What is best practice for modelling digital integrations with and integration service?

danssnowquests
Tera Contributor

I'm starting to use the digital integrations module to capture the system integrations and APIS.  In doing that I've a question about best practice when there are integration services and API gateways between the business applications. 

If there is an API gateway and an integration service would you model all connections, just the BA to BA connection or The BA and the integration service? 

My initial thoughts are that I would model the BA to the Integration service and then to the subsequent BA but skip the API gateway.  This is assuming the API gateway is a pass through and the integrations service should be doing something meaningful.  Refer to option 2 below 

Which approach would you suggest? are there other considerations to take into account?

Untitled Diagram.drawio.png

 

The above diagram is here if you want to take a copy and update

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Bruno De Graeve
ServiceNow Employee
ServiceNow Employee

hello, 

My personal view on this, is that we still miss an object in the CMDB to track System Integrations (could be a Mapped Application Service if ITOm Service Mapping is important).
In the diagram below, I mirror the design world with the operational domain. The 'green' table you see between the Digital Integration and "Application Service" (with classification = Integration), is used to drive a wizard that generates the object and links the CI objects with each other using specific CI Relationship Types. It will help the person managing the instantiations of an integration. In some cases, automation could be applied but very often, that's still a manual task to link the upper layer with the lower layer.
The upper part describes the WHY, the lower part the "WITH WHAT". 

BrunoDeGraeve_1-1732289322545.png

For the API Gateway specific classes, please see Nick's post: https://www.servicenow.com/community/cmdb-articles/new-data-model-in-cmdb-for-apis/ta-p/2688843

 

I have customers asking for that "Integration" CI class as they want to use it in their Incident, Change and Event Management processes.

Kind regards, Bruno 

Bruno De Graeve,
Principal Platform Architect, Customer Success, ServiceNow

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3 REPLIES 3

Jonathan Schnei
Giga Guru

Please see this article on determining 'What is a Business Application? ' from Mark Castoe. Option 2 appears to require that the Integration Service is a Business Application and if that's not the case it can be excluded. 

Yep, Im aware of the fact its not really a business applications,  we already have the Integration service and api gateway tracked as business applications, this is partially due to a cut down CSDM /. CMDB model in our usage and other org process requirements. 

Bruno De Graeve
ServiceNow Employee
ServiceNow Employee

hello, 

My personal view on this, is that we still miss an object in the CMDB to track System Integrations (could be a Mapped Application Service if ITOm Service Mapping is important).
In the diagram below, I mirror the design world with the operational domain. The 'green' table you see between the Digital Integration and "Application Service" (with classification = Integration), is used to drive a wizard that generates the object and links the CI objects with each other using specific CI Relationship Types. It will help the person managing the instantiations of an integration. In some cases, automation could be applied but very often, that's still a manual task to link the upper layer with the lower layer.
The upper part describes the WHY, the lower part the "WITH WHAT". 

BrunoDeGraeve_1-1732289322545.png

For the API Gateway specific classes, please see Nick's post: https://www.servicenow.com/community/cmdb-articles/new-data-model-in-cmdb-for-apis/ta-p/2688843

 

I have customers asking for that "Integration" CI class as they want to use it in their Incident, Change and Event Management processes.

Kind regards, Bruno 

Bruno De Graeve,
Principal Platform Architect, Customer Success, ServiceNow