Product Models & CSDM

[Harrie Emily Ri]

I've found the descriptions about Product Models (cmdb_model) quite confusing - since CSDM 5 there seems to be a much larger focus on this, but it's not quite clear if the intended purpose of the table is CI/Asset driven (Infrastructure components) or also relate to other layers of CSDM, e.g., Business Applications, Application Services & Service Offerings. I.e., is it intended that Product Models also store Technical/Platform Products? 

E.g., Cf., CSDM 5: 

In the ServiceNow AI Platform, products are recorded as Product Models (cmdb_model). Product Models enable you to identify a product owner, the status of a product within your organization, compatibility with other products, reference to product catalog, and reference to a list of objects that represent the details of various stages of a product’s life cycle. Additionally, you can identify the end-of-life details of your products as established by third-party providers and/or internal product owners. With product models, you can document bills of materials (BOMs) with other products as components to represent the set of products that your organization develops, sells, and/or consumes.

The product model tables are not CIs. CIs reference product models using the “Model ID” attribute available on all CMDB tables. For example, a Service Offering CI may reference a Service Offering Model, while a Windows Server may reference a Hardware Model.

E.g., Cf., ServiceNow docs: 

A product is a type of good or service that your company sells and supports. Product models identify different types of products, such as service, hardware, software, or consumables.

A product model is a specific version or configuration of a product. Build hierarchical product models that represent the set of products that your organization offers to its customers and define relationships between different product models. Define whether a product is tracked as an asset, a CI, or both. Additionally, identify or create the CI and asset classes to capture configuration information for product models.

Product models provide customer service agents and customers with a common understanding of the products being used by a particular customer.

Question 1: What is an example of a Product Model referenced by a Service Offering or an Application Service?

Question 2: If e.g., you have a Platform Product = Azure Landing Zone, would this be modelled as a Product Model and related Application Services/Service Instances reference this Product Model via,. Model ID? Or should it be mapped as a Business Application (considering a stratification where AZL is modelled as a Digital Product in the Business Application table). 

From a holistic point-of-view, I would lean towards keeping Product Models 'clean' and only populating based on discovered CI's and not create manual Product Models and keep Platform Products as Business Applications enabling mapping to Business Capabilities and Value Streams keeping in line with other industry frameworks where Products roll up to Value streams.