Key Concepts of Service Management
Service |
means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks |
Utility |
functionality offered by a product or service to meet a particular need. Utility can be summarized as ‘what the service does’ and can be used to determine whether a service is ‘fit for purpose’. To have utility, a service must either support the performance of the consumer or remove constraints from the consumer. Many services do both |
Warranty |
the assurance that a product or service will meet agreed requirements. Warranty can be summarized as ‘how the service performs’ and can be used to determine whether a service is ‘fit for use’. Warranty often relates to service levels aligned with the needs of service consumers. This may be based on a formal agreement, or it may be a marketing message or brand image. Warranty typically addresses such areas as the availability of the service, its capacity, levels of security and continuity. A service may be said to provide acceptable assurance, or ‘warranty’, if all defined and agreed conditions are met |
Customer |
person who defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption |
User |
person who uses services |
Sponsor |
person who authorizes budget for service consumption |
Service Management |
set of specialized organizational capabilities for enabling value for customers in the form of services |
Key Concepts of Creating Value with Services
Cost |
amount of money spent on a specific activity or resource |
Value |
the perceived benefits, usefulness and importance of something |
Organization |
person or a group of people that has its own functions with responsibilities, authorities and relationships to achieve its objectives |
Outcome |
what the customer/user actually wants to achieve; a result enabled by one or more outputs |
Output |
tangible or intangible deliverable of an activity |
Risk |
possible event causing difficulties, alternatively uncertainty of outcome |
Utility |
what the service does (fitness for Purpose) |
Warranty |
how well it does it (fitness for Use) |
Key Concepts of Service Relationships
Service offering |
may include goods, resources, actions |
Service relationship management |
cooperation on Service Provision, Service Consumption and Relationship Management |
Service provision |
activities performed to provide Services |
Service consumption |
activities performed to consume Services |
The ITIL Service Value System
Guiding Principles
Recommendations that guides an organization in all circumstances, regardless of changes in its goals strategies type of work or management structure. They are universal and enduring. |
Focus on value |
know who is being served |
Start where you are |
accurate data to allow decisions |
Progress iteratively with feedback |
smaller outputs completed sooner |
Collaborate and promote visibility |
make work visible |
Think and work holistically |
see the big picture e.g. on value |
Keep it simple and practical |
eliminate waste |
Optimize and automate |
optimize before automating |
The 4 Dimensions of Service Management
Organizations and people |
culture, structure, governance |
Information and technology |
for IT Services, information management is the primary means of delivering value |
Partners and suppliers |
differing levels of integration and formality across different sets of partners and suppliers |
Value streams and processes |
Value Streams - steps to create and deliver products and services to consumers. Processes - activities that transform inputs into outputs |
Service Value Chain
Plan |
ensure a shared understanding of the vision, current status and improvement direction for all four dimensions and all products and services across the organization |
Improve |
ensure continual improvement of products, services and practices across all value chain activities and the four dimensions of service management |
Engage |
provide a good understanding of stakeholder needs, transparency, and continual engagement and good relationships with all stakeholders |
Design & transition |
ensure that products and services continually meet stakeholder expectations for quality, costs and time-to-market |
Obtain/build |
ensure that service components are available when and where they are needed, and meet agreed specifications |
Deliver & support |
ensure that services are delivered and supported according to agreed specifications and stakeholders’ expectations |
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Service Value Streams
Service Value Streams are specific instances of the generic value chain
Service Value Streams are created to respond to particular situations, or to carry out a certain task
Service Value Streams therefore are specific combinations of activities and practices
Once designed, Service Value Streams should be continually improved |
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