Best way to model Classes of CI and CIs on the CMDB and business service map

[DevHyfes]

I am working on building out a CMDB design and I'm having trouble conceptualizing how I ought to implement classes and instances of CI inside ServiceNow. We run a bunch of different services, and they are almost all comprised of custom systems and sub-systems. Because of the scale we operate at, a service may have multiple redundant systems in a data center, and scattered around the world.

What I would like to do is to define classes of systems (e.g. Foo System). I would like to be able to define a business service map showing how those systems render into classes of sub-systems (FooBar Cluster).

Then I would like to be able to define instances of the systems (This instantiation will probably be done automatically through our automated config/deploy systems). So FooSystem.Datacenter-G.1, FooSystem.Datacenter-G.2, etc. And of course there would generally be the same instances of sub-systems for that as well (e.g. Foobar.DG.1, etc).

So how do I model this in ServiceNow? My first thought was that I need to create new CI-classes for each type of system. But our product portfolio includes literally thousands of components. Were I to create a table for each one, it would probably be unmanageable. Plus, I don't know of any-way that you can create a BSM from the classes.

Has anyone tried to tackle this sort of problem before?

[danielbilling]

Hi, i currently doing the same setup where Services + Service offerings need to be related to the infrastructure collected from SCCM/SCOM.

one thing to keep in mind is that OOB the CI class is what is displayed on the "boxes" in the BSM view.

A couple of extended tables was needed (6 in my case), but always try to use OOB as much as possible and start creating new classes when the info is in production. This gives you the possibility to see how the data is actually used.

will try to find a concept drawing or maybe a screenshot to share

/Daniel

[marymulv]

Daniel, I'd appreciate a copy of the concept drawing if you can share it. We're starting to model our CMDB and don't have good examples to reference. Thanks,

~ Mary