Coalesce Field in Robust Transform Map

[DebjitGhosh]

Hi All,

I am trying to integrate Solarwinds with ServiceNow and as part of that I can see there's a OOTB Robust Transform Map that I need to customize based on our requirement, Now my ask is how can I set Coalesce, I am not finding anything where I can check the coalesce during field mapping like I do for normal transform maps. I have seen that it follows IRE engine, but if I want to transform based on my custom requirement then can I use anything like checking any field similar to coalesce?

Regards,

Debjit

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @DebjitGhosh ,

Check these links:

https://www.servicenow.com/community/cmdb-forum/i-am-trying-to-configure-robust-transform-in-sccm-se...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B-mf3FmDfc&t=508s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i4KREDLeyE

https://www.servicenow.com/community/service-graph-connectors-forum/robust-import-set-transformer/m-...

[Vishnu-K]

Hi @DebjitGhosh ,

There is no Coalesce option in Robust Transform Engine (RTE). Instead, RTE uses the IRE (Identification and Reconciliation Engine), which handles this through Identification Rules - think of it as coalesce but more powerful.

How to Create Identification Rules

1. Navigate to CI Identifiers

2. Find or Create an Identifier Search for your target CI class (e.g., cmdb_ci_linux_server). Open an existing one or click New.

3. Add Identifier Entries (your coalesce equivalent) In the Identifier Entries related list, click New and fill in:

• Priority - order in which rules are tried (1 = first)
• Attributes - field(s) to match on (e.g., serial_number, ip_address)

4. Add Fallback Rules You can chain multiple entries by priority:

• Priority 1 - serial_number
• Priority 2 - ip_address + name
• Priority 3 - host_name

IRE tries each in order until it finds a unique match — something classic coalesce cannot do.

5. Save and re-run your integration. IRE will now use these rules to match existing records before inserting or updating.

This approach is more flexible than coalesce since it supports multi-field combinations and fallback chains. 

Hope this helps.

If it helped you please do mark it as helpful and accept the solution

Thanks,

Vishnu

[DebjitGhosh]

Thank you @Vishnu-K  for your response. I also thought the same.

One query, what happens if there's a custom requirement which doesn't match with that CMDB classes identification criteria, Also we can't change the identification rule for other purposes. Is there any way we can set anything similar to coalesce?

Regards,

Debjit

[Vishnu-K]

Can you confirm that the class you're trying to insert the data is CMDB class or Non-CMDB class?

Regards,

Vishnu

[DebjitGhosh]

It's a CMDB class, to be specific the Network Gear class.