Creating Service Catalog value
The value and placement of the Service Catalog within the service organization has been a focus of attention since the release of ITIL v3. This is probably due to the fact that ITIL v3 has a more service-focused approach to IT, and that Service Catalog Management was allocated its own Process. However, has separating Service Catalog Management from Service Portfolio Management created a less integrated approach to implementing a Service Catalog?
From Strategy to Design
The Service Catalog begins in the realm of Service Design, and is driven by the research and objectives formed during the Service Strategy when creating the Service Portfolio. ITIL version 3 suggests that, to develop a service-focussed culture, an IT Service Portfolio include a Service Catalog to maintain a centralized accurate set of information on services.
The Service Catalog provides business value as a centralized source of information that details IT services delivered to an organization, in line with business requirements gathered when defining the Service Strategy. It ensures the business can access an accurate and consistent picture of IT services, including their details and status. Being customer accessible, it outlines what services are available, how they are intended to be used, the business processes they support and the levels and quality of service a customer can expect.
As an extension of the Service Portfolio, the Service Catalog shares the Portfolio’s interfaces, dependencies and consistency. It brings value to seemingly isolated objects within the IT environment, by taking the disparate parts of an IT environment and maps them to the Services they support as part of the Service Catalog.
So why should the idea of a Service Catalog as a separate document ever be mentioned? Why further complicate a task that is already complex in itself, and add confusion by not considering the Service Catalog as simply an extension of Service Portfolio Management, which helps to simplify the thought processes and provides a vision of the big picture – not an isolated element.
LiveTime’s fully integrated approach to enabling a service-centric culture provides organizations with the facility to take Service Strategy through to Design, Transition and Operation by configuring Life Cycle States with relevant Management/Technician assignment and providing screen filters to access Service details as they transition from Strategy, Design to being Operational.
Working with an integrated Catalog
Recorded in the CMDB, all services and supporting components, including underpinning infrastructure, can be mapped to the Service Catalog. Accessible in the Customer Portal when Services are moved to “Customer Visible” states, customers can view the service offering and expectations, and easily request access or log issues against services.
All types of requests, including Service Requests, Incidents, Problems or Change Requests, logged against a Service are stored against the Service within the CMS. Also included are Knowledge Base Articles, FAQs and solutions to known issues, which combine to provide a wealth of information that is easily accessible when the Service Catalog is a fully integrated element of an organization’s Service Portfolio and CMS.