<h2>Create a CMDB Data Manager policy</h2><br/><div style="overflow-x:auto"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"><head><meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><meta name="copyright" content="(C) Copyright 2024" /><meta name="DC.rights.owner" content="(C) Copyright 2024" /><meta name="generator" content="DITA-OT" /><meta name="DC.type" content="task" /><meta name="DC.title" content="Create a CMDB Data Manager policy" /><meta name="abstract" content="Create a CMDB Data Manager policy to automatically process CIs life cycle event such as deletion. Applying consistent and standard life cycle policies to CIs helps maintain the health of the CMDB." /><meta name="description" content="Create a CMDB Data Manager policy to automatically process CIs life cycle event such as deletion. Applying consistent and standard life cycle policies to CIs helps maintain the health of the CMDB." /><meta name="DC.relation" scheme="URI" content="../concept/cmdb-data-management.html" /><meta name="DC.creator" content="ServiceNow" /><meta name="DC.date.created" content="2022-08-04" /><meta name="DC.date.modified" content="2022-08-04" /><meta name="DC.format" content="XHTML" /><meta name="DC.identifier" content="create-data-manager-policy" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../CSS/commonltr.css" /><title>Create a CMDB Data Manager policy</title></head><body id="create-data-manager-policy"> <h1 class="title topictitle1" id="ariaid-title1">Create a CMDB Data Manager policy</h1> <div class="body taskbody"><p class="shortdesc">Create a CMDB Data Manager policy to automatically process CIs life cycle event such as deletion. Applying consistent and standard life cycle policies to CIs helps maintain the health of the CMDB.</p> <div class="section prereq p" id="create-data-manager-policy__prereq_lm1_lxr_2pb"> <ul class="ul" id="create-data-manager-policy__ul_thm_jkv_mpb"><li class="li"><p class="p"><a class="xref" href="../../csdm-implementation/task/csdm-enable.html" title="Activate the CSDM plugin so you can begin implementing the framework.">Setting up the CSDM environment</a> is a requirement that applies for most policy types, but not to all.</p> <p class="p">If you attempt to create a policy using a policy type for which this requirement applies but isn't met, an error message appears and the operation fails.</p> </li><li class="li">Ensure that any custom subflow that you want to associate with a policy, exists.</li><li class="li">To require a review and an approval for a policy task: Ensure that the <span class="keyword parmname">Managed By Group</span> attribute is populated in target CIs and that the assigned users have the privilege to approve the policy tasks.</li><li class="li">Life cycle attributes of CIs that you plan to target in an archive or delete policy types, must be set as follows:<ul class="ul" id="create-data-manager-policy__ul_bjz_w43_rpb"><li class="li"><span class="keyword parmname">Lifecycle stage</span> is <span class="ph uicontrol">End of Life</span></li><li class="li"><span class="keyword parmname">Lifecycle stage status</span> is <span class="ph uicontrol">Retire</span></li></ul> </li><li class="li">Life cycle attributes of CIs that you plan to target in a retired policy type, must be set as follows:<ul class="ul" id="create-data-manager-policy__ul_dyf_2d2_zpb"><li class="li"><span class="keyword parmname">Lifecycle stage</span> is not <span class="ph uicontrol">End of Life</span></li></ul> </li><li class="li">When <a class="xref" href="../product/asset-management/concept/c_AssetManagement.dita/c_AssetManagement.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Asset Management</a> is activated, check if there is an asset record associated with that CI before retiring the CI. Check the associated asset record, if there is one, to ensure that the asset state (install_status) is <span class="keyword parmname">Retired</span>.</li></ul> <div class="p">Role required: <ul class="ul" id="create-data-manager-policy__ul_qgb_pnd_lpb"><li class="li">data_manager_admin: Full access to policies</li><li class="li">data_manager_user: Can read and preview policies</li></ul> </div> </div> <div class="section context" id="create-data-manager-policy__context_jrw_3xr_2pb"> <p class="p">Specify for each policy a policy type, a life cycle subflow, and a set of CIs to operate on as target CIs.</p> <div class="p">Set condition filters to specify the initial set of CIs that the policy applies to. You can then further narrow down the initial set of CIs by using a CI exclusion list for the policy type. During the final preview of the policy, or from a policy task, you can select individual CIs to also exclude for the policy type. The policy eventually applies to the resulting set of CIs, after applying all those filters.<div class="note"><span class="notetitle">Note:</span> CMDB Data Manager limits the number of target CIs per task to 10,000. Therefore, when a task exceeds that number, Data Manager automatically creates as many additional tasks as needed to include all the CIs for the task. For example, if you target 30,000 CIs in an attestation task, Data Manager breaks down that task into three tasks, each targeting 10,000 CIs.</div> </div> <div class="p">You can create policies of the following types:<ul class="ul" id="create-data-manager-policy__ul_epk_llr_3yb"><li class="li">Delete: Use to remove a CI from its current table with no option to restore the CI into an active state.</li><li class="li">Retire: Use to retire a CI while keeping the CI active in list views and in processes such as CMDB Health.</li><li class="li">Attestation: Use to assign and process attestation tasks that verify the existence of actual IT infrastructure and applications that you own. As CIs are continuously ingested into the CMDB from various data sources, attesting CIs helps to ensure the integrity of the CMDB. For more information about using the Attestation policy type, see <a class="xref" href="../concept/attesting-cis.html" title="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.">Attesting CIs</a>.</li><li class="li">Archive: Use to remove a CI from its current table and store the CI in a separate archive table for temporary retention. Archiving a CI excludes the CI from views and from processes such as maps the relations formatter. During the retention period, you can <a class="xref" href="../administer/database-rotation/task/t_ViewArchivedData.dita/t_ViewArchivedData.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">restore CIs into active state</a>. At the end of the retention period, archived CIs are deleted from their archive table.</li><li class="li"> <p class="p">Delete CMDB Related Entry: Use to clean up any irrelevant or stale data from related tables to help keep CMDB data healthy and relevant as the state of referenced CIs change.</p> <p class="p">Related tables, such as the Serial Number [cmdb_serial_number] table, aren't part of the CMDB hierarchy but still qualify as CMDB data. Related tables don't inherent from the Configuration Item [cmdb_ci] table, but have at least one column that references a CMDB CI. Related tables are specified in the Related Entries [cmdb_related_entry] table.</p> </li></ul> </div> <p class="p">You can implement your Retire, Delete, and Archive polices so that they follow <a class="xref" href="../../csdm-implementation/concept/csdm-landing-page.html" title="The CSDM is the data framework that you follow when you set up ServiceNow products and applications. You adhere to the CSDM guidelines when you define configuration items (CIs) and relationships between CIs in the CMDB. This process ensures that your data resides in the appropriate CMDB tables for maximum value from your Now Platform applications.">Common Service Data Model (CSDM)</a> standards where for example, CIs are archived and deleted only when a CI is already in retired state. When you create these life cycle policies, the system applies processes to manage any dependent CIs that might be left behind. For more details about these processes and about ensuring that the feature is enabled, see <a class="xref" href="../concept/manage-dependent-ci.html" title="A life cycle update for a CI affects its dependent CIs. For example, when the CI that a dependent CI depends on is deleted, the dependent CI becomes orphan with no further use. To maintain the integrity and health of the CMDB, the system applies cascade-cleanup processes to dependent CIs that are affected by a life cycle update.">Dependent CIs management</a>.</p> <p class="p">For more information about life cycle state definitions, see <a class="xref" href="../concept/cmdb-data-management.html" title="CMDB Data Manager is a policy-driven framework for bulk management of CI life cycle operations such as deletion and archival. The CMDB Data Manager is a comprehensive and integrated solution which scales to large CMDBs and copes with rapid changes in a cloud-based world.">CMDB Data Manager</a>.</p> </div> <ol class="ol steps"><li class="li step stepexpand"> <span class="ph cmd">Navigate to <span class="ph menucascade"><span class="ph uicontrol">All</span> > <span class="ph uicontrol">Configuration</span> > <span class="ph uicontrol">CMDB Data Manager</span></span>.</span> </li><li class="li step stepexpand"> <span class="ph cmd">On the CMDB Data Manager landing page, in the Policies tile, click <span class="ph uicontrol">View Policies</span>.</span> </li><li class="li step stepexpand"> <span class="ph cmd">In the CMDB Data Manager Policy and Attributes list view, click <span class="ph uicontrol">New</span>.</span> </li><li class="li step stepexpand"> <span class="ph cmd">Fill out the fields in the different sections on the <span class="ph uicontrol">Define Policy</span> tab.</span> <div class="itemgroup info"> <div class="note"><span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Some fields are applicable only to specific policy types. Therefore some of the following fields, might not appear for the policy type that you choose.</div> <div class="tablenoborder"><table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" id="create-data-manager-policy__table_fsv_fpx_z4b" class="table" frame="border" border="1" rules="all"><colgroup><col style="width:50%" /><col style="width:50%" /></colgroup><thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;"><tr class="row"><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d75050e279">Field (General)</th><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d75050e282">Description</th></tr></thead><tbody class="tbody"><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e279 ">Name</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e282 ">Unique name for the policy.</td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e279 ">Task Assignment Group</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e282 ">Group to assign the task to.</td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e279 ">Task Due In Days</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e282 ">Due date for completing the policy tasks such as attestation tasks.</td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e279 ">Needs Review</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e282 "><p class="p">Check to require a review and an approval of the policy tasks, by the group assignment in CIs' <span class="keyword parmname">Managed by Group</span> attribute or by an administrator.</p> <p class="p">Otherwise, all policy tasks are approved automatically.</p> </td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e279 ">Policy Type</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e282 "><p class="p">Life cycle event or data management action that this policy manages, indicating the type of actions to perform on target CIs such as Delete<span class="ph"> or Attestation</span>.</p> </td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e279 ">User Group</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e282 ">Group to use as the task assignment group for the Delete CMDB Related Entry policy type. The list is a subset of user groups from the Group [sys_user_group] table, where at least one member has a data_manager_user role.</td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e279 ">Apply Retention Time</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e282 "><p class="p">The length of time for retaining archived CIs in the archive table before they are deleted.</p> <p class="p">During the specified retention period, you can use the <span class="ph">Now Platform®</span> data archiving feature to <a class="xref" href="../administer/database-rotation/task/t_ViewArchivedData.dita/t_ViewArchivedData.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">restore archived CIs</a>.</p> </td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <div class="tablenoborder"><table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" id="create-data-manager-policy__table_ej1_zqq_wsb" class="table" frame="border" border="1" rules="all"><colgroup><col style="width:50%" /><col style="width:50%" /></colgroup><thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;"><tr class="row"><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d75050e391">Field (Condition Filter)</th><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d75050e394">Description</th></tr></thead><tbody class="tbody"><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e391 ">Related Entry Table</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e394 ">The related table to apply a Delete CMDB Related Entry policy. The list contains related tables from the Related Entry [cmdb_related_entry] table.</td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e391 ">Condition Filter</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e394 "><p class="p">Criteria that CIs must meet to be included for the policy as target CIs.</p> <p class="p">Additional filtering such as a CI exclusion list, can further narrow down the set of target CIs.</p> </td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <div class="tablenoborder"><table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" id="create-data-manager-policy__table_mdd_zqq_wsb" class="table" frame="border" border="1" rules="all"><colgroup><col style="width:50%" /><col style="width:50%" /></colgroup><thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;"><tr class="row"><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d75050e438">Field (Action)</th><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d75050e441">Description</th></tr></thead><tbody class="tbody"><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e438 ">Subflow</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e441 "><p class="p">A subflow with the actions that will run on the target CIs for the policy.</p> <div class="p">The subflow typically matches the policy type. For example, if <span class="ph uicontrol">Policy type</span> is set to <span class="ph uicontrol">Delete CMDB Related Entry</span>, then set <span class="ph uicontrol">Subflow</span> to <span class="ph uicontrol">Delete Related Entry Configuration Item</span>.<div class="note"><span class="notetitle">Note:</span> The Attestation policy type is not associated with a subflow.</div> </div> </td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <div class="tablenoborder"><table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" id="create-data-manager-policy__table_sz2_zqq_wsb" class="table" frame="border" border="1" rules="all"><colgroup><col style="width:50%" /><col style="width:50%" /></colgroup><thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;"><tr class="row"><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d75050e490">Field (Schedule)</th><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d75050e493">Description</th></tr></thead><tbody class="tbody"><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e490 ">Frequency</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e493 ">How often to run the task.</td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e490 ">Start Time</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d75050e493 ">Time to start running the task when it is due to run.</td></tr></tbody></table> </div> </div> </li><li class="li step stepexpand"><strong>Optional: </strong> <span class="ph cmd">Click <span class="ph uicontrol">Run filter</span> in the Condition Filter section, to see the resulting list of CIs that match the condition filters.</span> </li><li class="li step stepexpand"> <span class="ph cmd">Click <span class="ph uicontrol">Save</span>.</span> </li><li class="li step stepexpand"> <span class="ph cmd">Click <span class="ph uicontrol">Preview</span> and wait for an impact analysis for the policy on the <span class="ph uicontrol">Preview Policy Impact</span> page to complete.</span> <div class="itemgroup info">This analysis estimates the number of CIs that the policy applies to based on the policy filters, any CI exclusion lists, and the life cycle stage of CIs. For example:<ul class="ul" id="create-data-manager-policy__ul_rzv_wcm_qpb"><li class="li">If the policy type is retired, CIs that meet the policy filters but are already in a retired state, are not targeted for the policy.</li><li class="li">If the policy type is archive or delete, CIs that meet the policy filters but are not retired, are not targeted for the policy.</li></ul> </div> </li><li class="li step stepexpand"><strong>Optional: </strong> <span class="ph cmd">Select CIs in the target CIs list that you want to also exclude for the policy type. Click <span class="ph uicontrol">Exclude CI</span> and then click <span class="ph uicontrol">Recalculate Preview</span> to recalculate the data on the preview page.</span> </li><li class="li step stepexpand"> <span class="ph cmd">Click <span class="ph uicontrol">Publish</span> to activate the policy.</span> <div class="itemgroup info">Unpublished tasks are saved as draft policies.</div> </li></ol> <div class="section result" id="create-data-manager-policy__result_ik2_5cz_z4b"> <p class="p">After you publish a policy:</p> <div class="p"><ul class="ul" id="create-data-manager-policy__ul_lwc_hzv_ypb"><li class="li"><p class="p">A daily scheduled job processes the published policy and policy tasks are assigned as set in the policy. If the policy is associated with a subflow, then policy tasks trigger the policy subflow. Policy execution issues are recorded in an error log with notifications sent to the CMDB Data Manager Administrator.</p> <p class="p">If the policy is configured to require an approval for its tasks, then email notifications are sent to members of the assignment group in the <span class="keyword parmname">Managed by Group</span> attribute of the CI. If the policy is associated with a subflow, then a policy task triggers the policy subflow only after the task is approved.</p> </li><li class="li">If the policy is associated with a subflow, then after a policy task is complete, the policy subflow closes the task. <span class="ph">For an Attestation policy (which is not associated with a subflow), a user must process all CIs in the task and submit the task to close it.</span></li><li class="li">For Attestation policies, attestation tasks are assigned to users as specified, and those tasks appear in the <a class="xref" href="../concept/cmdb-workspace.html" title="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.">CMDB Workspace</a> when those users log in.</li><li class="li">For some policy types, such as Delete, the list of the target CIs is rolled up in a CSV file that is then attached to the task for tracking purposes.</li><li class="li">Stale tasks are set to <span class="ph uicontrol">Closed Cancelled</span> by a daily scheduled job. A task becomes stale when it is still open and not approved after at least 90 days. The number of days after which a task is considered stale is determined by the <span class="keyword parmname">cmdb.data.manager.stale.task.life.in.days</span> system property.</li></ul> </div> </div> <div class="section postreq" id="create-data-manager-policy__postreq_tnq_1wd_lpb"> <ul class="ul" id="create-data-manager-policy__ul_wbp_qyq_lpb"><li class="li">Track the processing of policy tasks.</li><li class="li">Users log in to the <a class="xref" href="../concept/cmdb-workspace.html" title="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.">CMDB Workspace</a> to <a class="xref" href="review-data-manager-attes-task.html" title="Review attestation tasks that are assigned to you or to an assignment group that you belong to in accordance with CMDB Data Manager Attestation policies. Check the physical existence of IT infrastructure or applications associated with CIs in the attestation task and then process those CIs as appropriate.">review and process attestation tasks</a> assigned to them.</li><li class="li">You can open a policy in CMDB Data Manager and click <span class="ph uicontrol">Deactivate</span> to temporarily prevent the policy from running.</li><li class="li"><a class="xref" href="manage-data-mgr-ci-exclusion-list.html" title="Create a CI exclusion list for the various CMDB Data Manager policy types. Policies of a specific policy type will not target CIs in the exclusion list for that policy type.">Manage CI exclusion lists of CMDB Data Manager</a>.</li></ul> </div> </div> <div class="related-links"> <div class="linklist relinfo relconcepts"><strong>Related concepts</strong><br /> <ul class="linklist"><li class="linklist"><a class="link" href="../concept/cmdb-data-management.html" title="CMDB Data Manager is a policy-driven framework for bulk management of CI life cycle operations such as deletion and archival. The CMDB Data Manager is a comprehensive and integrated solution which scales to large CMDBs and copes with rapid changes in a cloud-based world.">CMDB Data Manager</a></li></ul></div> </div> </body></html></div>