CSDM Fundamentals
About 11% of the CIS-DF exam — see all 5 domains.
Why CSDM: a prescriptive, shared data model that ServiceNow products are built to read and write. Following it means less custom model to maintain (less technical debt), more out-of-box functionality, a common language across teams, and service-aware impact and reporting. CSDM itself ships no reports; it defines where data belongs.
CSDM 5 domains (seven):
- Foundation: referential data such as companies, departments, locations, users, groups, product models and contracts. Most of it is not CIs (a CI points to its product model through the Model ID field). Business Process is the exception: a manually maintained CI in Foundation.
- Ideation & Strategy (new in CSDM 5): product ideas, strategic priorities, goals and planning items before an investment decision.
- Design & Planning: enterprise architecture records such as Business Capability, Business Application and Information Object. Business Applications are portfolio records, not operational CIs.
- Build & Integration: development data such as SDLC Components (APIs, microservices, UI modules).
- Service Delivery: operational, provider-side records: Service Instance (the CSDM 5 label for cmdb_ci_service_auto, formerly Application Service) and new Service Instance classes (Connection, Data, Facility, Network, Operational Process), Technology Management Service (formerly Technical Service) and its offerings, and Dynamic CI Group (cmdb_ci_query_based_service).
- Service Consumption: what consumers see and request: Business Service, Business Service Offering, service portfolios and request catalogs.
- Manage Portfolio: a layer that spans the lifecycle domains (for example a service owner overseeing applications, instances and services).
Old names you may still see: before CSDM 5 the domains were Foundation, Design, Build, Manage Technical Services, Sell/Consume and Manage Portfolio (six). CSDM 5 added Ideation & Strategy and renamed the rest.
Mapping scenarios (how to place things):
- A customer-facing service with tiers: Business Service with Business Service Offerings (Service Consumption).
- One application deployed in several environments or regions: one Business Application, one Application Service / Service Instance per deployment, related with Uses::Used By (CSDM 5; earlier versions used Consumes::Consumed by, which Enterprise Architecture Workspace users keep).
- Different support or approval groups for production and non-production: Technology Management Service Offerings per environment.
- A large, changing set of servers under one offering: a Dynamic CI Group related to the offering.
- Operational CIs for incident, problem and change impact: Business Service, Technology Management Service and offerings, Service Instances, infrastructure CIs. Not Business Applications, Business Capabilities or SDLC Components.
Approach to adopting CSDM: do not implement everything at once. Prepare Foundation data, then progress through Crawl (Business Application, Application Service, Application, servers: quick ITSM wins), Walk (Technology Management Services, offerings, Dynamic CI Groups), Run (Business Service Portfolio, Business Services and offerings) and Fly (Business Capability, Information Object and the wider portfolio), each stage building on the last.
Sample questions from this domain
Three of the 36 in this domain, with the reasoning. The full set is in the question bank.
Which statement best captures the recommended approach to adopting CSDM?
- A. Implement all seven domains in one release so every relationship exists on day one
- B. Prepare Foundation data first, then build out in stages: Crawl, Walk, Run, and Fly ✓
- C. Begin with the Fly stage tables, because Business Capability drives every other domain
- D. Model business services and offerings first, then backfill Foundation data later
Why: ServiceNow recommends a staged approach: prepare Foundation referential data first, then build out through Crawl, Walk, Run, and Fly, with each stage building on the one before. Modeling business services first and backfilling Foundation later reverses the order and breaks reporting context. Implementing all seven domains in one release is exactly what the white paper advises against. Fly is the final stage (Business Capability and Information Object), not the starting point.
A CIO asks why the company should move its custom service data model to CSDM. Which TWO benefits are accurate? (Choose two.)
- A. Each CSDM domain becomes available only after licensing the product that owns that domain
- B. ServiceNow products are designed to use data where CSDM places it, so more works out of box ✓
- C. Teams stop maintaining a custom service data model and the custom functionality built around it ✓
- D. CSDM ships prebuilt reports and dashboards for every domain as part of the data model itself
- E. Data that follows CSDM no longer needs to pass through the IRE when it is ingested
Why: The CSDM white paper lists reduced technical debt (no custom data model and supporting functionality to maintain) and greater out-of-box use (products are built to create and consume data where CSDM places it) among the main reasons to follow CSDM. CSDM itself ships no reporting; it is a framework for where data belongs. CSDM tables are provided out of box or through free store apps regardless of licensing. CSDM does not change ingestion: data still flows through the IRE.
A retailer's customers use an online 'Order Tracking' service. The service owner wants it recorded so incidents and changes show which customer-facing service is affected, with separate offerings for standard and premium customers. Where does this belong in CSDM 5?
- A. Service Consumption, as a Business Service with Business Service Offerings ✓
- B. Service Delivery, as a Technology Management Service with offerings by tier
- C. Foundation, as a Service Offering Model referenced by each related CI
- D. Design & Planning, as a Business Application linked to a Business Capability
Why: A service that customers see and consume is a Business Service (cmdb_ci_service_business) in the Service Consumption domain. It is an operational CI used for impact analysis, and its tiers are modeled as Business Service Offerings. A Technology Management Service is provider focused and describes the technology teams that run things, not the customer-facing service. A Business Application is a non-operational portfolio record in Design & Planning and should not be used for incident or change impact. Product models in Foundation are referential data, not CIs, and do not represent the consumed service.