Dependency Views map menus and controls

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Dependency Views map menus and controls

    Dependency Views maps in ServiceNow provide interactive visualizations of Configuration Items (CIs) and their relationships, enabling customers to explore and manage their service infrastructure effectively. The map includes various menus and controls designed to customize views, navigate dependencies, and perform actions directly from the map interface.

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    Map Options and Navigation

    • Map Controls: Located at the top, these allow saving, loading, and exporting map views.
    • Root CI: Set or change the root node by entering a CI, application service, or business service name with auto-complete assistance.
    • View Modes: Switch between vertical, horizontal, radial, or force-centered layouts to best visualize relationships.
    • Grouping: Group elements by CI type for clearer categorization.
    • Details Pane: Access related lists such as Problems, Changes, and Related Services tied to a selected CI; clicking a service highlights associated CIs, and double-clicking opens the Event Management dashboard if the plugin is active.
    • Settings and Filters: Apply filters to refine what is displayed on the map.
    • Navigation Tools: Zoom in/out, center the map, pan using arrows, and toggle between moving the entire map or individual CIs for precise control.

    Context Menus

    • Map Background Menu: Right-click to run layout redraw, fit the map to screen, or reset filters for improved viewing.
    • Node Menu: Right-click on a CI node to:
      • View the CI’s CMDB record in a new tab.
      • Reload the map with the selected CI as the root (except for the current root).
      • View related tasks, outages, or affected CIs directly from the map.
      • Add relationships by dragging a dotted green line to another CI and defining the relationship.
      • Expand or collapse clustered or virtual group nodes to manage map complexity.
      • Load additional levels beyond the default max level, with limits controlled by system properties.
      • Re-run layout algorithms starting from the selected node for better map clarity.
    • Relationship Link Menu: Right-click a relationship link to:
      • Open and edit the CI Relationship form (Parent, Type, Child).
      • Modify or delete existing relationships with confirmation prompts.

    Practical Benefits

    This comprehensive set of menus and controls empowers ServiceNow customers to explore service dependencies visually, perform detailed investigations, manage CI relationships, and customize their map views for operational clarity. The integration with Event Management and task tracking ensures that users can correlate infrastructure components with incidents and changes, supporting efficient troubleshooting and impact analysis.

    Dependency Views maps contain the following menus and controls.

    Figure 1. Dependency Views map
    Use the various menus and controls to filter, display or hide, and place nodes on the map.

    Map options

    The following options are available across the top of the map.

    Dependency Views map context menu. Menu to save, load and export views of the map.
    <Root CI> Next to the menu icon is the name of the current root node (CI) of the map.
    Search field on a Dependency Views map. Enter the name of a CI, application service, or business service to load into the map. Alternatively, you can start typing to have the auto-complete feature present a list of CIs and services that match your partial value.
    Vertical Display the map in vertical view.
    Horizontal Display the map in horizontal view.
    Radial Display the map in radial view.
    Force Centers the elements around the parent CI, regardless of upstream or downstream relationships.
    Group Groups the elements according to their CI type.
    Details Displays related lists such as Problems, Changes and Related Services that are associated with the selected CI.
    • Click a service to highlight the CIs that are associated with that service.
    • Click Related Services, then double-click a service to display the map in the Event Management dashboard.

    If the Event Management plugin is active, then events and alerts are also displayed.
    Settings Set filters for the map.
    Navigation Tools. Use the navigation tools to increase or decrease the view of the map, rearrange the icons on the map, and move the map on the page.
    • Use the plus sign (+) to increase magnification of the map.
    • Use the minus sign (-) to decrease magnification of the map.
    • Click the center dot to center the map on the page.
    • Use the direction arrows to move the page in that direction.
    • Use the selection tool under the navigation tool to toggle between moving the entire map or moving one CI on the map.

    Map menu

    The following options are available if you right-click the map background.

    Run Layout Redraws the map with the current layout option.
    Fit To Screen Resizes the map to fit all the nodes in the map window.
    Reset Filters Performs the same action as the Filters > Reset option.

    Node menu

    The following options are available if you right-click a node.

    View Form Displays the CMDB record of the selected CI in a new tab of the browser.
    View Map Reloads the map using the selected CI as the new root node, with the currently defined layout setting. This option does not display on the root node.
    View Related Tasks Displays all tasks or outages associated with the selected CI, including incidents, problems, change requests, and follow-on tasks. This option is always available, even if there are no tasks associated with the CI. This option does not appear on collapsed nodes.
    View Affected CIs Shows a list of all tasks that have the CI listed as an Affected CI. This option is only visible when you access the map from the map icon in a task record's Configuration item field.
    View Related Outages Displays all outages involving the selected CI. This option only appears when there is an outage associated with the CI. This option does not appear on collapsed nodes.
    Add Relationship This option displays a dotted green line that you can drag to another CI to create a relationship link. A popup dialog allows you to define the relationship type.
    Expand Displays all CIs and components within a clustered node, or virtual groups (virtual nodes that appear when glide.bsm.too_many_children is reached). This option appears only if the node is a cluster node or a virtual group node.

    If Load More was previously used, then Expand reverts the results of the Load More operation.

    The number of additional icons to display is bound by the value of the glide.bsm.max_nodes property.
    Collapse Collapses all CIs and components within a cluster node back to a single node. Also, collapses a virtual group that has been expanded. This option only appears if the node has been expanded using the Expand menu item.

    If Load More was previously used, then Expand reverts the results of the Load More operation.
    Run Layout From Here This option re-runs the chosen layout using the current node. Use this option to get a new or clearer view on the same map.
    Load More Starting at the selected icon, loads the next level of the map, past the setting of Max Levels.

    Virtual grouping is not applied at the newly loaded level even if the criteria for virtual grouping is met.

    The number of additional icons to display is bound by the value of the glide.bsm.max_nodes property.

    Relationship menu

    The following options are available if you right-click a relationship link.

    View Relationship Form Opens the CI Relationship form. You can modify the Parent, Type, and Child of the relationship from this form.
    Modify Relationship Searches for and selects a new relationship for this link.
    Delete Relationship Deletes a relationship. The relationship is deleted after prompting for confirmation.