ServiceNow CIS-DF - Certified Implementation Specialist - Data Foundations (CMDB and CSDM)

InServiceNow, theDuplicate CI Remediatoris designed to resolve duplicate records while preserving themost authoritative datafrom each source. Data Foundations guidance clearly states thatautomated discovery is the system of record for technical attributes, such as IP address, hostname, and operational status, while manually maintained records often containvaluable business context, such as relationships to business applications or services.

In this scenario, the discovered CI contains the most accurate and up-to-datetechnical data, making it the correct CI to retain as the primary record. However, the manually imported CI has acritical relationship to a business application, which is essential for impact analysis, incident prioritization, and CSDM alignment. Deleting this CI without preserving the relationship would result in loss of business context and reduced CMDB value.

The Duplicate CI Remediator supportsselective merging, allowing administrators to retain one CI while merging specific attributes or relationships from the duplicate. Option C reflects this best practice by retaining the discovered CI and merging the relationship from the manually imported CI, ensuring both technical accuracy and business relevance are preserved.

Options A and D would result in the loss of important relationship data, while Option B would discard the discovered CI, violating the principle that discovery should be the authoritative source for technical attributes.

Therefore,Option Cis the correct and Data Foundations–aligned answer.

When data quality issues such asmissing serial numbersthreaten CMDB integrity and increase the risk of duplicates, ServiceNow providesprescriptive, step-by-step remediation guidancethrough theCMDB Data Foundations Dashboard Playbooks.

These playbooks are specifically designed to help administratorsidentify root causes, assess ingestion and governance gaps, and apply corrective actions using structured remediation plays (Analyze Data, Fix Data, Govern Data). For missing serial numbers, the playbooks guide teams to review Discovery patterns, identification rules, reconciliation sources, and governance controls to ensure authoritative data capture and prevention of future issues.

TheCMDB Health Dashboard Playbooksfocus on health scoring and metrics, not guided remediation.CSDM Data Foundations Dashboard Playbooksis not a distinct product naming; the correct construct is CMDB Data Foundations.Now Create Playbooksprovide implementation project guidance, not operational troubleshooting for live data issues.

Therefore, the correct answer isA – CMDB Data Foundations Dashboard Playbooks, which are purpose-built to quickly troubleshoot and remediate CMDB data quality problems while aligning with best practices inServiceNow.

In a mature CMDB implementation withinServiceNow, CI operational attributes are leveraged toautomate ITSM workflows. One of the most important outcomes of accurate Configuration Management isautomatic incident routing.

When a CI is selected on an Incident record, ServiceNow evaluates the CI’sSupport Groupattribute. If populated correctly, the platform automatically copies this value into theAssignment Groupfield on the Incident. This ensures incidents are routed to the correct resolver group without manual triage, reducing mean time to resolution (MTTR).

TheSupport Groupis a CI attribute, not an incident field that drives workflow directly. TheAssignment Groupis the operational field used by Incident Management to assign ownership. Managed by Group, Approval Group, and Change Group are used in other governance and lifecycle contexts and are not auto-populated during incident creation.

This behavior is a direct result of Data Foundations best practices: maintaining accurate CI-to-support-group relationships to enableautomation and consistencyacross ITSM processes.

Therefore, the correct answer isC – Assignment Group.

In the CMDB class hierarchy,Serveris ageneric parent class, whileLinux ServerandWindows Serveraremore specific child classes. WhenServiceNow Discoverydetects sufficient evidence (such as OS signatures) to move a CI from a generic class to a more specialized one, this action is called aClass Upgrade.

AClass Upgradeoccurs when a CI is reclassifieddown the hierarchy into a more specific subclass, enriching the record with additional attributes, behaviors, and discovery patterns appropriate to that class. This is a standard and expected behavior in mature CMDB implementations and aligns with Data Foundations best practices.

AClass Switchwould imply lateral movement between unrelated classes, which is not what happens here. AClass Downgradewould move a CI from a specific class back to a more generic one, typically when discovery confidence is reduced—not the case in this scenario.

By performing class upgrades automatically, Discovery improves CMDB accuracy, reporting precision, and service mapping quality without manual intervention.

Therefore, the correct answer isC – Class Upgrade.

In CSDM,Technology Services(and their Service Offerings) representhow technical capabilities are delivered and consumedby internal teams. When a server team requests a catalog item for infrastructure services (e.g., VM provisioning, storage, OS builds), the role responsible forinitiating the request and defining requirementsis theTechnology Service Owner.

Technology Service Owners understand the operational capabilities, constraints, SLAs, and fulfillment workflows required to deliver infrastructure services. They define catalog requirements such as options, approvals, fulfillment tasks, and guardrails—ensuring the request aligns with standardization, security, and operational readiness.

Application Service Ownersfocus on how applications are delivered and supported, not on defining infrastructure catalog items.Enterprise Architectsprovide standards and guidance but do not initiate or define catalog request requirements.

Thus, the correct role isB – Technology Service Owners.

Creating new CI classes is ahigh-impact configuration activityand must follow strictData Foundations and CSDM-aligned best practicesto avoid long-term technical debt and upgrade risk.

Option Bis a recommended first step. Before creating any new CI class, administrators shouldinstall or update the CMDB CI Class Models Store applicationand verify whether an appropriate class already exists. ServiceNow frequently delivers new CI classes through updates and class model packages, and duplicating an existing or planned class can lead to fragmentation and governance issues.

Option Cis also correct. When a new class is truly required, it should beadded under an appropriate parent classto inherit attributes, behaviors, and discovery patterns. For an IoT Sensor, this might be under a hardware or device-related parent class, ensuring consistency and minimizing customization.

Option A is incorrect and dangerous—deleting unused classes can break dependencies and historical data. Option D is also discouraged; modifying existing classes to repurpose them violates upgrade-safe design principles and can negatively impact discovery, integrations, and reporting.

By verifying existing models first and extending the class hierarchy correctly, organizations maintain aclean, scalable, and upgrade-safe CMDB.

Therefore, the correct answers areB and C.

TheCMDB Data Foundations Dashboardis paired withGet Well Playbooksthat guide administrators through structured remediation. The“Services Have Owners Identified”playbook focuses on closing ownership gaps for services, which is agovernance and data correctionactivity.

Fix Data(Option A) is used tocorrect missing or incorrect values, such as populating owner fields, assigning responsible groups, or updating relationships. In this playbook, Fix Data actions are required to actually remediate the issue by assigning owners to services.

Govern Data(Option D) is also required because ownership is not a one-time correction—it must beenforced and sustained. Govern Data establishes policies, ownership accountability, and controls (such as certifications or attestations) to ensure services continue to have owners over time and do not regress.

Analyze Data(Option B) is used to understand patterns and root causes, but it does not remediate the issue.Report Data(Option C) provides visibility and communication, not corrective action.

Therefore, the remediation plays that apply to theServices Have Owners Identifiedplaybook areFix DataandGovern Data, makingOptions A and Dcorrect.

TheCMDB Data Manageris the ServiceNow capability responsible for generatingactionable governance tasksand assigning them to CI class owners and data stewards. These tasks appear directly in the“My Work”tab within the CMDB Workspace, enabling proactive and role-based CMDB governance.

CMDB Data Manager focuses ondata lifecycle management, including archival, retirement, and cleanup of CIs based on defined policies. When lifecycle rules or retention thresholds are met—or when human validation is required—the Data Manager creates tasks to prompt responsible owners to take action. This ensures that CMDB data remainsaccurate, compliant, and leanover time.

TheCMDB Health Dashboard(Option C) provides visibility into health metrics such as completeness, correctness, and compliance, but it doesnot generate tasks. Similarly,De-duplication templates(Option A) support duplicate identification and remediation workflows, but they do not create ongoing governance tasks in the CMDB Workspace.

By surfacing tasks in “My Work,” CMDB Data Manager operationalizes governance and embeds accountability into daily workflows, which is a key principle of CMDB Data Foundations.

Therefore, the correct answer isOption B – CMDB Data Manager.

Creating acustom CI classin the CMDB is adictionary-level configuration activityand must be performed with the correct minimum privileges to ensure governance and upgrade safety inServiceNow.

Thesn_cmdb_adminrole is required because it grants administrative access to CMDB structures, including CI class hierarchy management. This role ensures that changes align with CMDB governance controls and Data Foundations practices.

Thepersonalize_dictionaryrole is also required because adding a new CI class involvescreating or extending dictionary entries(tables, attributes, inheritance). Without dictionary-level access, a user cannot define new classes or attributes in the CMDB schema.

Option A is incorrect becausesn_cmdb_adminalone is insufficient without dictionary privileges. Option B and D focus onform personalization, which affects UI layout only and does not allow creation of new CI classes. Additionally,itil_adminis not the correct role for schema-level CMDB changes.

Therefore, the minimal and correct role combination issn_cmdb_admin and personalize_dictionary, makingOption Cthe verified answer.