Exploring CMDB Workspace

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Exploring CMDB Workspace

    The CMDB Workspace in ServiceNow is a centralized, modern interface designed to efficiently manage and explore the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). It enables users to search, review CMDB health, monitor recent activities, and access various dashboards and tools such as CMDB Health, CMDB Data Manager, and CMDB 360. The workspace integrates Performance Analytics for KPI tracking and provides drill-down capabilities to detailed data views, improving visibility and control over configuration items (CIs).

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    Key Features

    • Interactive Dashboards and Views: Includes Home, My Work, CMDB 360, Insights, and Management views, each focusing on tasks such as compliance, data analysis, adoption tracking, and administrative management.
    • CI Details Presentation: Depending on system settings, users can view CI details either through a comprehensive CI Form or a CI details pane that shows timelines, health summaries, attributes, activity streams, and relationships.
    • Performance Analytics Integration: Allows users to explore trends, adjust data scopes, and view associated records directly from KPI charts within the workspace.
    • Configurable Workspace: The CMDB Workspace experience can be customized and edited using UI Builder, providing flexibility to tailor the workspace to organizational needs.
    • Role-Based Access: Access to features such as CI health, related incidents, alerts, and CMDB 360 data is controlled through specific roles ensuring security and appropriate data visibility.
    • Management Tools: Features tools for managing duplicate CIs, recent activities, and integration with Event Management and Change Management processes.
    • Configuration Identifiers Framework: Enables customization of CMDB Workspace behaviors across different workspaces, supporting integration and feature adaptation.

    Practical Use and Benefits

    ServiceNow customers can leverage CMDB Workspace to enhance operational efficiency with a unified interface for CMDB tasks. It helps maintain CMDB data quality, supports compliance activities like attestation and certification, and improves incident and change management through integrated views and actions. The workspace’s drill-down capabilities and analytics empower users to quickly identify and address CMDB health issues, boosting overall service reliability.

    Access and Requirements

    • Different features require specific roles such as CMDB Admin, CMDB Editor, CMDB User, snincidentread, snchangeread, and plugin roles like evtmgmtuser for Event Management.
    • The CI Form feature is enabled by default via system property sncmdbws.exploreci.record.enabled, providing a rich editing experience with rule enforcement to prevent data issues.
    • Domain separation is not supported within CMDB Workspace.

    Next Steps for Customers

    • Explore individual workspace views like Home, My Work, CMDB 360, Insights, and Management to understand specific functions and tasks.
    • Use UI Builder to customize the workspace experience to fit your organizational workflows.
    • Ensure appropriate roles are assigned to users to access required features securely.
    • Utilize the Configuration Identifiers framework when integrating CMDB Workspace features into other ServiceNow workspaces.

    Learn more about CMDB Workspace, its different views, and its benefits when using key CMDB features such as CMDB Health, CMDB Data Manager, and CMDB 360.

    CMDB Workspace overview

    The CMDB Workspace is an efficient, central, and modernized way for you to work. Use CMDB Workspace to search and explore the CMDB, examine health and recent activity, and access various CMDB dashboards and tools to support tasks in your organization.

    General interaction and additional information

    • CMDB Workspace leverages many Performance Analytics capabilities and features, such as indicator sources. Throughout the CMDB Workspace views, you can select the various cards to drill down to Performance Analytics KPI Details panes that show trends for the associated data. On a KPI Details pane, you can modify different settings to change the scope of the data. You can also select Show Records to list the records associated with the chart.
    • Lists throughout the CMDB Workspace have a filter icon that you can select to show the filter definition used for the list.
    • You can open your Configurable Workspace experience in UI Builder to access and edit your CMDB Workspace experience.
    • See List of workspaces for a list of all Workspaces that ServiceNow® provides.
    • CMDB Workspace doesn't support domain separation.

    CI details

    When you drill down to CI details, how those details appear depends on system settings:
    CI Form

    By default, the system property sn_cmdb_ws.explore_ci.record.enabled is set to true, enabling the experience of the CI Form feature for viewing CI details. Using CI Form, you're navigated to a centralized location with a comprehensive set of CI details organized by sections. Use the forms provided by CI Form to examine and edit CI attributes, relationships, tags, services and offerings, CMDB Health and CMDB 360 data associated with the CI, related lists, and activities. When updating CIs in CI Form, IRE rules are applied to avoid potential issues such as duplicate CIs.

    For more information, see:
    CI details pane
    If sn_cmdb_ws.explore_ci.record.enabled is set to false, then the CI details pane is used for viewing CI details. When you drill down to a CI record in CMDB Workspace views and pages, the following details for the CI appear:
    • CI Timeline - Last 14 days: A timeline of CI activities such as change requests.
      Note:
      A CI timeline in CMDB Workspace fails to load when the number of any of the following activities exceeds its threshold:
      • History: 200
      • Incidents: 100
      • Requests: 50
      • Total Events: 200
      Select the Open CI Timeline link in the error message to open the CI timeline in the base system, which shows activities for the CI, up to the specified threshold numbers.
    • CI Health: A summary of the health of the CI, showing related items such as critical incidents, incomplete attributes, and stale relationships for the CI.

      Role requirement: sn_cmdb_user or itil (for accessing incidents).

    • Details: CI attributes, grouped into categories such as Key attributes, Asset attributes, Discovery attributes, Operational attributes, and More attributes.
      Note:
      Use the CMDB - Workspace form view for a CI class to configure which attributes appear.
    • Activity: An activity stream to track what's changed in the CI record.
    • Infrastructure Relationships: List of the infrastructure CIs related to the CI.
    • Service Relationships: List of business applications, service offerings, and application services that the CI may be related to.
    On the CI details pane, you can:
    • Select Open Dependency View to open the Dependency Views map and display a graphic infrastructure view of the specific CI record.
    • Select View CMDB 360 Data to show CMDB 360 details at the CI attribute level for the specific CI record.
    • Select Save to save any changes made to attributes for the CI record.

    • Select the More Actions icon (...) for additional functions:
    UI activity Additional requirements

    CI Details

    Accessible to: CMDB Admin, CMDB Editor, CMDB User

    CI Health

    Accessible to:
    • Incidents card: sn_incident_read to view
    • Change requests card: sn_change_read to view
    • For remaining cards: At least sn_cmdb_user
    itil

    Related Open Changes

    Accessible to: CMDB Admin, CMDB Editor, CMDB User

    sn_change_read role

    Related Incidents

    Accessible to: CMDB Admin, CMDB Editor, CMDB User

    sn_incident_read role

    Related Alerts

    Accessible to: CMDB Admin, CMDB Editor, CMDB User

    Event Management (com.glideapp.itom.snac) plugin

    evt_mgmt_user role

    Set up Event Management

    Related Application Services

    Accessible to: CMDB Admin, CMDB Editor, CMDB User

    app_service_user role

    View CMDB 360 Data

    Accessible to: CMDB Admin, CMDB Editor, CMDB User

    Enable and configure CMDB 360

    Save

    Accessible to: CMDB Admin

    More Actions/Delete

    Accessible to: CMDB Admin

    Shared pages

    For information about the shared pages, see the Dev site as follows: