--- sourceDocument: Australia IT Operations Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-operations-management Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia IT Operations Management ft:clusterId : - itom bundleId : - itom workflow : - Technology --- # Application services # Application services for Event Management operators {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated March 12, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Application services for Event Management operators As an Event Management operator using ServiceNow, it is essential to understand application services, which are collections of components like network devices, computers, and applications that deliver a service to your organization (e.g., email systems or order-tracking websites). Each component is known as a configuration item (CI). Administrators configure these application services within your ServiceNow instance, and you can visualize them through service maps on the Service Operations Workspace dashboard. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Service Map Visualization:** Displays the components (CIs) and their relationships within an application service, enabling you to see dependencies and structure clearly. * **Types of Application Services:** * **Technical Services:** Dynamic groups of CIs sharing common criteria (e.g., all web servers in a region). * **Application Services:** Can be discovered automatically via Service Mapping or manually configured by administrators. * **Alert Groups:** Collections of alerts grouped manually or automatically for easier management. * **Alert Impact Analysis:** Critical for operators to assess how alerts on individual CIs affect the overall application service. Administrators configure impact rules to determine alert severity and service impact, which you can analyze using impact trees on the dashboard. ## Key Outcomes Understanding application services and their components allows you to interpret alerts effectively, prioritize incident response, and mitigate impacts on critical organizational services. Visual tools like service maps and impact trees help you quickly identify the root cause and the extent of service disruptions, enabling informed, efficient remediation actions. Continue developing your skills by proceeding to the next lesson on the Event Management operator environment to learn more about your workspace and operational tools. As an Event Management operator, you need to understand what application services are. This is the second lesson in the Event Management tutorial. |-|-|-| | Lesson 1 | ![Overview events icon]() | [An overview of events and alerts](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/9VDXseLu3v2nFFpk848JkQ "Understand how alerts are generated from events, what to look for in an alert, and how alerts can be grouped together.") | | Lesson 2 | ![Overview BS icon]() | An overview of application services | | Lesson 3 | ![Operator icon]() | [Event Management operator workspaces](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/whgdKTiqN_C8~0TlRW6Wjw "As an Event Management operator, your primary work environment is the Service Operations Workspace dashboard.") | | Lesson 4 | ![What operators do icon]() | [What operators do](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/KyCbidbjqvC8fHwP60vGqw "As an Event Management operator, your typical workflow involves three phases: analyzing an alert and its effect on application services, taking some type of action, and making sure the alert is finally closed.") | [ ] {#operator-application-services__table_or3_vg3_3db} An application service is a collection of components, such as network devices, computers, and applications that offer a service to your organization. The services can be something like an email system or a website that tracks orders or requests in a database. Your administrator should have already specified the application services in your ServiceNow instance. Each component that makes up an application service is referred to as a configuration item or CI. This service map provides a visual representation of an application service: Figure 1. Service map In this example, you can see a Web Portal application service with these CIs: * PS Apache03: An Apache web server that hosts a company website. * PS LinuxApp01 and PS LinuxApp02: Two Linux servers that share the workload from the web server. * PS ORA01: A database server that both Linux servers need to access. * Storage Area Network 001: A mass storage device on which the other CIs depend. {#operator-application-services__ul_y5z_zmx_hdb} You can see service maps like this on the Service Operations Workspace dashboard. Later in this tutorial, you will learn about the dashboard and what an application service looks like when an alert is associated with a CI. ## Types of application services {#operator-application-services__section_cn5_h3h_gdb} Event Management classifies application services into the following types: Technical services : A technical service is a dynamic grouping of CIs based on some common criteria. For example, a technical service could be comprised of all web servers or all Oracle databases for a specific location, like North America. Application services : An application service can consist of discovered services, manual services, or both. A discovered service is an application service that the [Service Mapping](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r17v~ek6oACai0yF6IEmdQ "The ServiceNow Service Mapping application discovers all application services in your organization and builds a comprehensive map of all devices, applications, and configuration profiles used in these application services.") application finds (if your organization uses [Service Mapping](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r17v~ek6oACai0yF6IEmdQ "The ServiceNow Service Mapping application discovers all application services in your organization and builds a comprehensive map of all devices, applications, and configuration profiles used in these application services.")). A manual service is an application service that your administrator configures by selecting and adding each CI and specifying the relationships between CIs. Alert groups : Alerts that are grouped together, either manually or automatically. ## Alert impact {#operator-application-services__section_h5l_21g_gdb} Application services are critical to the operations of your organization. If an issue occurs on one CI, the entire application service can be affected. Part of your role as an operator is to analyze alerts on CIs and see how they impact the application service as a whole. You can then take an action to help remediate or solve the underlying issue. Your administrator can configure impact rules that go into calculations for the severity of an alert. Later, when you learn how to use the Service Operations Workspace dashboard, you will learn how to view an impact tree for an application service. This helps you understand the relationship between the severity of an alert and the overall application service. In this example, you can see how a Major alert on an Oracle database (PS ORA01) also causes a major alert on its parent CIs and on the Web portal application service itself.Figure 2. Impact tree ## Continue the tutorial {#operator-application-services__section_hn5_ypx_hdb} Proceed to the next lesson: [Event Management operator environment](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/whgdKTiqN_C8~0TlRW6Wjw "As an Event Management operator, your primary work environment is the Service Operations Workspace dashboard.").