Need help understanding CSDM with CSM (product models and assets)

[Hans Peter]

Hi,

I'll admit that this might be more of a CSM-focused question, but it seems to me like you might be the people caring the most about best practices concerning the data model of ServiceNow. On to my question:

I've been tasked with entering the services that we offer into ServiceNow, but I'm unsure how to do it. I can't wrap my head around the relationships between services, service offerings, product models, and assets. I'm CSM certified, and maybe I slept during the course, but I can't remember services and service offerings being discussed in that course at all - it was all "products" and "assets", which seem to be the core entities, as they're also present in the OOTB case form (unlike service and service offering).

All of that seems pretty understandable with tangible items, I think in the course they used the example of a model of a car as product model, and the asset being a specific instance of that car model (with a VIN number) - but if I use product models to model the services that the company sells, what would be the instantiation of that product model? "Asset" doesn't seem to be right.

I think this is the point where CSDM comes in, and maybe I should model services as "services" and "service offerings", I'm just confused that I've never heard of those entities in the CSM course, and that they're not OOTB shown on the case form.

Because I feel like I just wrote a few paragraphs of confusing gibberish, here's an example that I want to put into ServiceNow, but just don't know what the right places are:

Client management: providing companies with all the hardware they need (laptops, desktops, sometimes network equipment etc) so they can start working and don't have to care about it. Also, providing continuous support, and installing new software on the laptops, etc.

In this example, I could define the laptop as product model and asset, but on the other hand, it's not really the laptop we're selling, but the maintenance / service of said laptop. In a case form, I'd want to identify which service this case concerns (for example, "Client Management - Software Installation"), and the laptop that the software needs to be installed to. Doing this with only the fields "product" and "asset" feels wrong.

[Rick25]

Hello Hans,

I've found this to be helpful:

https://nowlearning.service-now.com/lxp?id=overview&sys_id=eaa12d8d1bcb10505b2699f4bd4bcb82&type=course

and 

https://nowlearning.service-now.com/lxp?id=overview&sys_id=68d5565edbc81810785e2a59139619f9&type=course

There was also a couple of good knowledge2020 sessions that I would recommend at:

• K20: BRE3023 – CMDB Best Practices from the real world
• K20: BRE1972 – Evolving from a basic CMDB to the CSDM at Canadian National Railway

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Rick

[Stig Brandt]

Hi Hans Peter This is a very good question, and the answer is not easy.

Your challenge is also not in the csdm example sheets, but it is doable. You need of course to ask yourselves what is the customer ordering “client management”, that includes products and services.

So you need to build a service model, software model, hardware model, this is the product side, link these together using parent child asset.

Then you will have to build your service side such as support, install, patch etc. this is contract, service and service offering records and, and then you need to link the service to your products stack. When user is calling in they give you the contract number or product name, services is listed and products are shown for that client management contract/service.

Cheers

Stig

[CasperJT]

Hi Hans Peter,

I don't have any experience with CSM myself, but the CSDM documentation has a specific page relating to how CSDM and CSM play together:

Common Service Data Model product view: Customer Service Management (servicenow.com)

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Casper

[Ed Laar1]

Hello Hans,

First of all you have to define all the services that you deliver towards your customers. I see in your example services like: Maintenance on Laptop/Desktop hardware, Software maintenance on such hardware, Renewal of this harwdare, Request fulfillment for this hardware etc.

Services are HW Maintenance, SW Maintenance, HW Renewal, HW Request fullfillment. These Services are in fact your Business Service Offerings as you deliver these services towards users.

Devices, in use by users, can be registered as CI's in order to know which devices are in use and which services are to be applied to which devices. Product models are mandatory for CI's. They are also used in Asset management when it comes to the renewal services.

Technical Service Offerings represent the operational part of the Buisiness Service: Hardware Maintenance, Software Maintenance, HW Renewal and HW Request fulfillment are these operational parts and they should be related to the involved CI's, preferable using Dynamic CI groups, in order to be able to assign tickets to the correct assignment groups.

CSM takes care of the Customer facing part of your Buisiness Service Offerings. I am not involved in CSM but hope you can combine CSDM and CSM to solve your case.

Cheers,

Ed