System Number Becomes Empty After Merge with Pre-Staged Asset in ITMS

Products

• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

After imaging new computers and merging them with pre-existing asset records created via Asset Management Procurement (Setting Up the Procurement Environment), administrators observe:

• The System Number is initially populated in the pre-staged asset.

• After the merge process:

  • The computer name is correctly set using the System Number.

  • However, the System Number field becomes empty in the SMP Console.

Administrators expect the System Number from the Procurement record to be preserved after merge.

Environment

ITMS 8.7.x, 8.8.x
Asset Management Solution
Inventory Solution

Cause

This issue is caused by how inventory data is synchronized and merged into CMDB data classes, specifically:

• The BIOS Element inventory data class feeds into the Identity data class.

• During Inventory to Asset Synchronization, an empty string value (not NULL) from inventory is treated as a valid value.

• During the merge:

  • The destination resource already contains this empty string value.

  • Because it is considered a real value, it does not get overwritten by the valid System Number from the source resource.

• As a result, the System Number becomes empty after merge.

This behavior has been confirmed by Development and is reproducible.

 

How the Process Works

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1️⃣ Procurement Creates Pre-Staged Asset

• Asset is created via Procurement.

• System Number is manually populated (used later as hostname).

Field	Value
System Number	Populated
Managed	No
Inventory	Not yet collected

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2️⃣ Computer Is Imaged and Inventory Is Collected

• Agent is installed.

• Hardware inventory runs.

• Inventory includes BIOS Element data class.

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3️⃣ Inventory to Asset Synchronization Runs

This step is critical.

• Data from inventory tables (e.g., Inv_SW_BIOS_Element) is synchronized into CMDB data classes.

• The Identity data class is populated.

Issue behavior:

• If BIOS Element contains an empty string value,

• It is propagated into Identity as:

System Number = ""

 

This is not NULL, but an actual stored value.

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4️⃣ Duplicate Computer Merge Occurs

• Managed computer merges with pre-staged Procurement asset.

During merge:

• Destination resource already contains:

  System Number = ""

• Source resource contains:

  System Number = "ValidValue"

   

Because empty string is treated as a valid value:

The merge logic does NOT overwrite it.

Result:

• Final merged resource:

  System Number = ""

   

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Key Technical Detail (Root Cause)

Behavior	Explanation
Empty string persists	Treated as valid value, not NULL
Source value ignored	Merge does not overwrite existing values
System Number lost	Due to prior synchronization, not merge failure

 

Resolution

This issue has been targeted for a fix under our ITMS 8.8.2 release.

How to Validate the Issue

Run the following queries before merge:

SELECT * FROM [dbo].[Inv_SW_BIOS_Element]
WHERE _ResourceGuid = '<Resource GUID>'

SELECT * FROM [dbo].[Inv_Identity]
WHERE _ResourceGuid = '<Resource GUID>'

 

Expected Findings

Table	Observation
Inv_SW_BIOS_Element	May contain empty string values
Inv_Identity	System Number = '' (empty string)

 

Workaround

Disable BIOS Element Collection (Workaround)

Navigate:

• Manage > Policies > Discovery and Inventory > Inventory

Steps:

1. Edit inventory policy (Full or Delta Inventory)

2. Click Advanced

3. Go to Data Class tab

4. Navigate to:

   Inventory data classes > Software > Common

5. Uncheck:

   BIOS Element

6. Save changes

Important Notes

• This prevents empty string values from being introduced.

• Existing data is not removed automatically.

• Testing must be done on new resources.

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Validation

After applying workaround or fix:

1. Provision a new device.

2. Run full workflow:

   • Inventory

   • Inventory to Asset Sync

   • Merge

3. Confirm:

   • System Number remains populated after merge.