Configuring Data monitoring rules by using CMDB Governor to detect quality issues

Maintaining accurate and consistent configuration item (CI) data is critical for effective asset management, automation, and reporting. To support data quality, CMDB Governor represents a collection of capabilities designed to govern BMC Helix CMDB data. CMDB Governor provides data governance capabilities such as Data Monitor, which helps you detect and manage data quality issues.

Data Monitor helps you to create monitoring rules to evaluate CI or asset data based on the conditions you define. You can run these rules on a schedule or on demand and view the CIs that match the criteria. 

When BMC Helix ITSM is integrated with BMC HelixGPT, you can use the insights to analyze the results of Data Monitor rules. The insights are generated by the CMDB Data Quality Agent and help you understand data quality issues by providing root cause analysis and recommended actions. You can review the recommendations and apply updates manually or enable automatic updates.

Data monitoring rules are available through the Asset Automation Console, as shown in the following image: 

 

Data monitoring rules

Data monitoring rules evaluate CIs based on conditions that you define during rule creation.

When you create a rule, you can choose how the rule evaluates data:

• Evaluate attribute values: The rule checks specific attributes of configuration items, such as Manufacturer or Status. It returns configuration items whose attribute values match or violate the defined conditions.
• (Controlled availability) Evaluate relationships between configuration items:  The rule checks whether configuration items have the expected relationships with other configuration items. It helps you identify configuration items that are missing required relationships or have incorrect associations.

You can configure these options while defining the rule. Based on your selection, the rule evaluates either attribute values or relationships and returns the matching configuration items.

Automating data fixes

Data Monitor supports the automatic application of recommended updates for data monitoring rules. When this option is enabled, the updates are applied automatically when the rule runs. 

When the automated data fix option is enabled, the CMDB Data Quality Recommendation Agent evaluates configuration items that match the rule criteria and identifies applicable updates based on data patterns. When the confidence score meets the defined threshold, the recommended values are applied automatically. Updates run in the background without user interaction. In this mode, detailed insights such as root cause analysis are not generated.

If a Data Monitor rule includes multiple conditions for missing values, all the missing values are updated in a single run. When conditions check for incorrect values by comparing attributes against specific values, only the last attribute in the rule condition order is updated. In such cases, you might need to run the rule multiple times to correct all incorrect values.

Before you begin

• To create a Data monitoring rule, you must have the Asset admin permission. For more details, see Asset Management user roles and permissions.

• To view the insights about Data monitoring rules, make sure that BMC Helix ITSM is integrated with BMC HelixGPT.
  For more details, see Configuring settings to use Agentic AI capabilities.

To create and manage a data monitoring rule

You can create data monitoring rules to identify configuration items (CIs) with missing, incorrect, or inconsistent data and missing expected relationships with other CIs. These rules evaluate CIs or Asset attributes based on the conditions defined in the rule criteria. 

1. In Asset Console, click Asset Automation Console, and then click Data Monitor.
2. Click New monitoring rule.
3. Enter the name and description of the Data monitoring rule.
4. From the Frequency list, select one of the following values:
   • Daily: The rule runs daily at a predefined time.
   • Weekly: The rule runs weekly on a predefined day.
   • Monthly: The rule runs monthly on a specific date.
5. Select a priority for the rule.
6. To create a Basic rule, perform the following steps:
   1. From the Attribute source list, select Asset as the attribute source.
      Asset attributes are available only for Asset-enabled classes.
   2. From the Asset type list, select the asset type to which your rule applies.
7. (Controlled availability customers only) To create a Relationship rule, perform the following steps:
   1. From the Attribute source list, select CMDB as an attribute source.
      Warning

      Important
      Relationship-based rules are supported only when the attribute source is set to CMDB.

   2. From the Class type list, select CI as the class type.
      You must select CI as the class type as relationship-based rules are not supported for other class types.
   3. From the Class name list, select the class name for which you want to run the rule.
      Warning

      Important
      Relationship-based monitoring rules support only direct relationships between CIs. Multi-level or graph-based relationship traversal is not supported.

8. In Criteria, click Add an expression.
9. In the Edit expression window, enter an expression for the criteria.
   For example, 'Model Name' = 'Octoplex' AND 'Manufacturer Name' = $NULL$
   
   Warning

   Important

   • Some fields in the criteria expression builder, such as Cost Type, are display-only fields. If you select such fields, the system shows a "Invalid criteria expression" error. Use only fields that support database queries when defining rule criteria.
   • If you configure more than three criteria, it might impact performance.
10. Click OK.
11. To automatically apply the recommended fix to the records, enable Automate data fix. 
    Each run of a rule updates up to 50 CIs.
12. Click Save.
13. (Optional) To edit a rule, select the rule from the table, click  and then click Edit.
14. (Optional) To delete a rule, select the rule from the table and then click Delete.
15. (Optional) To disable a rule, select the rule from the table and then click Disable.
    When you disable a rule, it transitions to the Inactive status, and it does not run.  When you enable a rule, it reverts to the Active status.
16. (Optional) To run a rule manually, select the rule from the table, click  and then click Run now.
    Each run of a Data monitoring rule displays up to 50 CIs with inconsistent or incomplete details. If more configuration items match the criteria, run the rule again after resolving the displayed results to view the next set.
    Warning

    Important
    When you run a Data monitoring rule, if it does not display any CIs, we recommend that you broaden the rule filters.

To manage the duplicate records rule

Data Monitor includes a predefined Duplicate records (system rule) that helps you identify duplicate configuration items (CIs) in BMC Helix CMDB. Duplicate CIs can occur when the same asset or system is discovered or added more than once, which can lead to confusion and inaccurate reporting.

The duplicate records rule identifies potential duplicates by using the results of CMDB reconciliation jobs and non-unique attribute values in the source dataset. The reconciliation jobs compare CI data and determine whether multiple records represent the same real-world item. For more information about how reconciliation jobs work, see Reconciliation in BMC Helix CMDB. 

Because this is a system-defined rule, you cannot change how duplicate detection works. However, you can control how the rule runs. You can enable or disable the rule, update its schedule, and select the CI classes to evaluate. You can also add filters to narrow the rule's scope. Filters help you focus on specific types of configuration items instead of evaluating all CIs.

For example, If you want to identify duplicate records only for server-related configuration items, such as ComputeSystem, you can add a filter to limit the rule to that class. When the rule runs, Data Monitor displays duplicate ComputeSystem CIs only. This approach helps you focus on resolving the duplicates most relevant to your environment.

1. In Asset Console, click Asset Automation Console, and then click Data Monitor.
2. Select the Duplicate records (system rule), click  and then click Edit. 
   
3. From the Frequency list, select the frequency that you want to.
4. From the Priority list, select the priority that you want to.
5. From the Duplicate Classes list, select the CI classes for which you want to run the rule. 
6. Click Save.
7. To enable a rule, select the rule from the table and then click Enable.
8. (Optional) To disable a rule, select the rule from the table and then click Disable.
9. ​(Optional) To run a rule manually, select the rule from the table, click  and then click Run now.

10. To view results, select the rule from the table, click  , and then click View results.

11. To view more details, click the Class name​.
    The list of duplicate CIs for the selected class is displayed.
    Each run of the duplicate records rule displays up to 50 CIs, and you can also export the results.
    

12.  To view the issue summary and receive the best action recommendation to resolve the inconsistent CI records, click View Insights.

13. Click Close.

To export a Data monitoring rule

You can download Data monitoring rules to a .CSV file for offline analysis.

1. In Asset Console, click Asset Automation Console, and then click Data Monitor.
2. Select the rule from the table, and then select one of the following options:
   • Export all rows: To export all Data monitoring rules in the table.
   • Export selected row: To export the selected Data monitoring rule.
     Alternatively, select a rule from the table and click Export all rows.
     

To view the results of a Data monitoring rule

After a Data monitoring rule runs successfully, you can view the list of CIs that match the rule's criteria.
Click Filter to narrow your search for finding CIs based on column names. You can download the CI list in a .CSV file for offline analysis.

1. On Asset Console, click Asset Automation Console, and then click Data Monitor.
2. Select the rule from the table, and then click  , and then click View results.
   The Rule results window is displayed with the following details:

   Column	Description
   CI Name	Displays all CIs that match the criteria defined in the rule.
   CI ID	Displays the unique CI identification number.
   Class	Displays the class of the CI that is configured in the Data monitoring rule.
   Status	Displays the status of the CI.

   

   Warning

   Important
   When a Data Monitor rule uses Asset as the attribute source, the results grid might not display values for CI Name, Class, and Class Type for certain class types (for example, Product), even though records are returned.

3. Click a CI to view more details in BMC Helix CMDB and investigate further.
   For more details, see Viewing CIs and relationships in CMDB Explorer.

To view insights of a data monitoring rule

If BMC Helix ITSM is integrated with BMC HelixGPT, you can view insights for a data monitoring rule. The insights are generated by the CMDB Data Quality Agent. It helps you summarize the issue and provide the best action recommendation to resolve the inconsistent CIs record. The insights track CIs through its source, normalization, and reconciliation paths to identify the root cause of issues. It then identifies whether the incorrect CIs record resulted from a failed job run, a misconfigured rule, or a manual update. 
For example, insights can determine whether an issue is caused by a failed job run, an incorrect rule configuration, or a manual update.

You can use the conversational interface of the insights to explore the issue and get more information about the issue.

1. On Asset Console, click Asset Automation Console, and then click Data Monitor.
2. Select the rule from the table, click  , and then click View insights.
   
   
   The insights chat panel displays the following information:
   • Analysis and summary of the issue
   • Potential root cause of the issue
   • Recommendation actions to resolve the issue
     
3. (Optional) Use the chat box to communicate with the insights agent and get more information. 
4. Click Close.

Related topics

CMDB Data Quality Agent

Prebuilt skills for CMDB Data Quality Agent