Common Service Data Model

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Common Service Data Model Extend ServiceNow AI Platform capabilities

    The Common Service Data Model (CSDM) is a crucial framework for ServiceNow administrators, guiding the setup of ServiceNow products and applications. It standardizes the definition of configuration items (CIs) and their relationships within the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), ensuring optimal data organization for effective reporting and analytics.

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    Key Features

    • Unified Data Access: CSDM provides prescriptive guidelines for service modeling, enabling consistent and accurate service reporting across ServiceNow AI Platform products.
    • CMDB Integration: The framework supports multiple configuration strategies and utilizes base-system tables and relationships to enhance data management.
    • Assessment Tools: The CSDM Assessment offers best practices and personalized guidance to help organizations implement the CSDM effectively.
    • Clear Definitions and Relationships: CSDM emphasizes simplified concepts, clear data relationships, and agreed-upon definitions to minimize confusion.
    • Data Governance: The model promotes effective data governance and processes to maintain the integrity and validity of data.

    Key Outcomes

    By implementing the CSDM framework, organizations can achieve:

    • Consistent Reporting: Enhanced accuracy in reporting and analytics, which is vital for managing your digital environment.
    • Maximized Value: Ensured that data resides in the appropriate CMDB tables, thereby maximizing the benefits from ServiceNow AI Platform applications.
    • Streamlined Collaboration: A shared data model across products encourages collaboration and simplifies data management.
    • Improved Integration: Reliable integrations with external data sources through prescribed technologies, ensuring data integrity.

    The CSDM is the data framework that admins should follow when they set up ServiceNow products and applications. The standards for defining configuration items (CIs) and relationships between CIs in the CMDB ensure that your data resides in the appropriate CMDB tables. The result is maximum value from ServiceNow AI Platform applications.

    About the CSDM

    The CSDM is the data model standard for all products that use the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
    • The CSDM guidelines ensure unified data access for ServiceNow AI Platform products.
    • The CSDM gives you clear direct prescriptive guidelines for service modeling within the CMDB.
    • CSDM terms and definitions ensure consistent and accurate service reporting.
    • The CSDM data model supports multiple configuration strategies and includes guidelines for using base-system tables and relationships.
    • You can use the CMDB query builder to create reports showing CMDB configuration items (CIs) and their relationships.

    You will find additional information about the CSDM on the Community Forum. Also, see CSDM in a nutshell.

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    Expert guidance to assess and improve your CSDM implementation — the CSDM Assessment

    The CSDM Assessment provides Impact Customers with leading practices and prescriptive guidance on the CSDM and how it supports processes on the ServiceNow AI Platform. To help your organization plan for and implement CSDM, the assessment includes interactions with ServiceNow CSDM experts and personalized content. See Common Service Data Model Assessment Accelerators.

    CSDM documentation

    Key principles that guided the design and development of the CSDM framework

    The framework is intended to help you avoid errors in implementation and to ensure that your ServiceNow AI Platform products generate accurate, complete, and consistent reports. The following principles guided the development of the CSDM framework.
    Use simplified concepts
    Represent concepts in a simple, distinct manner to eliminate duplicates and confusion over data sources.
    Design for reporting and analytics
    A prime objective of CSDM is to support consistent analysis.
    Prescribe the data relationships
    Tell users in a clear direct way which relationships and references to use to link CSDM tables.
    Share the data model across products
    The CSDM identifies a data model that is shared across products to simplify concepts and collaboration. Collaborating with other product teams achieves the best shared design.
    Use clear definitions
    Use agreed-upon CSDM definitions wherever a table, reference, or attribute is used.
    Share base-system tables
    zBoot must provide shared base-system CSDM tables by default.
    Consistent data integrations
    To ensure data integrity, use prescribed technologies when integrating external data sources
    Speed adoption
    For each new release, provide automation and guidance for CSDM that accelerates upgrading and minimizes issues.
    Enable data governance and process
    The presence of data within the model provides little value without governance and effective process to manage the truth and validity of the data.
    Provide practical user documentation
    Each product team that references CSDM objects should provide documented guidance on use and/or value of the objects. Links to product-specific guidance appear in Applying the CSDM guidelines to your product.