Relationships between CSDM objects

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  • Updated March 12, 2026
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    Summary of Relationships between CSDM objects

    This content explains how to configure relationships between various CSDM (Common Service Data Model) objects, such as business services, service offerings, business processes, and application services, using Main node configurations. These relationships are essential for enabling data integration and reporting within Operational Resilience.

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    Key Features

    • Establishing Relationships: Relationships can be set up between business services, service offerings, business processes, and application services. For example, a business service (BS1) can include multiple service offerings (SO1, SO2) and application services (AS1).
    • Dependency Tracking: Each object can have dependencies. For instance, service offerings and application services may depend on specific business processes or other services.
    • Data Integration: The relationships configured must exist in Operational Resilience to facilitate reporting. The Main node configurations are necessary for this process.
    • CI Relationships Table: All established relationships are maintained in the CI relationships [cmdbrelci] table, which is crucial for data consistency and reporting.

    Key Outcomes

    By configuring relationships effectively, ServiceNow customers can ensure that their CSDM objects are accurately represented and interconnected, thus enhancing operational visibility and resilience. Proper setup allows for streamlined reporting and analysis based on these dependencies, as the relationships will be reflected in the business impact analysis (BIA) and other operational reports.

    You can configure relationships between various CSDM objects such as business services, service offerings, business processes, and application services by using the Main node configurations. The [sn_grc_m2m_profile_profile table] serves as the source table for establishing these relationships.

    Establishing relationships between different objects

    To illustrate the relationships between different CSDM objects, consider the following example of a business service (BS1).

    The business service (BS1) includes the following objects as shown in the example.
    • Service offering (SO1)
    • Business process (BP2)
    • Application service (AS1)
    • Service offering (SO3)
    CSDM objects.
    The Service offering (SO1) is related to the Business process (BP1) and Service offering (SO2). BP1 has the following dependencies:
    • Acer
    • PS Apache01

    BP2 has a dependency on PS Apache02. AS1 has a dependency on AS2 and AS2 has a dependency on PS Apache03.

    Note:
    When you set up the Main node configurations, you must ensure that the entities are set up in Operational Resilience. Only when these entities exist, relationships can be established between the CSDM objects and then data is brought into Operational Resilience for reporting.

    The Applies to field in a business impact analysis (BIA) shows the object that has the dependency. The example shows that the business process (BP1) has Acer as a dependency.

    Applies to field.Dependency.

    The dependency is also brought from the Parent field into Operational Resilience for the service offerings and application services. For example, the parent for service offering (SO3) is business service (BS1). Therefore, when the scheduled job is executed, it fetches SO3 as a configured relationship for business service (BS1).

    SO.

    All the CMDB relationships, as shown in the example, are maintained in the CI relationships [cmdb_rel_ci] table.

    CI relationships [cmdb_rel_ci] table.

    To bring these relationships into Operational Resilience, you must use the Main node configurations. For more information, see Configure the Main node configurations.

    You can establish the following relationships between objects such as business services, service offerings, and business processes.

    Table 1. Establishing relationships
    Entity Relationships
    Business services
    • Service offering for a business service: BS -> SO1, SO2
    • Business process for a business service
    • Application service for a business service
    • Dependencies for a business service
    Service offerings
    • Business process for a service offering
    • Application service for a service offering
    • Dependencies for a service offering
    Business processes
    • Application service for a business process
    • Dependencies for a business process

    The same relationship can be applied and used on multiple forms. For example, the business process relationship can be used on both Business service and Service offering forms.

    For information on the Main node configurations, see Main node configurations: A component of the Data Relationships Framework.