Understanding the merge activity

After the Reconciliation Engine identifies the data, it merges it into the BMC Asset dataset. Matching instances become a single instance that represents the computer system. CIs that do not match a BMC Asset instance become new instances.

The merge activity compares precedences between a source dataset and the BMC Asset dataset, chooses the data with the highest precedence, and writes that data to the BMC Asset dataset. You can specify precedence at the dataset, the class, or the attribute level.

Assume that the BMC Configuration Import dataset shows that computer system A has no CDROM drive, while the BMC.ADDM dataset shows that it does. The merge activity populates the BMC_CDROMDrive attribute in the BMC Asset dataset with the BMC Atrium Discovery value, because any value takes precedence over a null value.