How have you built ServiceNow in your CMDB using CSDM?

[Lisboa]

How have you and your company built your ServiceNow instance in the CMDB?

Been teaching myself CSDM and having a number of conversations with our platform owner and architect about the right way to reflect our ServiceNow environment within the CMDB using CSDM and things like Service Mapping. Let's just say - analysis paralysis has set in and I'm uncertain what we should and should not create in our CMDB to adequately represent our platform.

How did you and your company solve this problem?  Are you willing to share a screenshot (redacted as needed) or data of how you built out the platform in your instance?

I completely understand the SaaS/PaaS concept of ServiceNow so that I won't have infrastructure, how far down the rabbit hole do I go with Application Services/Service Instances in documenting all the individual modules deployed?  Do you reflect your purchased modules in your Product/Sold Products tables? Did you load your contracts into the Contracts table? 

Appreciate any help or community feedback here.

-Lisboa

[Kieran Anson]

Hi Lisboa,

The examples you've attached isn't far away from how I've taught multiple customers of mine. The first statement I always make is, model as much as will be used...don't over-complicate it. The biggest example being, starting with ServiceNow reflected as only a single entity within each of the CSDM domains. So to start:

• Business Application: ServiceNow Platform
• Application Service: ServiceNow Platform
• Technical Service Offering: ServiceNow Administration

From there, build out as the understanding matures, the level of service changes, and the ability to see granular details grows.

Contract management makes sense, if you have other SaaS / Service provider contracts within your contract management space....but if your company uses another tool or has no maturity then it'll make little difference. 

Have you modelled something yourself that you could share? The community can likely offer some opinions of where you're at. What concerns are you facing that are leading to decision paralysis? CSDM is a massive area, and the complexity can be overwhelming!