Business application VS application service for APIs

[MoeBacht]

Hello, 

We are in our way to implement CSDM and Enterprise architecture (APM)
We are wondering how we will manage our APIs in the CSDM. We are developping reusable API at the company 

Our first assumption is to create them as a business application, what's your point of view on that ? Pros and cons ?

Thanks

[Ravi Peddineni]

Hello @MoeBacht 

There is a new solution that was introduced for this called Digital Interface Management in APM. Here’s the doc that can make you understand how you can manage integrations and interfaces: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/vancouver-application-portfolio-management/page/product/appli...

[MoeBacht]

Thanks, very interesting

However since my API is an internal API deployed in Azure and discovered as part of the discovery process, does it need to have it's own application service or business application ?

[Ravi Peddineni]

@MoeBacht 
I don’t think it would require a business application since the api is not a standalone application (because it won’t have any user interface and I’m guessing you won’t track business stats of APIs directly). But you can attach it to the application where the data is being processed. Like there’s a field on the DIM record called Business Application where you can attach.

Application service by definition is an instance of the business application. So when there’s no standalone application, I’m guessing creating AS won’t be required. The instance that is being discovered would be one of the application service under Azure. 
Here’s an article from ServiceNow that can clear a few queries regarding micro service modeling:  https://www.servicenow.com/community/digital-services-forum/modeling-microservices-and-apis-in-the-c...