ITEM TYPES

CMDB hierarchy

Item types (Configuration Item Types) are subgroups of configurable items – within a main group they form sets of items with the same properties. In the hierarchy of the configuration database they belong under Item main groups:

• Item main groups – for example Devices, Locations, Vehicles…are further divided into subgroups; more about main groups in the separate article Item main groups
  • Item types – division of main groups into subgroups that distinguish sets of items with the same properties (for example, the main group of the IT devices category may contain the subgroups computers, printers, servers, network elements…). More in the article below
    • Item list – contains the items themselves, sorted into subgroups (for example, specific devices from the computers subgroup). More in the separate article Item list

You can display the list of defined subgroups via the main menu CMDB -> Item types, after selecting a main group in the left part of the window. If there are no main groups here, you need to define them in CMDB -> Item main groups. You can edit existing subgroups by double-clicking the relevant row, or by selecting the option from the context menu   Edit. You create a new subgroup by clicking  +Add item type.

Defining a subgroup

The Item type form contains the following options:

Main group – select from among the main groups defined in CMDB -> Item main groups

Item type name – enter the name of the subgroup

Description – you can enter a description of the item type, which will be displayed in the list of Item types

Slug (alias) – an alias for the ID – it allows you to work with subgroups (Item types) in the CDESK API interface without needing to know their ID in the database. Use expressions without diacritics and spaces – use a hyphen instead of spaces. The slug should be unique, i.e. it may be used at most once within the subgroups (Item types)

Automatic name creation – off by default; selecting the option by property or by pattern makes the +Set button available. Clicking it opens a window with the properties assigned to the edited item type. These can be combined in various ways so that item names are created automatically. If no properties are offered, check whether the subgroup has been assigned field properties of the text and numeric type

Unique name – if the items of the selected subgroup do not have to have a name filled in, leave the switch in the off position otherwise switch it to the on position.

Properties

In this section you determine what data you wish to record for all items assigned to the selected subgroup (Item types). In this way you can distinguish the items of the selected subgroup from the objects of another subgroup.

By clicking  +Add property  you select the required properties. If the required properties are not in the list of properties, create your own. You can read more about working with properties in the article General functions -> Optional properties

(example of using properties: for items of the computers type from the IT devices main group, you can record properties such as the processor, storage, or who the computer is assigned to, whereas for items of the network elements type, likewise in the IT devices group, you may be interested in the type of network element, the number of ports, or whether it communicates wirelessly…)

After defining a main group, one or more general subgroups (Item types) are automatically created for the group, which may have a predefined set of properties, such as:

Branches – Address

Vehicles – Licence plate, ID for telemetry (vehicle GPS monitoring)

To create the subgroup, or to save the changes you have made, click Save.