CIs attestation

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of CIs Attestation

    CIs Attestation enables organizations to verify the existence of their IT infrastructure and applications effectively. By systematically attesting Configuration Items (CIs) in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), customers can maintain data integrity and remove outdated CIs linked to non-existent assets.

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    Key Features

    • Attestation Policy Creation: Utilize the CMDB Data Manager in CMDB Workspace or Service Graph Workspace to establish an Attestation policy that defines which CIs to attest and how frequently.
    • Task Assignment: Assign attestation tasks to knowledgeable users who can validate or reject the CIs based on their management experience.
    • Smart Detection: Streamline CI attestation using smart detection, enabling automatic attestation of CIs detected by discovery programs under specific conditions.

    Key Outcomes

    Through effective CIs attestation, customers can ensure the accuracy of their CMDB, thereby enhancing operational efficiency. Users can manage their attestation tasks easily through the My Work view or Tasks view, allowing for timely reviews and processing. The smart detection feature further simplifies the process by automating attestation for recently discovered CIs, improving overall data management.

    Verify the existence of actual IT infrastructure and applications that you own, systematically and in bulk. As CIs are continuously ingested into the CMDB from various data sources, ensure the integrity of the CMDB. Remove any stale CIs that are associated with IT infrastructure or applications that no longer exists.

    Use the CMDB Data Manager in CMDB Workspace and in Service Graph Workspace to create an Attestation policy, specifying CIs that need to be attested and the attestation frequency. Assign Attestation tasks to users that are familiar with or that manage the CIs, and who can attest or reject the IT infrastructure or applications that those CIs represent. Rejected CIs that are no longer needed can then be retired, archived, or deleted from the CMDB.

    Users can go to the My Work view in CMDB Workspace or to the Tasks view in Service Graph Workspace to see their assigned attestation tasks, and then review and process the tasks.

    Smart detection and auto-attestation

    Smart detection streamlines and simplifies CI attestation. With smart detection you can auto-attest CIs that are automatically detected by discovery programs, based only on recent discovery results.

    The following conditions must be met to enable smart detection:
    In addition, smart detection uses the following system properties as filters when creating a list of CIs that are candidates for auto-attestation. To be included as candidates for auto-attestation, CIs must be discovered:
    • Within the discovery time window specified by the sn_cmdb_ws.attestation.smart_detection.discovery_window system property (for example, within the last 30 days)
    • By any discovery source that isn't excluded by the sn_cmdb_ws.attestation.smart_detection.discovery_source.exclusion system property
    Then, when you review those candidate CIs, you can choose to auto-attest them.

    Properties associated with Attestation

    Property Description

    sn_cmdb_ws.attestation.smart_detection.disabled

    Disables smart detection.
    sn_cmdb_ws.attestation.smart_detection.discovery_source.exclusion

    Comma-separated list of discovery sources that are excluded in smart detection processing. For example, a data source that is unreliable in detecting CIs.

    CIs discovered by discovery sources in the list, can't be candidates for auto-attestation.
    sn_cmdb_ws.attestation.smart_detection.discovery_window

    Number of days (discovery window) that smart detection uses to determine whether a CI is a candidate for auto-attestation. Only CIs that were discovered within this discovery window can be candidates for auto-attestation.