configuration data import

[pete_canavan]

As part of starting Change Management, we are attempting to get server hardware items into ServiceNow.

To start this I am taking Servers and have loaded a.csv file in and then built a transformation map, I've also added fields to the server form to accommodate fields that are not on the base template.

I've then run the transform and this has completed with no errors and imported all 270 rows.

The issues i have are:

i) When I select the server link in the modules window it doesn't pick these servers up, in fact the only way i can see them is if i select the All menu option under base servers.

ii) When i try to open one it does not bring up the majority of information pertaining to that server.

When i added fields to the form and then built the transformation map i noted that information from the loaded table was being transformed into fields on multiple tables including Location, Configuration Item, Server and Computer and I am guessing this is where I've messed up?

[Community Alums]

Pete,

There are a couple possible issues here.

First, if you are only seeing the new CIs under All and not under Servers, into what table are you importing? If you import into Computer or a higher level table in the CI Class structure, you will need to identify the Class in your import. If you are importing directly into Server, you should see it under Servers.

As for the related information, like Location, there are settings you can identify in the transform to determine how to handle that. Ideally, you want to have that information already in the system so it matches up. What information are you expecting that you are not seeing?

[pete_canavan]

Hi Ben

Well I was expecting to import into the Configuration Item table but that's clearly not the case. Here's the transform map as i've built it.

I added the class field into my data and set it to server on every entry and then added this into the transform map and mapped it to the class field on the config table, should i map all fields to the applicable fields on the Server table?

[Community Alums]

I'm not sure how or why, but you should not adjust the target table in a single map to point to different tables the way you have here. All the data in the map should import into a single table, identified at the top part of the Transform Map form. This could be the likely cause of some issues here. If you need to import data into multiple tables, you can have multiple Transform Maps. For example, Site here should not import into the Location table in the same Transform Map that creates your CI record. Either have a separate map to create new locations and then identify the location for the CI, or simply ensure the Location exists.

There is a property you can set on the Field Mappings called Choice action (look under Field Map in the wiki). This allows you to identify what action you want to take when a choice or a reference item does not already exist.

The other thing I notice in your map is that you have not identified a Coalesce field. This field identifies something unique about the information you are importing so that it knows whether to create a new record or update an existing record with the import information. I highly recommend looking into this.

As for which table to use for your map, if you are only importing Servers, I would just import into the Server table. If you have multiple different kinds of CIs to import from a single source, you can look to import at a higher level table and specify the Class, but I would be careful with this. If there is information that is specific to a certain CI Class, you may want to break that information out into its own import.

[pete_canavan]

Okay Ben thanks for the advice, I will delete the data and start again from scratch and see how I get on