CI creation by Discovery vs CI creation by HAM

[Ed Laar1]

Hi community.

Can somebody advise on the following use case: We are using HAM and also CI Discovery, in this case SCCM-SG.

Normally Assets are created in the procurement process. As soon as these assets are created also corresponding CI records are created. When an Asset (in fact a CI) gets alive in the network SCCM-SG collects info on this CI and updates the CI record accordingly. Due to the Asset<>CI sync also the Asset record is updated when applicable. So far so good.

When on whatever the reason a CI gets alive on the network that not passed the procurement process SCCM-SG inserts this CI in the CMDB and an Asset is created accordingly. Some time later, the HAM process for this Asset is completed but as there are no checks if Asset records already exist or an existing Asset record can not be found additional records are created resulting in duplicate Asset and duplicate CI records. Depending on the timeframe of corrections, these ones are very hard to do especially when records are already used in tickets etc.

Does anyone has suggestion on how to prevent form this scenario? Has anyone build a mechanism preventing duplicate Asset creations so duplicate CI creations? Yes, we can configure SCCM-SG in a way that only CI-updates are allowed but in that case we miss info on existing CI's in the network that are not registered in the CMDB.

Looking forward to any feedback,

Thanks in advance,

Ed

[Ed Laar1]

Hi Suvro,

Yes, a great suggestion but also the creation of a CI should be prevented. When an Asset is created also a CI is created and both records are linked and this will not be done if an Asset is created and also the CI so duplicate CI records are the result in that case.

Ed

[suvro]

Yes If we prevent ASSET to be created, it will prevent creation of additional CI as well

[Ed Laar1]

Thanks for your reaction Suvro. Just for my understanding:

A laptop-CI will be 'discovered' by SCCM. SCCM will update the CI in the CMDB if it exists or create the CI when it does not exist.

By creating the CI record also the Asset record will be created as laptops are considered to be managed within Asset Management. In this case Asset information that is normally generated within the Asset process is not applied.

In later stage the laptop Asset is processed within Asset Management. As there is not an OOB way to check if an Asset already exists, a new Asset record is created within the procurement process and so also a new CI record is created.

End result: 2 CI records and 2 Asset records for the same laptop.

Question is: How to prevent from this in a technical way? I know that processes should be followed but sometimes they are not and we want to keep our AMDB and CMDB as updated as possible.

Grtz,

Ed 

[Scott Halverso1]

Ed could you give details on the asset creation process within the procurement process.  I'm looking for details to see how this is working for your team.  Sometimes this is processing an advance shipment notice, sometimes it's using ServiceNow's built in UI to perform receiving, sometimes it's a spreadsheet sent from the receiving teams to Asset Managers/ServiceNow platform owners and sometimes it's an integration built between the Enterprise's procurement tool and Servicenow.  There are probably more options but it's likely you'll need to identify the exact means those assets are getting created and make the process smart to not just do a straight up insert, but rather check on the device's serial number for uniqueness.

[Ed Laar1]

Hi Scott,

Asset creation within procurement can indeed be done in multiple ways. Most basic is the use of the 'Create assets prior to receiving' capability where Asset records are created with an empty Asset tag and an empty serial number. I don't remember if also CI records are created at that moment of time that are related to the Asset records; my assumption is that also CI records are created.

Later on, when the Assets are received, the Asset (and CI records) are updated with the detailed Asset information on Asset tag and Serial number using ASN sheets, manual updates etc.

A CI discovered on the network by SCCM is created by SCCM in the CMDB when it does not already exist. By creating that CI also an Asset is created.

Assume the use case that an Asset and CI record already exist for that CI as it is created 'prior to receiving' this one will not be updated by SCCM as there is no Asset tag or Serial number at that moment of time so SCCM will create a new CI and Asset record. On receiving, the Asset tag and Serial number will be updated in the record created within procurement. Introducing checks on already existing Asset tags and/or Serial numbers can perhaps solve partly the issue but still multiple records for the same Asset exist in the system.

Perhaps stopping the use of the 'Create assets prior to receiving' capability is a better suggestion but how to relate already existing Asset records to a Purchase order becomes the next question to be answered.

Looking forward to you vision on this.

Ed