Monitoring CMDB data quality using dashboard metrics in CMDB success advisor for HAM
Summarize
Summary of Monitoring CMDB data quality using dashboard metrics in CMDB success advisor for HAM
The CMDB success advisor for Hardware Asset Management (HAM) dashboard is a powerful tool that helps CMDB administrators monitor and improve the quality of hardware asset data in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). It provides targeted insights into data quality issues specific to HAM and supports effective remediation through detailed metrics, visualizations, and AI-generated summaries. This dashboard is available after completing the CMDB success advisor for HAM setup and requires specific user roles for access.
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Key Features
- AI-Generated Data Quality Insights: Displays a prioritized summary of top data quality issues affecting CIs, including data integrity, key attributes, CI-asset relationships, business rules, and data manager policies, with guided remediation actions.
- CI Metrics by Various Dimensions: Breaks down operational CIs by normalization status, model category, and data integration source to highlight data completeness and source contributions.
- Identification of Missing or Incomplete Key Attributes: Highlights CIs lacking essential information such as model name, manufacturer, assigned user, location, managed group, or serial number, which can cause operational inefficiencies.
- Detection of Data Quality Issues: Monitors CIs that are stale (not updated recently) or duplicated, which contribute to outdated or inconsistent CMDB records.
- CI and Asset Relationship Monitoring: Identifies missing links between CIs and assets, mismatches in install status versus asset state, and lifecycle stage inconsistencies, helping ensure accurate asset lifecycle tracking and reporting.
- Interactive Filters: Allows filtering dashboard data by model categories, date ranges, and stale CI thresholds to focus analysis and remediation efforts.
- KPI Details and Remediation Actions: Selecting chart segments opens detailed trend analysis and remediation panels to guide systematic data cleanup.
Practical Use and Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Real-Time Visibility: CMDB administrators gain immediate insights into hardware asset data quality and completeness, enabling proactive management.
- Efficient Issue Identification: Quickly detect and prioritize missing attributes, duplicate records, and unlinked assets to reduce operational risks.
- Data Quality Improvement: Follow AI-guided remediation actions to systematically enhance CMDB accuracy over time.
- Support for HAM Processes: Maintain a reliable CMDB that accurately reflects hardware assets, improving asset lifecycle management, reporting, and compliance.
- Role-Based Access: Ensures that appropriate users, including CMDB administrators and read-only users, can access and utilize the dashboard effectively.
- Data Integrity Focus: Foundational issues like duplicate and stale CIs are highlighted first to prevent inflated or misleading metrics.
The CMDB success advisor for HAM dashboard enables CMDB administrators to identify and address data quality issues specific to HAM in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
Access the dashboard
To open the dashboard, select View insights for HAM on the CMDB success advisor landing page. See Viewing the CMDB success advisor landing page. The dashboard displays a Last updated timestamp reflecting the completion time of the most recent HAM data collector job run.
Required roles
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| sn_cmdb_admin | Required to access the dashboard. |
| sn_cmdb_user | Provides read-only access to CMDB success advisor pages and data, including the AI-generated summary of the dashboard. |
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 hardware asset data quality and asset status. Use the dashboard to identify and resolve data quality issues within the CMDB through dedicated sections, filters, indicators, and visual reports. Gain valuable insights into CMDB performance related to HAM.
Targeted CMDB metrics focus remediation efforts. Regularly monitor these metrics and follow suggested remediation actions to systematically improve CMDB data quality over time.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| CMDB data quality insights generated by AI | Displays an AI-generated summary of CMDB data quality for HAM outcomes and lists the top 5 issues with guided remediation actions. Issues are ranked primarily by the percentage of CIs or CI classes that each issue affects, not by severity, within five categories, in this order: Data Integrity, Key Attributes, CI-Asset Relationship, Business Rules, and Data Manager Policies. Foundational data integrity issues, such as duplicate CIs and stale CIs, are evaluated first because they can inflate the counts behind other issues. A percentage gap of more than 15 points between issues in the same category can change their default order. A percentage gap of more than 40 points between issues in different categories can also change their default order. For the reasoning behind the ranking and recommendations, see Summarize CMDB readiness with the Now Assist skill. Note: Available only when the summarize CMDB readiness skill is configured. See Configure the summarize CMDB readiness skill. |
| CIs by normalization status | Displays the breakdown of operational CIs by HAM normalization status to indicate how much of the CMDB is normalized against the hardware product model catalog. |
| CIs by model category | Displays the breakdown of operational CIs by associated model category to highlight CI distribution in the CMDB. |
| CIs by data integration source | Displays the breakdown of operational CIs by data integration source to highlight their contribution to CMDB population. |
| CIs missing model data and other key attributes | Displays key metrics related to CIs missing model details, ownership, and other key attributes, leading to incomplete records and operational inefficiencies. |
| CI data quality issues | Displays key metrics related to CIs that have not been updated or may have duplicate records, leading to outdated information and inconsistencies in the CMDB. |
| CI and asset-related issues | Displays key metrics related to mismatches and missing links between CIs and assets, leading to incomplete asset life cycle tracking and reporting issues. |
Filters
Filters enable narrowing the data shown in graphs and metrics based on model category, date range, or stale CI threshold.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Model categories | List | Filters CIs based on the selected model categories. |
| Date range | Date | Filters the dashboard data based on the selected date range. |
| Stale CI | List | Filters stale CIs based on the number of days since their last update. Available values: 7, 14, 30, 60, and 90 days. |
CIs missing model data and other key attributes
Displays key metrics related to CIs missing model details, ownership, and other key attributes, leading to incomplete records and operational inefficiencies.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| CIs missing model name | Operational CIs not associated with a model ID or associated with a model ID missing a name. | CIs missing model name |
| CIs missing model number | Operational CIs not associated with a model ID or associated with a model ID missing a model number. | CIs missing model number |
| CIs missing model manufacturer | Operational CIs not associated with a model ID or associated with a model ID missing a manufacturer. | CIs missing manufacturer |
| CIs missing model ID | Operational CIs not associated with a model ID. | CIs missing model ID |
| CIs missing assigned to | Operational CIs not assigned to a specific user, leading to unclear ownership and delayed action. | CIs missing assigned to |
| CIs missing location | Operational CIs not associated with a location, leading to gaps in asset tracking and service mapping. | CIs missing location |
| CIs missing managed by group | Operational CIs not managed by a specific ownership group, leading to inefficient support assignment and operational risk. | CIs missing managed by group |
| CIs missing serial number | Operational CIs missing a serial number, leading to issues with duplicate identification. | CIs missing serial number |
CI data quality issues
Displays key metrics related to CIs that haven’t been updated or may have duplicate records, leading to outdated information and inconsistencies in the CMDB.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| CIs not updated | Operational CIs not updated, causing data gaps and inaccuracies in the CMDB. When you select a segment on the CIs not updated chart, the KPI Details page title reflects the Stale CI filter value selected at the time. For example, CIs not updated in last 30 days. | CIs not updated in last 7 days CIs not updated in last 14 days CIs not updated in last 30 days CIs not updated in last 60 days CIs not updated in last 90 days Note: The CIs not updated card data is additionally filtered based on the Stale CI filter. See Filters. |
| Duplicate CIs | Operational CIs identified as duplicates based on key matching attributes, causing data redundancy. | Duplicate CIs |
CI and asset-related issues
Displays key metrics related to mismatches and missing links between CIs and assets, leading to incomplete asset life cycle tracking and reporting issues.
| Card | Description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| CIs missing asset | Operational CIs not associated with an asset record, leading to incomplete asset life cycle tracking. | CIs missing asset |
| Virtual CIs with asset | Virtual assets created for virtual CIs that are operational, leading to inaccurate consumption of HAM licenses. | Assets created for virtual CIs |
| Assets missing CI | Assets without a matching CI, caused by CIs not being discoverable on the network. | Assets missing CI |
| CI install status vs. asset state | All CIs where the install status matches or differs from the corresponding asset state. Available only on instances where the CSDM Activation plugin (com.snc.cmdb.csdm.activation) is not active. | CI install status vs. asset state matched |
| CI life cycle stage vs. asset life cycle stage | All CIs where the life cycle stage matches or differs from the corresponding asset life cycle stage. Available only on instances where the CSDM Activation plugin (com.snc.cmdb.csdm.activation) is active. | CI lifecycle stage vs. asset lifecycle stage matched |