CSDM implementation stage — Crawl

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of CSDM implementation stage — Crawl

    The Crawl stage in CSDM implementation focuses on establishing foundational CMDB data critical for IT Service Management (ITSM) processes such as Incident and Change Management. It prepares your environment for faster Application Portfolio Management (APM) setup, DevOps enablement, and enhanced Service Mapping capabilities. This stage ensures that key base-system CMDB tables are populated with accurate data to support lifecycle management, risk assessment, and software asset management.

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    Key Features

    • Base-System CMDB Tables: During this stage, you work primarily with the Business Application, Mapped Application Service, Application, and Server/Host tables, focusing on data related to applications and their components.
    • Logical Configuration Items (CIs): Some CIs implemented are logical rather than operational and require association with product models to support a product-centric management approach.
    • Business Application Table: Stores conceptual application portfolio data, serving as a foundation for inventory and metadata but not directly used in ITSM Incident, Problem, or Change Management.
    • SDLC Component Table: Represents Agile development components as parts of larger applications, enabling DevOps to visualize and manage development pipelines. These are logical CIs not used directly by ITSM processes.
    • Service Instance Table: Represents the application service systems users interact with and ties together the CSDM elements related to applications. Multiple instances can represent different environments or geographical locations, following logical lifecycle management.
    • Application Table: Contains discoverable instances of applications related to code running on hosts, maintained automatically by Discovery. It is not intended for manual inventory or portfolio management.

    Key Outcomes

    • Establishes minimum CMDB data requirements for Incident and Change Management processes.
    • Builds a foundation for faster APM setup and effective business application data placement.
    • Prepares data for DevOps pipeline visualization and management by populating SDLC components.
    • Enables Service Mapping for accurate service instance mapping and entry point identification.
    • Supports TPM risk management, lifecycle monitoring, and version control of application technologies.
    • Facilitates identification of outdated or at-risk software through integration with APM, Service Mapping, and Software Asset Management Professional.

    In the Crawl stage, you work on base-system CMDB tables that are associated with IT Service Management (ITSM).

    Benefits of the operations that you perform in the Crawl stage

    • The operations provide the minimum CMDB support requirements for Incident Management and Change Management.
    • Setting up APM is faster because your business application data is in the right place in the CMDB.
    • The operations build the foundation for using DevOps because your SDLC component data is populated and ready to relate to your applications.
    • Service Mapping is ready to use for mapping entry points because your service instance data is populated.
    • The operations build the foundation for using TPM risk details, a capability of APM.

      The operations prepare you to manage and monitor the life cycles and versions of the underlying technologies of the business applications in your enterprise.

      The data enables you to identify outdated or at-risk software using APM, Service Mapping and Software Asset Management (SAM) Professional.

    Tables that you work on during the Crawl stage

    Important:
    Future products and product enhancements depend on the data that you prepare in each of the tables.
    During this stage, you work on the following base-system CMDB tables:
    • Business Application [cmdb_ci_business_app] table
    • Mapped Application Service [cmdb_ci_service_discovered] table.
    • Application [cmdb_ci_appl] table (discoverable)
    • Server/host (discoverable)
    Note:
    Some of the classes that you implement in this stage are logical CIs. Logical CIs aren’t created through Discovery, so their Model ID values might not refer to product model (application model, service model, or software model) records. To help you to migrate to a product-centric management paradigm, each instance of a logical CI should be associated with a product model. See Auto-generate product models for logical CIs.

    Tables that you work on during the Crawl stage.

    Start by focusing on applications and the application-related data in these areas and tables:
    Business Application [cmdb_ci_business_app] table

    A business application is a base-system CMDB table that stores your inventory, application portfolio, and their metadata.

    Note:
    Because this table holds conceptual data, not operational CIs, it is not used by ITSM Incident Management, Problem Management, or Change Management processes.
    SDLC Component [cmdb_ci_sdlc_component] table

    An Agile development component is a CI that represents a unique development effort of code. It represents parts of a larger business application or digital product broken down into its individually developed components. In other words, the Agile development component is a software element of a larger application or technology. Agile development component CI records in the Agile development Component [cmdb_ci_sdlc_component] table enable the DevOps product to provide enhanced capabilities for visualizing and managing your application development pipeline.

    This table represents the software part or element of a larger whole for applications and infrastructure. Related material may serve as representative of developmental details. It can be used if you need to identify the stratification of a business application or digital product.
    Note:
    Because this table holds logical data, not operational CIs, it is not used by ITSM Incident Management, Problem Management, or Change Management processes.
    Service Instance (called application service before CSDM v5) [cmdb_ci_service_auto] table

    The service instance is typically the system that a caller identifies when they report an issue with an application.

    A mapped service instance is a base-system CMDB table that identifies the related business application in use. The service instance ties all the elements of the CSDM together where applications are present.

    You might have several service instances representing each deployment based on the environment (development, QA, production) and location or geography (North America, Asia Pacific).

    Because service instances are logical in nature, they should use the Logical life-cycle value pairs. Service instances follow the same life-cycle guidance as any other logical CI.

    See Use Application Services dashboard to monitor health.

    Application [cmdb_ci_appl] table

    An application is a base-system CMDB table that represents the discoverable instance of an application: code related to a process in use on a host. This table isn't an inventory of your applications. Because of the high level of complexity involved, don't try to manually populate the application table. Discovery creates and maintains this table.

    Important:
    The application table [cmdb_ci_appl] isn't an inventory or portfolio of your applications. Don't make the mistake of storing managed application details in the application table. Those details (inventory or application portfolio objects) belong in the business application table (as documented in Design & Planning domain in the CSDM model).

    The application might be identified as the root cause of an incident. However, if you're not using Event Management, the application might not be the initial cause.

    If you're using Discovery, applications are automatically related to their host, which provides an impact hierarchy from server-to-host applications.