Make the connections clear.
Short explanations of the concepts behind day-to-day service work.
A conversation is not an incident
A person may contact the service desk several times about one incident. An agent owns the interaction; a specialist team owns the operational investigation. Keeping both records linked preserves context without forcing them into the same lifecycle. Closing the conversation should not silently resolve the technical issue.
Assets and configuration items: different questions
Asset records answer questions about custody, stock, purchase and repair. Configuration items answer questions about delivery context and relationships. The same piece of equipment may have both records, but independent modules let teams manage equipment without first modelling a complete configuration landscape.
Start with the service, then add the detail
A useful service model starts with clear services, ownership and commitments. Configuration relationships add value when the organisation can maintain them and use them in real work. ITSM Lite and CSM Full express different operating views; they should not be read as a ranking of organisational maturity.