Best practices for naming configuration items in hardware assets

[booher04]

We are somewhat new to the asset management modules in ServiceNow and I'm just wondering what a best practice would be for naming(Name field on cmdb_ci_computer) the configuration item that displays on the Hardware Asset form.   I have setup the Display name to pull the Model data but I was wondering what most people use as the "Name" for their configuration items.   On our configuration item form we have:   Manufacturer and Model ID that we use, but Name is blank right now(which is what hardware assets seem to pull the "configuration item" field from).   Would a best practice be to use the Manufacturer and Model ID for that configuration item field?

[Community Alums]

If your computers use the Asset Tag as the hostname, this is fine and should happen automatically, but If not, why would you do this? The CI name should match the hostname. If you need the Asset tag, it is available information on the CI record. Can you help us understand the business case you are trying to achieve here?

[michaeldeutsch]

This is actually for tracking cell phones.

I am loading cell phones into the alm_hardware as a communication device, however when CI is created Name comes in as empty.   We are using the phones IMEI # as the asset tag.   I would like the same IMEI number to be the Name for the CI.   However, if I try to make a mapping for name using Asset Tag it says there is already a Field Mapping for asset tag.  

[Community Alums]

Ok. Thanks for the clarification here. This makes sense.

• First: Do you even want CIs for the cell phones? Will users open Incidents for their phones? Will you need to track other tasks for these devices?
  • If so, you're off to a good start
  • If not, you should look to reconfigure your Model Category for the phones to not create a CI record
• Instead of a field mapping here, I would use a Business Rule that copies the value of Asset tag to the Name on the CI record when the CI record is created and meets the criteria of being a cell phone (using whatever criteria you have set up to identify phones, whether CI class or some other information).

I hope this helps get you going.

Ben

[michaeldeutsch]

Yes, users will be creating incidents, etc. for the phones. I will look into business rules, thanks

Thank You

Michael Deutsch

[michaeldeutsch]

The business rule worked, thanks