DCM R4.0 Release Notes
DCM R4 will introduce a new concept of "unique audit message" which represents a unique version of possibly multiple audit messages related to the same data. And this unique message together with "blueprint elements" that were introduced in R3.3 will lay a foundation for "remediation workspace" which is the other main addition to DCM in release 4.0. Remediation workspace will include automation of remediation task creation and related forms and views to manage tasks and other remediation activities around deviations found by the audit. Minor release R4.0.4 made DCM certified for New York also and it's now supporting ServiceNow releases from Kingston to New York. Release date: 9.9.2019 (R4.0.4 was released 10.10.2019)
New Features
| Area | Feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Audit | Unique Audit Messages | Represents a unique version of possibly multiple audit messages related to the same data. These Unique Audit Messages (UAM) also have a weight based on how many times the same piece of information has been discovered. And they also have a status that can be used to mark open deviations as Fixed or Approved depending on the case and corrective actions. Please note that from now on, Unique audit messages are used to create audit results views instead of the individual audit messages. This means that some of the new views do not work properly with old audit instances / results. |
| Workspace | DCM Tasks or remediation tasks | DCM can be set up to automatically create tasks based on certain audit messages. For example, creating task to an Application Manager when ever a critical deviation is found from an application he or she is responsible for. This is a very powerful tool in implementing the data management activities into different parts of the organization. |
| Blueprint Designer | Related info | Blueprint Designer now includes a new tab to show related information regarding the blueprint. In DCM R4.0, the related info includes:
|
| Audit | Duplicate checking | Blueprints now include identifier definitions for duplicate checking per class. With this addition, DCM Audit can identify duplicates from any table in your ServiceNow instance. |
| Main page | Reorganized landing page | Module icons have been reorganized on the main page to provide access to new features such as DCM Workspace. |
| Reports and Dashboards | New dashboards | Old DCM Dashboard has been replaced with a new responsive dashboard including all new reports also. And another new dashboard created for DCM Workspace including DCM Task related reports. |
| Audit | Auto-deletion of the previous audit results | One key element in creating the unique audit messages was to remove duplicate audit messages and provide a "real time" view to current audit messages. With the addition of UAMs were are now also deleting the old audit messages when the same audit instance is run again. The auto-deletion applies to scheduled audits running the same audit over and over again and to reran on-demand audits which also include the same blueprint version and filter for audited root records. |
Enhancements
Area | Enhancement | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Audit | Accepted unique audit messages | Non-compliant unique audit messages can be marked as "Approved" meaning that those are considered "OK", even if they are not compliant with the given data model. This can be very useful in keeping the models generic while still accepting some exceptions to the rules. |
| Blueprint Designer | Blueprint elements used in other blueprints | Related info section in Blueprint Designer will show which other blueprint versions are using the same blueprint elements. |
| Workspace | Task creation methods | DCM Tasks can be created in many different ways from the audit results. The "task creation method" together with assignment configuration is used to manage how many tasks are created based on audit results and how those tasks are assigned to users and groups. |
| Workspace | Ad-hoc tasks | In addition to creating DCM Tasks automatically from audit results, users can also create tasks from audit results on the fly. |
| Blueprint Designer | Blueprint details editable after publishing | Now blueprint details such as name, description and category can be updated even after blueprint version has been published. |
| Main page | DCM version number | Version number is now visible in the "Support" handle on the top right corner of the main page. |
| Reports and Dashboards | New reports based on Unique Audit Messages and DCM Tasks | Multiple new reports available! The introduction of Unique Audit Messages also makes some of the old reports obsolete, since (individual) audit messages should not be used for this kind of reporting anymore. We also added new chart colors to better match with DCM look and feel. |
| Audit | New filters and sorting for audit results and messages | Audit results and messages now include new filters and sorting options. |
| Audit | Results based on Blueprint elements now in a hierarchy | When audit results are grouped by Blueprint elements, the elements are now grouped under their main class improving usability and understandability of the results. |
| Audit | Commenting Unique audit messages | Whenever a UAM status is updated, a comment is required. This allows users to share their comments on data deviations and what has been done to fix or approve them. |
| Blueprint Designer | Minimum height to filter modal window | Modal window height has been increased to improve the usability of defining filters to containers. |
| Audit | Update and access audit messages and task from audit results | Audit results view now include actions to update UAM status, check related task or open the related record. |
| Blueprint Designer | Blueprint form layouts updated | Blueprint and Blueprint version form layouts have been reviewed and updated for better usability. |
| Audit | Good vs. Bad data | Audit result types now also include a "data quality" selection dividing all audit results into good vs. bad data. |
| Reports and Dashboards | New dashboard tab and DB view | Added new "Blueprints" tab to DCM Dashboard and a new DB view to join Unique Audit Messages and Configuration Items via Real record Document ID field. (in R4.0.4) |
Bug fixes
| Area | Issue | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Blueprint Designer | Fixed some multiplicity issues | More error control and validations to multiplicity value definitions. Relationships no longer allow 0..0 or 0 target multiplicity values. |
| Audit | Improvements to audit runner | Several improvements impacting the speed and reliability of the audit runner. |
| Audit | Auditing reference links into the opposite direction | In some cases, the audit provided wrong results when the audit direction was opposite to the reference direction (parent to child). |
| Blueprint Designer | Blueprint form layout | Added "Data Architect Group" into Blueprint details form view. (in R4.0.4) |
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