Create a Service instance (application service)

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 6 minutes to read

    • Create an application service to adhere to Common Service Data Model standards and to standardize the organization, maintenance, and monitoring of services in your organization.

    Before you begin

    Role required: Depending on the population method used:
    • Dynamic CI Group: app_service_admin
    • Manual: app_service_admin
    • Dynamic Service: app_service_admin
    • Top-Down Discovery: sm_admin
    • Tags: sm_admin

    About this task

    An application service is a set of interconnected applications and hosts, which are configured to offer a service for the organization. Application services can be internal, like an organization's email system, or customer-facing, like an organization's website.

    An application service has an entry point, which lets users access the application service. If you are at the planning stage and don’t know what the entry points are for an application service, you can create the application service without entry points. Such an application service is referred to as an empty application service, to which you can add entry points at any later time.

    All application services created in the Application Service wizard, are set with the application service classification.

    Service Mapping, if activated, can automatically discover and map application services as described in Application service mapping. A discovered application service contains the CIs and the connections between them that Service Mapping discovered and mapped.

    You can also create an application service by using the createOrUpdateService - POST REST API.

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to All > CSDM > Manage Technology Management Services > Service Instance.
    2. In the Service Instances list view, select New to open the Application Service wizard.
    3. In the Provide Basic Details tab:
      1. Fill out the fields for Basic Details.
        Field Description
        Number Pre-populated unique ID for the application service.
        Name Unique application service name, which isn’t in use by any other type of application service. Use self-explanatory names such as mailing service or printing service.
        Environment

        The environment of the offering such as production, development, or test, as identified by some service offerings.

        Used by Incident Management and Change Management.
        Version The application service configuration version.
        Model ID A product model such as a software model where end of life data is stored.
        Operational Status Operational status of the application service, such as Ready or Retired.
        Support Group Used by Incident Management as the group managing the contract covering the asset.
        Change Group Used by ITSM for routing of change and change-related tasks.
        Managed By Group Group responsible for managing the data.
        Owned By

        User who is familiar with the infrastructure and applications making up the service. This user is the application service Subject Matter Expert (SME) who provides information necessary for a successful creation of an application service.

        If the owner name is not listed, create a user with the sm_app_owner role, as the owner. Alternatively, you can choose a user with the sm_admin role.
        Note:
        See Teams related list for details about the automatic synchronization between the assignment group fields and the Teams related list.
      2. In the Set Relationships section, add relationships between the application service and other components in the CSDM domain.
      3. Select the Business Application, Technical Service Offering, Business Service Offering, or the Parent Application Service tab, and add items to the respective Selected list.
        • The technical service offering list includes records in the Service Offering [service_offering] table, in which the Service classification attribute is Technical Service.
        • The business service offering list includes records in the Service Offering [service_offering] table, in which the Service classification attribute is Business Service.
        • The parent application service list includes application service records from the Service Instance [cmdb_ci_service_auto] table. Adding a parent application service relationship creates hierarchies and dependencies of application services in deployments such as:
          • Platform host and platform application deployments
          • Micro service deployments in which one or more micro services identified as an application service, is part of a larger application service deployment
          • Shared technical service dependencies
      4. Select Next.

      For information about CSDM relationships, see CI relationships in the CSDM.

      Also, some fields and relationships are noted as required on the page. To change which fields and which relationships are required, see Modify the attributes and relationships required for application services.

    4. On the Populate the Application Service tab:
      Populate the application service tab for a new application service
      1. Click Choose a Method or select Next to skip selecting a service population method.
      2. On the Choose a Method page, select a Service Population Method, and then follow the respective link to complete the specific population method:
        Note:
        The Top Down Discovery and the Tags options are available only if Service Mapping is installed.
      3. To add another method to populate the application service, click Add Method on the Service Population Methods page.
        Or, select Next.
        • You can add any combination of the Top Down Discovery and the Manual methods. However, if you select the Dynamic CI Group, Tags, or the Dynamic Service method, the Add Method button is grayed out and you can’t add additional methods.
        • You can select a card for a Converted Business Service method to see details about the service conversion, such as the conversion type. For more information, see Convert business services to application services.
    5. On the Preview the Service tab, review and verify the summaries for creating and populating the application service.
      Preview service tab
      1. Review Relationships.
      2. You can select Edit Relationships to modify the relationships to other CSDM objects.
      3. Review Population Methods Summary.
      4. You can select Edit Methods to modify the selection methods.
      5. Select Done.

    Result

    The application service is created, and you can access the new application service by navigating to application services list views:
    • CSDM > Manage Technology Management Services > Application Service: Contains application service CIs from any class extending the Service Instance [cmdb_ci_service_auto] class, except alert groups. The list view includes the tag-based, discovered, manual, dynamic CI groups, converted, dynamic, and empty application service types.
    • Configuration > Application Services > Application Services: Contains application service CIs from any class extending the Service Instance [cmdb_ci_service_auto] class, except alert groups. The list view includes the tag-based, discovered, manual, dynamic CI groups, converted, dynamic, and empty application service types.
    • Service Mapping > Services > Service Instances: Contains application service CIs from the Mapped Application Service [cmdb_ci_service_discovered] class. The list view includes the top-down (discovered) and empty application service types.

    What to do next