CSDM terms for Digital Portfolio Management

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated April 27, 2026
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    Summary of CSDM terms for Digital Portfolio Management

    This content defines key Common Service Data Model (CSDM) terms relevant to ServiceNow customers using Digital Portfolio Management (DPM) and Service Portfolio Management applications. Understanding these shared terms helps customers effectively manage and align services, portfolios, and capabilities within their organizations.

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    Key Terms and Their Practical Use

    • Portfolio: A collection of related services, products, projects, or applications grouped to support business objectives or capabilities, enabling efficient business management.
    • Business Capability: High-level organizational functions essential to execute business models or missions, such as demand management or financial planning.
    • Service: A means to deliver value by enabling customer outcomes without transferring ownership of costs and risks. Services include interaction, offering, and service system aspects.
    • Service Types:
      • Business Service: Services published to business users, supporting business capabilities and orderable via the ServiceNow Service Catalog (e.g., procurement, finance).
      • Technology Management Service: Services for service owners underpinning business or service instances, also orderable via the catalog (e.g., computers, networks).
      • Service Instance: Logical representations of deployed application stacks like hosting or data backup.
    • Application: Deployed software or modules providing specific functionality, typically discoverable components such as web servers.
    • Business Application: Software and infrastructure environments (development, test, production) configured to deliver business functionality, improving productivity.
    • Service Catalog: A consumable view of available products, services, and offerings that manages user access and initiates service requests.
    • Service Offering: Variations of a service differentiated by capability, availability, pricing, and packaging (e.g., ITSM Standard vs. ITSM Pro).
    • Service Commitment: Agreed-upon service delivery obligations between consumer and provider, often codified in contracts such as SLAs or OLAs, defining performance levels.
    • Configuration Item (CI): Physical or logical infrastructure components under configuration management, ranging from individual servers to complex systems.
    • Asset: Items tracked for financial value and lifecycle management, which may overlap with CIs but focus on financial considerations, such as software licenses.
    • Operating Model: A visual or abstract representation of how an organization delivers value, encompassing strategy, automation, provider models, and IT-business alignment.

    Why This Matters

    For ServiceNow customers, mastering these terms clarifies how Digital Portfolio Management and Service Portfolio Management align with CSDM standards. This understanding facilitates better governance, service delivery, and alignment of IT and business goals through standardized terminology and structured service offerings.

    What to Expect

    Customers can expect enhanced collaboration between business and IT teams, improved clarity in service definitions and commitments, and streamlined management of portfolios, applications, and infrastructure components. Leveraging these terms supports effective use of ServiceNow’s DPM and portfolio management capabilities.

    Because both ServiceNow® products of Digital Portfolio Management (DPM) and Service Portfolio Management closely align with the Common Service Data Model (CSDM), it's helpful to know the common terms when working in these applications.

    Table 1. Common CSDM terms used in DPM and Service Portfolio Management
    Term Definition Notes
    Portfolio Collection of services, products, projects, or applications. Used to manage like items together for a business. Portfolios may be grouped by objective, capabilities, organization, like projects or services.
    Business capability High-level capability that an organization requires to execute its business model or fulfill its mission. Typically described in the context of performing one or more specific tasks to achieve business outcomes. For example, demand management or financial planning.
    Service Means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. Typically has three aspects:
    • Interaction
    • Offering
    • Service system
    ServiceNow provides three base service types:
    • Business
    • Technical
    • Application

    Customers can extend the base types to align with the service types in their organization.
    Business service A service type that is published to business users and it typically underpins one or more business capabilities. Typically orderable by business users. Business users are able to select the desired offering and service commitment levels via the ServiceNow® Service Catalog. For example, procurement, shipping, and finance.
    Technology management service A service type that is published to service owners and typically underpins a business or service instance. Typically orderable by service owners. Service owners are able to select the desired offering and service commitment levels via the Service Catalog. For example, computers, storage, and networks).
    Service instance A service type that is a logical representation of a deployed application stack. Examples of service instances are hosting, data backup, and recovery.
    Note:
    There is not a 1-to-1 relationship between application and application services.
    Application Any deployed program, module, or group of programs that is designed to provide specific functionality on a computer infrastructure. Defines behavior and has specific functionality associated with it. Applications are typically discoverable functionality, like Apache Web Server.
    Business Application Represents all software and infrastructure environments (dev, test, prod) configured to provide functionality. Used to increase productivity and perform other business functions accurately. For example, Dell Online.
    Service catalog Provides consumable view of available products, services, service commitment options, and offerings.

    Helps manage what services a user may have access to. Also, catalogs are the initiation point for access to available services. For example, IT services catalog.
    Service offering A stratification of a service into capability, availability, pricing, and packaging options. Different levels of performance and features for a given service can be made available. For example, ITSM Standard and ITSM Pro.
    Service commitment Defines service delivery obligations agreed to between the consumer and the provider. Often manifested in the form of contracts such as service level agreements, operational level agreements, and underpinning contracts. Service commitments include specific performance characteristics that differentiate one offering from another.
    Configuration item (CI) Physical and logical components of an infrastructure that are currently or soon will be under configuration management.

    May be a single module such as a server, database, or router or a more complex item, such as a complete system. For example, a web server, database, or infrastructure.
    Asset An item whose financial value is tracked. Many assets are CIs and vice versa, but that is not always the case. Assets have a life cycle with financial considerations, for example, Microsoft Office 365.
    Operating model An abstract and ideally visual representation (model) of how an organization delivers value to its customers or beneficiaries. Typically represents the various elements of how an organization operates. It usually incorporates strategy positions such as the innovation model, degree of intelligent automation, industry alignment, provider delivery models, and the business expectations of IT.