Phase one was foundational data. Phase two was the crawl stage. Phase three was the walk phase and here we will discuss the Run phase.
During the Run stage, the focus expands beyond technology management into business service alignment, connecting what IT delivers to how the business experiences and measures value. This stage introduces three additional out-of-box (OOB) tables that enable modeling of business services and offerings within the Sell/Consume domain of the CSDM.
The CSDM dashboard shows information about gaps in data relationships and custom service tables in use.
Three key points about the Run stage:
- Business Service Portfolio (not a CMDB table). Represents the catalog or portfolio view of all business services offered by the organization. It enables portfolio management, lifecycle tracking, and alignment of services to business capabilities and outcomes.
- Business Service (a Service record with a Service Classification of “Business Service”). Defines the business-facing service consumed by internal or external customers. This represents what the business sees as value delivered, such as Payroll Processing, Claims Management, or Customer Onboarding.
- Business Service Offering (a Service Offering record with a Service Classification of “Business Service”). Represents a specific variant or consumption option of a Business Service. Offerings may differ by geography, customer segment, support level, pricing, or SLA commitments.
Together, these tables enable organizations to operationalize the business-to-technology relationship, providing clear visibility into who consumes which services, how they are delivered, and what value they provide. A critical component of IT Service Management (ITSM) is understanding the business impact of the technologies that underpin operations. The business does not simply run technology, it consumes it to deliver value.
With Customer Service Management (CSM), the organization may sell technology-based services or products to external customers. In both cases, these dependencies create a need for clear relationships between the technology services provided and the business entities that consume or sell them.
Part five will start at the Fly stage.
