--- sourceDocument: Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Capabilities sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/servicenow-platform Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Capabilities ft:clusterId : - platcap bundleId : - platcap workflow : - Platform --- # Stale CI remediation # Stale CI remediation using the staleness agentic workflow {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated October 5, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Stale CI remediation using the staleness agentic workflow The staleness agentic workflow in ServiceNow Australia release automates identifying, evaluating, and remediating stale Configuration Items (CIs) in the CMDB. A CI becomes stale when its record no longer reflects the actual state of the IT asset, often due to removal from the network, being offline, or inaccessible to discovery tools. Stale CIs reduce CMDB trust and can negatively impact incident management, change management, and compliance processes. Show full answer Show less The system uses staleness thresholds---typically 60 or 90 days without an update or rediscovery---defined in the CI Class Manager. When exceeded, the workflow can trigger remediation actions such as rediscovery or retirement via the Data Manager. The CMDB success advisor serves as the primary interface to manage staleness. ## Key Features * **Replacement CI Staleness Agent:** A lightweight, semi-interactive tool for non-power users to manage CI lifecycle stages from fresh to stale, attestation, retirement, archival, and deletion with user-friendly configurations. * **Configurable Parameters:** Includes setting days before a CI is considered stale, automated or manual attestation based on AI confidence, exclusion periods after attestation, and timelines for retirement, archival, and deletion. * **Unified Staleness Definition:** Establishes a consistent, organization-wide definition of stale CIs aligned with Data Health Dashboard and CMDB success advisor to drive accurate health scores. * **Smart Rediscovery:** Automates re-scanning stale CIs on-demand or scheduled, fixes configuration issues causing staleness, and uses activity signals like changes and incidents to determine CI status. * **Discovery and Service Graph Connector (SGC) Health Fixes:** Identifies root causes behind stale CIs and provides targeted recommendations to improve discovery schedules, credentials, and configurations. * **Guided Lifecycle Actions:** Recommends next steps such as retirement for confirmed stale CIs, differentiating between discoverable and non-discoverable assets, to maintain CMDB accuracy. * **AI-Triggered Remediation with Ask Otto:** Integrated conversational AI support via the Data Foundations advisor dashboard enables interactive remediation guidance, requiring specific user roles and enabling faster action. * **Discovery Source Support:** Compatible with all discovery sources including Discovery, Service Graph Connectors, and Cloud Discovery, with automated rediscovery and reconfiguration for cloud resources. ## Causes of Staleness * No consistent definition of "stale" across CI classes, especially for non-discoverable CIs. * Discovery failures due to network issues, expired credentials, or configuration errors. * Assets removed silently without updating CMDB lifecycle status. * Unmanaged manual imports or entries not linked to discovery or lifecycle management. ## Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers By implementing this workflow, customers can maintain a more accurate and trustworthy CMDB, which supports better decision-making across IT operations, compliance, and security. Automated detection and remediation reduce manual effort and improve CMDB data health, enabling more reliable incident and change management processes. The workflow's integration with AI and discovery tools helps prevent future staleness and promotes continuous CMDB accuracy. The staleness agentic workflow identifies, evaluates, and remediates stale configuration items (CIs) in the CMDB. A CI is set to stale when its record in the CMDB is no longer updated to reflect the actual state of the IT asset it represents. This staleness can occur when a physical device is removed from the network, taken offline, or is set to inaccessible to discovery tools. Stale CIs reduce trust in the CMDB and can cause incorrect assignments in incident management, change management, and compliance processes. Staleness thresholds are defined in the CI Class Manager. Default thresholds are 60 or 90 days without an update or rediscovery. When a CI exceeds its threshold, the system can trigger remediation actions such as rediscovery or retirement through the Data Manager. The primary interface for managing staleness is CMDB success advisor. ## Replacement CI Staleness Agent {#na-cmdb-awf-staleness-c__staleness-concept-replacement-agent} The Replacement CI Staleness Agent is a lightweight, semi-interactive version of Data Manager. It targets users who are not power users of the CMDB and aren't managing the CI life-cycle independently. The agent provides straightforward configurations per CI class to manage the flow from fresh CI to stale, attestation, retirement, archival, and deletion. Key configuration options include: * The number of days before a fresh CI is considered stale * Automated attestation when AI confidence is high, or manual attestation task creation when confidence is low * The number of days a positive attestation excludes a CI from the next staleness check * The time period after retirement before a CI is archived * The time period after archival before a CI is deleted ## Causes of staleness {#na-cmdb-awf-staleness-c__staleness-concept-causes} Stale CMDB data undermines every downstream process. Incident management, change management, compliance audits, and vulnerability tracking all suffer when your CMDB data is unreliable. * No Consistent Definition: There is no standard for what "stale" means. In addition, many CI classes are non-discoverable by nature, so they quickly appear stale. * Discovery Failures: Network issues, expired credentials, and configuration errors prevent discovery methods from keeping CIs current. * Silent Decommissions: Assets removed from the network without updating their CMDB records or life-cycle status is set to stale. * Unmanaged Imports: Manually entered or imported CIs that aren't linked to automated discovery or life-cycle status become stale over time. {#na-cmdb-awf-staleness-c__ul_pcb_g3m_kjc} ## Remediation actions {#na-cmdb-awf-staleness-c__staleness-concept-remediation} The staleness agentic workflow provides end-to-end automation to define, rediscover and retire CIs. * Unified staleness definition: Establish a single, consistent definition of what makes a CI "stale" across your entire CMDB. Aligned with Data Health Dashboard and CMDB success advisor, one definition drives all health scores. * Smart rediscovery: Automatically re-scan stale CIs to determine whether they are still active. Supports on-demand or scheduled rediscovery for temporarily unreachable assets, fixes configuration settings to resolve root causes, and determines staleness using activity signals such as changes and incidents. * Discovery and SGC health fixes: Beyond cleanup, the system identifies why CIs went stale. Get targeted recommendations to fix discovery or SGC schedules, credential issues, and configuration gaps to help prevent future staleness. * Guided life-cycle actions: For confirmed stale CIs, the system displays the recommended life-cycle action. {#na-cmdb-awf-staleness-c__ul_nzg_5qg_kjc} CIs determined to be non-discoverable are marked for retirement and handled by the Data Manager. For manually entered or non-discovered CIs, the system uses activity signals, such as events, incidents, or other actions performed on the CI. These signals determine whether the CI is still in use before recommending retirement. ## AI-triggered remediation {#na-cmdb-awf-staleness-c__staleness-concept-ai-remediation} On the Data Foundations advisor dashboard, the Stale CIs card displays its own Ask Otto action. This action is separate from the Remediation actions panel reached from the KPI Details page. Selecting Ask Otto opens a ServiceNow Otto panel conversation with the CMDB Staleness Agent. Each selection starts a new conversation. The Ask Otto action appears only when the ServiceNow Otto panel is enabled on the instance and the agent is active. The agent requires a CMDB editor-level role and the panel user role. If you hold only the CMDB success advisor scope-user role, the panel shows Learn more instead. When the Ask Otto action isn't available for any reason, the panel falls back to Review policies. The Duplicate CIs card on the same dashboard has its own Ask Otto action for a separate agent, the CMDB Duplicate CIs Agent. The agent is part of the Feature Preview Program. For more information, see [Feature Preview Program](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/platform-administration/feature-preview-program.html). ## Supported discovery sources {#na-cmdb-awf-staleness-c__staleness-concept-discovery-sources} The staleness workflow supports all discovery sources, including Discovery, Service Graph Connectors, and Cloud Discovery. For cloud resources, the workflow supports automated rediscovery and reconfiguration following changes made to connect a CI to a datacenter and discovery source.