Service portfolio and business services
Quick answer
Model services properly so impact, cost and ownership questions have answers.
Key takeaways
- Business services are consumed, technical services are operated
- Application services carry the CI map used for impact
- Start with the top ten services, not the full catalogue
- Attach tickets to services early so reporting has history
Why services matter
Incidents and changes are attached to services. Without a service model you can report on tickets by group but never on impact to the business, which is the question executives actually ask.
Technical versus business services
A business service is what the organisation consumes, for example Payroll. A technical service is what IT operates, for example the database cluster behind it. Application services map the CIs that deliver a service, and are what Service Mapping builds.
Getting there
Service modelling fails when it tries to be complete on day one.
- Start with the ten services that carry the most business risk
- Give each a named owner and an availability target
- Attach incidents and changes to services from the beginning so data accumulates
- Use Service Mapping for the services where impact analysis genuinely pays back
Want to learn this properly?
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Check your understanding
Which service type is consumed by the business?
- A. Technical service
- B. Business service
- C. Application service
- D. Discovery service
Show answer
B. Business service
Business services represent what the organisation uses.
What makes impact analysis possible?
- A. SLA definitions
- B. CI relationships behind an application service
- C. Assignment rules
- D. Knowledge articles
Show answer
B. CI relationships behind an application service
Impact is calculated from the mapped CI relationships.