What would you use to manage spare parts?

[Sanjay Sharma]

We are implementing Customer Services and Filed Service modules and bringing our customer installed base into Assets Management. What would we use to manage spare parts (Material Master in SAP) so that it is linked installed equipment.

Should we use Consumables Asset (or a custom table) to store spare part as we just want to keep minimum information such as Parts number, description, weight, dimensions and price information into ServiceNow.

Could any one please tell what is best way handling Spare Part into ServiceNow?

[parag-mone]

Hi,

Spare Parts can be defined as a "Product Model" in ServiceNow. Product Model captures basic product information such as product number, description, dimension etc. Do you track spare parts individually using Serial Number? If yes, then create an asset for the defined product model to track the serialized spare part else you can define a consumable product model.  

You can define your logistics network (depots, RSL etc) using stockrooms (warehouse) in ServiceNow and can track the on-hand quantity of spare parts (assets/consumables) in the respective stockrooms.

Thanks,

Parag

[WheelM]

In ServiceNow, the best practice is not to treat spare parts as Assets (like your installed base equipment), but instead to manage them as Configuration Items (CIs) in the CMDB or as Items in the Product Catalog, depending on how much detail you need.

🔹 When to use Asset vs. Consumable vs. CI:

• Assets are typically used for customer-installed equipment that you want to track through its lifecycle (purchase → install → retire).

• Consumables are good for items that are issued/consumed and not tracked individually (e.g., cleaning supplies, toner cartridges).

• Spare parts that you want to link to equipment and use in Field Service work orders are better handled as CIs or Catalog Items. This way, you can store key attributes like part number, description, weight, dimensions, and price, without overloading the Asset table.

🔹 Integration with SAP (Material Master):
Since your source of truth for spare parts  is SAP, the common pattern is to integrate SAP Material Master into ServiceNow as part of your product catalog or CI class. That gives you:

• Minimal but essential metadata in ServiceNow (PN, description, dimensions, cost).

• Ability to relate parts to the installed equipment (via CI relationships).

• Alignment with Work Orders in Field Service, so engineers can request or consume the right part.

🔹 Avoiding custom tables unless necessary:
You can use OOB tables like cmdb_ci_spare_part (or extend cmdb_ci_hardware with a spare parts class) instead of creating a custom table. This ensures you stay aligned with the ServiceNow data model and can leverage Field Service/Customer Service features like parts ordering, logistics, and inventory.

Recommendation:

• Keep installed base equipment as Assets/CIs.

• Bring spare parts from SAP Material Master into CMDB or Product Catalog (not as Assets).

• Use ServiceNow’s OOB relationships to link spare parts with the equipment models they apply to.

• Only store minimal attributes in ServiceNow, while SAP remains the master for financials and inventory.

This approach is scalable, avoids customization overhead, and aligns with how ServiceNow Field Service and Customer Service modules are designed.