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CIS-ITSM exam blueprint, explained

Certified Implementation Specialist - IT Service Management

ServiceNow's blueprint lists what the exam tests and how much each area counts. This page restates it in plain language, with the domains ordered as published and every objective as a checklist.

Official source: KB0011560, updated January 2026. Open the official CIS-ITSM blueprint

The original is a ServiceNow University knowledge article and may ask you to sign in to Now Learning. If anything here disagrees with it, the official blueprint wins.

At a glance

Domains
6
Heaviest domains
Incident Management, Change Management and Service Catalog and Request Management (25% each)
Top two domains
50% of the exam
Objectives listed
11+

Where the marks are

Each domain's share of the exam, and what that means for every 10 hours you study.

DomainWeightOf every 10 study hours
1. Incident Management
25%
2 h 30 min
2. Problem Management
15%
1 h 30 min
3. Change Management
25%
2 h 30 min
4. Service Portfolio Management
5%
30 min
5. Service Catalog and Request Management
25%
2 h 30 min
6. Configuration Management Database
5%
30 min

Weights as published in KB0011560. The study-time column only applies the weight; spend more on domains you're weaker in.

What each domain covers

The blueprint's objectives for each domain. Tick them off as you can explain and do each one in a Personal Developer Instance.

Domain 4 · Service Portfolio Management

5% of the exam

Our transcription doesn't list separate objectives for this domain. See the official blueprint for its detail.

Docs: Service Portfolio Management

Domain 5 · Service Catalog and Request Management

25% of the exam
  • Architecture
  • Scoping and Requirements
  • Configuration
  • Integrations
Docs: Service Catalog

Domain 6 · Configuration Management Database

5% of the exam

Our transcription doesn't list separate objectives for this domain. See the official blueprint for its detail.

Docs: CMDB

Some of our CIS-ITSM practice questions are still organised by an older topic list, so not every domain above links to matching practice yet. All 134 questions are on the CIS-ITSM page.

Before you book

  • Prerequisites: CIS – Data Foundations (CMDB and CSDM) is a mandatory prerequisite for CIS-ITSM.
  • Exam fee: $450.
  • Passing score: ServiceNow does not publish the cut score, and the official exam blueprint says it is not always 70%.
  • Booking, retake waits and exam format are covered on the CIS-ITSM page.

Courses the blueprint points to

Recommended on the blueprint

The blueprint lists these as recommended preparation.

Additional resources on the blueprint

Listed as further reading, not core preparation.

  • CSDM Fundamentals
  • Knowledge Management Fundamentals
  • Knowledge Management Implementation
  • Major Incident Management Fundamentals
  • Major Incident Management Implementation
  • Scripting in ServiceNow Fundamentals
  • Employee Center Essentials
  • ITSM Implementation Simulator

Also on the Now Learning credential path

Optional practice listed on the credential path, not in the blueprint.

Courses without a link are named in the blueprint but we haven't recorded a course URL for them; search for them in Now Learning.

How to use this blueprint

  1. Go through the objectives above and mark each one: done for real, only read about, or new.
  2. Start where heavy weight meets the most “new” marks. Incident Management, Change Management and Service Catalog and Request Management are 25% each.
  3. Build each objective in a Personal Developer Instance rather than only reading about it.
  4. Use practice questions to find weak domains, then go back to those objectives and their documentation.

Keep going