the other hand, CI Attestation is about a CI owner standing behind the existence and state of a configuration item. Confirming where it lives feels like a core part of that responsibility.

Because this specific use case sits right in the middle, I’m not sure where it belongs conceptually.

How do you distinguish between these two concepts?

Would love to hear your thoughts and philosophy on this!

Thanks,

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @jordimsant 

Data certification is an automated process designed to help with the manual validation of data in the CMDB and other tables. Customers often use it to certify or update fields like "location" or "supported by," which are typically not captured by automated discovery tools. However, some regulatory audits may require the certification of certain fields, even if these are populated by an automated discovery tool.

Data is usually ingested into the CMDB through discovery tools like ServiceNow Discovery, imported from third-party applications using ServiceNow Service Graph Connectors, or via manual entry or import.

For regulatory or procedural purposes, the data in the CMDB needs to be checked for accuracy and certified. The responsible person or team can define which information needs verification and set a verification schedule. This schedule generates a checklist for verifying the data, and individuals assigned to certification tasks follow the instructions to complete the verification process.

Here is a quick summary of how they are used:

• Define a Policy: Choose a CI class (e.g., Servers), apply filters (e.g., location, status), and set certification frequency (monthly, quarterly, etc.).
• Assign Responsibility: Define who will certify the CIs based on fields like “Owned by” or “Managed by.”
• Generate Tasks: Certification tasks are created for matching CIs, prompting users to review and validate the data.
• Track & Report: Monitor task completion rates, overdue certifications, and overall data health via dashboards and reports.

CI Attestation policies are configured to check the physical existence of IT infrastructure or applications associated with CIs in the attestation task and then process those CIs as appropriate.

Here is a quick summary of how they are used:

• Define a Policy: Choose a CI class (e.g., Server, Application), set criteria (e.g., updated within 90 days), and assign responsible users.
• Schedule Attestation: Run the policy on a recurring schedule (monthly, quarterly, etc.).
• Generate Tasks: The system creates attestation tasks for each CI that meets the policy rules.
• Review & Response: Assigned users confirm accuracy or flag the CI for correction.
• Report Results: Track success rates through dashboards and reports to monitor CMDB health.

refer: What is the difference between CI attestation and Data certification? 

 What exactly is Data Certification vs CI Attestation? 

[SK Chand Basha]

Hi @jordimsant 

Please use bellw thread this is repetitive question for most people in CMDB Concepts

https://www.servicenow.com/community/cmdb-forum/what-exactly-is-data-certification-vs-ci-attestation...