Service Catalog – Are you the Master or Slave?
Challenges of setting up a Service Catalog
For many IT organizations, setting up a Service Catalog requires them to think in a different way. Services become more about the business need than about the underpinning technology components. IT must talk to customers, and see services from a non-technical standpoint. This can be a challenge but one that must be overcome to get a meaningful Service Catalog in place. The first way this manifests is in defining services themselves. This must be understood, agreed and represent a business-defined view.
5 Tips for implementing a Service Catalog
1. Carry out a Service Catalog workshop.
a. Ask the right questions.
b. Involve your business customers.
c. Agree on the definition of a service.
d. Organize the information you already have.
2. List the dependencies each service has.
3. Decide usage parameters.
4. Start with a reasonable number of services first.
5. Make sure you know your requirements before investing in automation tools.
Sharon Taylor Webcast
Service Catalog the Business Case & ROI
Once business needs are clear and documented, begin defining the service value chain. This helps uncover the resource and capabilities [Service Assets] you have and those you may need to acquire. It is usually at this point that hidden benefits for shared services and service packages begin to emerge. Before engaging the business, spend some time visualizing the service value chain to build a basis to instill a communal perception.
Sharon Taylor White Paper
Brian Kerr talks about the Service Catalog as the shop window to the Business – link
Barclay Rae – Why bother with a Service Catalog? – link
Rod Bridgman gave a thought provoking presentation on Plan, Change & Run your Portfolio of Services from the Cloud. Skip to 24 minutes in – Link
There is an “interactive” session on the itSMF conference agenda, Tuesday 08th November entitled – All we need now is a Service Catalogue presented by Karen Brusch who is the chair of itSMF Service Level Management Special Interest Group. Can someone who is attending please ask Karen what the Service Catalogue and Portal component of the Cloud Architecture will look like. (Service Strategy Appendix C.4 Page 389)
