Asset Name overwritten

[jjoaquin]

Hi,

I found lately that Asset Name is being overwritten with what the Inventory Name is when the asset is being linked to the inventory. Is there a way I could maintain the asset name (Asset tag from ServiceNow) once linked to the inventory?

Thanks

[ChrisG]

I don't know of any way to stop the name of an asset being set to the name of a linked inventory device record - the system works hard to keep these names in sync.

If you are wanting to track asset tags, there is a separate "Asset Tag" field for doing that. However if you're using the Flexera-supplied integration to export data from FlexNet Manager Suite to ServiceNow then the asset tag details won't be used. You may need to consider a custom data flow/integration if you want to have a different mapping from the FlexNet Manager Suite data model to the ServiceNow data model.

[mfranz]

Would be nice to have an option to disable this behaviour, like it is for syncing users, enterprise gorups etc.

[jjoaquin]

Hi ChrisG,

Actually our data only goes from ServiceNow to FNMS and we don't have that SN to FNMS. Would that custom data flow/integration you are referring the XML file one? Can I tweak that so it would copy the SN Asset Tag both on FNMS Asset Name and FNMS Asset Tag so in case the FNMS Asset Name gets overwritten still the FNMS Asset Tag will be there as Asset Tag in FNMS?

Thanks.

[ChrisG]

OK. I understand from this that you're using a business adapter to import data from ServiceNow into asset records in FlexNet Manager Suite (FNMS); correct?

In that case, consider the following points:

• It probably makes sense to import the ServiceNow Asset Tag value into the "Asset tag" property in FNMS.
  
  
• If any value is being imported from ServiceNow into the "Short description" property of an FNMS asset record (and that FNMS asset record may be linked to an inventory device record), use an "if blank" setting on the property mapping so that any non-blank FNMS property value (such as the name value inherited from a linked inventory device) will not be overridden from ServiceNow.

[jjoaquin]

Do you have an xml sample of that for my guide?

[ChrisG]

Here's a snippet of XML from an adapter that:

1. Uses the Asset Tag field as a unique ID for identifying assets (UseForMatching="True"), and
2. Set the Short Description property on asset records with an "is blank" rule (Update="If Blank").

<Object Type="Asset" Name="Create &amp; Update Assets" Update="True" Create="True" OutputField="Asset_ID">
    <Property Type="shortdescription" Name="Short Description" Update="If Blank" ValueType="Field Value" Value="Name" Length="256" />
    <Property Type="assettag" Name="Asset Tag" ValueType="Field Value" Value="ATag" UseForMatching="True" Length="256" />
    [...]
</Object>

[jjoaquin]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for this snippet but isn't it that the unique identifier to do matching should Serial Number together with the Asset Tag? Is it possible that I imported the column in ServiceNow (assettag) into 2 fields in FNMS (Asset Name and Asset Tag)?

[ChrisG]

The example snippet I gave uses the "Asset Tag" field as the unique identifier for matching. That won't necessarily be the best option for matching in your data, especially if you don't have reliable management of asset tags (which would be a common situation) - this is just an example.

You could import a single column from your data source into multiple fields in FNMS - there is no restricting that a single source column can only be imported into a single destination field.