Implementing CSDM

Matthew_13
Kilo Sage

3 weeks ago

Hi Community,

For those who have implemented or are actively adopting the Common Service Data Model (CSDM), I’m interested in learning from real-world experience this go around.

 

What were the top three challenges you encountered during your CSDM implementation (for example: organizational alignment, data quality, discovery/service mapping, operating model changes, tooling limitations, etc......?

 

Additionally, if you’re willing to share:

  • Which CSDM stage you were implementing (Foundational, Technical, Business, or Service Portfolio)

  • What you would do differently if starting again

Appreciate any insights or lessons learned.

Thank you.

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3 REPLIES 3

Dr Atul G- LNG
Tera Patron

Monday

Hi @Matthew_13 

 

  • First challenge: mindset. It is sometimes difficult to ask the client to clearly indicate the CSDM concerns.

  • Second challenge: interchangeability and naming. There is confusion caused by using the same name for different services, for example calling every service AS, SO, or BA.

  • Third point: patience over speed. This is not a race, it’s a marathon. We cannot achieve everything at once; we need to be patient and focus on gradually achieving the ROI.

 

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Dr. Atul G. - Learn N Grow Together
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Pratiksha
Mega Sage

Tuesday

CSDM is a data model, and it must be adapted based on the customer’s maturity level. Over the years, I have worked with both large enterprise IT organizations and small-to-mid-sized companies, and one thing is consistent: the CSDM journey is never the same.

The approach depends entirely on:

  • How mature the organization is

  • What level of service modeling they actually want

  • How much organizational change they are ready to adopt

When clients are new to CSDM, the initial conversations are less about implementation and more about finding the right balance. You cannot expect teams to change everything overnight. Forcing a “by-the-book” model too early often leads to resistance and poor adoption.

ServiceNow broadly suggests a crawl–walk–run–fly approach. While this is a good guiding principle, in practice it does not always align perfectly with the exact activities ServiceNow prescribes for each phase. Real-world implementations require flexibility.

From my experience, the most critical starting point is:

  • Getting the foundation data right

  • Identifying and assigning clear data stewards

Without ownership and trusted data, no level of CSDM maturity will succeed.

As an architect, the responsibility goes beyond knowing the model. The real job is to:

  • Understand what the customer actually wants

  • Assess how much change the organization can realistically absorb

  • Translate business language into CSDM concepts without overwhelming stakeholders

One of the biggest challenges consistently lies in definitions. Customers often use familiar terms that mean something different in CSDM, while we use CSDM terminology that doesn’t immediately resonate with them. Bridging this language gap is key to successful adoption.

In short, successful CSDM implementation is less about rigid modeling and more about pragmatic alignment, data foundations, and organizational readiness.

 

Regards, 

Pratiksha