Monitoring CMDB data quality using dashboard metrics in CMDB success advisor for SAM
Summarize
Summary of Monitoring CMDB data quality using dashboard metrics in CMDB success advisor for SAM
The CMDB success advisor for Software Asset Management (SAM) dashboard helps CMDB administrators monitor and improve the quality of software installation data and related configuration items (CIs) in the CMDB. It provides targeted metrics and remediation guidance to ensure accurate software inventory and licensing compliance, focusing on data quality issues specific to software installs and their CI relationships.
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The dashboard is accessible after completing the CMDB success advisor for SAM setup and requires appropriate user roles for viewing or administration. It supports filtering by software publishers, products, and CI classifications to focus insights.
Key Features
- Dashboard Access and Roles: Accessible via the CMDB success advisor landing page, with roles such as samuser (read-only), samadmin (scope editing), sncmdbadmin (full admin), and sncmdbuser (read-only CMDB access).
- Sub-tabs for Focused Insights:
- Installs: Metrics on software install data quality affecting inventory accuracy, like missing edition/version or cloud license details.
- Installed on: Metrics on CIs hosting software installs, including missing environment, ownership, CPU attributes, outdated data, and duplicate CIs.
- Virtual CI relationships: Metrics on CI relationships linking virtual machines to host infrastructure, highlighting missing or incorrect relationships critical for licensing compliance.
- Filters: Narrow dashboard data by software publisher, product, CI category, or class to tailor analysis.
- Interactive KPIs and Remediation: Selecting chart segments opens detailed KPI trend pages with actionable remediation steps to improve CMDB quality.
- Data freshness indicator: Dashboard header shows last data collector run timestamp for transparency on data currency.
- Performance Alerts: Notification banner appears if the Performance Analytics data collector exceeds row limits, indicating incomplete metrics.
Practical Use Cases
- Gain real-time visibility into software install data quality and completeness.
- Identify missing software edition, version, or cloud license information impacting normalization and license reconciliation.
- Detect and manage duplicate or stale CI records to reduce data redundancy.
- Verify accurate virtual server to host CI relationships to support licensing compliance.
- Prioritize and track data cleanup and remediation tasks to maintain CMDB accuracy supporting SAM.
Expected Outcomes
By regularly monitoring the dashboard metrics and following recommended remediation actions, organizations can systematically improve CMDB data quality for software asset management. This leads to more accurate software inventory, better license compliance, and clearer asset context through complete and accurate CI data and relationships.
The CMDB success advisor for Software Asset Management (SAM) dashboard enables CMDB administrators to identify and address data quality issues specific to software installs and their related configuration items (CIs) in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
If the Performance Analytics data collector exceeds its row limit during data processing, a notification banner appears on the dashboard indicating that some metrics could not be loaded. For more information, see Data collector Performance Analytics properties.
Access the dashboard
To open the dashboard, select View insights for SAM on the CMDB success advisor landing page. See Viewing the CMDB success advisor landing page.
Required roles
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| sam_user | Required to view the SAM advisor dashboard in read-only mode. |
| sam_admin | Required to select or edit the software products included in the SAM advisor scope. |
| sn_cmdb_admin | Provides administrative access to view and edit the scope for any CMDB success advisor product, including SAM. |
| sn_cmdb_user | Provides read-only access to CMDB success advisor pages and data. |
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 software install data quality and CI accuracy. Use the dashboard to identify and resolve data quality issues within the CMDB through dedicated sub-tabs, filters, indicators, and visual reports.
Targeted CMDB metrics focus remediation efforts. Regularly monitor these metrics and follow suggested remediation actions to systematically improve CMDB data quality over time.
The dashboard header displays a Last updated timestamp reflecting the most recent completed run of the SAM data collector job.
| Sub-tab | Description |
|---|---|
| Installs | Displays key metrics related to issues in software installation data that affect software inventory accuracy and licensing, limited to installs with a normalized product. |
| Installed on | Displays key metrics related to CIs on which the selected software products are installed. |
| Virtual CI relationships | Displays key metrics related to CI relationships that connect virtual machine installs to their host infrastructure to support licensing compliance. |
Filters
Filters enable narrowing the data shown in charts and metrics based on software publisher, software product, CI category, or CI class.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Software publishers | List | Filters data based on the selected software publishers. |
| Software products | List | Filters data based on the selected software products. Narrows to the software products available for the selected publishers. |
| CI class categories | List | Filters data based on CI category. Only available when the CMDB CI Class Models plugin (sn_data_model_nav) is active and you have read access to CI class data. |
| CI classes | List | Filters data based on CI class. Only available if you have read access to CI class data. |
Installs
Displays key metrics related to issues in software installation data that affect software inventory accuracy and licensing, limited to installs with a normalized product.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| Software installs | Total number of software installs in scope, broken down by discovery source. | Software installs |
| Installs by | Breakdown of software installs by software publisher (default), software product, CI class, or latest integration source. Select an option from the drop-down list to change the breakdown. | Installs by |
| Software installs by normalization status | Breakdown of software installs by normalization status. | Software installs by normalization status |
| Software installs missing edition | Software installs missing an edition value, affecting normalization and license reconciliation accuracy. | Software installs missing edition |
| Software installs missing version | Software installs missing a version value, affecting normalization and license reconciliation accuracy. | Software installs missing version |
| Server installs missing cloud license | Installs on servers with a cloud provider populated but no cloud license type, for a defined set of qualifying software products, affecting cloud license reporting accuracy. | Server installs missing cloud license |
Installed on
Displays key metrics related to CIs on which the selected software products are installed.
The Installed on sub-tab name reflects the Installed on field on the software installation record, which identifies the CI on which the software is installed. For more information, see Software installation fields.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| Installs by CI install status | Breakdown of software installs by the install status, or life cycle stage, of the CI hosting the install. Note: On instances where the CSDM Activation plugin (com.snc.cmdb.csdm.activation) is active, this card is named Installs by lifecycle stages and installs are grouped by life cycle stage instead. |
Installs by CI install status |
| CIs missing environment | CIs with a software install that are missing an environment value, leading to incomplete asset context. | CIs missing environment |
| CIs missing assigned to | CIs with a software install that aren't assigned to a specific user, leading to unclear ownership. | CIs missing assigned to |
| Server CIs missing CPU attributes | CIs with a software install that are missing key CPU attributes needed for accurate license calculations. | Server CIs missing CPU attributes |
| CIs not updated | CIs with a software install that have not been updated within a selectable time period, causing data gaps and inaccuracies. Select 30, 60, or 90 days from the drop-down list to change the threshold. | CIs not updated in the last 30 days |
| Duplicate CIs | Software installs on CIs identified as duplicates, with an open de-duplication task, causing data redundancy. | Duplicate CIs |
Virtual CI relationships
Displays key metrics related to CI relationships that connect virtual machine installs to their host infrastructure. Accurate mappings enable licensing compliance.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual machines without host server CI relationships | Software installs on Windows Server or Linux Server virtual CIs that don't have a host server CI relationship, limited to VMware ESX Server and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual infrastructure, leading to gaps in licensing compliance tracking. | Virtual machines without host server CI relationships |
| Incorrect virtual server infrastructure relationships | Virtualized by or Member of relationships for virtual server CIs, limited to VMware ESX Server and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual infrastructure, that are flagged as incorrect or suggested for removal by relationship health analysis. On the KPI Details page, this indicator appears under the heading Incorrect infrastructure relationships. | Incorrect virtual server infrastructure relationships |
| Virtual CI-host CI install status distribution | Comparison of the install status, or life cycle stage, between a virtual server install and its related host CI. | Install status distribution matched |