This article is a list of resources for the ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist - Application Portfolio Management exam. The author of this document created this set of notes and practice questions while studying, then passed the exam on the first attempt.
You can also check out our exam guides for ITSM Implementation and Certified Application Developer (CAD) and Software Asset Management (SAM).
If you're new to ServiceNow certifications, learn how to get certified in ServiceNow.
The guide will be structured in the following manner:
NOTE: the APM Implementation Simulator course must be completed in order receive a testing voucher. This voucher is required to even schedule the APM exam via Webassesor.
The following describes the types of components are installed with Application Portfolio Management.
The following Tables are added with activation of Application Portfolio Management:
The following Roles are added with activation of Application Portfolio Management:
The following UI policies are added with activation of Application Portfolio Management and installed on the Application Indicator [apm_metric] table:
The following Roles are added with activation of Application Portfolio Management:
The following Client Scripts are added with activation of Application Portfolio Management:
The following Business rules are added with activation of Application Portfolio Management:
Application Portfolio Management (com.snc.apm) plugin is the basic plugin for the application. The following plugins are automatically installed when you install this plugin:
The following additional add-on plugins are available:
The following premium plugins are available:
The following other plugins are available:
The practice questions displayed in this section were taken from various sources, mostly from ExamTopics, the NowLearning APM courses, and the ServiceNow Product Documentation site. The answers to these questions have been meticulously researched to provide the highest accuracy possible, with sources provided for each answer. It is strongly recommended these questions be utilized in a quiz creator application that is capable of randomizing both the order of questions and the selection options. Google offers a free quiz creator via Google Forms, but numerous paid (and perhaps easier to use) quiz creators exist, including Quiz Maker, Typeform, and SurveyMonkey.
A. [cmdb_ci_business_app]
B. [apm_ci_business_app]
C. [sn_apm_business_app]
D. [cmdb_business_app]
Answer: A
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Installed with Application Portfolio Management"
A. Generates scores for all indicators and business applications across selected profiles
B. Generates scores for selected indicators and selected applications across all profiles
C. Generates scores for all indicators and business applications across all profiles
D. Generates scores for all indicators and selected applications across all profiles
Answer: C
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Job schedule to compute application scores"
A. Applications Under Management
B. Basic Rationalization
C. Intermediate Rationalization
D. Continuously Optimized Portfolio
E. Applications Managed
F. Advanced Rationalization
Answer: A,B,D,F
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1, section "Maturity Model"
A. Application Portfolio Management - ATF Tests [com.snc.apm.atf]
B. ATF Testing for Application Portfolio Management [com.snc.apm.atf]
C. Application Portfolio Management - ATF Content Pack [com.snc.apm.atf]
D. ATF Plugin - Application Portfolio Management [com.snc.apm.atf]
Answer: A
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1, section "Plugins & Roles"
The Retail Exchange Company has all of their applications in a single system of record and ownership has been established. Which level of the maturity model are they in right now?
A. Level 1: Applications Under Management
B. Level 2: Basic Rationalization
C. Level 3: Advanced Rationalization
D. Level 4: Continuously Optimized Portfolio
Answer: A
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 2, section "APM Maturity Model"
A. 7
B. 8
C. 10
D. 6
Answer: D
A. Under management: All applications under management in a single system of record.
B. Basic rationalization: Leverage human input and manual analysis to create simple goals.
C. Advanced rationalization: Utilize built-in associations to create more powerful analysis.
D. Continuously Optimize Portfolio: Utilize regularly evolving criteria and use cases.
Answer: A
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1 Knowledge Check
A. Application Inventory
B. TPM
C. Business Capabilities
D. Information Portfolio
E. Demand
F. Application Services
H. Integration with ITSM
I. Application Cost Model
Answer: B, D, I
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1, section "ServiceNow's Application Portfolio Management"
A. [com.snc.certification_v1]
B. [com.snc.datacert]
C. [com.snc.certification_v2]
D. [com.snc.data_certification]
Answer: C
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1, section "Plugins & Roles"
A. View business capabilities supported by applications
B. Understand the landscape of technology standards and lifecycle plans
C. Understand incident counts by application
D. Understand what software licenses need to be reclaimed
Answer: A, B
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 2, section "Stakeholders"
A. Application Classification
B. Application Documentation
C. Technology Portfolio Management
D. Reports and Dashboards
Answer: A
*Source - NowLearning CIS - APM Exam Specification sample question
A. Pressure to cut down the IT application budget
B. Too many business applications to track
C. No single repository of applications
D. Business value provided by an application is too subjective
E. Employees installing personal software on work computers
F. Too many employees with personal computers
Answer: A,B,C,D
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 2 Knowledge Check
A. Software Lifecycle
B. Business Capability
C. Application Capability
D. Hardware Lifecycle
Answer: D
A. Business Units
B. Manufacturers
C. Business Applications
D. Business Processes
E. IT Shared Services
Answer: A,C,E
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Financial Management for licensed APM users"
A. 1 through 100
B. 1 through 10
C. 1 through 10000
D. 1 through 1000
Answer: B
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Normalization of application scores"
A. Assessment Indicator Portal
B. The Application Portfolio Management Portal
C. The Application Navigator
D. Business Planning Portal
Answer: D
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Business Planning Portal"
A. Application Inventory
B. Application Indicators
C. Business Capabilities
D. Demand
E. Data Certification
F. Application Services
H. Integrations with ITSM
I. Application Cost Model
Answer: B, C, D, H
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1, section "ServiceNow's Application Portfolio Management"
A. They will utilize the Application Service entity as a key connection to business applications.
B. They will utilize the CSDM for details such as CIs and relationships.
C. They will utilize the CSDM to migrate their business applications into ServiceNow.
D. They will utilize the CSDM to track software and hardware assets.
Answer: A, B
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1 Knowledge Check
A. Depends on: Used by
B. Used: Used by
C. Provided by::Provides
D. Depends on: Used by
Answer: C
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1, section "Business Application Relationships"
A. Under management: All applications under management in a single system of record.
B. Basic rationalization: Leverage human input and manual analysis to create simple goals.
C. Advanced rationalization: Utilize built-in associations to create more powerful analysis.
D. Continuously Optimize Portfolio: Utilize regularly evolving criteria and use cases.
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1 Knowledge Check
A. Application 360
B. Analyze
C. Application Indicators
D. Application Scores
Answer: A, B
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 3 Knowledge Check
A. ITSM Manager
B. Application Owners
C. IT Operations
D. Enterprise Architects
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 2 "Stakeholders" video, minute 1:22
A. Hardware Models
B. Software Models
C. Hardware Lifecycles
B. Software Lifecycles
Answer: A, B, C, D
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 4, section "Software & Hardware Models and Lifecycles"
A. Allows automation of retiring applications
B. Provides application owners insight to release counts
C. Allows data collection and visualization without manual effort
D. Provides top down strategic alignment in the PMO
Answer: C
A. IT Service Management (ITSM)
B. IT Operations Management (ITOM)
C. Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM)
D. Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)
Answer: C
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1 Knowledge Check
A. Assessments
B. Custom Scripts
C. Query Conditions
D. Performance Analystics
Answer: A, B, C, D
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 3 Knowledge Check
A. Hardware Asset Management Professional
B. Technology Reference Model Professional
C. Software Asset Management Profesional
D. ServiceMapping Professional
Answer: A, C
A. Application Portfolio Management Portal
B. Application Portfolio Management Dashboard
C. Technology Portfolio Management
D. Business Planning Portal
Answer: A, B, D
*Source - NowLearning CIS - APM Exam Specification sample question
A. Identify redundancies and decrease budgetary costs
B. Reduce the number of governance controls
C. Maintain relationships with Product Vendors
D. Gain a comprehensive understanding of business applications in the organization
Answer: A, D
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1, section "ServiceNow's Application Portfolio Management"
A. IT Leadership
B. Application Owners
C. IT Operations
D. Enterprise Architect
Answer: D
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 2 Knowledge Check
A. 30 days
B. 90 days
C. 120 days
D. 180 days
Answer: D
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1, section "Plugins & Roles"
A. Lowest Level
B. Leaf Node
C. Hierarchy
D. Parent
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 3 Knowledge Check
A. Custom reports
B. Data policies
C. Corporate policies
D. Data certification schedule
Answer: D
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 2 Knowledge Check
A. Business Application Certification Quarterly
B. Analyze PA scores and PA snapshot tables
C. Load Application Indicators and compute Application Scores
D. Load TPM Risk Parameters and compute Application Service Risks
Answer: C
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Schedule a job to compute application scores"
A. Under management: All applications under management in a single system of record.
B. Basic rationalization: Leverage human input and manual analysis to create simple goals.
C. Advanced rationalization: Utilize built-in associations to create more powerful analysis.
D. Continuously Optimize Portfolio: Utilize regularly evolving criteria and use cases.
Answer: C
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1 Knowledge Check
A. sn_apm.retireBusinessAppProjectTemplate
B. sn_apm.retireBusinessProjectTemplate
C. sn_apm.retireBusinessApplicationProjectTemplate
D. sn_apm.retireBusinessProject
Answer: A
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 2, section "Application Inventory"
A. Implementing
B. Retired
C. In Production
D. Pilot
Answer: A
A. Measure, Evaluate, Decide, Take Action, Baseline
B. Identify, Measure, Evaluate, Decide, Take Action
C. Identify, Measure, Decide, Take Action, Communicate
D. Identify, Measure, Evaluate, Take Action, Certify
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 2, section "APM Rationalization Process"
A. Ignore Technical Risk
B. Lifecycle Release
C. Lifecycle Model
D. Lifecycle Full Version
Answer: D
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Associate an application service to a software model"
A. Business Application
B. Business Capability
C. Application Service
D. Software
Answer: C
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 3 Knowledge Check
A. Application Inventory
B. Application Indicators
C. Business Capabilities
D. Demand
E. Data Certification
F. Application Services
G. Integration with ITSM
H. Application Cost Model
Answer: B, C, D, G
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1, section "ServiceNow's Application Portfolio Management"
A. This is the only way to capture the type of operations performed by the business application.
B. This is the only way to associate the data domain.
C. This is the only way to capture the CRUD values.
Answer: C
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 4 Knowledge Check
A. Discovery
B. Software Asset Management
C. APM
D. ServiceMapping
Answer: A
A. Discovery
B. Hardware Asset Management
C. Service Mapping
D. Software Asset Management
Answer: A, C, D
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 4, section "Creating Software & Hardware Models"
A. Application Inventory
B. Categorization
C. Business Capabilities
D. TPM
E. Data Certification
F. Application Services
G. Demand
H. Application Roadmap
Answer: A, B, E, F
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1, section "ServiceNow's Application Portfolio Management"
A. Product Classification
B. Hardware Asset Lifecycle
C. Lifecycle Data
D. Software Model Data
E. Vendor Procurement
Answer: A, C, D
A. sn_apm.apm_admin
B. sn_apm.ap_analyst
C. sn_apm.apm_user
D. business_planner
Answer: C
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 2 "The Value of Managing Applications" section
A. APM User
B. APM Analyst
C. APM Admin
D. Sys Admin
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 3 Knowledge Check
A. Application Family
B. Application Name
C. Application Score
D. Portfolio
E. Business Unit
F. Category
Answer: A, D, E, F
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Application classification"
A. PMO dashboard
B. Application Landscape dashboard
C. Technology portfolio management dashboard
D. Financial Analyst dashboard
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 2 Knowledge Check
A. Common Services Data Model (CSDM)
B. Design Implementation Outcomes (DIO)
C. Project Management Professional (PMP)
D. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
Answer: A
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1, section "APM: the Big Picture"
A. Discovery
B. Service Mapping
C. Service Catalog
D. HR
E. Application Services
Answer: A, B, E
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Normalization of application scores"
A. sn_apm.apm_read
B. sn_apm.apm_user
C. sn_apm.apm_analyst
D. sn_apm.apm_admin
Answer: C
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "View application indicator scores"
A. Under management: All applications under management in a single system of record.
B. Basic rationalization: Leverage human input and manual analysis to create simple goals.
C. Advanced rationalization: Utilize built-in associations to create more powerful analysis.
D. Continuously Optimize Portfolio: Utilize regularly evolving criteria and use cases.
Answer: D
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 1 Knowledge Check
A. Level 1
B. Level 2
C. Level 3
D. Level 4
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 2, section "APM Maturity Model"
A. sn_apm.retireBusinessApplication
B. sn_apm.businessApplication
C. sn_apm.retire
D. sn_apm.retireBusinessApplicationTaskType
Answer: D
A. Sales representatives
B. Enterprise architects
C. Project Manager
D. Customers
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning CIS - APM Exam Specification sample question
A. Application Portfolio Management
B. Business Planner
C. Financial Management for APM
D. Application Portfolio Management - ATF Tests
Answer: A
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Activate Application Portfolio Management"
A. 1 through 10
B. 1 through 100
C. 1 through 1000
D. 1 through 10000
Answer: A
*Source - ServiceNow Product Documentation, "Normalization of application scores"
A. sn_apm.apm_read
B. sn_apm.apm_user
C. sn_apm.ap_analyst
D. sn_apm.apm_admin
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 2 "Data Certification" section
A. Costs it takes to maintain an application.
B. Application’s age.
C. Compliance to regulations and organizational standards.
D. One or more use rights assigned to a specific device or user.
Answer: A, B
*Source - ServiceNow community article, "Application Portfolio Management on ServiceNow"
A. Software Model
B. Application Service
C. Software Model
D. Portfolio
Answer: B
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 2 Knowledge Check
A. Application Service Software Model
B. Application Management Model
C. Inventory Management
D. Application Category
Answer: A
*Source - ServiceNow community article, "Associate an application service to a software model"
A. Performance Analytics – Content Pack – Application Portfolio Management [com.snc.pa.apm]
B. Performance Analytics – Content Pack – Application Portfolio Management and Change Management [com.snc.pa.apm.change_request]
C. Performance Analytics – Content Pack – Application Portfolio Management and Problem Management [com.snc.pa.apm.problem]
D. Performance Analytics – Content Pack – Application Portfolio Management [com.snc.pa.apm.landscape]
Answer: A
Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 2 "The Value of Managing Applications" section
A. sn_apm.apm_admin
B. sn_apm.apm_chart_admin
C. sys admin
D. sn_apm.apm_ user
Answer: A
*Source - ServiceNow community article, "Application portfolio administration"
A. Application Inventory
B. TPM
C. Business Capabilities
D. Information Portfolio
E. Application Roadmap
F. Application Services
H. Integration with ITSM
I. Application Cost Model
Answer: E
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 1, section "ServiceNow's Application Portfolio Management"
A. Incident Management
B. Project & Portfolio Management
C. Discovery
D. Service Catalog
Answer: D
*Source - NowLearning APM Fundamentals course, Module 3 Knowledge Check
A. Enterprise Architects
B. IT Operations
C. Application Owners
D. IT Leadership
Answer: D
*Source - ServiceNow APM Exam Specification blueprint sample question
A. Application Assessment
B. Application Documentation
C. Technology Portfolio Management
D. Reports and Dashboards
Answer: A, C, D
*Source - ServiceNow APM Exam Specification blueprint sample question
A. com.snc.apm.business_planner
B. com.snc.pa.apm.change_request
C. com.snc.sp_workbench_widgets
D. com.snc.pa.apm
Answer: A, C
*Source - ServiceNow APM Exam Specification blueprint sample question
A. CMDB Model Lifecycles
B. Software model lifecycles
C. Hardware model lifecycles
D. Asset model Lifecycles
Answer: B, C
*Source - NowLearning APM Implementation course, Module 4 Knowledge Check
This section consist a compilation of information taken from official ServiceNow sources, primarily the NowLearning APM Fundamentals course and the NowLearning APM Implementation course.
Application Portfolio Management (APM) is a framework for managing enterprise business applications and software-based services. APM provides inventory management of a company's software applications and metrics to illustrate the business benefits of each application.
An APM system uses indicators and a scoring profile for generating reports about the value of each application and the health of the IT infrastructure as a whole. By gathering metrics like an application's age, how often it's used, the cost to maintain it, and its interrelationships with other applications, a manager can use more than just an educated guess to decide whether or not a particular application should be kept, updated, retired, or replaced.
In ServiceNow, Application Portfolio Management is a part of the ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) suite. APM allows you to gain a comprehensive understanding of the business applications in your organization, so you can identify redundancies and decrease budgetary costs. APM also provides different viewpoints of your business applications by looking at the alignment to the business, the technologies consumed, and the information used.
By consolidating business applications within the same business function, you can identify which applications to modernize or upgrade. APM also helps you decide whether to invest, sustain, or replace these applications based on the business need aligned towards the organization goal.
Application Portfolio Management uses the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), discovery processes, and cost modeling to deliver a complete picture of your application portfolio. It also leverages other key elements of the ServiceNow platform.
ServiceNow’s Common Services Data Model (CSDM) is the guiding framework the project team should use to design the APM architecture.
CSDM introduces the application service entity, which is a key connection point between business applications and other entities in the ServiceNow platform. An application service can be thought of as an instance or environment of a business application.
The Common Services Data model provides additional detail for APM implementers, including CI examples and relationship types that should be utilized.
For more information, see the Common Service Data Model (CSDM) Fundamentals course on NowLearning.
Business Capability - A business capability is an expression of what a business does and can do. ServiceNow uses business capability mapping to establish a configuration item (CI) relationship between the business capability and its associated application or applications.
Business application - A business application is software used by business users to perform a business function.
Application Service - An application service is a logical representation of a deployed application stack. It is also often referred to as instances of a business application which are supported by an IT infrastructure.
Information Object - An information object is a configuration item that displays information in an organized form. The purpose of the information object is to logically describe the type of data (or the information) interchanged between the application and the database.
A significant portion of IT budget is spent on supporting, enhancing, and implementing new applications and supporting existing technologies. Application Portfolio Management provides key capabilities to prioritize investments in an application portfolio based on data such as risk, value, and costs.
Application Portfolio Management allows a organization to:
Application Portfolio Management has multiple stakeholders with multiple interests. Common areas of interest to all stakeholders include:
Enterprise architects take a company's business strategy and define an IT systems architecture to support that strategy. Enterprise architects must understand a company's business and be able to dive deeply into technology issues. They ensure a company's technology objectives are aligned to its business goals.
ServiceNow's APM is designed to make an enterprise architect's job much easier by providing easy to use tools and processes.
At ServiceNow, the Application Portfolio Management journey is broken down into four increasing levels of maturity. Over time new applications will be added or upgraded, ownership may change, and new capabilities will be supported. Attributes of the application record will need to be maintained to reflect reality, resulting in the organization shifting from one maturity level to another.
Each level of the maturity model aligns with different configurations and process steps that can be implemented. The image below helps outline the process steps and the configurations that are most likely implemented in each level of the maturity model.
The first level is all about having applications under management in a trustworthy single system of record. This is where:
Managing applications using ServiceNow allows data collection and visualization without manual effort. The Application Landscape dashboard is a configurable dashboard that provides an overview of all the business applications used in the business enterprise. The dashboard also provides pre-configured reports on business applications.
This configuration utilizes the Business Application Catalog is used to register new business applications. The Business Application Catalog also provides the ability to request an architecture review and retire an existing business application. The decisions for these requests are sent to either the Business Application Registration ApprovalGroup or the Enterprise Architect Group. The outcomes of these requests are supported by property settings, templates, demands, and projects.
Members of the Business Application Registration Approval Group receive a service request when a Register a New Business Application request is submitted. Members of this group do not have an associated role and can approve or reject the request. Members of the Enterprise Architect Group receive a service request when a Request Architecture Review or Retire a Business Application request is submitted. Members of this group have the sn_apm.apm_analyst role and can approve or reject the request.
When a Retire a Business Application request is approved, the value of the system property sn_apm.retireBusinessApplicationTaskType determines whether a demand or a project record is created. If the value is set to project, then a project template defined in the system property, sn_apm.retireBusinessAppProjectTemplate, is applied. The base system for APM offers a project template called Retire Business Application with eight different pre-defined project template tasks for proper decommissioning of the application. If the value is set to demand, a demand record is created without a template.
The Life Cycle Stage and Life Cycle Stage Status fields are auto populated based on the value selected in the Status field on the business application form. Navigate to CSDM > Life Cycle Mapping in order to Activate the synch between these fields. If you have any custom values created for the status field, use this table to map them accordingly. Select the "+" icons below to learn more about the Life cycle mapping table.
This configuration classifies applications into groups and categories helps your organization track and compare the applications.
Other methods used for classifying business applications include portfolios, business processes, and business units. Portfolios are part of the Project Portfolio Management (PPM) application and can be created in the pm_portfolio table. A business process is a method of related structured tasks performed to accomplish a specific application service and can be created in the cmdb_ci_business_process table. Business units can be created under the Business planner or Organization applications in the business_unit table.
This configuration manages scheduled and on-demand validations of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) data.
Step 1 - Navigates to Schedule Definitions and reviews the current list of available certification schedules.
Step 2 - Select one of the schedules from the list.
Step 3 - Rename the schedule as desired, and save.
Step 4 - Review the Filter and the Table fields. The Filter field allows her to determine which applications will be certified using this schedule. The Table field should be set to the corresponding table in ServiceNow.
Step 5 - Populate the available fields, which include:
Step 6 - Reviews the Active checkbox and the Run field. Checks the Active box only when ready for the certification to go live upon updating the record. Select when the certification is to occur from the Run dropdown.
Step 7 - Set up the certification to run periodically, or execute it to run now. By selecting Periodically from the Run dropdown, choose when and how often the certification should run. Alternatively, run her new certification immediately by clicking Execute Now.
This configuration represents an instance or environment of a business application such as a development, test, quality assurance, or production instance.
The image above provides an example of a business capability that supports a business application. The business application has three associated application services.
In order to create application services manually and associate them to business applications, navigate to Configuration > Application Services > Application Services and select the New button.
The second level allows for basic rationalization. Human input and manual analysis is leveraged to create simple goals. This is where:
Rationalizing your business applications using ServiceNow allows a method of evaluating them against each other using objective values. The business application and business capability scoring plays a major part in helping with this value proposition. There are key indicators and assessments which need to be configured and used in order to receive this value.
The Application 360 and the Analyze dashboards are configurable dashboards that provide a decision-making approach to Application Portfolio Management by identifying which business application requires focus and attention.
Application 360 Dashboard - provides preconfigured reports to help you to analyze the indicator scores and execute effective decisions.
Analyze Dashboard - provides a view of business applications and their respective scores grouped by category. This dashboard contains a configurable list view with several filtering capabilities.
IMEDT - Identify, Measure, Evaluate, Decide, Take Action
Identify - Capture an inventory of all applications and the underlying technology platforms in use.
Measure - Measure the costs, quality, risk, user satisfaction, etc.
Evaluate - Evaluate with the context of how the portfolio should look in the future. Considerations can include strategic value, functional fit, risk, etc.
Decide - Propose appropriate actions to transform the current state to the desired future state.
Take Action - Make the final decisions on what projects to fund, taking into consideration the demand and supply of resources.
Each business application has an overall score between 1 and 10 to help you evaluate and compare them. Application scores are calculated from different indicators based on different frequencies. The scoring profile module shows the two base system scoring profiles available. Application owners can select the default business application scoring profile on their business applications in order to utilize the profile indicators.
Step 1 - Navigate to Application Indicators and selects an option to view or edit.
Step 2 - Edit the desired parameters and update the record.
Step 3 - Navigate to the Guided Setup and select the Application Assessment step from Application Portfolio.
Step 4 - Under the Surveys and Assessments tab, click Configure to see and select from a list of configurable options.
Step 5 - After selecting the desired topic, edit or add a question to the assessments available for the product.
Indicator scores are used to calculate the business application score. They are derived from data sources including performance analytics, custom scripts, Indicators (parent indicators), queries, and assessments that are weighted and used to calculate the business application score. To view all indicator scores, navigate to Application Ratings > Indicator Scores. There is a record for each business application per indicator, per fiscal period.
Application Weight - Total number for an application in a fiscal period... such as number of users of a business application in a fiscal period.
Total Weight - Total Number for ALL applications in a fiscal period, number of users of all business applications.
Target Maximum - Maximum Count for all applications in a fiscal period. Used in the range of values for an indicator.
Target Minimum - Minimum count for all applications in a fiscal period. Used in the range of values for an indicator.
Normalized Value - The relative ranking on a scale of 1 to 10. The higher the value, the better.
Indicator Score - The raw weight of the score of the indicator.
A Business Capability describes what an organization does. Once the Business Capabilities are defined, the organization can then relate Business Applications to the Business Capabilities they provide.
The Capability Map is a pictorial representation of the capability based planning with capabilities shown in a hierarchy. The hierarchical structure helps you to easily drill down to the lowest level to identify major and minor gaps. With this map, you get a complete view of all the capabilities, the applications associated to each of the capabilities, and the indicator scores of each business application in association with the capability.
The capabilities are color coded which enables you to identify, at a glance, those capabilities that have major, medium, and minor gaps. Since you have a visibility of the business applications supporting the capabilities, you can create goals, demands, or programs to improve the performance of the applications.
Steps to create a Business Capability
Step 1 - Navigate to the Capability Map
Step 2 - Select Manage Capability Hierarchy
Step 3 - Click on New Capability
Step 4 - Populate the name, description, and parent
Step 5 - Select Submit
Steps to relate a Business Capability to a Business Application
Step 1 - Navigate to a Business Application record
Step 2 -Select the Add CI relationship icon
Step 3 - Select the Provides (child) relationship type
Step 4 - Filter and select a Business Capability
Step 5 - Select the create new relationship icon and Save and Exit
Demands are a system record that capture the strategic goals for the application. They can be associated to multiple business applications and business capabilities, and hey can also be created directly from a business application using the Create Demand button to automatically relate the demand to the business application.
Steps to Create a Demand
Step 1 - Select Demands under Application Portfolio Management
Step 2 - Select New
Step 3 - Populate the required fields
Step 4 - Select Submit
Demand Actions represent the different strategic goals for a business application. They are categorized by Invest, Replace, and Retire. These values are stored in the apm_idea_action table and are configurable.
ServiceNow recommends using an application service record when associating a service to an Incident or Change. Integrating with ITSM provides visibility into the incidents and changes associated to a business application.
Steps to associate an Application Service to an Incident
Step 1 - Open an Incident record
Step 2 - Use the Service field to select an application service
Step 3 - Update the Incident record
Steps to associate an Application Service to a Change
Step 1 - Open a Change record
Step 2 - Select Add on the Impacted Services/CIs related list
Step 3 - Filter for the Application Service and select it
Step 4 - Select Add Selected
The third level leverages the power of the ServiceNow platform, utilizing built-in associations and relationships to create more powerful analysis. This is where:
Navigate to Application Portfolio Management > Technology Portfolio Management > Technology Lifecycles to view the different methods of managing and monitoring the lifecycles of the underlying technologies of business applications.
Below are the different type of views that are available in the Technology Lifecycles portal:
By Business Application - this view displays the technology structure of your business applications in succession, including software and hardware models. This view also provides a risk filter to filter the business applications based on their risk factor.
By Software Model - this view displays the technology structure of your business applications in succession, including software and hardware models. This view also provides a risk filter to filter the business applications based on their risk factor.
Application Backlog - this view is a unified backlog view that displays the epics, enhancements, projects, demands associated to a business application.
The goal of TRM is to help an organization manage risks created when software in use does not follow established guidelines and technology standards. Setting the standards can improve the technical debt, security posture, and save costs for the organization.
Below are the types of types of risks that can be mitigated by implementing TRM:
Security Risks - The software might be exposed to security issues.
Delivery Risks - There might not be sufficient knowledge on how to support the software or recourses to do so.
Legal Risks - A business application might use the software inillegal ways.
Each product in the TRM library is associated with a set of life-cycle phases with a start and end date. The life-cycle phases could be approved, unapproved, approved with constraints, maintenance only, and evaluation. The image below shows what the TRM may look like on the platform:
The TRM module uses a similar module to TPM to search in the TRM library. You can view the software in the TRM library, and initiate a request to add the software or software version to the TRM library.You can also use the TRM with the Software Asset Management (SAM) plugin. This plugin helps you select the products and versions for the TRM library. You can also define your own software products when the Software Asset Management integration module is not available for your instance.
Navigate to All > Application Portfolio Management > Technology Reference Model > Product Lifecycle Requests or TRM Catalog, which will open in the Service Portal, to request a piece of software be added to the TRM library or to request a product lifecycle be added to an existing software in the TRM library. See below to learn more about how these requests are submitted.
TRM Product Request
Step 1 - Navigate to All>Application Portfolio Management> Technology Reference Model > Product Requests.
Step 2 - Create or edit a request.
Step 3 - On the form, fill in the fields:
Step 4 - Click Submit or Update
TRM Product Lifecycle Request
Step 1 - Navigate to All >Application Portfolio Management >Technology Reference Model>Product Lifecycle Requests.
Step 2 - Create or edit TRM product lifecycle.
Step 3 - On the form, fill in the fields:
Step 4 - Click Submit or Update
Phases comprise the lifecycle of a product in TRM. Each shape and color in a phase line correlates to a preestablished phase definition. While there are default phases defined in the module, these can be edited and new phases can be added as an organization sees fit. The phases are:
Approved - Green. The Technology is approved for use.
Approved with Constraints - Yellow. The technology can be used within the specified constraints listed in the comments.
Divest - Orange. A decision was taken to divest from theuse ofthe technology.
Evaluation - Blue. This technology is currently being evaluated and cannot be used for production purposes.
Unapproved - Red. The technology is not permitted to be used.
The Technology Portfolio Management (TPM) process consists of managing both hardware and software models and their lifecycles.
A software model represents the technology that supports a business application. A software models has a version and a manufacturer that define it and most importantly it contains a lifecycle. An inventory of all the software models along with their lifecycles allows you to assess risks of outdated software and set their internal lifecycle guidance.
As noted in the CSDM, a business application is related to an application service and an application service is associated to a software model.
Much like software models support a business application, hardware models support a business application in a similar fashion. A hardware model also contains a version, a manufacturer, and are ultimately defined by lifecycles.
A business application may run on multiple application services, which in turn can be installed on different types of hardware. Therefore, the same way a software model is associated to an application service, a hardware model is also related to an application service. This mapping allows for the ability to manage the risk of business applications based on the assessed risks of the hardware.
If you have Hardware Asset Management (HAM) and Software Asset Management (SAM) Professional, the software model, hardware model, and their respective data is provided. Without HAM and SAM Professional, these models and their data must be created and maintained manually. However Hardware and Software models can be automatically mapped to application services if you have implemented Discovery, Service Mapping, and Software Asset Management.
Create a Software Model (manually)
Step 1 - Create a manufacturer. If you do not already have your manufacturers, aka vendors created, use the core_company table to create the list of manufacturers that provide software models to your organization. Navigate to Companies>New.
Step 2 - Create a software model. The model_manager role can create a software model using the cmdb_software_product_model table or navigating Product Catalog > Product Models > Software Models. Populate key attributes including manufacturer, name, edition, and version. The display name is a read-only field defaulted to a concatenation of the manufacturer, name, version and edition fields. Navigate to Software Models>New.
Step 3 - Create a lifecycle. The lifecycle data of a software model contains information such as type, phase, and dates. This information helps manage software model risks and is used in the technology lifecycles timeline view. Use the Software Product Lifecycles related list on the software model form to create lifecycles. Navigate to Software Model> Software Model Lifecycles > New.
Step 4 - Associate the software model to an application service. This association allows visibility from the business application to the application service and to its related software models. Use the Application Service Software Models related list on the application service form to create the association. Populate the Lifecycle Full Version field as its used to calculate risk. Navigate to Application Services>Application Services Software Models tab> New.
Create a Hardware Model (manually)
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An Information Portfolio data model is made up of a data domain and an information object configuration item. he purpose of the information object is to logically describe the type of data that is interchanged between the business application and the database that serves the business application with data. Once a data domain and an information object CI are created, a relationship to the information object to the business application can be added along with the create, read, update, delete (CRUD) operation attributes. The image below represents the data model for the information portfolio and its relationships.
Building an Information Portfolio
Step 1 - Create a Data Domain. Navigate to Information Portfolio > Data Domains and create a new record. This will represent the category for the type of logical data that will be used. Data domains are hierarchical and can have parent records. Navigate to Data Domains > New.
Step 2 - Create the Information Object. Navigate to Information Portfolio > Information Objects and create a new record. Associate the record to a Data Domain created from step 1. Navigate to Information Objects > New.
Step 3 - Associate the Information Object to the Business Application. Navigate to Organization > Business Application and use the Information Object Attributes related list to add the relationship and capture the type of operations that the business application can perform on the information object.
The Information Object can also be related to the infrastructure layer using a 'Depends on' relationship type. The infrastructure layer could be structured data such as the database catalog, or unstructured data such a file system, exchange mailbox or configuration file.
APM integrates with Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) to help identify and assess risks on business applications.
There are three store applications needs to install in order to utilize the GRC application.
Audit Engagements are created manually. After adding the Engagements related list to your business application form, use the steps below to create it.
Step 1 - Navigate to a Business Application.
Step 2 - Select New from the Engagements related list.
Step 3 - Populate the fields on the form.
Step 4 - Submit.
APM integrates with the modeling engine to provide a cost model, Business Application Costing, that can be used to allocate financials to the three segments of the hierarchy. The three segments include IT Shared Services, Business Applications, and Business Units.
There is a three steps process that is utilized when using the modeling engine workbench. ServiceNow provides several base system cost models based on your financial management maturity level. The graphic below shows the process covering the basic modeling engine cost model:
Modeling Engine Workbench
Step 1 - Data Definition. Navigate to Financial Modeling for APM > Business Application Costing Model. Select the cost model and the fiscal period to process financials. APM provides base system cost models which are used to prescribe a way to measure your business application total cost of ownership (TCO). You can calculate the cost over different fiscal periods such as monthly, quarterly or annually allowing you to view trending data.
Step 2 - Bucketing. Create bucket rules to allocate money into different buckets. Another word for buckets is cost pools. Cost pools represent the types of spend an IT organization would make. For example, hardware, software, labor, and facilities. This provides a breakdown of what makes up the costs of a business application at a financial level.
Step 3 - Allocation Setup. Create allocation rules to allocate money to the different segments of the hierarchy. ServiceNow recommends allocating your costs at the lowest level, IT Shared Services which represents the key functions of an IT organization. For example, application support, compute, and database. Using base system allocation rules, these costs can be spread or allocated to your application portfolio and eventually to the Business Units that consume those applications.
Contact your Account Executive or raise a ticket on HI for access to the Financial Modeling Engine (com.snc.financial_management) and Financial Management for APM (com.snc.financial_management_for_apm) plugins. These require an additional subscription.
The fourth level is where users reach continuous improvement mode. This is where:
The Application Roadmap configuration is also an application that allows an organization to focus on improving their portfolio over time by providing a view of the business applications supported by the organization.
In the Navigator, type and select My Applications Roadmap. An investment portal view is displayed, showing several widgets that represent information such as the number of demands, projects, and status indicators.
There are several modules, dashboards, and portals that are available with APM. Your individual access rights determine which screens are available to you.
The Business Application record contains many critical attributes supporting both the rationalization process and the available dashboards and reports. Understanding the information contained in this record will help build a foundation for leveraging APM fully.
APM integrates with Service Catalog to create the Business Application Lifecycle Management services catalog. Use the catalog to add applications to the existing inventory.
To access the Business Application Catalog, navigate to Application Portfolio Management > Business Application Lifecycle Management > Business Application Catalog.
Since business applications in ServiceNow are configuration items and part of the configuration management database, you can create relationships between them and other configuration items, including business capabilities, application services, and information objects, just to name a few.
Each defined relationship requires a specific relationship type. Review the flash cards below to learn which type is used for each relationship.
Business capability - Provided by::Provides
Application Service - Consumes::Consumed by
Information Object - Uses::Used by
Business Application - Interfaced by::Interfaces
APM provides several standard reports and dashboards to help in the application rationalization process and decision making. You can view these dashboards by navigating to Application Portfolio Management > Application Portfolio Analysis. You must have the Performance Analytics - Content Pack - Application Portfolio Management (com.snc.pa.apm) activated to access these dashboards.
The Application Assessment dashboard provides an overview of reports on the performance of business applications, including trends and indicators over different fiscal periods. To view this dashboard, navigate to Application Portfolio Management > Application Portfolio Analysis > Dashboard.
Landscape Analysis dashboard provides several standard reports to help visualize your application portfolio inventory. To view this dashboard, navigate to Application Portfolio Management > Application Portfolio Analysis > Landscape Analysis.
The Application 360 and the Analyze dashboards are configurable dashboards that provide a decision-making approach to Application Portfolio Management by identifying which business application requires focus and attention. These dashboards require the APM Analyst (sn_apm.apm_analyst) role.
To view the Application 360 dashboard, navigate to Application Portfolio Management > Application Portfolio Analysis > Application 360. You can also navigate to this dashboard directly from a business application record, using the Application 360 button.
To view the Analyze dashboard, navigate to Application Portfolio Management > Application Portfolio Analysis > Analyze. Select the tabs below to view the reports available on these dashboards.
A selection of reports generated in the APM module are also available to export to Microsoft PowerPoint for use in presentations or distribution outside of the platform. This allows for content delivery to groups without access to ServiceNow without the manual data collection and formatting previously needed.
The Export to PowerPoint feature in APM uses the Export to PowerPoint for Application Portfolio Management plugin (com.snc.apm_ppt_export). This plugin depends on the base plugin Export to PowerPoint (com.snc.sn_ppt_export). Ensure that both APM and PowerPoint plugins are installed to use the Export to PowerPoint feature in APM.
Remember, these reports are entirely dependent on the underlying data, so it is important to ensure records for applications and capabilities are filled out completely and kept current.
To navigate to these reports, go to All > Application Portfolio Management > Application Portfolio Analysis > Export to PowerPoint for APM.
From there, you will be able to select a template from the drop-down list. The APM Report template is out-of-the-box, but there is functionality to create custom templates as well.
This concludes the study guide and notes. Good luck on your exam! Feel free to email us at servicenowresource@gmail.com to discuss the exam, updates to this guide, or anything else!
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