Learning about normalization

When multiple sources and discovery tools provide data to BMC CMDB, data consistency problems, such as the following can occur:

• Inconsistent categories and naming
• Duplicate configuration items (CIs)

The normalization process ensures that product names and categorization are consistent across different datasets and from different data providers.

The following figure explains the normalization process clearly.

Normalization Process

The Normalization Engine in BMC CMDB provides a centralized, customizable, and uniform method of overcoming data consistency problems. This consistency in CMDBdata allows applications to consume data to make good decisions. For example, Remedy Asset Management can report on software license usage appropriately.

You can normalize data before or after it is written to a dataset in BMC CMDB. With the Normalization Engine, you can specify the normalization rules. For example, you may want to normalize a specific dataset, such as BMC.ADDM. You can enable or disable normalization for each dataset, as well as configure other normalization features. Similarly, you can select a specific class to normalize, such as BMC_Product. 

You cannot choose to normalize specific classes in different datasets. Instead, you configure classes across all datasets.