--- sourceDocument: Brazil ServiceNow AI Platform Capabilities sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/servicenow-platform Release : - brazil ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Brazil ServiceNow AI Platform Capabilities ft:clusterId : - platcap bundleId : - platcap workflow : - Platform --- # CI relations formatter # CI relations formatter {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Brazil Updated September 10, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 4 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 CI relations formatter The CI relations formatter in ServiceNow allows you to examine a Configuration Item (CI) and its relationships through various views directly on the default CI form. It provides a list of related CIs and a toolbar with controls to view, filter, and manage these relationships. When domain separation is enabled, users only see relationships where they have permission to view both CIs involved. The formatter also supports launching the CI relationship editor for manual relationship management. Show full answer Show less Some relationship endpoints that act as both parent and child in different relationships are hidden in the formatter view to simplify visualization. Additionally, special relationship types used solely by Service Mapping, such as Applicative Flow To::Application Flow From, are excluded from display. ## Key Features * **Add CI relationship:** Opens the relationship editor to manually create or edit CI relationships (role-based access). * **Show dependency views:** Opens a Dependency Views map centered on the current CI, showing hierarchical relationships and indicators for related tasks, incidents, problems, changes, or outages. * **Search and filter:** Filters displayed related CIs and saves view preferences across sessions. * **View layout options:** Choose between flat (grouped alphabetically) or hierarchical tree views for related CIs, with options to merge or split upstream/downstream relationships. * **Relationship filters:** Customize the types and levels of relationships displayed, with the ability to filter by relationship type or CMDB views. * **Performance controls:** Properties allow limiting the number of displayed related CIs and hierarchy levels to improve load times in large environments. * **Domain separation support:** Ensures relationship visibility respects domain permissions, aligning with organizational data segmentation. * **Legacy formatter fallback:** If browser requirements are not met, a legacy CI relations formatter is used instead. ## Practical Considerations * Only CIs extended from the **Configuration Item \[cmdbci\]** table appear in the formatter and Dependency Views maps. * Some relationship endpoints may be hidden to avoid clutter and to simplify relationship chains. * Performance tuning properties like *glide.ui.maxrelations* and *glide.ui.maxrelationlevels* help manage display limits for large CI networks. * Icons next to CIs indicate related open or planned changes, problems, incidents, and outages, aiding quick impact assessments. ## Additional Capabilities * Create custom relationship filters to control which CI relationships appear in the formatter. * Exclude specific relationships from the formatter view to tailor visibility on CI forms. * Integration with related governance, security, and relationship management features enhances control over CI relationships. This functionality is essential for ServiceNow customers managing complex CMDBs, enabling clear visualization, filtering, and editing of CI relationships while respecting organizational data boundaries and performance requirements. The default CI form includes a CI relations formatter from which you can examine a CI and its relationships in various views. From the CI relations formatter, you can also launch the CI relationship editor for the CI. If the domain separation plugin is activated, then only relationships in which the logged on user is authorized to view both CIs, are displayed. The CI relations formatter contains a list of related CIs and a toolbar with controls for viewing the relationships between the current CI and related CIs. You can configure the controls in this formatter to modify varying aspects of the view. For more information about formatters, see [Create a formatter and add it to the form](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=t_CreateAFormatter&version=brazil&pubname=brazil-platform-administration&ft:locale=en-US). Note: * If an endpoint is a child in one relationship and the same endpoint is a parent in another relationship, then that endpoint is hidden and does not appear in the relations formatter view. Similarly, relationship qualifier chains are also hidden and do not appear in the relationship formatter view. * Example: CI1 \> endpoint \> CI2 In this example, CI1 is related to CI2 through relationships with endpoint. A single relationship appears in the relations formatter: CI1 \> CI2 (These relationships appear as a direct relationship without endpoint, because endpoint is a parent in one relationship and a child in another relationship). * Example: CI1 \> endpoint1 \> CI2 \> endpoint2Two relationships appear in the relations formatter: CI1 \> CI2 (endpoint1 is hidden because it is a parent in one relationship and a child in another relationship). CI1 \> CI2 \> endpoint2 (appears as level 2 relationship -- endpoint1 is hidden and endpoint2 appears as it a child and not a parent in any other relationship). {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__ul_nxh_kqc_qdb} * On instances that do not meet the internet browser requirements for the CI relations formatter, the default CI form includes the legacy CI relations formatter instead. For more information, see [Legacy CI relations formatter](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/fHpjoLgMrphv~eAQq37NsQ "On instances that do not meet the internet browser requirements for the latest CI relations formatter, the default CI form includes the legacy CI relations formatter instead."). * CIs not extended from the Configuration Item \[cmdb_ci\] table, are not displayed in Dependency Views maps and in CI relation formatters. * The Applicative Flow To::Application Flow From relationship is a special relationship type used only between Service Mapping endpoints. This relationship type is not intended for use in the CMDB as a relationship between CIs and therefore it is not displayed in the relations formatter. {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__ul_llg_bz2_31b} {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__table_v4g_n21_1s__entry__2} | Control | Definition | |-|-| | Add CI relationship | Starts the relationship editor to manually create CI relationships. For more information (including about roles required for the '+' control to appear), see [Create or edit a CI relationship](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/ibGxUqPavfd9~Fe6f5GW8g "Use the relationship editor to view, create, or modify CI relationships. You can open the relationship editor from the CI Relations formatter."). | | Show dependency views | Launches a Dependency Views map in another window or tab. The CI is the central node in the map, with a configurable number of levels above and below that node in the hierarchy. Map indicators next to the nodes indicate the number of tasks, incidents, problems, changes, or outages related to that node. Right-click to expand collapsed nodes or display a list of related tasks or problems. For more information, see [Dependency Views map](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/u7DUAHTKYbYrHj6_ZMrb3g "ServiceNow Dependency Views maps graphically display CIs that support application or business services and the relationships between the CIs."). | | Search for CI | Filters the CIs included in the display. | [Table 1. Controls for viewing related CIs] {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__table_v4g_n21_1s} Select the Settings icon to configure additional view settings that filter the data displayed. Settings are preserved through logging out and logging back in. {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__table_zsl_qw4_ms__entry__2} | Setting | Description | |-|-| | Show Relations in Flat/Tree Layout | To view a flat list of related CIs that are grouped by relationship type in alphabetical order, click Flat (default value). To view groups of related CIs in a hierarchical tree, clickTree. If you select the tree view, you cannot configure any other settings for viewing related CIs. A single list of upstream and downstream relationships is displayed. | | Show Relations in Split/Merge Layout | To view a single list that includes both upstream and downstream relationships, click Merge (default value). Relationships are grouped by relationship type. To view separate lists for upstream and downstream relationships, click Split. | | Filter Relations by Max Level | Select the number of downstream and upstream levels in the hierarchy to include when displaying CIs in a flat view. Default value is 3. | | Filter Relations by Relationship Type | Select the types of relationships to view. Default value is 'All Relationship Types'. | | Filter Relations by CMDB View | Filter by tables specified in CMDB views, if any relationship filters exist. | [Table 2. Related items settings] {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__table_zsl_qw4_ms} The relations formatter uses the following icons to provide additional information about changes, problems, and outages related to CIs in the relationship:{#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__table_kvd_g22_ss__entry__1} | Icon | |-| | Recently closed changes | | Planned changes | | Currently open changes | | Recently closed outages | | Problems | | Incidents | | Planned outages | | Currently open outages | [ ] {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__table_kvd_g22_ss} In large networks, a list of related CIs might be excessively long, which can slow performance when a CI form is rendered. You can configure these properties to control the amount of data that is displayed. To find a property, enter sys_properties.list in the left navigation filter and search for the property. {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__table_z34_syd_5s__entry__2} | Property | Description | |-|-| | glide.ecmdb.find_relationship_issues | Hides or displays an icon in the CI relations formatter that links to open issues for the CI. This property defaults to true (displays the icon). | | glide.ui.max_relation_levels | Specifies the maximum level for displaying CIs in flat view before reaching the maximum relations limit. The default value is 5. | | glide.ui.max_relations | Specifies the maximum number of related CIs to display. When exceeded: * A notification appears indicating that the limit has been reached, and that not all relations are displayed. The default value is 1000. * Flat layout reverts to the tree layout view. {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__ul_zjp_xmp_jyb} | [Table 3. Properties related to performance] {#c_CIRelationsFormatterNG__table_z34_syd_5s} * **[Domain separation](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/2Lp64BIdAsch8kuJ2ut3~w)** Domain separation is supported in the relations formatter and the CI relationship editor. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data. * **[Create or edit a relationship filter](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/pgObAHejg_qyjwLHi4fgKg)** Create a custom relationship filter to display CI relationships from selected tables in the CI relations formatter. * **[Exclude relationships from the relations formatter view](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/NFFRz9gc57KZP~~__BodxA)** Create a list of relationships that should not appear in the relations formatter view on CI forms. * **[Legacy CI relations formatter](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/fHpjoLgMrphv~eAQq37NsQ)** On instances that do not meet the internet browser requirements for the latest CI relations formatter, the default CI form includes the legacy CI relations formatter instead. **Related concepts** * [Relationship governance rules](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/YtGYnpSWspmbdDsgHzbPFw "Relationship governance rules is a set of relationship rules used to ensure consistency and validity in modeling relationships between configuration items (CIs) in the CMDB. Use relationship governance rules to prevent the selection of relationship types or directions that are not allowed between specific CI types.") * [CI relationship editor](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/EoEVGrLO~xYBJMyKA3cmwg "Use the relationship editor to view, create, modify, or delete CI relationships. Open the relationship editor from the CI Relations formatter.") * [Relation qualifier](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/M5Ia9OW6dNRA1chML64Dow "A relation qualifier, which is a CI of the Qualifier [cmdb_ci_qualifier] type, stores important information about the CI relationships.") * [CI relationship security](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/hmQ3rCA0kmxVf5y5U1wtUw "When applying security to CI relationships, it is important to apply the access controls both to the CI Relationship (cmdb_rel_ci) table and to create an operation editCIRelations to the * table as well.") **Related tasks** * [Add a suggested relationship](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/P87DhV8BrtYMl5fhgQ30Iw "Add a suggested relationship for a class. The list of suggested relationships for a class is available when you create a new relationship for a CI of that class.") * [Create a CI relation rollup](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/0qvUUwtLYSMfroHS4VtcWA "A CI relation rollup allows you to sum, count, max, min, or mean a relationship type. You can create CI relation rollups.") * [Create or edit a relationship filter](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/pgObAHejg_qyjwLHi4fgKg "Create a custom relationship filter to display CI relationships from selected tables in the CI relations formatter.") **Related reference** * [Suggested class relationships](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/huHsyjPvmoiXReSCADlfNQ "The system keeps a table (Suggested Relationship [cmdb_rel_type_suggest]) of relationship types that are appropriate for a CI type, based on its class. You can manage suggested relationships by navigating to Configuration > Suggested Relationships , or in the CI Class Manager.") **Related topics** * [Create a formatter and add it to the form](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=t_CreateAFormatter&version=brazil&pubname=brazil-platform-administration&ft:locale=en-US)