ServiceNow 101 primer series Common Services Data Model (CSDM) Primer Drive consistency and efficiency across workflows with an extensible data model 1 EBOOK Drive consistency and efficiency across workflows with an extensible data model In this ebook we will outline how our extensible data model combined with common platform data and features unlocks the ability to drive consistency and extensibility across workflows. A common data model simply ensures that data collected, produced, and used by one team or process is also useful for other teams. To give just a few examples, a common data model ensures that visibility data collected by your operations team is also structured to be meaningful for the technology service team because it uses the same tables and the same fields for support and management. A common data model also ensures the visibility data is useful to the security operations team by using the same table to define applications and a common set of values for status. ServiceNow has been working on this structure for several years, taking the best elements from various industry standards. This model is known formally as the ServiceNow Common Service Data Model (CSDM). Before we get started, take a deep breath and relax. The CSDM introduces a lot of new concepts, but everything we’ve talked about so far is completely valid. The CSDM extends the core CMDB data model, but it doesn’t change it. So, as long as you follow the CMDB guidance in this document and use tools such as ServiceNow Discovery and Service Graph Connectors to populate your CMDB, you’ve already laid a strong foundation for the CSDM as well. What is the CSDM? It’s the data model that ServiceNow applications use to manage the full digital product and service lifecycle. So far, we’ve focused on how the CMDB shows you how your infrastructure is configured. However, that’s only one aspect of delivering value to teams that use the CMDB, including customers. For instance: • Enterprise architects need to design applications and continuously optimize their performance, minimize technical debt, and maximize value for cost. • Developers need to develop applications that provide critical services and to deploy these applications in your production environment. • You need to be able to support these applications and services, potentially offering different levels of support at different cost points. • Business users — and often external customers — need to be able to order and consume these digital products and services. • And you need to manage services and products, such as contracts and facilities. ServiceNow has dozens of products and solutions that help you to do all of these things, but for these products to work seamlessly together, they need to speak a common language. That’s the CSDM. Expert tip: There are many applications of the CSDM across ServiceNow. Three of the most common and compelling are: • Automate support and routing by rule using dynamic CI groups and technical service offerings. • Automate the management of software licenses, data certificates, and firewall rules using common lifecycle statuses and product models. • Plan your digital product strategy and limit technical debt using application services related to CIs, product models, and software development lifecycle (SDLC) components. 2 How is the CSDM structured? The CSDM is divided into five different domains. These domains aren’t silos in our platform – they’re linked concepts that provide seamless flows across the entire service lifecycle — but each does have a unique purpose. These domains are: • Foundation: This contains all of the base data elements used by other CSDM domains, such as locations, users, business units, departments, contracts, and business processes. This foundation data is used across the platform. • Design: This focuses on the design and optimization of applications. It typically supports enterprise architects and business application owners and is used by products such as ServiceNow Application Portfolio Management.