Customizing the content in your Network Inventory Workspace widgets

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Customizing the content in your Network Inventory Workspace widgets

    The Network Inventory Workspace in ServiceNow provides a default set of widgets on its landing page that display telecommunications network inventory data. Customers can customize the data shown in these widgets to better reflect their specific Telecommunications Network Inventory by leveraging standard Configuration Management Database (CMDB) groups and naming conventions.

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    Standard CMDB Groups and Naming Conventions

    The widgets collect data from CMDB groups organized by network domains and specific field types. The network domains selectable via the Network domain selector include Core, Mobility, Telco, and All (a combined domain for reporting). The naming convention for CMDB groups combines these domain identifiers with data types such as equipment status (e.g., Available, Pending Repair) or manufacturer (e.g., Ericsson, Nokia).

    For example, the CMDB group All Available Status Equipment represents all equipment with an Available status across all network domains, while Core Available Status Equipment limits this to the Core network domain.

    Modifying Widget Content

    Customization of widget content, such as the "Network equipment by manufacturer" widget, is achieved by creating or updating CMDB groups. This widget typically displays a pie chart of the top five manufacturers based on data retrieved from predefined CMDB groups.

    To add a new manufacturer or adjust data, you should:

    • Use the CMDB Groups function to create new CMDB group codes or modify existing ones.
    • Follow the established CMDB group naming conventions for consistency.
    • Base new CMDB groups on existing ones for similar manufacturers or network domains to ensure alignment.

    For instance, to add Dell as a manufacturer, replicate the structure of the existing Ericsson CMDB groups across all network domains.

    Practical Impact for ServiceNow Customers

    By customizing CMDB groups, customers control the specific data collected and displayed in Network Inventory Workspace widgets. This enables tailored reporting and monitoring of network equipment statuses and manufacturers aligned with their organizational needs.

    Understanding and applying the standard CMDB group structure and naming conventions is essential for accurate customization and effective data visualization in the workspace.

    The Network Inventory Workspace is delivered in the base system with a standard set of information in each landing page widget. You can easily customize this content to include other Telecommunications Network Inventory data.

    Standard CMDB groups and naming conventions for Network Inventory Workspace widget data

    The data collection process for the Network Inventory Workspace landing page uses a standard CMDB group structure to retrieve data that appears in its widgets, including:
    • Network sites overview
    • Network entities by category
    • Network equipment by manufacturer
    • Network equipment by states

    For example, the following shows a listing of some of the CMDB groups that are used for the Network Inventory Workspace data collection:

    Figure 1. Standard CMDB groups for the Network Inventory Workspace
    CMDB groups view for the Network Inventory Workspace with the list of standard CMDB groups.
    Note:
    To learn how the data collection process operates, see Data collection and refresh for the Network Inventory Workspace widgets.
    These CMDB groups follow the following standard naming convention:
    1. The first segment represents the assigned domain for the network sites and entities. You use the Network domain selector in the Network Inventory Workspace to filter the data that appears by selecting one of the following types of network domains:
      Core
      Network domain for the core telecom equipment.
      Mobility
      Network domain for the mobile telecom equipment.
      Telco
      Network domain for the telecom equipment in general.
      All
      All equipment network domains that are combined into a single one for reporting purposes.
    2. The remaining segments represent a specific type of field data. For example:
      Available Status Equipment
      Reports the Available status for the equipment.
      Pending Repair Status Equipment
      Reports the Pending Repair status for the equipment.
      Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment
      Reports the percentage of the total equipment that is supplied by Ericsson.
      Nokia Manufacturer Equipment
      Reports the percentage of the total equipment that is supplied by Nokia.
    The following examples show how the name segments are combined in the CMDB groups to report the data that appears in the widgets in the Network Inventory Workspace:
    All Available Status Equipment
    CMDB group data that is used in the Network equipment by states widget to report the percentage of equipment that is in the Available status in all network domains.
    Core Available Status Equipment
    CMDB group data used in the Network equipment by states widget to report the percentage of equipment that is in an Available status in the Core network domain.
    Mobility Pending Repair Status Equipment
    CMDB group data used in the Network equipment by states widget to report the percentage of equipment that is in a Pending Repair status in the Mobility network domain.
    All Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment
    CMDB group data that is used in the Network equipment by manufacturer widget to report the total piece count for the equipment that is supplied by Ericsson in all network domains.
    Telecom Nokia Manufacturer Equipment
    CMDB group data that is used in the Network equipment by manufacturer widget to report the total piece count for the equipment that is supplied by Nokia in the Telecom network domain.

    Modifying the Network equipment by manufacturer widget

    This widget contains a pie chart with a standard set of the five most recognizable telecommunications equipment manufacturers.
    Figure 2. Network equipment by manufacturer widget
    Donut chart for the five most recognizable telecommunications equipment manufacturers.
    A pre-defined CMDB group structure supports retrieval of the data that appears in the widget pie chart. The following example shows the standard CMDB groups that are used to retrieve the manufacturer data for the Network Inventory Workspace.
    Figure 3. Standard CMDB groups used for the Network equipment by manufacturer widget
    CMDB groups view for the Network Inventory Workspace with the list of standard CMDB groups.
    To add or change the data in a widget, use the CMDB Groups function to create CMDB group codes or modify the accompanying query conditions for existing ones. To update any of the existing CMDB groups, you must follow the standard CMDB group naming convention used for the Network Inventory Workspace widgets.
    Note:
    To learn more about creating, updating, or naming CMDB groups, see CMDB groups.

    For example, let's say that you want to add another equipment manufacturer to the widget. To accomplish this task, you can use existing CMDB groups for a manufacturer, for each of the network domains, as the base for the new manufacturer. In this example, you use the existing CMDB groups for Ericsson as the base for the CMDB groups that you create for the new manufacturer.

    This table shows what the existing CMDB group codes look like for Ericsson, and what they look like when you create the CMDB group codes for Dell.
    Table 1. CMDB group example
    Existing CMDB Group Existing CMDB Group
    All Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment All Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    Core Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment Core Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    Mobility Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment Mobility Dell Manufacturer Equipment
    Telco Ericsson Manufacturer Equipment Telco Dell Manufacturer Equipment