Aligning Sold Products and Install Base Items with CMDB

In CSM, modelling sold products, install base items, and product models — and integrating them into CMDB — can be a complicated activity. This post walks through how to do it properly.

I'll work with AD Services, a fictional provider of ITSM SaaS, to illustrate the full model.

The Provider Model

AD Services offers two IT service management services: Standard and Pro. Every solution depends on two application services: a production environment and a non-production environment. AD Services sells one product model: the ITSM Z20021 Acc build.

Here's how the CMDB model looks:

• One service in cmdb_ci_service
• Two service offerings (Pro and Standard), both with the same model ID: ITSM Z20021 Acc build
• Application services in cmdb_ci_service_auto
• All relationships between CMDB classes aligned with CSDM

The Customer Scenario

AD Services sold its ITSM Pro SaaS solution to Star Tech Services and provisioned two instances for them. We want to enable AD Services to support Star Tech Services cases.

Creating the Sold Product

A sold product is a record used to track products or services sold to an account or consumer.

Since Star Tech Services purchased the ITSM Z20021 Acc build, we need one sold product. Navigate to the Sold Product module, click New, and populate:

• Name
• Product
• Account
• Contact

Once saved, the Service Offering field will auto-populate.

Creating Install Base Items

An install base item represents a product instance that has been configured for a customer. Since we have a PROD and a non-PROD environment, we need two separate install base items.

Navigate to the Install Base Item module, click New, and populate:

• Name
• Product
• CI (the application service from CMDB)
• Account
• Contact

After creating each install base item, scroll down to the Sold Product related list and click Edit to connect the sold product to the install base item.

The Final Model

The complete model shows how CMDB, Sold Product, and Install Base Item interact:

• Product Model (cmdb_model) → referenced by Service Offering
• Service Offering → referenced by Sold Product
• Sold Product → linked to Install Base Items (one per provisioned instance)
• Install Base Items → linked to Application Services in CMDB (cmdb_ci_service_auto)
• Application Services → linked to the parent Service (cmdb_ci_service)

This alignment ensures that when Star Tech Services raises a case, AD Services can trace it all the way from the case, through the sold product, to the specific application service instance in CMDB — giving full visibility for support.