Dependency Map

The dependency map is a tool that allows you to visualize the service-resource model of configuration items (CIs) with an IT service at the top.

The map has two main components:

• node – a configuration item. It is displayed as a square in the colored box, indicating the current operational state of the CI.
• relationship – the relationship between items. Relationships between CIs are displayed with simple-directional or bidirectional arrows.

There are two ways to open the CI dependency map:

• Click  next to the Source CI or the Recipient CI field on the CI Relationship form to see the hierarchical place of your CI on the map. 

• Use URL https://instance.example.com/visual/dependency?sys_id=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&essence=sys_cmdb_ci&script=CI, where X is the CI ID. The link formed in this way can be used in the navigator for quick access to the map, in user interface actions and widgets, if necessary.

The following table shows the accordance between color-coded frames and CI states.

Create a CI Relationship from Dependency Map

To add a new CI Relationship from the Dependency Map view, follow the steps below:

1. Right-click the required CI and click Create Relationship in the context menu.
2. Select one of the options:
   • Incoming – to create an incoming connection to your CI
   • Outgoing – to create an outgoing connection from your CI.
3. Fill in the form.
4. Click Save or Save and exit to apply the changes.

You can also create a relationship between CIs in the CMDB Relationships (sys_cmdb_relationship) table. See the CI Relationships article to learn more.

Change the CI operational state

To change the CI Relationship operational state from the Dependency Map view, complete the steps below:

1. Right-click the required CI and click Change Operational State to in the context menu.
2. Select one of the CI operational states. For more information, see Configuration Management Database. 

CI position

The position of the configuration item on the dependency map is determined by the CI Position record.

All positions are collected in the CI Positions table (sys_cmdb_ci_position). Use this table to quickly set up the location of CIs by entering the desired values in the Order field.

To create a new CI position, complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to CMDB → CI Types.
2. Select the CI type that the required CI belongs to.
3. In the Related Lists area, select the CI Positions tab.
4. Click New and fill in the fields.
5. Click Save or Save and exit to apply the changes.

CI Position form fields

The CI Position is assigned to a particular CI Type and applies to all configuration items belonging to that type.