Service Mapping use case

  • Versão de lançamento: Australia
  • Atualizado 12 de mar. de 2026
  • 3 min. de leitura

    • The Service Mapping use case demonstrates how organizations can use various methods to map and maintain their application services, enhancing visibility into their IT environment.

    Use case overview

    Service Mapping helps organizations visualize and monitor application services in complex, growing networks. With various useful mapping methods, it automatically maps devices, applications, and configuration items (CIs), providing a service-aware view. Simplifying the identification and resolution of network issues, it helps maintain service continuity and enhance the customer experience.

    Challenges

    Service Mapping administrators face challenges in choosing the most suitable mapping method, which depends on the organization's specific situation. Some common challenges include:
    • Lack of visibility: The IT team lacks a clear and comprehensive view of how different applications and services are interconnected, leading to gaps in knowledge of the dependencies and relationships between service components.
    • Delayed resolutions: Outages can take longer to resolve due to the lack of a detailed and up-to-date service map, negatively impacting operations and customer satisfaction.
    • Dynamic environment: Frequent changes in cloud and on-premises infrastructure make it challenging to keep service maps current.
    • Restricted access: Security policies and standards requirements often limit the IT team's ability to access MID Servers that are essential for traditional discovery, resulting in incomplete or outdated service maps.

    Solutions

    Service Mapping helps organizations visualize and understand the interactions between their services and components. The most effective Service Mapping approach depends on the specific situation, with various solutions tailored to address the organization's unique challenges.
    Tabela 1. Solutions available with Service Mapping
    Scenario Solution Results
    A large organization with a complex IT environment with many interconnected applications and services has experienced several service outages. These outages cause significant downtime and negatively impact customer experience and the IT team struggles to pinpoint the root cause. Top-down Service Mapping:
    • Pattern-based discovery identifies CIs and their connections using predefined patterns.
    • Traffic-based discovery complements pattern-based discovery by identifying additional CIs and connections that might not be identified through patterns alone.
    		 By combining pattern-based and traffic-based discovery, the organization can create precise and comprehensive service maps, providing a detailed view of the IT environment. The service map efficiently identifies service outages, providing the organization with the insights needed to minimize disruptions and confirm stable critical services. This approach can help maintain customer confidence.
    An organization uses tags to categorize and track CIs. However, the IT team struggles to keep service maps accurate and up-to-date due to frequent changes in the interconnected system. Tag-based Service Mapping:

    Automated tag detection enables Discovery and Cloud Provisioning and Governance to automatically populate the CMDB with tag data. Service Mapping uses the tag data to create and maintain accurate, up-to-date service maps.

    		 With tag-based Service Mapping, accurate CMDB data is automatically created and service maps are updated as changes occur. Enhanced visibility makes the impact of changes and outages clearer, leading to improved problem resolutions and service reliability.
    A large organization manages a wide range of applications and services, including customer-facing websites, mobile apps, and inventory management systems. As the organization continually adds new services and updates existing ones, maintaining accurate service maps becomes essential for optimal functionality. Automated Service Suggestions:

    Using machine learning (ML), Automated Service Suggestions identifies potential application fingerprints and creates meaningful connections between CIs. It automatically calculates entry points and generates a list of application service candidates to simplify the mapping process. Then, it creates a visual application service map, making it easier to understand and manage the service.

    		 The organization can automate the mapping process, saving time and reducing errors. With the ability to rapidly adapt to changes in the IT environment, service maps remain up-to-date, and decisions can be data-driven. The organization can respond more effectively to issues and maintain optimal service reliability.
    An organization has a strict security policy that restricts access to MID Servers, which are typically required for detailed discovery and mapping of application services. The company manages a wide array of applications and services. CMDB-based Mapping:

    Top-Down Discovery uses Configuration Management Database (CMDB) data to map application services by starting with an IP address, retrieving the associated host, and identifying the target process. Application Linking then searches for and maps the application liked to the target process.

    		 By using CMDB-based mapping, the organization can bypass MID Server restrictions, confirming that service maps are accurate and up-to-date even in a restricted environment. This approach to mapping also fulfills any regulatory requirements and maintain business continuity.