Setting up specifications and product offerings
By creating and publishing versioned specifications and product offerings in a technical product catalog, your customers can order up-to-date versions of the products or services that they require. Your product catalog manager can create versions of the published specifications and product offerings with the required enhancements to support your customer's business, marketing, manufacturing, or operational changes.
Overview of product offerings with specifications
As a product catalog manager, you set up product offerings in a technical product catalog. A product offering contains the product description, pricing, eligibility, and product options. You use a product catalog to group your product offerings so that your customers can order the products or services that they want. Only published product offerings can be added to customer contracts.
The relationship between product offerings and the product, service, and resource specification determine how a product is fulfilled. Each product offering has the following components:
-
Product specification
A product specification defines the various aspects of a product including the following:
- All the specification characteristic options that are available for a product, and how they should be fulfilled.
- Various categories of information, such as the brand, cost, terms and conditions, and product-related materials, which include product visuals. Product specifications are customer-facing and are added to product offerings.
- Its relationship to other product, service, and resource specifications, and how a customer order of a product offering is delivered.
-
Service specification
A service specification defines a service, and the technical information of that service, including the following:
- All the specification characteristic options that are available for a service, and how they should be fulfilled.
- Various categories of information, including the cost, terms and conditions, and service-related materials. These resources include the service-related visuals and implementation guides. Service specifications can be customer-facing or resource-facing.
- Its relationship to other product, service, and resource specifications.
-
Resource specification
A resource specification defines the technical information for a resource, including the following:
- All the specification characteristic options that are available for a resource, and how they should be fulfilled.
- Various categories of information, such as the manufacture, model, and brand-related information about a resource, including the resource visuals and activation guides. Resource specifications are not customer-facing.
- Its relationship to other product, service, and resource specifications. You can enable the product and service delivery by using the required resource.
-
Create specification characteristics
Define characteristics for a product, service, or resource specification. -
Create specification relationships, quantity mapping, and decomposition rules for Order Management
Create the specification relationships and optional decomposition rules that define the associations between the product, service, and resource specifications for a product that you offer. These relationships impact how an order is fulfilled for a customer. -
Updating specification versions
Enterprises frequently create and update new versions of product and service specifications. When these changes occur, it's important to update the existing product specification in ServiceNow®. Failure to update the product specifications can lead to difficulties with MACD (Modify, Add, Change, Delete) operation when orders enter fulfillment. -
Validating product offerings before publishing
Extended life cycle states add validation stages before publication, so you can assemble and review catalog hierarchies without publishing unfinished records. -
Releasing product offerings by distribution channel
Channel-specific availability lets you release a published product offering to different distribution channels on different dates. Use channel overrides to coordinate phased rollouts instead of launching everywhere at once.
Parent Topic:Configuring product offerings and catalogs
---
title: Setting up specifications and product offerings
description: By creating and publishing versioned specifications and product offerings in a technical product catalog, your customers can order up-to-date versions of the products or services that they require. Your product catalog manager can create versions of the published specifications and product offerings with the required enhancements to support your customer's business, marketing, manufacturing, or operational changes.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/order-management/order-mgt-product-catalog.html
release: australia
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 2
breadcrumb: [Configuring product offerings and catalogs, Lead-to-cash foundation apps, Configure, Sales Customer Relationship Management]
---
# Setting up specifications and product offerings
By creating and publishing versioned specifications and product offerings in a technical product catalog, your customers can order up-to-date versions of the products or services that they require. Your product catalog manager can create versions of the published specifications and product offerings with the required enhancements to support your customer's business, marketing, manufacturing, or operational changes.
## Overview of product offerings with specifications
As a product catalog manager, you set up product offerings in a technical product catalog. A product offering contains the product description, pricing, eligibility, and product options. You use a product catalog to group your product offerings so that your customers can order the products or services that they want. Only published product offerings can be added to customer contracts.
The relationship between product offerings and the product, service, and resource specification determine how a product is fulfilled. Each product offering has the following components:
- **Product specification**
A product specification defines the various aspects of a product including the following:
- All the specification characteristic options that are available for a product, and how they should be fulfilled.
- Various categories of information, such as the brand, cost, terms and conditions, and product-related materials, which include product visuals. Product specifications are customer-facing and are added to product offerings.
- Its relationship to other product, service, and resource specifications, and how a customer order of a product offering is delivered.
- **Service specification**
A service specification defines a service, and the technical information of that service, including the following:
- All the specification characteristic options that are available for a service, and how they should be fulfilled.
- Various categories of information, including the cost, terms and conditions, and service-related materials. These resources include the service-related visuals and implementation guides. Service specifications can be customer-facing or resource-facing.
- Its relationship to other product, service, and resource specifications.
- **Resource specification**
A resource specification defines the technical information for a resource, including the following:
- All the specification characteristic options that are available for a resource, and how they should be fulfilled.
- Various categories of information, such as the manufacture, model, and brand-related information about a resource, including the resource visuals and activation guides. Resource specifications are not customer-facing.
- Its relationship to other product, service, and resource specifications. You can enable the product and service delivery by using the required resource.
- **[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/order-mgt-characteristics.md](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/order-mgt-characteristics.md)**
- **[Create specification characteristics](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/create-specification-characteristic.md)**
Define characteristics for a product, service, or resource specification.
- **[Create specification relationships, quantity mapping, and decomposition rules for Order Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/order-mgt-specification-rels.md)**
Create the specification relationships and optional decomposition rules that define the associations between the product, service, and resource specifications for a product that you offer. These relationships impact how an order is fulfilled for a customer.
- **[Updating specification versions](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/som-specification-version-update.md)**
Enterprises frequently create and update new versions of product and service specifications. When these changes occur, it's important to update the existing product specification in ServiceNow®. Failure to update the product specifications can lead to difficulties with MACD \(Modify, Add, Change, Delete\) operation when orders enter fulfillment.
- **[Validating product offerings before publishing](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/extended-product-lifecycle-states.md)**
Extended life cycle states add validation stages before publication, so you can assemble and review catalog hierarchies without publishing unfinished records.
- **[Releasing product offerings by distribution channel](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/channel-specific-availability.md)**
Channel-specific availability lets you release a published product offering to different distribution channels on different dates. Use channel overrides to coordinate phased rollouts instead of launching everywhere at once.
**Parent Topic:**[Configuring product offerings and catalogs](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/som-managing-product-catalogs.md)
| title | Setting up specifications and product offerings |
| description | By creating and publishing versioned specifications and product offerings in a technical product catalog, your customers can order up-to-date versions of the products or services that they require. Your product catalog manager can create versions of the published specifications and product offerings with the required enhancements to support your customer's business, marketing, manufacturing, or operational changes. |
| locale | en-US |
| canonical_url | https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/order-management/order-mgt-product-catalog.html |
| release | australia |
| topic_type | concept |
| last_updated | 2026-09-10 |
| reading_time_minutes | 2 |
| breadcrumb | Configuring product offerings and catalogsLead-to-cash foundation appsConfigureSales Customer Relationship Management |