Exploring ServiceNow Otto for CMDB

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Exploring ServiceNow Otto for CMDB

    ServiceNow Otto for CMDB leverages Agentic AI to enhance Configuration Management Database (CMDB) management by enabling natural language interactions for searching, summarizing, and remediating configuration items (CIs). It supports improving CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health, while simplifying complex processes such as duplicate CI remediation and Service Graph Connector (SGC) error diagnosis. This application is designed to help CMDB administrators and data owners efficiently maintain trustworthy and reliable CMDB data.

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    Key Features

    • Create Configuration Item Agentic Workflow: Allows users to create CIs via natural language requests. The workflow validates CI class, required attributes based on Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) rules, checks for duplicates, and then creates the CI. This is especially valuable for adding physical CIs in Operational Technology environments.
    • Provide Advice on CMDB Governance Agentic Workflow: Guides data admins and owners through improving CMDB data quality systematically to build trust in the data used for operational activities.
    • Search CMDB Agentic Workflow: Enables flexible CI searches by natural language, generating keyword, single-table, or multi-table queries that include relationship navigation.
    • Duplicate CI Remediator Agentic Workflow: Facilitates end-to-end deduplication with AI-generated recommendations, allowing administrators to review, modify, and apply remediation actions confidently.
    • Manage Duplicate CIs Skill: Provides step-by-step guidance for resolving duplicates, previewing remediation results, and identifying root causes to prevent future duplication issues.
    • CI Summarization Skill: Offers concise summaries of CI data including discovery, ownership, related incidents, alerts, problems, change requests, and security vulnerabilities, supporting applications like Incident, Change, and Event Management.
    • Summarize CMDB Readiness Skill: Generates AI-based summaries of CMDB success advisor dashboard data, highlighting key findings on data accuracy, completeness, and health, and recommending remediation steps.
    • Service Graph Connector Diagnosis Skill: Automates detection and resolution of errors in Service Graph Connectors that affect CI data ingestion, reducing manual troubleshooting effort and improving CMDB consistency.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Streamlines CMDB management by enabling natural language interactions and AI-driven workflows.
    • Enhances CMDB data quality and trustworthiness through guided governance and deduplication processes.
    • Improves operational efficiency by automating error diagnosis and remediation for connectors feeding the CMDB.
    • Provides actionable insights via summaries and readiness assessments to support informed decision-making.
    • Supports faster and more accurate CI creation and maintenance, particularly for complex or manual additions.

    By implementing ServiceNow Otto for CMDB, customers can expect more accurate, complete, and healthy CMDB data, leading to improved reliability of IT service management processes and better overall IT operations.

    With the ServiceNow Otto for CMDB application, you can use Agentic AI to search the CMDB, summarize discovery, ownership and related information for a CI, and fix failed SGC import sets. You can also follow step-by-step guidance to help you remediate duplicate CIs, improve CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health .

    ServiceNow Otto for CMDB agentic workflows

    ServiceNow Otto for CMDB provides the following abilities:

    Create configuration item agentic workflow

    Occasionally, you might create a CI manually. To help you, the Create configuration item agentic workflow accepts your natural language request and verifies that it understands which class the new CI should belong to. The workflow then checks Identification and Reconciliation engine (IRE) rules to determine the required attributes for the CI and requests that information. After you provide sufficient data, the workflow promotes that the proposed CI includes the attributes that you requested, complies with IRE rules, and is not a duplicate. The workflow then creates the CI.

    The Create configuration item agentic workflow is particularly useful for adding CIs to tables accessed by Operational Technology because users might add physical CIs while unaware of the importance of managing CI data in the CMDB.

    To learn more, see Create a CI using ServiceNow Otto.

    Provide advice on CMDB governance agentic workflow

    Data governance can be an overwhelming task. The Provide advice on CMDB governance agentic workflow supports data admins and owners by methodically working through the many-faceted process of improving CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health. The objective is to help users to trust the data that they use for their work.

    To learn more, see Getting advice from ServiceNow Otto on CMDB governance.

    Search CMDB agentic workflow

    The Search CMDB agentic workflow enables you to search for CIs by specifying any of several attributes of the CIs of interest. The workflow accepts your natural language request, verifies your search goal, and then, depending on the information you provided, generates a keyword search, a single-table search with dot walks, or a multi-table search that involves relationship navigation. The workflow can infer CI relationship data to generate an appropriate query.

    To learn more, see Use ServiceNow Otto to search the CMDB.

    Duplicate CI remediator agentic workflow
    The Duplicate CI remediator agentic workflow completes the full range of deduplication tasks. The workflow presents its reasoning for each step so CMDB administrators can review the AI recommendations, modify the remediation actions if needed, and then perform the deduplication tasks.

    ServiceNow Otto for CMDB skills

    Manage duplicate CIs skill

    Duplicate CIs interfere with the integrity, reliability, and general health of CMDB. Resolve deduplication tasks with support from the ServiceNow Otto Manage duplicate CIs skill. CMDB administrators follow step-by-step guidance to perform remediation, and can preview remediation results before applying a template. The manage duplicate CIs skill accelerates the work that you normally perform manually.

    In this example, the manage duplicate CIs skill presents a list of classes with duplicate CIs and suggests possible actions. You can select an option or enter the action text in your own words:
    • Review de-duplication tasks, create de-duplication templates, assign tasks to templates, and run the templates.
    • Preview the results of applying a de-duplication template before you decide to apply it.
    • Identify the root cause of duplications so that you can review the groups of de-duplication tasks that share a common cause and possibly avoid the issue in the future.

    Selecting duplicate CIs to remediate.

    To learn more, see Let ServiceNow Otto help you to manage duplicate CIs.

    CI summarization skill

    View a concise summary of key CI data. You can select the CI on a CI form, in a workspace page, or on any list view. The summary can include discovery data, ownership, and key related items such as open incidents, alerts, problems, upcoming change requests, and security vulnerabilities. Additionally, the summary lists the service instances that the CI is part of. Summary information is useful while working in applications such as Incident Management, Change Management, and Event Management.

    Summary information.

    To learn more, see View CI information with the ServiceNow Otto CI summarization skill.

    Summarize CMDB readiness skill

    View an AI-generated summary of the CMDB success advisor for HAM or CMDB success advisor for Data Foundations dashboard data. The summary highlights the key findings on CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health, and recommends remediation actions to address the findings.

    The skill works alongside the HAM or Data Foundations tab of the CMDB success advisor dashboard. Each time you change the dashboard filters, you can regenerate the summary against the updated selection.

    To learn more, see Summarize CMDB readiness with the ServiceNow Otto skill.

    Service Graph Connector diagnosis

    Service Graph Connectors are integrations that facilitate data ingestion from third-party sources into the CMDB. Errors in Service Graph Connectors can disrupt the flow of configuration item (CI) data resulting in inconsistencies between the actual state of CIs and their CMDB records.

    The Service Graph Connector diagnosis skill automates error diagnosis and recommendation generation, enabling CMDB installation administrators to identify and resolve the issues. This automation reduces manual effort and saves time in debugging Service Graph Connectors issues.

    To learn more, see the following topics: