Where should we place Technical products as per CSDM?
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Hi, we know that Business Application needs to go to APM/EA. Howover, our team have developed reusable technical assets like Notification engine, Container Wrapper services which are used by Development teams to embed in their application and use it. As Notification engine, Container Wrapper services are not business application and are not user facing, where shall we place them in CMDB? Should they be under Technical Service Offerings?
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Hi @varunkumar11863 You’re right — these aren’t Business Applications. For CSDM alignment, model them as Technical Services in cmdb_ci_service. Each consuming application can then relate to them via depends on / provides relationships.
Only use Technical Service Offerings if they’re catalogued or consumed as part of a service portfolio. Otherwise, keep them as internal Technical Services supporting your Business or Application Services.
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If they're reusable and they support technical teams in developing products/services - so something a technical team might request, like storage, database or other technologies, then they should definitely be Technology Management Service Offerings (TSOs). The Technology Management Service (TS) is the aggregated named that the Offerings are grouped under.
However, how are they implemented? If they run code then they're some form of application/executable, then that should be represented as a Business Application implemented as one or more Application Services that are consumed but the TSO and depending upon the stack of infra CIs that they use. A service cannot exist without something providing it, be it PaaS, SaaS, homegrown, COTS or something else.
Business Application is something of a misleading name. I believe there are moves afoot by ServiceNow to relabel this table to something like Digital System (I think previously Digital Product was considered, too). A ServiceNow MID Server is a Business Application even though it's just a Java service and not a "full" application. If you miss these kind of applications out of your Business App inventory you run the risk of failing to fully map your app landscape.
APIs and the like belong in Digital Integration Management (if you have Enterprise Architecture).
I hope this helps!
Mat
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Thursday
ServiceNow – Where to Place Reusable Technical Assets (Notification Engine, Container Wrapper, etc.) in CMDB
Issue:
Business Applications belong to APM/EA as they support business capabilities and are user-facing. However, reusable technical assets like Notification Engine, Container Wrapper Services, and similar shared components are not business applications. These need to be correctly placed in CMDB to maintain alignment with CSDM and proper service hierarchy.
---
1. Conceptual Mapping (CSDM Alignment)
| Asset Type | CSDM Layer | CMDB Class | Example |
|-------------|-------------|-------------|----------|
| Notification Engine | Technical Service | cmdb_ci_service | Reusable email/SMS API used by multiple apps |
| Container Wrapper Service | Technical Service | cmdb_ci_service | Common container orchestration library or API |
| Shared Integration Gateway | Technical Service | cmdb_ci_service | Central REST or messaging layer |
| Business-facing app (ERP, CRM) | Business Application Service | cmdb_ci_business_app | SAP, Salesforce, HR Portal |
---
2. Recommended Placement in CMDB
Model these assets as:
Service Portfolio → Technical Services → Technical Service Offerings
Example hierarchy:
Technical Service: Application Runtime Platform
├── Technical Service Offering: Container Wrapper Service
├── Technical Service Offering: Notification Engine
├── Technical Service Offering: Logging & Monitoring API
Relationships:
- Business Applications → Depends on → Technical Services
- Technical Services → Provides → Business Applications
This maintains dependency mapping for impact analysis.
---
3. CMDB Classes and Tables
| Layer | Table | Use Case |
|-------|--------|----------|
| Technical Service | cmdb_ci_service | Logical grouping of related technical capabilities |
| Technical Service Offering | service_offering | Implementation or variation of a technical service |
| Application Component | cmdb_ci_appl | Optional tracking of deployed versions or modules |
Example configuration:
- Technical Service Name: Notification Engine
- Service Type: Technical
- Service Owner: Platform Engineering
- Offerings: Email Delivery API, SMS Delivery API, Push Notifications
---
4. Why Not in Business Applications
These assets:
- Do not directly support a business capability.
- Support multiple business applications indirectly.
- Are owned by platform/engineering, not business stakeholders.
Placing them under Business Applications causes confusion in APM and reporting.
---
5. Optional Enhancements
In Service Portfolio Management (SPM):
- Publish as “Platform Engineering” catalog services.
- Use relationships (service_offering_consumer) to indicate consumers.
In APM:
- Optionally create Application Components for reuse tracking and dependency mapping.
---
6. Example Relationship Diagram
Business Application: HR Portal
↓ depends on
Technical Service: Notification Platform
↓ has offering
Technical Service Offering: Email Delivery API
↓ hosted on
Application Component: Notification Engine
↓ runs on
Infrastructure Service: AWS Lambda / On-prem server
---
7. Final Recommendation
| Component | Where to Place | CMDB Table | Relationship |
|------------|----------------|-------------|---------------|
| Notification Engine | Technical Service Offering | service_offering | Provided by Platform Engineering |
| Container Wrapper | Technical Service Offering | service_offering | Consumed by App Development teams |
| Shared API Gateway | Technical Service | cmdb_ci_service | Supports Business Applications |
These components should NOT be under Business Applications in APM. Instead, store them under Technical Services and Technical Service Offerings per CSDM 4.0 guidelines.
---
Conclusion:
Reusable technical assets like Notification Engines or Container Wrappers belong in the Technical Service layer of CMDB, not APM’s business application layer. Model them as Technical Services with corresponding Technical Service Offerings and maintain clear relationships with the business applications that consume them. This ensures CSDM compliance and accurate impact analysis.
