Need your opinion, Technical Service or Application Service

[Alex111]

We're currently working through how to best categorize a variety of services between Technical Services and Application Services, and we'd love to get your thoughts. Security and Monitoring, in particular, tend to blur the lines for us, and having your perspective could really help us shape a clearer approach together.

Arista Awake Security NDR

Bloodhound Enterprise

Zerto

Dynatrace

Solarwinds

Idera

Tripwire

These are just a handful and as many of you know, security usually has a dozen or more tools.

I would love to for your thoughts on some (or all) and if you can provide a short reason why you selected them as technical or application services.

Many of these services appear to involve components that align with both Technical and Application categories, I'm hoping with more collaboration from everyone, I can get a better understanding how to document our services.

THANK YOU!!!

Alex

[AndersBGS]

Hi @Alex111 ,

 Think of that according to documentation, then an application service is an installation of a business application where technical service is a grouping of technical service offering that is performed,

 so in general, two very different thing,

[TheJoeDC]

So if your question is where they belong in CSDM 5, one way to look at is:

Service Instance (Application service previously)  - logical representation of deployed system/app stack

Technology Management Services (technical services in CSDM 4) - view and manage technology provided

Looking at SolarWinds say, 

you might have both service instances (platform host and platform app).

     SolarWinds platform (platform host service instance)

     Solarwinds modules as platform apps service instances (Network Performance, NetFlow, Config Manager, etc)

Then your tech mgmt services might be:

Application Managment Services

Monitoring Services

With stratified tech services offerings like:

SolarWinds Admin

SolarWinds Monitoring (EMEA)

SolarWinds Monitoring (US)

SolarWinds Config (Dev)

SolarWinds Config (Prod)

[Alex111]

Thank you both for your feedback.  I'm not sure we want/need to manage them at both an app service and a tech service, I do understand what you presented, but having both, requires processes to maintain both and right now in our company it'll be more than enough to make sure they maintain one or the other, not both.  Bad excuse, but it's the truth.  Our EA group has presented these as Tech Services, but as TheJoeDC explained, could be both and that's kindof where I fell, was just hoping for more of a black & white answer.  Nothing is ever easy in CSDM, but that makes it more fun for the ride!

If anyone else has feedback, would love to hear, especially if you have some of these systems/applications, be glad to hear how you all have defined them.

Thank you all!  (sorry for the late reply!)

[Barry Kant]

Hi Alex, 

my 2 cnts.
If an application is deployed, and can cause a disruption, then you need it in the CMDB. 
As you can have incidents against it or want to make changes to it. So it is an Application Service/Service Instance for sure. 

The way the application is supported, some internal or external party is managing that application, is a Technology Management Service/Offering, this links also to the agreements you have with these providing parties. 

You need both, and yes it needs to be managed (by different people in my opinion) 
I often create an Application Service by the IT App Owner of the Business App .
The Services are made/maintained by a Service Owner team/delegate.
If there is an order of priority, then I would start with the Application Services.

BR,
Barry