Best practices for normalizing models

Models enable you to standardize key attribute values, such as model and manufacturer, in CIs and assets. When users select a model for a CI or asset, the model name and other attributes values that are specified in the selected model are applied to a CI or asset. For more information, see Managing models.

You can can use the Model form (Remedyforce Administration > Configure CMDB 2.0 > Models) to manually create models in . Alternatively, you can choose to generate models from the Model attribute (data type: Text) in existing CIs and assets in CMDB. However, the CIs or assets from which models are generated might have inconsistent values in the Model attribute. For example, the Model attribute value in one CI might be Dell Latitude 3550, while the Model attribute value in another CI might be Latitude 3500. In this case, two records are generated in your model repository for the same model.

To resolve this issue, you can create and apply rules to normalize all such different values with a standardized value. For values that are not covered by your normalization rules, you can choose to generate and then manually manage these exceptions. Based on your requirements, you can also specify values that the normalization process must ignore.

To normalize models in CMDB and the models repository, we recommend that you perform the steps in the order listed in the following table:

Step No.	Step	Reference
1.	(Only if you are upgrading from version 20.15.02 or earlier) Enable models in your organization.	Enabling-models
2.	Populate your Remedyforce CMDB in any of the following ways: Import CIs and assets from other data sources. Manually create CIs and assets in Remedyforce CMDB.	Integrating Creating-and-updating-configuration-items Creating-and-updating-assets Applying-models-while-importing-CIs-and-assets
3.	Generate models from existing records. The generated models are automatically linked to the corresponding CI or asset instances, but only if the Model Name attribute (date type: Lookup) in these instances is not already populated	Configuring general Remedyforce CMDB 2.0 settings.
4.	Update models that have been generated: Ensure that the model names are valid. Set the attribute values that you want to apply to the linked CIs and assets. Sync updated models with the linked CIs and assets Note: You must also make a note of the following models in your models repository: Models that are variations of valid models. Ensure that you inactivate these models so that they cannot be linked to CIs and assets going forward. Models that you want the normalization process to ignore.	Managing-models
5.	Create normalization rules for the Model object and Model Name field: Create and activate ignored value rule. Create and activate normalization rules and define the appropriate aliases. Ensure that the Generate exceptions for selected object and field check box is selected for the Model object and Model Name field.	Managing-normalization-rules
6.	Run the normalization process.	Scheduling-and-running-the-normalization-process
7.	Manage the exceptions that are generated by the normalization process for the Model object and Model Name field.	Managing-exceptions-to-normalization-rules
8.	Create normalization rules for the Base Element object and Model field: Create and activate ignored value rule. Create and activate normalization rules and define the appropriate aliases. Ensure that the Generate exceptions for selected object and field check box is selected for the Base Element object and Model field.	Managing-normalization-rules
9.	Run the normalization process.	Scheduling-and-running-the-normalization-process
10.	Manage the exceptions that are generated by the normalization process for the Base Element object and the Model field.	Managing-exceptions-to-normalization-rules

Best practices for normalizing models

Remedyforce 20.25.02

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