Dependency Configuration records
Summarize
Summary of Dependency Configuration records
Dependency Configuration records enable BCM administrators to schedule and manage automatic updates of Business Impact Analysis (BIA) dependencies, related assets, and sources by leveraging data and relationships stored in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This functionality is accessible through the administrator (UI16) view.
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Starting with the Xanadu release, administrators can select whether to pull dependency updates from all source records or only the latest record, providing flexibility in how dependencies are refreshed for Business Impact Analysis, Plans, and Events.
Key Features
- Configurable update options: Choose between pulling dependency data from all records or only the latest record for impact analysis, planning, and event dependencies.
- Cross-module dependency updates: Dependencies are fetched from multiple sources including BIA upstream and downstream dependencies, CMDB, plan primary and related assets, and event-related data.
- Scheduled auto-updates: Administrators can schedule automatic updates to ensure dependencies remain current based on source data and CMDB relationships.
- Dependency update actions: UI actions like "Update dependencies" on plan records trigger fetching dependencies according to the selected configuration.
- Required configurations for functionality: Impact analysis dependency update configuration, Planning dependency update configuration, and Event dependency source configuration records must be established for update actions and scheduled jobs to function properly.
Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers
By configuring Dependency Configuration records, BCM administrators ensure that dependency data used in impact analysis, planning, and event management is accurate and reflects the latest state of assets and their relationships. This leads to more informed decision-making in business continuity management processes.
Choosing between "All records" or "Latest record only" allows customers to tailor dependency updates to their operational needs, balancing comprehensiveness and performance.
To implement this, administrators should:
- Set up Impact analysis dependency update configuration to automate BIA dependency refreshes.
- Configure Planning dependency update configuration to auto-update related assets in plans.
- Configure Event dependency source configuration to capture impacted assets in events and exercises.
This structured approach ensures dependencies are consistently updated, improving the reliability of impact assessments, plans, and event responses.
The BCM administrators configure the Dependency Configuration records.
Administrators configure the Dependency Configuration records in the administrator view (UI 16 view) to schedule an auto-update of the BIA dependencies, related assets, and sources based on the source data and relationships in the CMDB.
The following example shows the Planning dependency update configuration record.
Consider an example where you have 2 BIAs done on Acrobat and the configuration is shown in the example. When All records option is selected and you select Update dependencies UI action from the plan record, the application pulls all the dependencies in all BIA records that satisfy the requirement. As shown in the example, dependencies of both BIA Latest and BIA Old records are pulled into the plan.
When Latest record only option is selected and you select Update dependencies UI action from the plan record, the application considers one of the records of the two BIAs and it fetches the dependency assessment of that BIA record.
For the Update dependencies UI action in the plan record and the Update BCP dependencies snapshot scheduled job to function, it is necessary to have the Impact analysis dependency update configuration, Planning dependency update configuration, and Event dependency source configuration records established.
Pulling latest dependency updates for impact analysis, plans, and events
You can pull latest dependency updates for impact analysis, plans, and events. Choosing All records or Latest record only functionality is applicable for Impact analysis dependency update configuration, Planning dependency update configuration, and Event dependency source configuration records.
For Impact analysis dependency updates, pulling all BIA records or the latest BIA record may yield the same information. For planning dependency updates and event dependency updates, pulling all BIA records or the latest BIA record pulls the latest dependency updates.
- BIA upstream dependency
- BIA downstream dependencies
- CMDB
- BIA upstream dependency
- BIA downstream dependencies
- CMDB
- Plan primary assets
- Plan related assets
For information on configuring the impact analysis dependency updates, see Configuring impact analysis dependency updates.
For information on configuring the planning dependency updates, see Configuring planning dependency updates.
For information on configuring the sources for adding the event dependencies, see Configuring sources for adding event dependencies.