One of the key features of CA Service Management 14.1 is to provide the ability to administer several tasks that are common to the integrated products from a single location.
A good example is tenant management. It is a common administrative task across all the products in the solution. So instead of managing tenants from individual product interfaces, you can manage them from the single interface. Each administrative and configuration task is a service offering that you can access from Unified Self-Service or from CA Service Catalog. The configurations you make are applied to all the installed products of the solution. Each service offering typically has a life cycle and has several phases, however by default, the administrative service offerings life cycle has no approvals.
A detailed list and usage help is available on the wiki
Below are couple of scenarios to keep in mind when using the Common Administration offerings:
Case 1: When you install a single capability:
When you install only one product/capability of the solution (ex: just CA Service Desk Manager), the common administration offerings are not valid. You must perform any administrative tasks through the respective product’s administration page.
Case 2: When you install a combination of products:
CA Service Desk Manager and CA Asset Portfolio Management: The common administration service offerings are available only when you install CA Service Catalog. In this scenario, you must use the respective product’s administration pages to perform any administrative tasks. For example, to create a role you must create separate roles in CA Service Desk Manager and CA Asset Portfolio Management.
CA Service Desk Manager and CA Service Catalog (or) CA Asset Portfolio Management and CA Service Catalog: You can use the administrative service offerings to perform administrative tasks. It is recommended that you install Unified Self-Service and access the administrative service offerings through the self-service user interface.
CA Service Desk Manager, CA Asset Portfolio Management, and CA Service Catalog: You can use the administrative service offerings to perform administrative tasks. It is recommended that you install Unified Self-Service and access the administrative service through the self-service user interface.