RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER SERVICE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES
Service portfolio management
The service catalogue is part of the service portfolio that contains information about services that are currently delivered by the IT service provider or are ready to move into transition to live operation. In other words, they are services at
the stage in their service lifecycle where they will be of direct interest to customers.
Service catalogue management and service portfolio management must work
together to agree when and how services in the service pipeline will transfer into the service catalogue. This requires monitoring the status of the service through service design to be ready to update the service catalogue when the service is ready for transition to live operation. There will be similar considerations when the service is ready to be retired from live operation.
Service asset and configuration management
In organisations with a comprehensive configuration management database (CMDB), all parts of the service catalogue should be an integrated part of the CMDB, which would otherwise hold duplicate information on CIs and relationships already in the service catalogue. If services are each defined as a CI, as part of a hierarchy of services, it is possible to relate incidents and changes to services affected. It also provides information to capacity and availability management and assists service continuity management perform business impact analysis. It also provides a basis for service monitoring and reporting.
In organisations without a complete CMDB, the production of the service
catalogue can be a good starting point for its development.
Financial management
The service catalogue provides financial management with the information
required on service demand for modelling, decision-making and control. It not only enables improved budgeting and planning, but also supports comparative benchmarking against other providers.
It must be remembered that customers expect that all services in the business service catalogue are available for use and so, as soon as a service has moved into the service catalogue, it must be made available to customers who demand it.
Due diligence is necessary to ensure that the service is a complete product that can be fully supported. This includes technical feasibility, financial viability and operational capability. Financial management has a clear role in this activity.
Business relationship management
The business relationship management process defines the service-to-customer relationships and how the service meets customer needs.