Reconciliation Module Overview

Note: To learn to use the Reconciliation module, see the Reconciliation Module Implementation Guide in addition to this online help. The guide contains basic information about the reconciliation process and explains how to set up reconciliation tasks.

The Reconciliation module applications let you evaluate data about information technology devices and networks and view the results of the evaluation. You use these applications to configure a behind-the-scenes process that reconciles objects from one data set (Data Set 1) with objects in another data set (Data Set 2). The reconciliation process identifies successful matches as well as discrepancies and variances between the two sets of data.

Typically Data Set 1 contains information about authorized objects–that is, data that you recorded about what you have acquired and installed. This data represents your authorized inventory, how things should be and what you have planned. Data Set 2 typically contains information that a discovery tool collects about objects actually deployed in your enterprise.

You can use the results of a reconciliation to determine whether the objects actually deployed comply with corporate plans and whether the changes over the life cycle of an object are in compliance with corporate policies. Discrepancies might be caused by a variety of factors, including:

To define the parameters for a reconciliation, you create a reconciliation task that combines the elements required for a reconciliation into a specific task that you schedule for execution using the Cron Task Setup application. A reconciliation task consists of three possible components: a task filter (optional), one or more link rules (required), and one or more comparison rules (optional). For additional information about defining reconciliation tasks, see Setting Up a Reconciliation.

After the system executes a reconciliation task, you can view the results of the reconciliation. If you use Tivoli Asset Management for IT, you view results in the Asset Link Results and Asset Reconciliation Results applications. If you use the Change and Configuration Management Database (CCMDB), you view results in the CI Link Results and CI Reconciliation Results applications.

The Reconciliation module contains the following applications: