This text provides the context necessary for understanding fundamental concepts of IT Service Management and how they are combined to support a robust and comprehensive Service Catalog.
Standards and other formal models of IT Service Management (ITSM) are awash in abstract, disconnected, and occasionally contradictory definitions for the concepts they rely upon. ITSM “as practiced” at strategic and tactical levels can be understood as a unified whole by placing it within a tangible context that illustrates how key principles, terms, and concepts fit together pragmatically.
Service Offerings, Services, and Service Categories
Service Offerings are specific combinations of information technology (IT) resources, products, and activities that help us complete various tasks. We rely on Service Offerings every day, in fact, most of the things that come to mind when we think about IT – computer hardware and devices, software applications and their licenses, Wi-Fi networks, cell phone plans, email, social media, and so on – are part of a Service Offering.
The dozens of Service Offerings we have access to at work are organized into a smaller number of Services by grouping together Offerings with related functionality or that help us achieve similar outcomes. The name we use for a Service is purposefully generic and reflects the general nature of the different Service Offerings it contains. When Offerings have functionality that could be associated with more than one Service, it is assigned to the one that best reflects how most people use the Offering.
Similarly, all the different Services are organized into a smaller number of Service Categories by grouping together Services associated with the same general area of information technology. Service Categories have generic names indicating a broad area of IT, and separate Services associated with one IT domain from those associated with another. When Services could conceivably belong to more than one Category, it is assigned to the one that best corresponds to people’s perceptions of the Service.
Service Providers, Users, and Service Relationships
A Service Provider is a group of people who work together and commit resources to make Service Offerings available. Offerings don’t spontaneously emerge from a primordial stew of random technologies, the Service Provider must first carefully design, plan, and build them before making them available, and then commit sufficient resources on an ongoing basis to maintain, support, and update them. A Service Provider is responsible for every one of their group’s Service Offerings, no matter what Services or Service Categories they fall under.
Users are the individuals and groups that utilize a Provider’s Service Offerings. Without Users who want or need an Offering, its Provider would have no reason to continue making it available. Good Service Providers focus on Users and keep their needs in mind when managing current Offerings, planning new ones, or deciding whether to modify or discontinue an Offering.
A Service Relationship refers to the ongoing interaction between a User and a Service Provider surrounding a specific Service Offering. Service Relationships are cooperative in nature and help balance the demands on Users and Providers to promote a win-win environment.
Service Catalogs and Service Catalog Portal
A Service Catalog brings together all the different Service Offerings, Services, and Service Categories to form a complete picture of the information technology capabilities an organization makes available to Users. The Service Catalog is organized into a three-tier hierarchy with broad Service Categories at the top, followed by Services, and finally Service Offerings.
Users explore the Service Catalog using a tool called a Service Catalog Portal, usually available as a website that parallels the Catalog’s hierarchy of Service Categories, Services, and Service Offerings. The Portal allows Users to navigate through the Catalog’s layers, so no one needs to know the exact name of a Service Offering or who the Service Provider is to find things they may be interested in. Service Catalog Portals are also searchable, allowing Users to locate Offerings based on keywords or desired features.
Service Offering Team, Owner, and Admin Roles
Every Service Offering is associated with a Service Offering Team, designated by the Service Provider, that coordinates and performs all the activities required for the Offering. The Service Offering Team consists of as many members as necessary but always includes two crucial roles that hold accountability and responsibility for the Offering.
The Service Offering Owner leads the Service Offering Team and is accountable for all aspects of their Service Offering, including operations, metrics and reporting, planning, and strategy. The Provider should assign an individual to this role, rather than a team or group.
The Primary Service Offering Admin is responsible for all aspects of their Service Offering, including leading day-to-day operations, performing technological and tactical work, supporting Users, assisting the Service Offering Owner with planning and strategy, and implementing changes to the Offering. Like the Offering Owner, the Provider should assign an individual to this role.
Additional members of the Service Offering Team are appointed as needed, most commonly to the Other Service Offering Admin role to assist the Primary Admin and function as “backup.” Although not a required role like the Offering Owner and Primary Admin, assigning one or more individuals to the Other Admin role is a good practice.