CIS-ITSM Practice Test 27 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An IT manager wants to report on the average time it takes problems to move from the 'Assess' state to 'Root Cause Analysis'. Which reporting feature in ServiceNow should be used to track this stage duration?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Metric Definitions / Metric Instance table. Metric Definitions and the Metric Instance table are designed to track duration and state transition timing on records, making them the correct feature for measuring how long problems spend in a specific state such as 'Assess' to 'Root Cause Analysis.' Metric Definitions define what to measure (e.g., time in state), and Metric Instances store the calculated values per record. This is the standard ServiceNow mechanism for stage duration reporting.

Answer

Data Archiving rules

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Sys_audit table queries in standard List View

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Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on the incident table

Question 2

A change manager is configuring approval rules for a new Change model called “Database Patching.” The organization requires that all changes using this model be approved by the Database CAB group, but only when the change affects production. Which configuration should the change manager use to meet this requirement without affecting non-production changes?

Accepted Answer

Add a conditional approval to the Change model that triggers only when the “Production” field is true.. Conditional approvals on a Change model allow an organization to require specific approvers only when defined criteria are met. By adding an approval that evaluates the Production field, the Database CAB is engaged exclusively for production changes, leaving non-production changes unaffected. This is the correct way to scope approval requirements to a subset of changes within a model.

Answer

Modify the CAB workbench to include only production changes and assign the Database CAB group as the default approver.

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Set the “Approval” field on the Change model to “Required” and assign the Database CAB group as the owner.

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Create a Change Approval Policy with the condition “Assignment group is Database CAB” and apply it to all Database Patching changes.

Question 3

A CMDB administrator is configuring the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) for a new data source that discovers network switches. The administrator needs to ensure that when a switch is discovered, IRE uses the switch's serial number as the primary identifier and falls back to the MAC address if the serial number is missing. Which configuration should the administrator perform?

Accepted Answer

Create an Identification Rule for the Network Switch [cmdb_ci_netgear] class with two entries: serial_number with a higher priority, and mac_address with a lower priority.. The Identification and Reconciliation Engine uses identification rules to match incoming CI data to existing records. Identification rules contain entries that specify attributes and their priority. By creating a rule with serial_number at a higher priority and mac_address at a lower priority, IRE will use serial_number as the primary identifier and mac_address as a fallback when serial_number is missing. This is the standard way to configure fallback identification.

Answer

Modify the CI Class Manager to set the serial_number as the unique key for the Network Switch class, and configure mac_address as an alternate key.

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Create a Reconciliation Rule for the Network Switch [cmdb_ci_netgear] class that specifies serial_number as the primary attribute and mac_address as the secondary attribute.

Answer

Create a Data Source Precedence rule that prioritizes serial_number over mac_address for the Network Switch class.

Question 4

An incident has been resolved and the caller confirms the fix. The incident is now in the 'Resolved' state. After a predefined period, the incident should automatically move to 'Closed'. Which feature controls this automatic closure?

Accepted Answer

The 'Auto close incidents' scheduled job.. The 'Auto close incidents' scheduled job is the standard feature that automatically closes incidents after they have been in the Resolved state for a configured number of days. This ensures that resolved incidents are eventually closed without manual intervention.

Answer

The 'Close unresolved incidents' scheduled job.

Answer

A business rule that runs on the incident table when the state changes to Resolved.

Answer

The 'Incident resolution' workflow.

Question 5

A change manager notices that a high-risk change was implemented without a post-implementation review, and the change record still shows the state as “Review”. The change manager needs to ensure that a post-implementation review is completed before the change is closed. Which action should the change manager take to enforce this requirement for all future high-risk changes?

Accepted Answer

Create a business rule that prevents the change from moving to Closed until the post-implementation review task is closed.. A business rule that blocks closure until the post-implementation review task is closed enforces the requirement. It ensures that high-risk changes cannot be closed without the review, providing a hard control. This is the most effective way to guarantee compliance for all future high-risk changes.

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Send a notification to the change manager when a high-risk change is implemented.

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Add a mandatory field on the change form for the post-implementation review date.

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Configure a UI policy to make the post-implementation review field read-only after the change is implemented.

Question 6

An incident is currently in the 'Resolved' state. A user calls the service desk to report that the issue is still occurring. The agent needs to reopen the incident. Which action should the agent take?

Accepted Answer

Click the 'Reopen Incident' UI action button.. The correct way to reopen a resolved incident is to use the 'Reopen Incident' UI action. It properly transitions the state and clears resolution details, maintaining data integrity. Manually changing states or creating new incidents is not recommended.

Answer

Create a new incident and reference the original incident number in the description.

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Change the State to 'In Progress' and update the incident.

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Change the State to 'Closed' and then back to 'In Progress'.

Question 7

A service desk manager wants to ensure that when an incident is reassigned to a different assignment group, the previous assignee is automatically cleared. Which feature should be configured to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

A business rule that runs before update and clears the Assigned to field if the Assignment group changes.. To automatically clear the Assigned to field when the Assignment group changes, a before update business rule is the correct solution. It runs on the server, ensuring consistency regardless of how the update is made. UI policies and client scripts only affect the client side and do not guarantee data integrity.

Answer

A data policy that sets the Assigned to field to mandatory when the Assignment group changes.

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A UI policy that makes the Assigned to field read-only when the Assignment group changes.

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A client script that clears the Assigned to field on change of the Assignment group.

Question 8

A CMDB administrator needs to ensure that when a discovery source reports a server with the same serial number as an existing CI, the existing CI is updated rather than a duplicate being created. The administrator wants to apply this behavior only to the 'cmdb_ci_linux_server' class and its child classes. Which approach should the administrator take?

Accepted Answer

Create a custom identification rule for the Linux Server class with an entry using the serial_number attribute.. The Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) uses identification rules to determine whether an incoming CI matches an existing record. By creating a custom rule for the Linux Server class with a serial_number entry, the administrator ensures that only that class and its descendants use serial number for matching. This is the standard, supported method to achieve class-specific identification behavior without affecting other CI types.

Answer

Create a business rule on the cmdb_ci_linux_server table that checks for existing serial numbers and updates the matching record.

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Enable the 'Use serial number for identification' system property in the CMDB properties.

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Modify the default identification rule for the Computer class to include serial_number as a matching attribute.

Question 9

During a CAB review, a Change Manager notices that a Normal Change has an assigned Change Task for a database migration, but the task was never completed and the change was still moved to Review. The Change Manager wants to ensure that a Change Request cannot transition to Review until all of its Change Tasks are closed complete. What should the Change Manager configure to enforce this requirement?

Accepted Answer

A business rule on the Change Request table that aborts the transition when open Change Tasks exist. Enforcing a lifecycle gate requires server-side validation on the Change Request record itself. A before business rule can query related Change Tasks and abort the transition to Review whenever any task is not closed complete, covering form edits, list edits, and API updates alike. Client-side or workflow-only controls are bypassable and therefore insufficient for this compliance requirement.

Answer

A UI policy on the Change Task table that makes the State field mandatory

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A client script on the Change Request form that displays an alert when Change Tasks are open

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A workflow activity on the Change Request workflow that waits for Change Tasks to close

Question 10

A CMDB administrator is configuring the CMDB Health Dashboard to monitor the health of the CMDB. The administrator needs to ensure that the dashboard includes metrics for the completeness of CI attributes. Which TWO of the following metrics are part of the Completeness pillar in the CMDB Health Dashboard? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Recommended fields. The Completeness pillar in the CMDB Health Dashboard measures whether CIs have values for required and recommended attributes. Required fields and recommended fields are the two metrics that directly assess attribute completeness. Orphan CIs and duplicate CIs are part of the Correctness pillar, and audit results belong to the Compliance pillar. Therefore, the correct selections are the metrics that evaluate the presence of data in CI attributes.

Answer

Orphan CIs

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Audit results

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Duplicate CIs

Question 11

A CMDB administrator notices that a large number of Windows servers are being created as duplicate CIs in the CMDB. The servers are discovered by both SCCM and ServiceNow Discovery. After investigation, the administrator finds that SCCM populates the serial_number field with the service tag, while ServiceNow Discovery populates the serial_number field with the BIOS UUID. Both data sources are configured to use the same identification rule that includes serial_number. What is the most likely cause of the duplicates?

Accepted Answer

The identification rule is using serial_number as the only identifier, and the values from the two sources differ, so IRE cannot match them.. The Identification and Reconciliation Engine uses identification rules to match incoming CI data to existing CIs. If the identification rule relies solely on serial_number and the two discovery sources provide different values for that attribute, IRE will not find a match and will create duplicate CIs. To resolve this, the administrator should include additional attributes in the identification rule that are consistent across sources, such as name and MAC address, or use a different attribute like BIOS UUID if both sources can populate it consistently.

Answer

The CMDB is not configured with a Data Source Precedence rule, so both data sources are creating separate CIs.

Answer

The reconciliation rule is not configured to merge CIs from different data sources, causing duplicates to be created.

Answer

The CI Class Manager is not configured to allow multiple data sources to update the same CI, resulting in duplicates.

Question 12

A Change Manager at a financial services company needs to configure the system so that changes affecting the core banking platform cannot be scheduled during a defined month-end freeze window. The freeze recurs every month on the last two business days. Which native ServiceNow Change Management capability should the Change Manager configure to enforce this restriction?

Accepted Answer

Change Management blackout window defined on the Change schedule with a recurring monthly schedule. Blackout windows are the native Change Management mechanism for prohibiting change activity during specified periods such as month-end freezes. Because they integrate with conflict detection, any change scheduled inside the window is flagged before approval. Recurring monthly schedules let the Change Manager define the freeze once and have it repeat without manual intervention.

Answer

A CAB agenda rule that automatically rejects any change submitted during the last two business days

Answer

A Change Management maintenance schedule applied to the core banking CI

Answer

A scheduled job that sets affected Change Requests to the Unauthorized state at month-end

Question 13

A problem manager notices that many problem records are created from incident records but the link between the incident and the problem is not automatically established. The manager wants to ensure that whenever an incident is promoted to a problem, the incident is automatically associated with the new problem record. Which action should be taken?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'Promote to Problem' UI action on the Incident form.. The 'Promote to Problem' UI action is the standard ServiceNow feature that creates a problem from an incident and automatically links the two records. It copies key fields and establishes the relationship, ensuring traceability. Custom solutions or manual actions are not required and may not provide the same seamless integration.

Answer

Enable the 'Create Problem from Incident' UI action.

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Configure the 'Problem' related list on the Incident form to auto-populate.

Answer

Create a business rule that inserts a problem record and updates the incident's problem field.

Question 14

A Change Manager is preparing a Normal Change for implementation and wants to ensure that the change record captures the plan for backing out if the implementation fails, as required by the organization's change policy. Which TWO actions should the Change Manager perform on the Change Request? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Attach the rollback procedure document to the Change Request as an attachment. The organization's policy requires a documented backout plan on the change record. The Backout plan field is the standard location for the rollback procedure, and attaching a detailed document supplements it with full step-by-step instructions. Together they ensure implementers and approvers have the rollback guidance, satisfying the policy without altering the change type or lifecycle.

Answer

Move the Change Request to the Review state before implementation

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Set the Change Request Type to Standard

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Create a Change Task for the rollback and assign it to the implementer

Question 15

A service desk agent receives a call about a widespread email outage. The agent needs to raise a change that will be implemented immediately by the on-call network team without waiting for the next CAB meeting, but the change must still be reviewed after implementation. Which Change Management model should the agent use?

Accepted Answer

Emergency Change. Emergency Changes exist precisely for urgent work that cannot wait for a scheduled CAB review. They follow an expedited approval route and are reviewed after implementation, satisfying both the need to restore email service quickly and the need for governance. Standard and Normal Changes impose pre-implementation approval that the outage cannot accommodate.

Answer

Standard Change

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Unauthorized Change

Answer

Normal Change