Pass the ServiceNow CIS-Data Foundations (CMDB and CSDM) CIS-DF Questions and answers with CertsForce

A healthy and trusted CMDB that aligns with Data Foundations principles—covering accurate data ingestion, strong governance, and service-aware relationships—directly strengthens the insight available to Change Management. When discovered infrastructure data is integrated with well-maintained non-discoverable attributes (such as assignment groups, support groups, and ownership), the CMDB becomes a reliable source of truth for evaluating change risk and impact.

Option B is correct because Service Mapping establishes relationships between configuration items (CIs) and business services. This enables change practitioners to perform impact analysis, identifying which services, applications, and downstream components may be affected by a proposed change. Rather than relying on assumptions or tribal knowledge, change records can reference real dependency data, improving risk assessment, scheduling decisions, and stakeholder communication. This aligns directly with CSDM and CMDB best practices, where service context is essential for informed decision-making.

Option D is also correct because accurate, governed non-discoverable data—such as support and assignment groups—allows Change Management processes to dynamically route work. When a change is associated with a CI or service, the system can automatically populate the appropriate assignment group based on CMDB relationships. This improves efficiency, reduces manual errors, and ensures accountability across federated support models.

Options A and C are incorrect because a CMDB, regardless of maturity, cannot guarantee zero downtime, nor does it eliminate the need for human governance, approvals, and risk-based decision-making. Data Foundations enhance insight and control—not unchecked automation or absolute outcomes.

InServiceNow, Dynamic CI Groups are a coreData Foundationscapability used to automatically manage CI membership based on rules rather than manual maintenance. WhenTechnology Management Service Offerings (Technical Service Offerings)are related to Dynamic CI Groups, ServiceNow uses those relationships tosynchronize operational support attributesto the member CIs.

The two CI attributes that are intentionally designed to sync in this model are theManaged by Groupand theSupport Group. These groups directly influenceoperational ownership and support routing, which is why they are automatically aligned when Dynamic CI Groups are used. This ensures that incidents, changes, problems, and operational tasks are routed consistently as CI membership changes over time.

TheSupport Groupdefines who provides day-to-day operational support and is critical for Incident and Request Management workflows. TheManaged by Grouprepresents the team responsible for the technical lifecycle and operational health of the CI. Synchronizing these attributes eliminates manual updates and reduces misrouted tickets, which is a key goal of Configuration Management maturity.

TheApproval Group(Option A) is not synced because approvals are process-driven and often context-specific rather than CI-driven. Similarly, theOwned by Group(Option C) represents accountability or financial ownership, which is intentionally decoupled from dynamic operational grouping to avoid unintended governance changes.

Therefore, the correct answers areB (Managed by Group)andD (Support Group).

Within theCommon Service Data Model (CSDM),information objectsare used to representnon-CI data entitiesthat provide important business or governance context but are not configuration items themselves. These objects are especially important when extending service visibility beyond pure infrastructure and application relationships.

The use case described inOption A—understandingasset lifecycle compliance in a Business Application context—explicitly requires information objects. Asset lifecycle data (such as financial state, depreciation, warranty, and compliance milestones) is typically managed in IT Asset Management (ITAM) and must beassociated to Business Applicationswithout converting every asset-related data point into a CI. Information objects enable this linkage while maintaining clean CMDB boundaries.

Option B focuses on event-to-incident automation, which relies onCIs, technical services, and operational relationships, not information objects. Option C (proactive case management) is primarily aCSM and service offeringuse case. Option D (SecOps risk context) relies onapplication services and business application relationships, not information objects. Option E (business service impact) is addressed throughservice modeling and service mapping, again without requiring information objects.

Information objects are introduced as organizations mature and need to integrategovernance, financial, or compliance datawith service and application models—making asset lifecycle compliance the correct match.

Therefore, the correct answer isA.

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.

InServiceNow,CMDB 360 / Multisource CMDBextends the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) to supportmulti-source visibility, reconciliation, and confidence scoring. Configuration is controlled throughsystem properties, each enabling a specific capability.

glide.identification_engine.multisource_enabledis the master switch that activates CMDB 360 functionality.

glide.identification_engine.multisource_cmdb_ci_enabledallows CMDB 360 to collect and evaluate data specifically fromCMDB CI classes.

glide.cmdb.logger.source.cmdb_multisourceenables detailed logging for troubleshooting multisource ingestion and reconciliation.

glide.identification_engine.multisource_recompute.max_ci_limitprotects performance by limiting how many CIs can be processed during a recompute operation.

Capturing CMDB 360 data fromnon-CMDB classesisnot supported, which is why no property applies to that option.

This mapping aligns withData Foundations and CMDB governance best practices, ensuring CMDB 360 is enabled safely, transparently, and at scale.

InServiceNow, Service Graph Connectors deliver data ingestion patterns usingprotected, upgrade-safe artifacts, including script transforms. When a customercustomizesa script transform provided by a Service Graph Connector, ServiceNow follows standardupdate set and upgrade behaviorto protect customer customizations.

During a subsequent upgrade, if theout-of-box (default) script transform definition changes, ServiceNowdoes not overwrite the customized version. Instead, the platform records askipped change, indicating that an update was available but intentionally not applied due to a local customization. This ensures customer-specific logic is preserved while still maintaining transparency about what changed in the newer release.

Option A is incorrect because upgrades do not halt due to customized transforms. Option C is also incorrect because Service Graph Connector upgrades proceed normally; they do not refuse to start because of customizations.

This behavior aligns with Data Foundations best practices:avoid modifying OOTB content when possible, but when customization is necessary, ensure it is protected during upgrades. Administrators should review skipped changes after upgrades to decide whether to manually adopt new OOTB logic.

Therefore, the correct answer isB – A skipped change is created and no change is made to the script transform definition.

This scenario hinges on how theIdentification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE)inServiceNowevaluatesidentification rules.

The identification rule for theApache Web Serverclass includesVersionas part of theidentifier criteria, along with Class and Configuration file. Identification rules must matchall criterion attributes exactlyfor an incoming record to be identified as an existing CI and reconciled.

Yesterday’s discovery created an Apache Web Server CI with a specific version value. When Apache is upgraded and discovery is rerun, theVersion attribute changes. Because Version is part of the identifier, the incoming recordno longer matchesthe existing CI’s identifier entry. As a result, the IREcannot identify the existing CIas the same configuration item.

When identification fails and no matching identifier entry is found, the IRE proceeds toinsert a new CI recordrather than updating the existing one. This behavior is intentional and protects the CMDB from incorrectly reconciling records that no longer meet identification criteria.

Option A is incorrect because reconciliation only occursafter successful identification.

Option C is incorrect because reclassification is unrelated to identification criteria.

Option D is incorrect because this is not an error condition; it is expected IRE behavior.

This example highlights abest practice caution:volatile attributes (such as Version)should generallynot be used as identifier attributes, as they can cause unintended CI duplication during upgrades.

When transitioning toCSDM-aligned lifecycle management, ServiceNow introduces a structured lifecycle framework that separateshigh-level intentfromdetailed operational state.

Life Cycle Stagerepresents themacro phaseof a CI’s existence (for example:Plan, Build, Deploy, Operate, Retire).

Life Cycle Stage Statusrefines that phase withgranular, sub-level statesthat vary by CI type.

Life Cycle Objectdetermineswhich lifecycle stages and statuses apply, based on what kind of CI is being managed (hardware, application, document, etc.).

Life Cycle Mappingensures asafe transitionfrom legacy status fields by translating existing values into standardized CSDM lifecycle values—avoiding data loss or process disruption.

Together, these objects enableconsistent lifecycle governance, improve reporting accuracy, and support automation across ITSM, ITOM, and IRM use cases—while remaining backward compatible with legacy CMDB data.

In CMDB governance, differentCMDB Data Manager policy typesserve different validation and enforcement purposes. When the objective is to allow an assigned individual toreview and update specific fields on a CI record, the correct policy type isCertification.

ACertification policycreates actionable tasks that require the assignee tovalidate and, if necessary, correct specific CI attributes, such as lifecycle status, support group, environment, or ownership. During certification, the user can directly update CI fields to bring the record into compliance with defined standards.

Attestation(Option C) only asks the user to confirm that a CIstill existsor is still valid; it does not require or enable attribute-level updates.Audit(Option A) is used for reporting and evidence collection, not remediation.Compliance(Option D) measures adherence to rules but does not itself generate editable remediation tasks.

Certification is therefore the primary mechanism used whenhuman validation and correctionof CI data is required—making it a cornerstone of CMDB data quality management.

Hence, the correct answer isB – Certification.

Service Graph Connectorsare a keyData Foundations ingestion capabilityinServiceNow. They provideout-of-the-box, upgrade-safe integrationsthat ingest data into the CMDB using theIdentification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE), ensuring data quality and source governance.

Two primary categories of Service Graph Connectors are:

Cloud(Option A): These connectors integrate with major cloud providers and platforms (such as AWS, Azure, and GCP) to ingest infrastructure, platform, and service data into the CMDB. They are essential for managing hybrid and multi-cloud environments and maintaining accurate cloud CI relationships.

Observability(Option B): These connectors integrate with monitoring and observability tools (such as APM, infrastructure monitoring, and telemetry platforms). They provide near-real-time operational data that enriches CI records and supports incident correlation, impact analysis, and service health insights.

Option C (DevOps) is incorrect because DevOps integrations are typically handled through CI/CD tools and workflow integrations rather than Service Graph Connectors. Option D (Workflow Automation) is unrelated; Service Graph Connectors focus ondata ingestion, not process orchestration.

Therefore, the correct connector categories areCloudandObservability, makingOptions A and Bthe correct answers.