Business Continuity Management > Learn about Foundational Data Management

[Mary Hain]

Overview

When undertaking Business Continuity Management (BCM) implementation on the ServiceNow AI Platform, you must consider establishing a solid foundation by connecting and structuring foundational data.

To do this using a configuration management database (CMDB), refer to the section below: ‘Using the CMDB effectively for managing foundational data.' BCM can also be implemented without having a mature CMDB. Refer to the section below: ‘Establishing data relationships in the BCM application (when a mature CMDB does not exist).’

Using the CMDB effectively for managing foundational data

Foundational data provides the necessary alignment among BCM use cases, a ServiceNow adoption roadmap, and a broader information architecture. This foundational data becomes the engine that powers workflows, analytics, and reporting.

The level of automation your organization can achieve with ServiceNow BCM depends heavily on how effectively foundational data, especially from the CMDB, is referenced and integrated into BCM workflows.

Some critical areas are important in connecting the foundational data:

• Document the Assets: Assets should be cataloged and maintained in ServiceNow’s platform. The assets can be software applications, hardware, and supporting IT infrastructure. This can be done manually or through automated discovery using ServiceNow’s discovery capability in the CMDB. Ensuring the CMDB reflects a current and accurate inventory of the software applications, the hardware, and the supporting IT infrastructure, and services enables BCM teams to directly tie continuity strategies to real-world components and dependencies.
• Document third parties: Third parties or vendors can be created as a third-party record in the company repository. These records can also be created in the ServiceNow Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) application and classified as engagements, as provided by the vendor. Relating vendors to the business processes they support enhances the accuracy of your business impact analysis and helps ensure more accurate and complete continuity planning.
• Document the business processes: Activities performed by business users to deliver a service or product are known as business processes. In this case, you need to identify the process definition, steps involved, owners, and supporting people in the CMDB.
• Identify the interdependencies: It’s important to capture the dependencies between the business processes and the supporting IT (applications, IT infrastructure, and data) and non-IT assets (third parties, people, facilities, and hardware) to ensure relationships are properly documented.

The data and relationships you create will be reused in Risk applications across ServiceNow, such as Risk Management, Compliance, and BCM.

When referenced in the business impact analysis, plans, and exercises, the business processes automatically pull in the related assets and dependencies into the BCM application. This helps keep BCM records up to date and synchronized with the ever-changing business and IT environments.  

Establishing data relationships in the BCM application (when a mature CMDB does not exist)

Many of our customers do not have a mature CMDB when they start their journey with ServiceNow.

If your CMDB is not fully optimized, for example, it has missing records, duplicates, or limited data sources, you’re not alone. Many organizations face similar challenges. The good news is that these issues don’t have to block your progress with BCM in ServiceNow.

A practical workaround is to establish workflows that might compensate for the gaps in the CMDB. This allows teams to request and manage new or updated records as needed, directly supporting BCM efforts even in the absence of perfect data. In parallel, many organizations choose to run a CMDB optimization initiative alongside their BCM implementation. This dual-track approach allows you to move forward with resilience planning while also improving data quality over time. 

Here’s how to get started:

• Create records of the critical business processes and assets to be used by the BCM application.
• Once the records are created, you can start the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and identify the interdependencies under the dependency assessment section.
• The identified dependencies will be used in the plans and exercises.
• Once your program matures and you have a reliable CMDB, you can sync the BIAs, plans, and exercises with the CMDB.

Resources 

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• Implementation Best Practices (BCM Process Guide (p.14), BCM Implementation Success Pack, BCM & Operational Resilience Recommended Implementation Sequence)
• Product Documentation

FAQ 

What is the purpose of foundational data in the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and plan templates?

This data is used to establish BIA dependency mapping and create BIA and plan templates, which are referenced in the BIA and planning modules.

How are business processes created and used in BIA and continuity planning?

Business processes are defined, documented, and maintained in process libraries, and later referenced in the BIA and continuity plans.

How are assets created and maintained in ServiceNow?

Assets are created and maintained in ServiceNow’s CMDB, either manually or through ServiceNow’s discovery capability. See instructions above if you do not have a CMDB or it is missing information. 

How are vendors managed in ServiceNow?

Vendors are created as records in the Third-Party Risk Management (formerly Vendor Risk Management) application and classified as engagements, with relationships to the business processes they support for better planning and analysis.

Why is it important to link vendors to business processes?

Linking third parties to business processes helps improve planning and business impact analysis, ensuring that vendor dependencies are considered in continuity planning.

What if I want to learn more about setting up and managing a CMDB?

Consider taking the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Fundamentals course in Now Learning. You will learn how to implement a successful CMDB, configure rules to prevent duplicate records, ingest data from diverse discovery sources, govern and maintain CMDB data integrity, and leverage data from other ServiceNow products and tools. We also recommend consulting with your BCM implementation advisor.

We have homegrown business continuity software that doesn’t strictly follow best practices. How should we prepare to migrate to ServiceNow BCM?

If your software uses unfamiliar risk terminology, incorrect terminology, lacks required details, or has unreportable data, you should consider aligning with industry best practices. ServiceNow BCM has been developed using industry standards. Here are a few recommendations to get started:

• Review Good Practice Guidelines and Professional Practices resources to see industry standard practices
• Request knowledge transfer sessions as part of your BCM implementation
• Gather team support by identifying and sharing the advantages of having internal practices aligned with industry’s best practices
• Share the benefits of adhering to out-of-box functionality vs. using customizations, which create tech debt and can affect ServiceNow upgrades

Consult with your BCM implementation advisor if you have more questions.

We are planning a transition to the Common Services Data Model (CSDM) and are unsure of the source tables that should be used for BCM data. What should we do?

CSDM stands for Common Service Data Model, a framework primarily used by ServiceNow to standardize the way IT services and their components are managed and mapped across an organization. If you are unfamiliar with CSDM, read these Product Documentation resources:  CSDM – conceptual model, Understanding CSDM, and Migrating to the CSDM. They provide a good explanation and insights into leveraging the CSDM capabilities.

Here are some pointers to get you started:

• As a starting point for BCM, finalize your CSDM data model to allow the definition of elements in ServiceNow BCM.
• Next, define the elements in BCM. This requires connecting to CSDM tables for the eventual presentation of data records in BCM.
• Last, map out the effort and timeline for the data migration. This enables the BCM admins to plan for the availability of data records. This is a critical step when establishing expectations for the completion of  BIAs and plan development.
• Note that data record migration or creation of new records is not required for the successful implementation of BCM.

We also recommend consulting with your BCM implementation advisor for any additional questions.