Monitoring CMDB data quality using dashboard metrics in CMDB success advisor for HAM
Summarize
Summary of Monitoring CMDB data quality using dashboard metrics in CMDB success advisor for HAM
The CMDB success advisor for Hardware Asset Management (HAM) dashboard equips CMDB administrators with tools to monitor and improve the quality of hardware asset data within the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). It provides targeted insights into data quality issues, enabling organizations to maintain accurate, complete, and up-to-date CMDB records that support effective hardware asset management.
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The dashboard is accessible after completing the CMDB success advisor for HAM setup and requires specific roles to view and interact with its data. It reflects the latest HAM data collector job run and features filters to customize data views by model category, date range, and stale CI thresholds.
Key Features
- AI-Generated Data Quality Insights: Summarizes the top five CMDB data quality issues related to HAM, ranked by the percentage of affected Configuration Items (CIs), with guided remediation actions to prioritize fixes in categories like Data Integrity, Key Attributes, and CI-Asset Relationships.
- Normalization and Model Categorization: Visualizes operational CIs by hardware model normalization status and model category to assess CMDB completeness and structure.
- Data Integration Source Analysis: Displays the contribution of various data integration sources to the CMDB population, helping administrators understand data origins.
- Detailed Metrics on Key Attributes: Highlights CIs missing critical data such as model name, model number, manufacturer, assigned user, location, managed group, or serial number, which are essential for accurate asset management.
- CI Data Quality Issues: Tracks outdated CIs based on last update dates and identifies duplicate CIs to reduce redundancy and improve data reliability.
- CI and Asset Relationship Monitoring: Identifies mismatches and missing links between CIs and assets, such as CIs missing asset records, assets missing CIs, and discrepancies between CI install status and asset state or lifecycle stages.
- Interactive KPI Details and Remediation Actions: Users can drill down into chart segments to view trends over time and access remediation panels for actionable guidance to improve data quality.
- Filter Options: Enables focused analysis by selecting specific hardware model categories, date ranges, and stale CI thresholds (7 to 90 days) to tailor insights to organizational needs.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Real-Time Data Quality Visibility: Enables CMDB administrators to quickly identify and prioritize hardware asset data issues that impact operational efficiency and decision-making.
- Improved Asset Lifecycle Management: Ensures accurate tracking of hardware assets through consistent CI and asset data alignment, supporting better lifecycle reporting and compliance.
- Targeted Remediation Guidance: Provides actionable recommendations to systematically address data gaps, duplicates, and inconsistencies, reducing manual effort and enhancing data governance.
- Enhanced CMDB Accuracy: Supports ongoing maintenance of the CMDB, ensuring it remains a trusted source for hardware asset information and related IT service management processes.
Access and Roles
The dashboard is accessed via the CMDB success advisor landing page by selecting "View insights for HAM." To use the dashboard:
- sncmdbadmin role is required for full access.
- sncmdbuser role provides read-only access, including AI-generated summaries.
Administrators should ensure the necessary roles are assigned and that the CMDB success advisor for HAM setup is complete to leverage the dashboard effectively.
The CMDB success advisor for HAM dashboard enables CMDB administrators to identify and address data quality issues specific to HAM in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
Access the dashboard
To open the dashboard, select View insights for HAM on the CMDB success advisor landing page. See Viewing the CMDB success advisor landing page. The dashboard displays a Last updated timestamp reflecting the completion time of the most recent HAM data collector job run.
Required roles
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| sn_cmdb_admin | Required to access the dashboard. |
| sn_cmdb_user | Provides read-only access to CMDB success advisor pages and data, including the AI-generated summary of the dashboard. |
Use cases
For examples of how different people in your organization would use this dashboard, see these use cases.
| User | Dashboard use |
|---|---|
| CMDB administrator |
|
Dashboard features
The dashboard provides clear, consolidated insights into hardware asset data quality and asset status. Use the dashboard to identify and resolve data quality issues within the CMDB through dedicated sections, filters, indicators, and visual reports. Gain valuable insights into CMDB performance related to HAM.
Targeted CMDB metrics focus remediation efforts. Regularly monitor these metrics and follow suggested remediation actions to systematically improve CMDB data quality over time.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| CMDB data quality insights generated by AI | Displays an AI-generated summary of CMDB data quality for HAM outcomes and lists the top 5 issues with guided remediation actions. Issues are ranked primarily by the percentage of CIs or CI classes that each issue affects, not by severity, within five categories, in this order: Data Integrity, Key Attributes, CI-Asset Relationship, Business Rules, and Data Manager Policies. Foundational data integrity issues, such as duplicate CIs and stale CIs, are evaluated first because they can inflate the counts behind other issues. A percentage gap of more than 15 points between issues in the same category can change their default order. A percentage gap of more than 40 points between issues in different categories can also change their default order. For the reasoning behind the ranking and recommendations, see Summarize CMDB readiness with the ServiceNow Otto skill. Note: Available only when the summarize CMDB readiness skill is configured. See Configure the summarize CMDB readiness skill. |
| CIs by normalization status | Displays the breakdown of operational CIs by HAM normalization status to indicate how much of the CMDB is normalized against the hardware product model catalog. |
| CIs by model category | Displays the breakdown of operational CIs by associated model category to highlight CI distribution in the CMDB. |
| CIs by data integration source | Displays the breakdown of operational CIs by data integration source to highlight their contribution to CMDB population. |
| CIs missing model data and other key attributes | Displays key metrics related to CIs missing model details, ownership, and other key attributes, leading to incomplete records and operational inefficiencies. |
| CI data quality issues | Displays key metrics related to CIs that have not been updated or may have duplicate records, leading to outdated information and inconsistencies in the CMDB. |
| CI and asset-related issues | Displays key metrics related to mismatches and missing links between CIs and assets, leading to incomplete asset life cycle tracking and reporting issues. |
Filters
Filters enable narrowing the data shown in graphs and metrics based on model category, date range, or stale CI threshold.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Model categories | List | Filters CIs based on the selected model categories. |
| Date range | Date | Filters the dashboard data based on the selected date range. |
| Stale CI | List | Filters stale CIs based on the number of days since their last update. Available values: 7, 14, 30, 60, and 90 days. |
CIs missing model data and other key attributes
Displays key metrics related to CIs missing model details, ownership, and other key attributes, leading to incomplete records and operational inefficiencies.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| CIs missing model name | Operational CIs not associated with a model ID or associated with a model ID missing a name. | CIs missing model name |
| CIs missing model number | Operational CIs not associated with a model ID or associated with a model ID missing a model number. | CIs missing model number |
| CIs missing model manufacturer | Operational CIs not associated with a model ID or associated with a model ID missing a manufacturer. | CIs missing manufacturer |
| CIs missing model ID | Operational CIs not associated with a model ID. | CIs missing model ID |
| CIs missing assigned to | Operational CIs not assigned to a specific user, leading to unclear ownership and delayed action. | CIs missing assigned to |
| CIs missing location | Operational CIs not associated with a location, leading to gaps in asset tracking and service mapping. | CIs missing location |
| CIs missing managed by group | Operational CIs not managed by a specific ownership group, leading to inefficient support assignment and operational risk. | CIs missing managed by group |
| CIs missing serial number | Operational CIs missing a serial number, leading to issues with duplicate identification. | CIs missing serial number |
CI data quality issues
Displays key metrics related to CIs that haven’t been updated or may have duplicate records, leading to outdated information and inconsistencies in the CMDB.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| CIs not updated | Operational CIs not updated, causing data gaps and inaccuracies in the CMDB. When you select a segment on the CIs not updated chart, the KPI Details page title reflects the Stale CI filter value selected at the time. For example, CIs not updated in last 30 days. | CIs not updated in last 7 days CIs not updated in last 14 days CIs not updated in last 30 days CIs not updated in last 60 days CIs not updated in last 90 days Note: The CIs not updated card data is additionally filtered based on the Stale CI filter. See Filters. |
| Duplicate CIs | Operational CIs identified as duplicates based on key matching attributes, causing data redundancy. | Duplicate CIs |
CI and asset-related issues
Displays key metrics related to mismatches and missing links between CIs and assets, leading to incomplete asset life cycle tracking and reporting issues.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| CIs missing asset | Operational CIs not associated with an asset record, leading to incomplete asset life cycle tracking. | CIs missing asset |
| Virtual CIs with asset | Virtual assets created for virtual CIs that are operational, leading to inaccurate consumption of HAM licenses. | Assets created for virtual CIs |
| Assets missing CI | Assets without a matching CI, caused by CIs not being discoverable on the network. | Assets missing CI |
| CI install status vs. asset state | All CIs where the install status matches or differs from the corresponding asset state. Available only on instances where the CSDM Activation plugin (com.snc.cmdb.csdm.activation) is not active. | CI install status vs. asset state matched |
| CI life cycle stage vs. asset life cycle stage | All CIs where the life cycle stage matches or differs from the corresponding asset life cycle stage. Available only on instances where the CSDM Activation plugin (com.snc.cmdb.csdm.activation) is active. | CI lifecycle stage vs. asset lifecycle stage matched |