Customer Service Management and CSDM tables

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Customer Service Management and CSDM tables

    Customer Service Management (CSM) leverages Common Service Data Model (CSDM) tables to manage customer-related data and enhance service delivery. It integrates with multiple ServiceNow products to provide a comprehensive view of customer products, services, and support interactions. CSM uses specific tables to represent sold products, installed products, accounts, contacts, and consumers, facilitating effective customer service and product lifecycle management.

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    Key Features

    • CSM Tables Managed by CSDM:
      • Sold Product [sninstallbasesoldproduct]: Represents products purchased by accounts or consumers, referencing Product Model or Service Model tables.
      • Install Base Item [sninstallbaseitem]: Represents products installed or in use by customers, generally linked to Application Services for SaaS products.
      • Installed Products [sninstallbasem2minstalledproduct]: Links multiple sold products to an Install Base Item.
      • Service Offerings [serviceoffering]: Connected to Service Models and Sold Products to identify customer subscriptions.
      • Account [customeraccount]: Extends the Company table to represent customer or partner accounts.
      • Contact [customercontact]: Extends the User table, storing contact details and portal access credentials.
      • Consumer [csmconsumer]: Represents customers in B2C models.
    • CSDM Tables Used by CSM: Includes Company, Business Unit, Department, Location, Groups, Users, Product Models, Contracts, Application Services, Configuration Items, Business Services, Service Offerings, and Request Catalog tables.
    • Product Relationships: Catalog Items link to Product or Service Models via the Product-to-Catalog Items Relationships table, enabling customers to request services related to purchased products.

    Value from Integrations with Other ServiceNow Products

    • IT Service Management (ITSM): Provides business context to services and enables linking of incidents, problems, changes, and requests to customer cases.
    • Event Management: Offers centralized monitoring of service health, alert aggregation, and root cause analysis for services and applications.
    • Service Portfolio Management: Allows documentation and management of services in a structured format and helps customers identify service ownership.
    • IT Operations Management (ITOM): Helps identify affected Install Base Items and customers during service issues, supporting proactive customer service.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Enables accurate tracking of customer purchases, installations, and subscriptions to services.
    • Improves customer support by linking customer cases to underlying products and services.
    • Facilitates proactive service issue identification and resolution through integrations with ITOM and Event Management.
    • Provides a unified, structured data model for customer, product, and service information, enhancing cross-product visibility and collaboration.

    Customer Service Management manages and uses CSDM tables. Several ServiceNow products benefit from and add value to Customer Service Management.

    CSM tables managed by CSDM

    Figure 1. CSM tables managed by CSDM
    CSDM tables managed by CSM.
    CSM references the following CSDM tables:
    1. Sold Product table [sn_install_base_sold_product in CSM

      Represents the product purchased by an Account or Consumer, and references the Product Model table [cmdb_model] or Service Model table [cmdb_service_product_model] for a Customer (Account or Consumer).

    2. Install Base Item table [sn_install_base_item] in CSM

      Represents the products installed or in use by an account or consumer. Install Base Items are CIs consumed by the customer and generally reference the Application Services table [cmdb_ci_service_discovered] for SaaS products.

      Multiple sold products can be used on a given Install Base Item by using the Installed Products table [sn_install_base_m2m_installed_product].

    3. A Service Model references the Service Offerings table [service_offering]. Multiple Service Offerings can be associated with a single Service Model.
    4. After the product is sold to a customer, the Sold Product table references the Service Offering table [service_offering]. This reference helps to identify the customers subscribed to an offering.
    5. Customers can request services related to the products they have purchased by linking the Catalog Items table [sc_cat_item] to the Product Model or Service Model by using the Product-to-Catalog Items Relationships table [sn_prod_cat_rel_m2m_product_catalog_item].
    6. Account table [customer_account] in CSM

      Extends the Company table. The Account table can be a customer account, a partner account, or both.

    7. Contact table [customer_contact] in CSM

      Extends the User table. A user is an employee of an account. A contact record stores information about a contact, such as the name, phone number, and email address. A contact can also have a user ID and can log in to the customer portal.

    8. Consumer table [csm_consumer] in CSM

      A consumer is a customer in the business-to-consumer (B2C) business model.

    CSDM tables used by CSM

    Figure 2. CSDM tables used by CSM
    CSDM tables used by CSM.
    1. Company [core_company], Business Unit [business_unit], Department [cmn_department], Location [cmn_location], Groups [sys_user_group], Users [sys_user]
    2. Product Model tables [cmdb_model], and [cmdb_service_product_model]
    3. Contract table [ast_contract]
    4. Mapped Application Service table [cmdb_ci_service_discovered]
    5. Configuration Item table [cmdb_ci_*]
    6. Business Service table [cmdb_ci_service_business]
    7. Business Service Offering table [service_offering]
    8. Request Catalog table [sc_cat_item]

    Products that add value to CSM

    When you use CSM with other ServiceNow products, you increase the value you get from CSM. These other ServiceNow products include:
    IT Service Management (ITSM)

    Services have the context of the business, applications, information, and technologies layered beneath them.

    Event Management

    Enables organizations to identify service health-related issues on a single management console. Event Management provides alert aggregation and root cause analysis (RCA) for discovered services, application services, and automated alert groups.

    Service Portfolio Management (Service Portfolio Management)

    Enables organizations to document and manage services using a standardized, structured format.

    Products that benefit from CSM

    IT Service Management (ITSM)

    Enables organizations to link incidents, problems, changes, and requests to cases, and have the context of the customer (consumer or account) reporting the issue.

    IT Operations Management (ITOM)

    Enables organizations to identify the Install Base Items and the customers affected by service issues. Helps organizations to provide proactive customer service.

    Service Portfolio Management (Service Portfolio Management)

    Enables customers that have subscribed to the Service Offering to see who owns the service.