Create Asset business rule is enabled

Get Well Playbook

Create Asset Business Rule is Enabled

A guide for how to verify that the Create Asset on Insert business rule is enabled

Table of Contents

Summary . 3

Goal of this Playbook . 3

Audience . 3

Problem Overview .. 3

Executive Summary . 3

How this playbook can help you achieve your business goals 3

How this playbook is structured .. 4

Problem Analysis 4

Upstream Causes 4

Downstream Consequences . 4 . 5

Impact on Your Business . 5

Engagement Questions . 5

Remediation Plays . 5

Summary . 5

Analysis Play . 6

Fix Play . 7

(Optional) Data Synchronization Play . 8

Data Governance Play . 9

Summary

Goal of this Playbook

This goal of this playbook is to help you verify (or re-enable) the use of the Asset on Insert business rule.

Details about this playbook

Author Shawn Puckett, Emir Eminovic Date 04/28/2020 Addresses HSD # HSD0001722, HSD0006593 Applicable ServiceNow Releases All Releases Time required Approximately 1 to 4 hours

Audience

Configuration Managers or Configuration Management team

ServiceNow Administrator

Problem Overview

When hardware or software configuration items (CIs) are added to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), an asset record for that CI is required.

Without an asset record, the asset lifecycle and any decisions linked to that CI may be inaccurate or incomplete.

To ensure proper asset management, the Asset on Insert business rule should be present and active. This business rule automatically creates an asset record whenever CIs are added to the CMDB.

Executive Summary

How this playbook can help you achieve your business goals

Having an asset record for each of the CIs in your CMDB provides the following benefits:

Increases operational visibility and helps with lifecycle management. You can track the lifecycle stage of the asset, and manage your assets more easily.

Helps with auditing and compliance requirements.

Improves accuracy of the data in your CMDB.

How this playbook is structured

This playbook guides you through four plays.

The first play (an analysis play) shows you how to tell if the Create Asset on Insert business rule is enabled.

The second play (a fix play) tells you how to enable the Create Asset on Insert business rule.

The third play (a data synchronization play) is an optional play. It shows you how to check that the field mapping data in the asset record matches (is "in synch with") the data from the CI.

The fourth play (a governance play) includes the processes you can follow to make sure the information in the CMDB continues to be accurate. These processes help you maintain a healthy CMDB.

Problem Analysis

Upstream Causes

The Create Asset on Insert business rule was disabled either by design or by accident.

Downstream Consequences

Data Consequence

Asset data will be missing for any CIs not created in Asset Management.

Lifecycle status and field mapping data between the asset record and the CI may not be synchronized.

Could cause duplicate CIs or CIs not linked to asset records.

Operation Consequence

The IT Asset Management (ITAM) team has to manually create and match asset records for the new CIs. This manual process adds to the workload.

Remediating duplicate CIs is a manual (and on-going) process, adding to the workload.

Erodes trust in the CMDB and leads to a poor user experience.

Application Consequence

Incomplete or inaccurate data adversely affects the performance of the ITAM and IT Business Management (ITBM) applications.

Duplicate CIs adversely affect IT Operations Management (ITOM) Service Mapping and Event Management.

Impact on Your Business

Using a CMDB with inaccurate data creates risks for asset management, data compliance, Discovery, Event Management and Service Mapping. Inaccurate counts in Software Asset Management may increase licensing costs.

Engagement Questions

Consider the answers to these questions:

Do you have a process for managing CI-to-asset synchronization? Do you have any reports that use the Active CI status for assets?

Do you run into errors matching CIs with asset records? Are there any efforts underway to fix these errors?

Do you have a process for creating and managing software and hardware assets?

If you decided to disable the Create Asset on Insert business rule, what was your reason?

Do you synchronize lifecycle status information between the CI and the asset record?

Did you change the field mappings included in the base system?

Remediation Plays

The table below lists and summarizes each of the remediation plays in the playbook. Details are included later.

Summary

Play Name

Analysis

What this play is about

Lets you see if the Create Asset on Insert business rule is enabled

Required tasks

Run the script to see the status of the business rule.

Fix

What this play is about

This play tells you how to enable the Create Asset on Insert business rule.

Required tasks

Complete the steps to enable the Create Asset on Insert business rule, and verify that the business rule is enabled.

Data Synchronization (Optional)

What this play is about

This play lets you review the information about the CI and compare it with the information in the Asset record.

Required tasks

Run a script to compare and synchronize the content in the CI and the Asset record.

Data Governance

What this play is about

The play explains the importance of using business rules to ensure the accuracy of the CMDB going-forward.

Required tasks

Complete the steps to ensure that the business rules are enabled.

Analysis Play

What this play is about

This play helps you see if the Create Asset on Insert business rule is enabled. This play includes an Analysis Play script you can use to find out.

Decide if the CIs you created in the CMDB should also be created in the Asset Management application. For more information about CIs and assets, see Asset and CI Management .

Required tasks

Option 1:

Install CMDB and CSDM Data Foundations Dashboard from the ServiceNow App Store

Navigate to the CMDB Data Foundations Dashboard module in the left navigation menu

Select the Customizations tab

Select the Create Asset Business Rule is Enabled line in the score card shows the current score

Option 2:

Run the Analysis Play script to see if the business rule is enabled. (Run the script as a background task.)

Review the results of the script. Keep the results of the script open.

If the results show that the Create Asset on Insert business rule is enabled (active), you don't need to do anything else. You've completed the Analysis Play.

If the results show that the Create Asset on Insert business rule is missing or disabled (inactive), complete the tasks in the Fix Play. If the Create Asset on Insert business rule in missing or inactive, output similar to the following appears.

Alternative: Script Include is used to manage the CI to Asset create

If you use a custom Script Include to Create Asset on Insert and are using the proper function signature, then the script will detect it and report it. Review the results of the Script and make sure that this is intended behavior.

Note: If you are already creating Assets, you might want to review the following two items:

Validate hardware status mapping (optional play)

Validate field and status mapping between Asset and CI (optional play) Fix Play

What this play is about

This play includes two options you can use to enable the Create Asset on Insert business rule.

Required tasks

To enable the Create Asset on Insert business rule, choose one of the following:

Run the Fix Play script to enable the business rule. (Run the script as a background task.)

-or-

Navigate to System Definition > Business Rules . Set the filter condition to Name *Create Asset on Insert, and select the Active option on the Status attribute

Run the an Analysis Play script again to make sure the business rule is enabled.

(Optional) Data Synchronization Play

What this play is about

This play lets you review the Hardware to Asset Status sync. For example, you can see the lifecycle status and the field-to-field mappings.

Required tasks

The Analysis script results show if the recommended workaround has been applied. Output similar to the following appears.

Choose one of the following: If the workaround has been applied, go to step 3.

Otherwise, decide if you still need to use the hardware_status field, and if this field should match what is in the asset record. If so, follow the instructions in KB0717902 . Review the field and status mapping results.

The results show any changes made to the field and status mappings included in the ServiceNow base system.

Review any fields listed as active, custom, or modified in the three tables Navigate to the relevant mapping table.

Add the following fields to the Selected pane.

These are the fields you will see next time the table is updated.

Review these fields each time the table is updated. Data Governance Play

What this play is about

The play explains the processes and the usage guidelines you should follow when you create asset records for new CIs. These processes help to ensure the accuracy of the CMDB going-forward.

Keep the following points in mind:

Use the base ServiceNow settings as much as possible

Do not add custom fields to the ServiceNow-created mapping tables Required tasks

Navigate to System Definition > Business Rules.

Make sure that the following synchronization rules are enabled.

Update CI fields on change

Update Asset fields on change Congratulations

You have completed this Get Well Playbook.