Nexus map configurations

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated November 3, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Nexus Map Configurations

    Starting with Operational Resilience version 21.1.x, Nexus map configurations allow users to visualize and manage complex data relationships in the Operational Resilience Workspace. This feature enhances the understanding of dependencies within the Common Service Data Model (CSDM), simplifying the process of tracking issues and monitoring system health.

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    Key Features

    • Hierarchical Visualization: Enables users to visualize related data in a structured manner, making it easier to grasp upstream and downstream relationships.
    • Issue Tracking: Facilitates the identification of areas requiring attention, thereby improving troubleshooting efficiency.
    • Data Relationships Framework: Integrates with the existing framework to enhance data relationship definitions and visualizations.

    Key Outcomes

    By implementing Nexus map configurations, ServiceNow customers can expect:

    • A clearer understanding of complex data relationships, reducing the need for manual navigation through various lists and records.
    • Enhanced visibility of records based on user access, ensuring sensitive information is protected according to established access control lists (ACLs).
    • The ability to configure and update properties for various entities, including services, business services, and application services, through an intuitive user interface.

    Beginning with Operational Resilience, version 21.1.x, the Nexus map configuration has been introduced. To display a main node in the Operational Resilience Workspace, you must configure the Nexus map. The Node Map configuration UI allows you to visualize related data hierarchically, track issues, and identify areas needing attention for effective resolution or health monitoring.

    Limitations observed before using Nexus map configurations

    Before implementing Node map configurations with Operational Resilience, version 21.1.x, visualizing dependencies across multiple stages of the Common Service Data Model (CSDM) in various Workspace views was challenging. The data hierarchies, as shown in the following example model, are complex and multidimensional, making it difficult to understand relationships between different data entities:
    • Business Service → Business Service Offering → Business Process → Application → Dependencies
    • Entity → Policy → Control Objective → Control → Control Indicator

    List views alone are insufficient for effectively depicting complex relationships, often requiring manual navigation through multiple related lists and records to understand upstream or downstream impacts. Node map configurations offer a more efficient solution, enabling you to visualize these complex relationships easily.

    Benefits of Nexus map configurations

    The Node map configurations, which are part of Data Relationships Framework by default, enable you to define relationships between records and visualize them on a node map. This visualization makes it easier to understand upstream and downstream relationships.

    The Node map configuration feature offers the following benefits:
    • It enables any consuming application to define relationships between records and visualize related data hierarchically on a node map.
    • It facilitates issue tracking and identification of areas requiring attention for troubleshooting purposes.

    Dependencies for Nexus map configurations

    The Node map configurations have the following hard dependencies:
    • Data registry for defining data relationships (sn_data_registry)
    • Record Related Items Connected (sn_rec_relatedItem)
    The Node map configuration has the following optional dependencies:
    • Providing 360° Relationship Visualization for rendering 360º view and related items
    • Using GRC: Common Workspace Elements for navigating to 360º view and related items

    Record visibility based on user access

    Access to records is determined by the read access control lists (ACLs) associated with those records. You can only view records that you have access to. Nodes and their underlying children that you don’t have access to, aren’t displayed in the map.

    This functionality verifies that sensitive information is protected and you can only see data that you’re authorized to access.

    For details on Nexus map configurations, including Node and Edge configurations, refer to the "Nexus map configurations related list" in Main node configurations: A component of the Data Relationships Framework.