--- sourceDocument: Brazil Customer Relationship Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/customer-relationship-management Release : - brazil ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Brazil Customer Relationship Management ft:clusterId : - crm bundleId : - crm workflow : - CRMI --- # Data foundations # Data foundations {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Brazil Updated September 10, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 5 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 Data foundations The ServiceNow CRM portfolio is built on a unified data foundation that standardizes data models, customer records, product information, user roles, and service structures across multiple CRM products such as Customer Service Management (CSM), Field Service Management (FSM), Sales CRM, and industry solutions. This shared data foundation ensures consistency and eliminates duplication by enabling all teams to work from the same accurate information. Show full answer Show less The foundation models the entire customer service value chain, representing the company, its service organizations, employees, products and services, and customers. Each CRM data domain corresponds to one of these key entities, facilitating comprehensive and integrated customer service management. ## Key Features * **Customer Service Business Models:** Supports multiple service delivery and customer data organization models: * **B2B (Business-to-Business):** Organizes customers as accounts and contacts. * **B2C (Business-to-Consumer):** Organizes customers as consumers and households. * **B2B2C (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer):** Handles multi-level relationships involving business customers and their consumers. * **B2B2E (Business-to-Business-to-Employee):** Supports delivery to businesses that provide products/services to their employees. * **Service Model Foundation (SMF):** Extends core models to include complex service organizations, business locations, and role-based access across industries. * **Contributor User Model:** Enables internal employees beyond front-line service teams to contribute to case resolution with scoped access and task assignments. * **Customer Data Foundation Capabilities:** * **Data Models:** Represent customers and their relationships across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C structures with detailed profiles, addresses, and roles. * **Customer Access Management:** Provides granular, configurable access controls based on roles and responsibilities, supporting collaborative service through the Related Party Framework and low-code Declarative Responsibility Framework. * **Unified Customer Identity:** Supports unified user records for users with multiple roles or personas, such as employees who are also consumers. * **Customer Data Privacy and Quality:** Ensures compliance with data privacy regulations and maintains accurate, clean customer data. * **Additional Data Domains:** Includes user management, product data, product catalog, partner relationship management, and the service model framework, all designed to provide a shared view and streamline operations across CRM workflows and products. ## Key Outcomes * Enables organizations to configure and tailor CRM environments that align with their unique customer service and business models. * Improves data consistency and accuracy across sales, service, and field operations by eliminating duplication and manual synchronization. * Facilitates complex organizational and service structures, including multi-tier service locations and cross-functional teams. * Supports secure, role-based access and collaboration both internally and with external customers and partners. * Provides a robust foundation for comprehensive customer data management, access control, and privacy compliance. The ServiceNow CRM portfolio is built on a shared data foundation. The data models, customer records, product information, user roles, and service structures that underpin CRM are defined once and used across multiple products, including Customer Service Management (CSM), Field Service Management (FSM), Sales CRM, and industry solutions. ## Customer service value chain {#crm-data-management__section_t3k_gxt_y3c} This shared data foundation ensures that every team works from the same information without duplication or manual synchronization. Figure 1. Customer service value chain The CRM data foundation layer models the complete customer service value chain: * The company that offers products and services. * The service organizations (branches, stores, offices, hospitals) that deliver those services. * The employees and staff who work at those organizations. * The products and services themselves. * The customers who consume them. {#crm-data-management__ul_cq2_pfl_1jc}Every data domain in the CRM portfolio maps to one of these entities.{#crm-data-management__table_xvf_d5t_y3c__entry__2} | Entity | What it represents | |-|-| | Company | The organization building and offering products and services to end customers. This is the provider side of the service relationship: an enterprise, government agency, or other entity. | | Service organizations | Internal or external entities of the company that serve customers directly. Includes branches, stores, franchises, offices, hospitals, and other service locations. | | Employees and staff | People working at the internal and external service organizations: agents, technicians, fulfillers, managers, and specialists who deliver service. | | Products and services | Physical and digital products and services that the company offers. Includes product models, sold products, install base items, contracts, and entitlements. | | Customers | Individuals and organizations external to the company who consume products and services. Includes accounts, contacts, consumers, and households across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C models. | [Table 1. CRM entities] {#crm-data-management__table_xvf_d5t_y3c} ## Customer service business models {#crm-data-management__section_z3k_yng_y3c} The CRM data foundation supports several business models that determine how customer data is organized and how service is delivered. The business model defines which customer entities are used: accounts and contacts for B2B, consumers and households for B2C, or a combination of all entities for B2B2C. The business model also defines how access, relationships, and case routing are configured. Beyond the core business models, the Service Model Foundation (SMF) framework and the contributor user model extend the data foundation to support complex organizational structures and cross-functional service delivery. SMF introduces service organizations, business locations, and location-based roles that provide the flexibility to model multi-tier service structures across industries. The contributor user model enables internal employees outside the front-line service team, such as back-office specialists and middle-office workers, to participate in case resolution through scoped access and task assignment. Together, these models and frameworks give organizations the ability to configure a CRM environment that matches how they sell, service, and support their customers.{#crm-data-management__table_a15_5xt_jnf__entry__2} | Business model | Description | |-|-| | B2B | In the business-to-business (B2B) model, the company provides products and services to other businesses. Customer data is organized around accounts (organizations) and contacts (employees of those accounts). The B2B model also supports customer relationships and account teams. | | B2C | In the business-to-consumer (B2C) model, the company provides products and services directly to individual consumers. Customer data is organized around consumers and households. | | B2B2C | In the business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) model, the company supports business customers who, in turn, serve end consumers. Customer data spans accounts, contacts, and account consumers supporting multi-level relationships where a business customer's individual customers also need access to service. | | B2B2E | In the business-to-business-to-employee (B2B2E) model, the company delivers products or services to another business, which then extends these offerings to its employees. The intermediary organization may be involved in procurement, customization, implementation, support, and training for its corporate employees. | | SMF | The SMF framework expands the B2B and B2C models by introducing service organizations, internal and external business locations, households, and the relationships between these entities. SMF provides the core framework, security, and role-based access needed to model complex service structures across industry verticals. | | Contributor users | The contributor user model provides unified customer support for internal and external customers. With this model, organizations can engage middle-office teams to resolve customer issues and requests, enabling employees to request support for themselves and for external customers, enabling service organizations to serve one another, and enabling middle-office agents to work on specific tasks required to resolve a case. | [Table 2. CRM business models] {#crm-data-management__table_a15_5xt_jnf} ## Customer data foundation {#crm-data-management__section_jzm_cyt_y3c} The customer data foundation provides the capabilities for modeling, managing, and maintaining customer data across the CRM portfolio. It covers four areas: the core data model for customers and their relationships, access management that controls who can see and act on customer data, unified identity for users who hold multiple roles, and data privacy and quality tools.{#crm-data-management__table_b5k_2yt_4uf__entry__2} | Capability | What it provides | |-|-| | Data models | Models external customers and their relationships. Supports B2B (accounts and contacts), B2C (consumers and households), and B2B2C (account consumers) structures, along with customer profiles, addresses, relationships, and roles. | | Customer access management | Provides configurable, granular access to CRM data through relationships and related parties, including: * Responsibilities: Named access levels (such as Authorized Representative or Account Manager) that determine what a related party can see and do. * Related Party Framework: Links contacts, consumers or accounts to records (such as cases, sold products, or install base items) as related parties with assigned responsibilities so multiple users can collaborate on the same record with different access levels. * Declarative Responsibility Framework: A low-code/no-code framework for defining responsibility access configurations, reducing the need to write custom ACL scripts. | | Unified customer identity | Models a CRM user with multiple functions or personas, both internal and external. Supports scenarios such as an employee who is also a consumer, or a contact who is also a consumer, through a unified user record. | | Customer data privacy and quality | Manages data privacy compliance and maintains clean, accurate customer data including data classification. | [Table 3. Customer data foundation] {#crm-data-management__table_b5k_2yt_4uf} ## In this section {#crm-data-management__section_qjl_h4g_y3c} [Data models](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/3N6gCM2ZUZiKC_nJlMRaVg "The CRM portfolio is built on a layered data architecture where each tier inherits from the one following it. This topic explains the four layers, ServiceNow AI Platform, CRM Foundation, Customer Workflows, and Industry Workflows, and the objects that connect them. Understanding this architecture is essential for configuring, extending, and troubleshooting CRM implementations.") : Understand the layered data architecture underpinning the CRM portfolio, including how the Now Platform, CRM Foundation, Customer Workflows (Sales CRM, CSM, FSM), and Industry Workflows relate to each other. [Customer data](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/TH5Hzvt2hohYu3kOU4YHAQ "Configure and manage the core customer records, accounts, contacts, consumers, households, and billing accounts, that agents, sales teams, and technicians rely on across the CRM portfolio. Because customer data is shared across all CRM products, a record created in one context is immediately available in another without duplication or manual transfer.") : Configure and manage accounts, contacts, consumers, and households, the core customer records that agents, sales teams, and technicians rely on across the CRM portfolio. [User management](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/XCnlMMweYYAtjz9qYQaGqA "Configure internal and external users, assign roles and group memberships, and control access to CRM features and case data. Establish the user structures that support case routing, team collaboration, and portal access across the CRM portfolio.") : Define and organize internal and external users, assign roles and group memberships, and control access to CRM features and case data [Product data](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/S2HAv_O~88VBKhv8rFxT4g "Product data in the CRM portfolio gives agents, customers, and sales teams a shared view of what has been sold, how it has been deployed, and what service coverage applies.") : Understand how product models, sold products, install base items, and installed products give agents and customers a shared view of what has been purchased and how it is deployed. [Product catalog](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/_ZKYrL8dMsPmgno3JoFJBA "A product catalog defines the products and services that your organization sells and supports.") : Understand how products and services are defined in the catalog and how catalog items connect to product models to enable self-service requests and order management. [Service Model Foundation](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/0qJ12HZDPHUmc_c3P6E91g "The Service Model Foundation (SMF) framework enables you to model your business organization structure, customer organizations, and the relationships between them.") : Understand the framework that models service organizations, internal and external business locations, and the relationships between them. [Partner relationship management](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/zdlWsPhURvWg2Sc7Bi3WcQ "Partner Relationship Management (PRM) enables enterprises to onboard channel partners, manage ongoing partner relationships, and collaborate with partners on sales opportunities, orders, and quotes.") : Understand how channel partners are onboarded, managed, and enabled to sell and support customers through partner programs, deal registration, and the partner workspace.