Need expertise on preparing the CIS certification

[bhaavani]

Hi Experts,

I am new to CMDB and my current organization is asking to complete CIS - Data Foundation (Certified Implementation Specialist -Data Foundations (CMDB and CSDM)). Can anyone help what I need to prepare to clear the exam ? What this exam mainly focus on ? What modules I need to prepare from product documentation ?

Appreciate your help on this

Regards,

Bhavani

[AJ-TechTrek · Accepted solution]

Hi @bhaavani ,

1 – What This Exam Is About
The Certified Implementation Specialist – Data Foundations (CIS-DF) exam is focused on:
* CMDB concepts & implementation best practices
* CSDM (Common Service Data Model) alignment
* Data governance, quality, and health
* Relationships between CIs and services
* Using ServiceNow tools to manage CMDB data
*
It’s not a deep-dive technical “Discovery” exam — instead, it’s more about data modeling, governance, and how CMDB fits into the overall ServiceNow platform.

2 – Official Exam Structure
From the ServiceNow blueprint, the exam usually covers these domains

Domain	Weight
CMDB Fundamentals (concepts, classes, attributes, lifecycle)	~25%
CSDM Concepts (domains, stages, mapping to CMDB)	~20%
CMDB Data Management & Governance (Data Manager, Data Certification, policies)	~25%
CMDB Health (completeness, correctness, compliance)	~20%
Implementation Approach (phases, roles, data loading, maintenance)	~10%

3 – What You Need to Study from Product Docs
A. CMDB Core Concepts
* CMDB tables & hierarchy (cmdb, cmdb_ci, subclasses)
* CI attributes, identifiers, and discovery sources
* Relationship types (Depends on, Runs on, etc.)
* CI lifecycle (Installed, Retired, In Maintenance)
* CMDB Class Manager

B. CSDM
* Purpose and benefits of CSDM
* The 4 core CSDM domains (Design, Manage Technical Services, Sell/Consume, Manage Portfolio)
* How CSDM maps to CMDB classes
* Service Portfolio > Service Offerings > Service Instances
* Technical vs Business Services

C. CMDB Health & Data Quality
* CMDB Health dashboard metrics: Completeness, Correctness, Compliance
* How to configure health indicators
* Data Certification process
* CMDB Data Manager and cleanup policies
* Duplicate CI identification

D. Data Loading & Maintenance
* Import sets vs Discovery vs IntegrationHub ETL
* Identification & Reconciliation Engine (IRE)
* Data governance roles & processes
* Best practices for CMDB implementation

4 – Recommended Learning Path
1. Take ServiceNow’s “CMDB Fundamentals” training (free in Now Learning)
2. Complete “CSDM Fundamentals” training (also free)
3. If possible, attend the official CIS – Data Foundations course (paid, but very targeted for the exam)
4. Practice:
* Creating & relating CIs in Class Manager
* Setting up CMDB Health metrics
* Using Data Manager policies
* Mapping a simple CSDM service model

5. Go through exam practice questions from Now Learning (they follow the blueprint style closely)

5 – Key Exam Tips
* Know the CSDM diagram well — questions will test you on which table/class belongs to which stage/domain.
* Understand the difference between Business Service, Technical Service, Service Offering, and Service Instance.
* Remember: IRE enforces identification rules, not ACLs.
* CMDB Health → Completeness = mandatory fields, Correctness = valid data format, Compliance = policy adherence.
* Expect scenario-based questions like:
* “You have duplicate CIs from multiple sources — what do you configure?”
* “A service instance must be linked to X in CSDM — what is it?”

Reference links for that:-

https://learning.servicenow.com/lxp/en/credentials/certified-implementation-specialist-data-foundati...

https://learning.servicenow.com/lxp/en/credentials/certified-implentation-specialist-data-foundation...

https://learning.servicenow.com/lxp/en/it-operations-management/configuration-management-database-cm...

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