Mapping strategy
What this section is for
Section titled “What this section is for”You already have tools: a CMDB, FinOps, architecture frameworks, compliance names. Integrations in 7lens means drawing a map between those tools and your shared 7lens picture — not copying every outside model into 7lens.
Analogy: keep one address book for your company, then sticky notes that say “in Tool X this person is called Y.” When you change tools, you change the sticky notes — not the address book.
Strategic purpose
Section titled “Strategic purpose”7lens is meant to be your organization’s shared semantic layer. You define core concepts once. Outside frameworks and tools map to those concepts.
When you swap a CMDB or FinOps platform, only the mapping changes. The core company definition does not.
That is the Lock-In Free idea: own your company meanings; integrate any tool; avoid rebuilding the company inside each vendor tool.
Priorities that steer integrations:
- Align with DMTF CIM as an information-model north star (alignment goal, not claimed full compliance).
- Keep the 7lens data model as product truth for what exists in the shared picture.
- Use OSM (Open Service Catalog Model) to scale technology catalogs into industry-standard inventories — product sources use OSM for this role.
What you will find here
Section titled “What you will find here”| Subsection | Contents |
|---|---|
| Frameworks & Tools | Architecture, service-management, FinOps, and observability items from the allowed catalogue. ServiceNow is a full guide; others are short placeholders. |
| Compliance & Regulation | Compliance and regulation items from the same catalogue — placeholders in this iteration. |
Pages listed here come from the 7lens Groups / contracts catalogue and the OSM repository. Names that appear only in marketing and not in that catalogue are not listed.
Framework Mappings in the model
Section titled “Framework Mappings in the model”Framework Mappings relate 7lens concepts to external frameworks (for example TBM, TOGAF, ISO, NIST, GDPR, DORA, ServiceNow CSDM).
They are global:
- Platform use of 7lens: mappings are defined in Groups; Technology and Business inherit those definitions.
- OSM-only use: mappings are defined directly in the Technology definition.
Both rules come from the canonical data model. Choose the path that matches how 7lens is being used; do not invent a third location.
Selecting a framework records intent. It does not certify compliance.
Layers that must stay distinct
Section titled “Layers that must stay distinct”- Canonical core — 7lens entities and validation rules.
- Customer extensions — customer-specific concepts that do not redefine the core.
- Framework extensions and mappings — framework-specific concepts plus explicit mappings (exact, broader, narrower, or lossy).
- Integration and synchronization — identity matching, field ownership, conflict resolution, deletion behaviour, and version compatibility when another platform also stores data.
What mappings must not do
Section titled “What mappings must not do”- Label a mapping exact merely because two concepts have similar names.
- Silently redefine a canonical attribute or weaken a canonical validation rule.
- Force every external framework entity into the four core parts.
- Expand the Application relationship vocabulary solely to match another framework (
part_ofanddepends_onremain the only core Application-to-Application types). - Invent Inventory or Asset APIs — the Inventory extension is not implemented in the current product surface.