Exploring Now Assist for CMDB

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 5 minutes to read
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    Summary of Exploring Now Assist for CMDB

    Now Assist for Configuration Management Database (CMDB) leverages Agentic AI to enhance CMDB management by enabling natural language interactions for searching, summarizing, and remediating configuration item (CI) data. This application supports improving CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health while assisting with common CMDB tasks such as deduplication and Service Graph Connector (SGC) error diagnosis.

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    It is supported from the Xanadu patch 3 release and works with LLM models Gemini and Claude.

    Key Features

    • Create Configuration Item Agentic Workflow: Allows users to create CIs via natural language input, validating class, required attributes via Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) rules, and preventing duplicates before creation. This is especially useful for Operational Technology users adding physical CIs.
    • Provide Advice on CMDB Governance: Guides data administrators and owners through improving CMDB data accuracy and completeness, fostering user trust in CMDB data.
    • Search CMDB Agentic Workflow: Enables natural language searches across the CMDB using keyword, single-table, multi-table, and relationship navigation queries, facilitating efficient CI discovery.
    • Duplicate CI Remediator Agentic Workflow: Automates deduplication tasks with AI-generated recommendations that administrators can review and adjust before applying remediation.
    • CI Summarization Skill: Provides concise summaries of key CI details including discovery data, ownership, related incidents, alerts, problems, changes, vulnerabilities, and service instances, supporting Incident, Change, and Event Management workflows.
    • Manage Duplicate CIs Skill: Offers step-by-step guidance for resolving duplicate CIs, including reviewing tasks, creating and applying deduplication templates, previewing results, and identifying root causes to prevent future duplication.
    • Summarize CMDB Readiness Skill: Generates AI-driven summaries of the CMDB Success Advisor for Hardware Asset Management (HAM) dashboard, highlighting data accuracy, completeness, health, and recommending remediation actions aligned with dashboard filters.
    • Service Graph Connector Diagnosis Skill: Automates diagnosis and resolution recommendations for errors in Service Graph Connectors, helping administrators maintain CI data consistency by reducing manual troubleshooting efforts.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Streamlines CMDB data management through AI-powered workflows that reduce manual effort and improve accuracy.
    • Enhances trust in CMDB data by systematically addressing duplicates and governance challenges.
    • Facilitates quick access to essential CI information and relationships, improving incident and change handling.
    • Supports proactive maintenance of integration points with third-party sources via automated Service Graph Connector issue resolution.
    • Enables tailored remediation with visibility into AI decision-making, allowing administrators to maintain control over CMDB updates.

    With the Now Assist for Configuration Management Database (CMDB) application, you can use Agentic AI to search the CMDB, summarize discovery, ownership and related information for a CI, and fix failed SGC import sets. You can also follow step-by-step guidance to help you remediate duplicate CIs, improve CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health .

    Supporting information for Now Assist for CMDB

    Now Assist for CMDB is supported starting with Xanadu patch 3.

    Now Assist for CMDB supports the following LLM models:
    • Gemini
    • Claude

    Now Assist for CMDB agentic workflows

    Now Assist for CMDB provides the following abilities:

    Create configuration item agentic workflow

    Occasionally, you might create a CI manually. To help you, the Create configuration item agentic workflow accepts your natural language request and verifies that it understands which class the new CI should belong to. The workflow then checks Identification and Reconciliation engine (IRE) rules to determine the required attributes for the CI and requests that information. After you provide sufficient data, the workflow ensures that the proposed CI includes the attributes that you requested, complies with IRE rules, and is not a duplicate. The workflow then creates the CI.

    The Create configuration item agentic workflow is particularly useful for adding CIs to tables accessed by Operational Technology because users might add physical CIs while unaware of the importance of managing CI data in the CMDB.

    To learn more, see Create a CI using Now Assist.

    Provide advice on CMDB governance agentic workflow

    Data governance can be an overwhelming task. The Provide advice on CMDB governance agentic workflow supports data admins and owners by methodically working through the many-faceted process of improving CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health. The objective is to promote that users can trust the data that they use for their work.

    To learn more, see Getting advice from Now Assist on CMDB governance.

    Search CMDB agentic workflow

    The Search CMDB agentic workflow enables you to search for CIs by specifying any of several attributes of the CI of interest. The workflow accepts your natural language request, verifies your search goal, and then, depending on the information you provided, generates a keyword search, a single-table search with dot walks, or a multi-table search that involves relationship navigation. The workflow can infer CI relationship data to generate an appropriate query.

    To learn more, see Use Now Assist to search the CMDB for CIs.

    Duplicate CI remediator agentic workflow
    The Duplicate CI remediator agentic workflow completes the full range of deduplication tasks. The workflow presents its reasoning for each step so CMDB administrators can review the AI recommendations, modify the remediation actions if needed, and then perform the deduplication tasks.

    Now Assist for CMDB skills

    CI summarization skill

    View a concise summary of key CI data. You can select the CI on a CI form, in a workspace page, or on any list view. The summary can include discovery data, ownership, and key related items such as open incidents, alerts, problems, upcoming change requests, and security vulnerabilities. Additionally, the summary lists the service instances that the CI is part of. Summary information is useful while working in applications such as Incident Management, Change Management, and Event Management.

    Summary information.

    To learn more, see View CI information with the Now Assist CI summarization skill.

    Manage duplicate CIs skill

    Duplicate CIs interfere with the integrity, reliability, and general health of CMDB. Resolve deduplication tasks with support from the Now Assist Manage duplicate CIs skill. CMDB administrators follow step-by-step guidance to perform remediation, and can preview remediation results before applying a template. The manage duplicate CIs skill accelerates the work that you normally perform manually.

    In this example, the manage duplicate CIs skill presents a list of classes with duplicate CIs and suggests possible actions. You can select an option or enter the action text in your own words:
    • Review deduplication tasks, create deduplication templates, assign tasks to templates, and run the templates.
    • Preview the results of applying a deduplication template before you decide to apply it.
    • Identify the root cause of duplications so that you can review the groups of deduplication tasks that share a common cause and possibly avoid the issue in the future.

    Selecting duplicate CIs to remediate.

    To learn more, see Let Now Assist help you to manage duplicate CIs.

    Summarize CMDB readiness skill

    View an AI-generated summary of the CMDB success advisor for HAM dashboard data. The summary highlights the key findings on CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health, and recommends remediation actions to address the findings.

    The skill works alongside the HAM tab of the CMDB success advisor dashboard. Each time you change the dashboard filters, you can regenerate the summary against the updated selection.

    To learn more, see Summarize CMDB readiness with the Now Assist skill.

    Summarize CMDB readiness skill

    View an AI-generated summary of the CMDB success advisor for HAM dashboard data. The summary highlights the key findings on CMDB data accuracy, completeness, and health, and recommends remediation actions to address the findings.

    The skill works alongside the HAM tab of the CMDB success advisor dashboard. Each time you change the dashboard filters, you can regenerate the summary against the updated selection.

    To learn more, see Summarize CMDB readiness with the Now Assist skill.

    Service Graph Connector diagnosis skill

    Service Graph Connectors are integrations that facilitate data ingestion from third-party sources into the CMDB. Errors in Service Graph Connectors can disrupt the flow of configuration item (CI) data resulting in inconsistencies between the actual state of CIs and their CMDB records.

    The Service Graph Connector diagnosis skill automates error diagnosis and recommendation generation, enabling CMDB installation administrators to identify and resolve the issues. This automation reduces manual effort and saves time in debugging Service Graph Connectors issues.