CSDM terms for Digital Portfolio Management

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.