Reference Catalog: Best Practices

Creating Fact Sheets Using the Reference Catalog

To create fact sheets using the reference catalog, you can follow these best practices:

• Importing fact sheets from the catalog: When you start populating the inventory, select a group of catalog items for reference.
  • Business capabilities: Import business capability maps relevant for your industry. For instructions, see Importing Business Capabilities from the Reference Catalog.
  • Tech categories: Decide whether you want to adopt the TBM taxonomy for tech categories. Once decided, you can import TBM-based tech categories. For instructions, see Importing TBM-Based Tech Categories.
• Creating fact sheets manually: When creating application and IT component fact sheets manually, you receive recommendations for relevant catalog items. Selecting a recommendation establishes a link between the catalog item and the fact sheet as it’s created. Note that for IT components, the catalog provides linking recommendations only for customers using SAP LeanIX Technology Risk and Compliance.
• Using discovery solutions and integrations: When using integrations and discovery solutions such as ServiceNow, SAP Landscape Discovery, and SaaS Discovery, created fact sheets are automatically linked to the catalog.

Linking Existing Fact Sheets to the Reference Catalog

You can link existing business capabilities, applications, and IT components to the reference catalog in bulk or individually.

To link multiple fact sheets to the catalog in bulk, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the inventory.
2. On the right-side pane, under Reference Catalog, select a fact sheet type.
3. On the reference catalog page, on the Unlinked tab, review and link multiple fact sheets in bulk. As a best practice, first, filter items with very high and high confidence levels and link them in bulk. After that, review the remaining items and link them individually.

To link an individual fact sheet to the catalog, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the fact sheet page.
2. On the right-side pane, under Reference Catalog, click Link Now.
3. On the reference catalog page, review suggested items, select an appropriate item, then click Link.

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Note

Providers and tech categories don’t have a direct connection to the catalog and can’t be linked manually. Within the context of the reference catalog, they’re treated as relations and are only created as related fact sheets when IT components or applications are linked to the catalog.

Ignored and Unlinked Fact Sheets

You can ignore a fact sheet if you don't want to link it to any catalog item. The fact sheet is moved to the Ignored tab. If needed, you can link ignored fact sheets to catalog items later.

Ignoring a fact sheet may be relevant if it’s not within the catalog’s scope. For example, the application or IT component is a proprietary product, and you don't expect the catalog to have information about it. This is especially relevant for self-built software. Currently, it is not possible to ignore business capabilities.

Unlinked fact sheets are fact sheets that are yet to be linked or ignored.

Reporting Missing Data

If certain items relevant to your organization are missing from the catalog, you can request that they be added. Our research team will assess the feasibility of including these items. The process to report missing data varies depending on the data type.

Business Capabilities

Business capabilities in the reference catalog are based on the SAP reference architecture, providing best-practice business capability maps for various industries. If certain items relevant for your organization are missing, submit a product idea to share your use case.

Applications

Before creating a request, review which applications are in scope and out of scope in Scope of Applications in the Reference Catalog. If certain applications relevant for your use case are missing from the catalog, you can request their addition. To learn more about how our research team prioritizes requests, see Provider Tiers and Response Times.

• If a certain application type is not within the catalog’s scope, submit a product idea to share your use case.
• If a specific application is missing, submit a ticket to SAP LeanIX Support. If you're an SAP customer, submit a request from the SAP for Me portal.

IT Components

Before creating a request, review which IT components are in scope and out of scope in Scope of IT Components in the Reference Catalog. If certain IT components relevant for your use case are missing from the catalog, you can request their addition. To learn more about how our research team prioritizes requests, see Provider Tiers and Response Times.

• If a certain IT component type is not within the catalog’s scope, submit a product idea to share your use case.
• If a specific IT component is missing, you can submit a request from the reference catalog page (for multiple items) or the fact sheet linking page (for a single item) using the Report Missing Data option. For detailed information, see Report Missing Data in Catalog Items. Make sure that your notifications are enabled to avoid missing any updates regarding the research status. If our research team requests additional information, provide it through the corresponding missing request form. Do not submit it in comments, as our research team will not receive this information.

Reporting a Mistake in Fact Sheet Metadata

If you notice a mistake in fact sheet metadata, you can report it to our research team for investigation and resolution. Here’s how you can report a mistake for different data types:

• Business capabilities, applications, and tech categories (including linked providers): Submit a ticket to SAP LeanIX Support. If you're an SAP customer, submit a request from the SAP for Me portal.
• IT components: You can report a mistake in fact sheet metadata from the reference catalog page (for multiple items) or the fact sheet linking page (for a single item) using the Report Missing Data option. For detailed information, see Report Missing Data in Catalog Items.