CMDB Population Solution for System Center Orchestrator
Automatically populate, update and maintain your third-party CMDB using the trusted asset data already discovered by Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager and System Center Operations Manager.
The CMDB Population Solution is a packaged automation solution for Microsoft System Center Orchestrator that enables System Center customers to populate third-party CMDB products with the actual asset data captured by SCCM and SCOM. Rather than relying on standalone discovery or manual entry, the solution takes a temporary copy of System Center asset data, identifies new and updated items, normalises the information into configuration item data and creates the payloads required to update the CMDB.
Out of the box, the solution is configured for ServiceNow CMDB population and supports integration with the ServiceNow Identification and Reconciliation Engine. It can also be adapted for other service desk and CMDB platforms that support configuration item creation and update, giving customers a practical way to keep CMDB data synchronised with the assets already managed by System Center.
The solution can also be extended to gather asset data from other non-System Centre products, such as SolarWinds NPM and VMware vROps, and populate it in the CMDB as part of the same processes.
The Challenge: Manual and Disjointed CMDB Population Processes Create Risk
Populating a CMDB is often harder than selecting the CMDB platform itself. Manual data entry is time-consuming, inconsistent and quickly becomes outdated when infrastructure changes. Standalone discovery tools can automate collection, but they may discover different information from the data used by enterprise management tools, creating confusion for operations teams and adding additional management traffic to the network.
- CMDB records are only as reliable as the last manual update
- Different discovery sources can produce conflicting asset views
- Operations teams may see different data in the CMDB than they see in SCCM or SCOM
- Unnecessary data can be imported into the CMDB, making it harder to focus on what matters
- Additional discovery polling can increase network and management overhead
- Manual updates to configuration items and relationships slow down service management processes
Typical Automation Scenarios
- Populate the CMDB with new servers, workstations and client devices discovered by SCCM or SCOM
- Automatically update existing configuration items when asset attributes change in System Center
- Create or refresh relationships between assets based on SCCM and SCOM discovery data
- Generate ServiceNow IRE import payloads from normalised System Center configuration item data
- Use scheduled Orchestrator runbooks to take a regular temporary copy of System Center asset data and identify new or updated items
- Support CMDB population for ServiceNow and other CMDB-enabled service desk tools that support configuration item creation and update
- Configure additional data points so the CMDB contains the information required by service management teams and avoids data that is not needed
Benefits at a Glance
- Improve CMDB Accuracy
Populate the CMDB with asset data captured by the System Center tools already used by operations teams - Reduce Manual Administration
Automate the creation and update of configuration items instead of relying on manual entry - Keep Data Current
Identify new and changed assets on a scheduled basis and update the CMDB automatically - Align Operational Views
Reduce confusion by ensuring the CMDB reflects the same assets visible in SCCM and SCOM - Capture Useful Relationships
Automatically build relationships between assets using the dependencies and relationships discovered by System Center - Avoid Unnecessary Discovery Overhead
Use data already gathered by enterprise management tools instead of introducing additional polling traffic - Control What is Populated
Configure the solution to include the data points customers need and avoid loading unnecessary information - Extend Existing Investments
Use System Center Orchestrator as the automation engine for CMDB population without replacing existing management or service desk platforms
Key Capabilities
- Automated CMDB Population
Create configuration item records from SCCM and SCOM asset data and extend it to gather asset data from other management systems - Automated Updates
Detect changed assets and update existing CMDB records - Relationship Creation
Build relationships between assets using data discovered and defined by System Center and other tools - ServiceNow-Ready Configuration
Support ServiceNow CMDB population through IRE import payloads - Configurable Data Mapping
Capture standard asset data points and add customer-specific data as required - Orchestrator-Driven Processing
Use Microsoft System Center Orchestrator runbooks to collect, normalise and process asset data - Flexible Target Support
Adapt the solution for CMDB platforms and service desk tools that support asset creation and update - Kelverion-Led Implementation Option
Deploy the solution with specialist installation and configuration support from Kelverion consultants
Why Kelverion?
Kelverion specialises in Microsoft automation and helps organisations extend the value of System Center Orchestrator, Azure Automation, Power Automate, Logic Apps and PowerShell. With production-ready runbook solutions, integration packs and practical implementation expertise, Kelverion helps customers automate cross-functional IT operations while continuing to use the management, monitoring and service desk tools already embedded in the business.
Kelverion can provide the CMDB Population Solution as a packaged offering or as a led installation and configuration engagement. In a Kelverion-led implementation, a consultant supports the deployment and configuration of the solution, while the customer provides subject-matter expertise for the CMDB structure, ServiceNow IRE requirements, and the data transformation process.
Ready to improve CMDB accuracy and reduce manual asset maintenance? Speak to Kelverion about CMDB Population Solution for System Center Orchestrator and discover how your organisation can use trusted SCCM and SCOM data to populate and maintain your CMDB automatically.