Whether you are delivering IT services to a large enterprise-level user community or small groups of independent users, the service catalog plays a critical role by acting as the common interface for users to access the products and services required to ensure smooth and timely delivery of products and services. The user-facing service catalog is the go-to place for IT service-related information. Once the service catalog is built, tested, validated, and strategically aligned with business goals, pilot groups also known as focus groups can be developed and engaged to ensure that the planned catalog effectively serves the needs of the organization. Only what is measured can be addressed, so identifying what and how to measure are critical to achieving clarity around how well the service catalog is performing. Providing multiple channels and methods of interaction—such as email, web, and mobile—allows the user to quickly communicate with those fulfilling the requests. It would be disappointing to present services to users that didn’t work and didn’t deliver the capabilities required for them to be productive. In the end, presenting a well-thought-out service catalog, which is strategically aligned with the goals of the organization, allows for the realization of value not only to leadership, but also to the user community who benefits the most from the service catalog. One tool that offers all of this is BMC Digital Workplace. Is Doing a Service Catalog Worth the Effort? ITIL Strategy, Their company role and function do not have a need for a virtual server so should they request one, it would likely be for a purpose outside their area of responsibility – opening the company up to risk or unmonitored cost. Download This Template. Bundling these services together to deliver a specific outcome, allows for that seamless experience that customers are craving. We developed our Service Catalog workshop to address this very pain point. Additionally, well-designed and consistently applied categorizations provide reporting metrics that are easily interpreted. Use of this site signifies your acceptance of BMC’s, Top 5 ITSM Books: What You Should Be Reading, ITIL® for Startups and SMBs: Getting Started, CMMI: An Introduction to Capability Maturity Model Integration. Lastly, to further simplify the service catalog, spend time on bundling services. You need to gradually work through all of the legacy service delivery methods, from simple to complex looking to identify what services are most frequently requested. ©Copyright 2005-2021 BMC Software, Inc. How to make your Service Catalog actionable; 4. This means providing the capability to report issues and provide feedback. These postings are my own and do not necessarily represent BMC's position, strategies, or opinion. Enabling rapid access to products and services that are not only easy to find and request but also are designed to be easily fulfilled will move the organization towards realizing a digital workplace through self-service. Agree on a review process . Each catalog item can have a unique workflow and business rules with built‑in automation. ServiceNow Partner, IT Service Catalogue. Overall, it’s important to outline what needs to be presented to management and when to demonstrate the value of the time and effort put into the service catalog has been realized. The best way to do that is through having a thoughtful and intuitive service catalog. Jun 27, 2007 By Mike Drapeau. Understanding what the customer wants is a key aspect to planning. The best practice for building each service that will be offered is to take all of the information gathered from service owners and other stakeholders and use the information to build out the service. Plan customer needs for a service catalog, Identify your customers and service providers, Identify what services will be provided in the service catalog, Use the proper tools to build the service catalog, Most and least commonly requested services, The number of unique visitors to the catalog, The number of services delivered on time and delayed services based on established service level agreements (SLAs), Correlation between user requests to the catalog and those calling the service desk, Cost of delivering services to users (before and after the service catalog launch). Developing measurements, tracking, and reporting on them are accomplished in a manner similar to how the service catalog was defined and built. Now that the catalog is built, it’s time to present it to a small group of users to gauge the level of acceptance and adoption. I recommend you start with categorizing services and applying keywords to facilitate easily navigating to or searching for the appropriate service. It is the one-stop shop to fulfill your users’ needs. Service Now, About 80% of our customers start this way, and many of them have achieved their service catalog aims affordably and quickly through our 2 Week Service Catalog Strategy and Roadmap Engagement. Developing a service catalog is an exercise in good... 2) Define security and access permissions. Performing the analysis and then updating service delivery methods allows an organization to streamline the delivery process, which ultimately reduces costs and improves resource allocation. In general, a communication plan will state the goals of the project, have executive sponsorship, and outline communication channels to be used and how to send a solid message for each channel. As all 24×7 organizations know, on-demand access to resources is critical and the focal point for those services is the service catalog. Aligning the service catalog project goals with those of the business assures leadership that the outcomes are strategically aligned and will be in the best interest of the organization. What’s more, after all the work is done, it is much easier to review and score technology choices and potential service providers for your planned project. IT Service Catalog, The next communication should describe the benefits of the catalog, which will start generating positive anticipation around the service catalog. News and analysis for IT professionals. If you attempt to build out your solution without, , an IT consulting firm helping medium to enterprise public and private sector organizations to dramatically transform their IT operations. An engaged focus group will also help drive user acceptance and organizational change in a positive way. And because the tool is so intuitive, after building just a few services from a prioritized list to become familiar with the process, the remaining services could be built in a very short time. If a new employee has to request multiple services from several different locations to get the resources required to be productive, what should be a great user experience is reduced to a journey in frustration. This is the first step -- find out exactly … You can streamline workflows, create a better customer experience, and build a robust—and flexible—catalog structure. By allowing the business analyst to step into the role that was once the domain of a developer, the tool establishes an immediate cost savings. How to build a service catalog Planning a Service Catalog Project? What differentiates a proper tool isn’t just the way it delivers services to the end user, but how it’s intuitive for the business analyst to build services. Improving your customers’ experience and your provisioning processes is often top of mind, so we created step-by-step guidance to help you build a spectacular service catalog design, governance, and maintenance process. The owner will act as the single point of contact related to their particular services. The concept of entitlements can also be extended to services from multiple catalogs. And, all the effort is worth it ahead of Step 5: Define your start. Why you need a Service Catalog; 2. Service Catalog Template Download it here. On a technical level, this entails bringing services online within the tool by publishing them, enabling the links to the catalog so that end users can reach the services, and finally communicating to your users that the catalog is open for business. Creating your catalog manually consists of copying and pasting all data, piece by piece, from your data source into your document. Define the user interface elements for the portal when deploying the managed application. Understanding what it takes to deliver a service as well as how long it takes and what it costs need to be compiled into creating Service Level Targets for the organization. The service catalog has two audiences—customers and the business. Plus, an end user should expect the same consumer-like experience that they have with online shopping within the service catalog. The content you'll need before you make the catalog includes images of the … 3) Simplify the search process. The first step for building a data catalog is collecting the data’s metadata. You wouldn't run a restaurant without a menu - don't run your IT organization without a Service Catalog. Some service delivery aspects can have service level targets that are automated. From my experience developing these for clients, it comes down to outlining the details in seven key areas from a customer focused perspective: Understanding what the customer wants is a key aspect to planning. Ask These Questions to Succeed; Is Doing a Service Catalog Worth the Effort? YES! There are several layers of detail that need to be addressed to effectively identify the final services that will be made available in the service catalog. Understanding who your customers are and what services they will consume is a fundamental step in building the service catalog. Now that we know who will request and who will deliver the services, we can focus on identifying what services the catalog offers. Some service delivery aspects can have service level targets that are easily interpreted the surface multi‑step for. 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