Normalization data services

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Normalization Data Services

    The Normalization Data Services plugin in ServiceNow Zurich release ensures consistency for table fields that reference company names, particularly in configuration items and asset-related tables. It addresses the common issue where the same company is referenced by multiple variant names, which can cause reporting inaccuracies and data inconsistencies.

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    By enabling and configuring this plugin, ServiceNow automatically downloads a comprehensive list of standardized company names (normalized names) along with their common variants (discovered names). The plugin substitutes variant names with the standardized names across relevant fields, streamlining data uniformity without requiring manual mapping setup.

    Key Features

    • Automatic normalization: The plugin replaces variant company names in data fields with standardized names from a precompiled list.
    • Extensible mappings: Customers can add custom mappings beyond the extensive default lists.
    • Data storage: Uses two primary tables — Normalized Company Names for standard names, and Normalized Mappings for discovered-to-normalized name mappings.
    • Unique indexing: Adds a unique index/hash on the corecompany table to ensure only one record per company name exists. This is critical for features like Discovery and CMDB management.
    • Domain separation support: On domain-separated instances, uniqueness is scoped by domain to allow multiple domains to maintain their own company records with the same name.
    • Configurable properties: Normalization properties can be viewed and adjusted via a dedicated form.
    • Guided setup: Implementation can be streamlined using the provided guided setup process.

    Key Outcomes

    • Consistent and reliable company name data across configuration and asset tables, improving data quality.
    • Enhanced report accuracy by eliminating discrepancies caused by variant company names.
    • Centralized management of normalized company names and their variants for easier maintenance.
    • Changes to a normalized company name propagate throughout all mapped discovered names, ensuring uniform updates.
    • Supports robust CMDB and Discovery operations by enforcing unique company name records.

    The Normalization Data Services plugin helps maintain consistency for table fields that refer to a company name.

    Tables related to configuration items and assets usually contain columns referring to a company name, such as a vendor or manufacturer. Often, these tables refer to the same company by several different names. This situation can happen for many reasons. For example, vendors sometimes use different company names depending on the device. This inconsistency creates problems, especially for reports that rely on these company names.

    The Normalization Data Services plugin helps alleviate this problem.

    When you enable and configure the Normalization Data Services plugin, the system downloads a list of standard company names that ServiceNow has compiled. It also downloads a list of common variants of that name. Anytime the plugin finds a company-name field with one of those variants, it substitutes the standard name in its place.

    Note:
    The Normalization Data Services plugin refers to a standard name as a normalized name and to a variant name as a discovered name.

    While the Normalization Data Services plugin provides services similar to the field normalization feature, this plugin doesn’t require you to manually set up the mappings from one name to another. If you like, you can add your own mappings to the set. However, you automatically start with extensive lists of common company names (normalized names) and their variants (discovered names).

    The Normalization Data Services plugin stores data in two tables. The Normalized Company Names table contains the list of normalized company names. The Normalized Mappings table contains the mappings between each discovered name and its normalized name.
    Important:
    If you edit a field whose value is a normalized name, you change the normalized name for ALL discovered names that map to it. These types of updates occur regardless of the table in which you edit the field.

    The Normalization Data Services plugin adds a unique index or hash on the [core_company] table. You can store only one company record for a company name. The unique hash is the same for two companies with the same name. The uniqueness is required for many features to work correctly. For example, Discovery, which creates customer management database (CMDB) models and CIs. On a domain separated instance, the unique index is expanded to hash,sys_scope. This enables each domain to have its own version of a company with the same name.