Customizing the content in your Network Inventory Workspace widgets

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Customizing the content in your Network Inventory Workspace widgets

    The Network Inventory Workspace in ServiceNow comes with a default set of widgets displaying telecommunications network inventory data. You can customize these widgets to include additional or different data by modifying the underlying CMDB groups that supply the widget content. This customization enables you to tailor the workspace to better reflect your specific network inventory and reporting needs.

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    Standard CMDB Groups and Naming Conventions

    Widgets retrieve data from CMDB groups organized by a standard naming convention, which includes the network domain and data type segments. The primary network domains used are:

    • Core Network domain (core telecom equipment)
    • Mobility Network domain (mobile telecom equipment)
    • Telco Network domain (general telecom equipment)
    • All (combined equipment from all network domains for reporting)

    Examples of data types include equipment status (e.g., Available, Pending Repair) and manufacturer equipment counts (e.g., Ericsson, Nokia). Combining these segments produces CMDB group names like Core Available Status Equipment or All Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment, which determine the data shown in widgets such as equipment by state or by manufacturer.

    Customizing Widgets by Modifying CMDB Groups

    To customize widget content, you use the CMDB Groups function to create new CMDB group codes or update existing ones by changing their query conditions. This directly impacts the data the Network Inventory Workspace collects and displays.

    For instance, to add a new equipment manufacturer to the Network equipment by manufacturer widget (which shows a pie chart of top manufacturers), you can create new CMDB groups following the established naming pattern. Using existing manufacturer groups (like Ericsson) as templates, you create corresponding groups for the new manufacturer (e.g., Dell) across all relevant network domains:

    • All Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    • Core Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    • Mobility Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    • Telco Dell Manufacturer Equipment

    These changes enable the widget to include data for the new manufacturer alongside existing ones.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Customize network inventory data displayed in widgets to match your unique environment and reporting needs.
    • Leverage standardized CMDB group structures and naming conventions to maintain consistency and simplify management.
    • Expand or refine widget data by adding new manufacturers, statuses, or other inventory categories without modifying the workspace UI directly.
    • Control which network domains are included in reports via domain selectors and CMDB group configurations.

    The Network Inventory Workspace is delivered in the base system with a standard set of information in each landing page widget. You can easily customize this content to include other Telecommunications Network Inventory data.

    Standard CMDB groups and naming conventions for Network Inventory Workspace widget data

    The data collection process for the Network Inventory Workspace landing page uses a standard CMDB group structure to retrieve data that appears in its widgets, including:
    • Network sites overview
    • Network entities by category
    • Network equipment by manufacturer
    • Network equipment by states

    For example, the following shows a listing of some of the CMDB groups that are used for the Network Inventory Workspace data collection:

    Figure 1. Standard CMDB groups for the Network Inventory Workspace
    CMDB groups view for the Network Inventory Workspace with the list of standard CMDB groups.
    Note:
    To learn how the data collection process operates, see Data collection and refresh for the Network Inventory Workspace widgets.
    These CMDB groups follow the following standard naming convention:
    1. The first segment represents the assigned domain for the network sites and entities. You use the Network domain selector in the Network Inventory Workspace to filter the data that appears by selecting one of the following types of network domains:
      Core
      Network domain for the core telecom equipment.
      Mobility
      Network domain for the mobile telecom equipment.
      Telco
      Network domain for the telecom equipment in general.
      All
      All equipment network domains that are combined into a single one for reporting purposes.
    2. The remaining segments represent a specific type of field data. For example:
      Available Status Equipment
      Reports the Available status for the equipment.
      Pending Repair Status Equipment
      Reports the Pending Repair status for the equipment.
      Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment
      Reports the percentage of the total equipment that is supplied by Ericsson.
      Nokia Manufacturer Equipment
      Reports the percentage of the total equipment that is supplied by Nokia.
    The following examples show how the name segments are combined in the CMDB groups to report the data that appears in the widgets in the Network Inventory Workspace:
    All Available Status Equipment
    CMDB group data that is used in the Network equipment by states widget to report the percentage of equipment that is in the Available status in all network domains.
    Core Available Status Equipment
    CMDB group data used in the Network equipment by states widget to report the percentage of equipment that is in an Available status in the Core network domain.
    Mobility Pending Repair Status Equipment
    CMDB group data used in the Network equipment by states widget to report the percentage of equipment that is in a Pending Repair status in the Mobility network domain.
    All Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment
    CMDB group data that is used in the Network equipment by manufacturer widget to report the total piece count for the equipment that is supplied by Ericsson in all network domains.
    Telecom Nokia Manufacturer Equipment
    CMDB group data that is used in the Network equipment by manufacturer widget to report the total piece count for the equipment that is supplied by Nokia in the Telecom network domain.

    Modifying the Network equipment by manufacturer widget

    This widget contains a pie chart with a standard set of the five most recognizable telecommunications equipment manufacturers.
    Figure 2. Network equipment by manufacturer widget
    Donut chart for the five most recognizable telecommunications equipment manufacturers.
    A pre-defined CMDB group structure supports retrieval of the data that appears in the widget pie chart. The following example shows the standard CMDB groups that are used to retrieve the manufacturer data for the Network Inventory Workspace.
    Figure 3. Standard CMDB groups used for the Network equipment by manufacturer widget
    CMDB groups view for the Network Inventory Workspace with the list of standard CMDB groups.
    To add or change the data in a widget, use the CMDB Groups function to create CMDB group codes or modify the accompanying query conditions for existing ones. To update any of the existing CMDB groups, you must follow the standard CMDB group naming convention used for the Network Inventory Workspace widgets.
    Note:
    To learn more about creating, updating, or naming CMDB groups, see CMDB groups.

    For example, let's say that you want to add another equipment manufacturer to the widget. To accomplish this task, you can use existing CMDB groups for a manufacturer, for each of the network domains, as the base for the new manufacturer. In this example, you use the existing CMDB groups for Ericsson as the base for the CMDB groups that you create for the new manufacturer.

    This table shows what the existing CMDB group codes look like for Ericsson, and what they look like when you create the CMDB group codes for Dell.
    Table 1. CMDB group example
    Existing CMDB Group Existing CMDB Group
    All Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment All Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    Core Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment Core Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    Mobility Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment Mobility Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    Telco Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment Telco Dell Manufacturer Equipment