The ServiceNow® Configuration Management Database (CMDB) application stores data about the infrastructure of your organization. CMDB was enhanced and updated in the Yokohama release.

CMDB highlights for the Yokohama release

  • Access reduced for the sn_cmdb_editor (CMDB Editor) and the sn_cmdb_admin (CMDB Admin) user roles in CMDB Workspace. Starting with Yokohama Patch 4, the sn_cmdb_editor and sn_cmdb_admin user roles no longer have create, update, or delete access to records in the Configuration Item [cmdb_ci] class.
  • Manually create a configuration item (CI) in CMDB Workspace that is verified by the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) and is unique within CMDB. Creating a CI using the IRE identification rules helps to maintain the integrity of CMDB.
  • Use the Now Assist for CMDB CI summarization skill to see a comprehensive summary for a CI, with details such as discovery and related incidents, directly on the configuration item (CI) form. Use the manage duplicate CIs skill for step-by-step guidance on how to use de-duplication templates to de-duplicate CIs.
  • The Configuration item summarizer AI agent accepts the sys_id of a CI and returns a full summary of Configuration Management Database (CMDB) data for the CI. The agent isn’t typically used as a standalone agent and any use case can access it.
  • View the various counts, such as the number of CIs and the number of CI types, for the CIs that are connected to the home node in Unified Map.
  • Apply filters that were previously available only to the coverage charts in the CMDB 360 dashboard in CMDB Workspace to all charts in the Discovery sources tile.
  • Use a condition builder or a custom script to restrict the list of de-duplication tasks that are assigned to a de-duplication template when de-duplicating CIs.

See Configuration Management for more information.

New in the Yokohama release

SGC Central
Use the Service Graph Connector Central view, also known as the SGC Central view, in the CMDB Workspace to discover and install connectors, and then effectively manage the full life cycle of creating, editing, monitoring, and debugging connections.
Now Assist for Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
Use the new Now Assist for CMDB agentic workflows, AI agents, and skills. The Now Assist CI summarizer AI agent summarizes the key details for CIs, such as the discovery and incident details, directly on the CI forms. The Manage duplicate CIs skill guides you step by step on how to use the deduplication templates to help maintain the health and integrity of CMDB.
CMDB search agentic workflow
The CMDB search agentic workflow enables you to search for CI data by specifying any of several attributes of the CI of interest. The workflow accepts your natural language request, verifies your search goal, and then generates a keyword search, a single-table search with dot walks, or a multi-table search, depending on the information you provide. The workflow can infer CI relationship data to generate an appropriate query.
CMDB governance agentic workflow
Data governance can be an overwhelming task. The CMDB Governance agentic workflow supports admins and owners by methodically working through the process of improving CMDB data governance. The objective is to ensure that users trust their data for the evolving outcomes they want to achieve.
CI creator agentic workflow
Occasionally, you might need to create a CI manually. To help you, the workflow accepts your natural language request and verifies that it understands which class the new CI should belong to. The workflow then checks IRE policies to determine the required attributes for the CI and request that information. After you provide sufficient data, the workflow uses IRE to ensure that the proposed CI is not a duplicate, and then creates the Cl.
Configuring Unified Map — Admin settings

Configure general Unified Map settings for the workspace on your instance. Only a user with the sn_cmdb_admin role can configure these settings.

Viewing a summary of Unified Map contents in the Overview panel

Use the new Overview panel to show the summary data for a map that is associated with the home node, including the counts and types of CIs, connections, and discovery sources.

Editing maps in Unified Map
While you work in the map editor, you can add CIs to the map and remove CIs from the map. You can also add, modify, and delete CI relationships in the CMDB.
Quick start tests for CMDB

After upgrades and deployments of new applications or integrations, run quick start tests to verify that CMDB works as expected. If you customized CMDB, copy the quick start tests and configure them for your customizations.

Changed in this release

CMDB Workspace v6.3
  • Apply the filters that were previously available only to the coverage charts to all charts in the Discovery sources tile in the CMDB 360 dashboard. For example, you can filter out non-CMDB tables or include records only from principal classes. For more information, see CMDB 360 experience in CMDB Workspace.
  • Use a condition builder or a custom script to narrow down the list of de-duplication tasks that are assigned to a template. For more information, see Create a de-duplication template.
  • Use the new Allow empty field values option to allow or disallow certification of empty value fields when creating a certification policy type in CMDB Data Manager. For more information, see Create a CMDB Data Manager policy in CMDB Workspace.
CMDB Workspace v6.4
You can now use dot-walking when setting assignments for the User Field or User Group Field options for CMDB Data Manager policies (such as Certification). Also, when converting legacy certification schedules into Data Manager Certification policies, existing dot-walking settings are preserved. For more information, see Create a CMDB Data Manager policy in CMDB Workspace.
CMDB Workspace v7.4
In the CMDB Workspace version 7.4, you can now do the following tasks:
  • Manually create a CI in CMDB Workspace that complies with its class identification rule and other class requirements, and is tested for uniqueness in CMDB, to help ensure that the CI is valid and maintains the integrity of CMDB. For more information, see Create a CI manually in CMDB Workspace.

  • Set the CMDB Health dashboard to use the legacy methods to calculate the completeness, correctness, and compliance KPIs. That legacy calculation method relies on settings of proportional weights of metrics within the aggregated score of KPIs and was used up until the Washington DC release. By default, those weights aren’t used in the calculations of KPI scores.

    Also, the CMDB Health dashboard now shows the overall score, which by default, is a simple average of the aggregated scores of the completeness, correctness, and compliance KPIs.

CMDB Workspace v7.5
In the CMDB Workspace version 7.5, you can now do the following tasks:
  • Delete CMDB Data Manager retirement definitions in CMDB Workspace (other than the cmdb_ci retirement definition). For more information, see Delete a CMDB Data Manager retirement definition.
  • Configure a CMDB Data Manager certification policy to disallow reviewers, to update fields' value while reviewing CIs in a certification task. Administrators can clear the Allow updates to field values option to prevent reviewers from updating non-compliant field values into compliance, resulting in rejecting those CIs. For more information, see Create a CMDB Data Manager policy in CMDB Workspace.
  • Schedule a de-duplication template for daily, weekly, monthly, or periodic runs for continuous remediation of duplicate CIs. For more information, see Schedule a de-duplication template.
  • Receive notifications from CMDB Data Manager about certification and attestation tasks, that are incomplete or overdue. For more information, see Components related to CMDB Data Manager.
  • Review and process tasks of your direct reports and of members of any user group that you manage. For more information about accessing these tasks in CMDB Data Manager, see My Work view in CMDB Workspace.
  • Reject a CMDB Data Manager life-cycle task in CMDB Workspace. For more information, see Review CMDB Data Manager tasks in CMDB Workspace.
  • Use the Create CI experience with a preset class when drilling down a class in the CI Summary chart on the Home view of CMDB Workspace. For more information about creating CIs manually while applying IRE processes, see Create a CI manually in CMDB Workspace.
Access reduced for the sn_cmdb_editor and sn_cmdb_admin user roles
Starting with Yokohama Patch 4, the sn_cmdb_editor (CMDB Editor) and the sn_cmdb_admin (CMDB Admin) user roles no longer have create, update, or delete access to records in the Configuration Item [cmdb_ci] class.
Update to the Walk stage reports on the CSDM Data Foundations dashboard
The Technical Service Offerings with Support Group or Change Group report now includes data that meets the sys_class _name = offering parameter.
Table label changes
The following table labels have changed:
  • The label for the cmdb_ci_service_auto table is now Service Instance instead of Application Service.
  • The label for the cmdb_ci_service_technical table is now Technology management service instead of Technical service.
Class descriptions showing in the user interface
The descriptions for the base system classes are now integrated into CI Class Manager and appear in the Description field, on the Basic Info page for a class.
Reflow for configurable workspace
The CMDB configurable workspace supports reflow, which enables pages and content to be zoomed up to 400% through your browser settings without loss of content or functionality.

Deprecations

CMDB Data manager on Core UI is now deprecated and no longer supported or available for new activation. CMDB Workspace provides the latest experience for this functionality. For more information, see CMDB Data Manager experience in CMDB Workspace.

Activation information

CMDB is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.

Accessibility information

Accessibility improvements
Accessibility improvements were completed to create a configurable workspace that supports Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA conformance.
Reflow

The Configurable Workspace supports reflow, which enables pages and content to be zoomed up to 400% through your browser settings without loss of content or functionality. Additionally, content can be enlarged without scrolling in two dimensions at a width equivalent to 320 CSS pixels or a height equivalent to 256 CSS pixels. Page layouts are transformed into a vertical, stacked view automatically when users increase browser zoom to 400%.

This enhancement helps users with low vision or who have trouble seeing web content in a browser due to the monitor size, device type, poor lighting, or other situations. Reflow can be turned off with a system property for instances, experiences, and pages. See Reflow for Configurable Workspace for the details.

Related ServiceNow applications and features

Common Service Data Model (CSDM)
Common Service Data Model (CSDM) provides prescriptive guidelines for service modeling within CMDB and is the standard for all ServiceNow products that use CMDB. CSDM provides a framework for mapping data from your IT services and other products to the CMDB. Following the CSDM framework helps ensure that the required data for your ServiceNow application maps correctly to the appropriate CMDB tables.
Service Graph Connectors
Use predefined ServiceNow® Service Graph connectors to import data from third-party applications, such as Microsoft SCCM, into your CMDB. In addition, you can use the IntegrationHub ETL store app to create and manage custom ETL transform maps so that you can integrate third-party data into the CMDB without compromising its integrity.
CMDB Workspace
Use the CMDB Workspace store app to search, explore, and gain insights into the CMDB. The CMDB Workspace is a store app that provides a central place for working with the CMDB. In the CMDB Workspace you can examine the health and recent activity related to CMDB, and access various CMDB dashboards and tools to support the tasks in your organization.