Introduction to Service Management Flashcards
What is a service?
A service is a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating the outcomes customers want to achieve.
What is an outcome?
An outcome is the result of carrying out an activity, following a process, delivering a service, etc. (It can stand for intended results, as well as actual results).
What is an IT service? How is it different from a generic service?
An IT service is a service delivered by an IT service provider, and is made up of a combination of Information Technology, people, and processes.
Why are services so valuable, over goods?
A service, unlike a good, is divorced from the risks and costs that can come from owning a good.
What are customer-facing services? What forms are there?
Customer-facing services are services that can be seen by the customer? There are three forms:
- Internal Customer-Facing: An IT service that directly supports a process managed by another business unit.
- External Customer-Facing: An IT service that is directly provided to an external customer.
- Supporting: A supporting service is not used directly by the business, but is required by the service provider to deliver customer-facing services (ex. A backup service).
Why do we differentiate between internal and external customer-facing services?
We differentiate between internal and external customer-facing services because we want to be able to distinguish between services that support an internal business activity, and those that actually achieve business outcomes/goals. The difference makes a big deal in the visible contribution to the business’s goals.
What are the three categories that all services, internal or external, can be categorized into?
Core Services - Core services deliver the basic outcomes that the customer desires. These are what the customer is willing to pay money for.
Enabling Services - Enabling services are the services necessary to deliver a core service. They’re not offered to the customer directly, but in a way are still used by them.
Enhancing Services - Enhancing services are services that add on to a core service to make it more attractive to the customer. They don’t fulfill customer requirements, but instead enhance the experience.
What is a service package?
A service package is a collection of two or more services that have been combined to offer a solution to a specific type of customer/business need. A package can contain any number of the three forms of service, as well as other service packages.
Define how the value of a service is determined.
The value of a service is determined by the level to which the service meets a customer’s expectations, or allows them to achieve their business goals. This means the value of a service can vary from customer to customer.
When does a service contribute value to an organization?
A service only contributes value to an organization when its value is perceived to be higher than the cost of obtaining it. That is, the cost to use the service is outweighed by the benefit of using it.
What are the two factors that make up a service’s value?
Utility - What the customer gets from the service (also known as “fitness for purpose”). This is the functionality of the product or service in meeting a particular need, or to put it simply, what it does.
Warranty - How the service is delivered (also known as “fitness for use”). This is the assurance that the service will meet its agreed requirements. It refers to the service’s availability, continuity, and security, or to put it simply, how it’s delivered.
What is a service asset?
A service asset is any resource or capability used by a service provider to deliver services to a customer.
What is a resource?
A resource is a generic term for anything that might help to deliver an IT service. This could include things like infrastructure, people, money, and so on. Resources are considered assets of their organization. Duh.
What is a capability?
A capability is the ability to carry out an activity. Capabilities are very nebulous, but are possessed by people, processes, applications, other services, etc. Capabilities are the intangible assets of an organization, and are generally knowledge-intensive, experience-driven, information-based, and rooted in the organization’s people, processes, and technologies (they are the result of these).
Which is harder for other organizations to duplicate, resources or capabilities? Why is that?
It is much harder for organizations to duplicate capabilities. Capabilities are developed over time, through the acquisition and use of resources.
What are some examples of resources?
Some examples of resources would be things like capital, infrastructure, applications, information, and people (as in, the number of).
What are some examples of capabilities?
Some examples of capabilities are management, organization & structure, processes, knowledge, and people (as in, experience, skills, relationships).
What is a Service Design Package?
A service design package is a set of documents (or just one document) that defines all aspects of a service and its requirements through its entire lifecycle.
What is an Operational Level Agreement?
An operational level agreement is an agreement that is necessary to deliver the quality of service agreed to in the service level agreement.
What are the main goals of service management?
The main goals of service management are to:
- Understand the services the organization is providing.
- Ensure the services actually facilitate the outcomes the customers want.
- Understand the value of their services to the customer.
- Understand and manage the costs and risks associated with the services.
What is the “core” of service management?
The heart of service management is exploiting an organization’s resources, through the use of its capabilities, into services. It’s alchemy!
What does it take to be a stakeholder?
Stakeholders are anyone that has an interest in an organization, project, service, what have you.
What is a service provider?
A service provider is an organization supplying one or more services to customers, be they internal or external. Very simple.
What are the three types of service providers?
Type I - Internal Service Provider: An internal service provider is one that is embedded within a business unit.
Type II - Shared Services Unit: A shared services unit is an internal service provider that provides IT services to multiple business units.
Type III - External Service Provider: Guess. Just guess.
What is a customer?
A customer is anyone who buys goods or services. This could be anyone from a person to a corporation.
How is a customer of an IT service provider different from a standard customer?
In IT service provision, a customer is the person who defines and agrees to service level targets.
How is an internal customer different from an external one?
When payment is due, an internal customer does not use actual revenue to pay for services, but some form of internal transaction within the organization’s accounting system.
What is a user?
A user is a person who uses a service on a day-to-day basis. Not all customers are users, and not all users are customers. It’s important to consider the needs & happiness of the customer as well as the user.
What is a supplier?
A supplier is a third party responsible for supplying goods or services that are required to deliver a service.
What is a process?
A process is a structured set of activities designed to accomplish a specific task or objective. It takes one or more inputs, and changes them into pre-defined outputs.
How is a process deemed “effective”?
A process is considered effective when it can be repeated, measured, and managed, and when its output conforms to the process’s standards.
What are the four main characteristics of a process?
Measurability - The ability to measure the process in a relevant manner, in terms of performance. Things looked at will be cost, quality, and so on.
Specific Results - All processes exist to deliver a specific result.
Customers - Every process delivers its primary results to a customer (or other stakeholder), and it must meet their expectations.
Responsiveness to Specific Triggers - All processes are “kicked off” by a specific trigger.
What is a function?
A function is a team or group of people, and the tools or other resources they use to carry out one or more processes or activities. They can be broken apart and performed by several departments/teams/group/whatever, or one group can perform several functions.
What is a role?
A role is a set of responsibilities, activities, and authorities assigned to a person or team. A role is defined in a process or a function.
What are the key attributes that are most important for a role-holder?
A role-holder must be aware of the business’s objectives and how IT supports them, they must have good customer service skills, and have the skills & knowledge necessary to fill the role, and the knowledge & willingness to stick to best practice.
What does RACI stand for? What is a RACI authority matrix?
Responsible - The person or people responsible for getting things done.
Accountable - The person who has ownership of quality and the end result. Only one person can be accountable for each task.
Consulted - The people who are consulted and whose opinions are sought.
Informed - The people who are kept up to date on progress.
A RACI authority matrix is used to define roles and responsibilities in relation to processes and activities.
What is a service owner?
A service owner is the person who is accountable for a specific service within an organization, regardless of where the “underpinning technology components” and such reside.
What is a service owner responsible for?
A service owner is to be the “face” of the service. They should understand it, and work with the customers in order to represent them to the service and ensure it meets their requirements, improve it as needed, etc. They are accountable for it.
What is a process owner?
A process owner is the person who is accountable for ensuring that a process is “fit for purpose” (it’s utility). They are often also the process manager. Similar to the service owner, the process owner is accountable for their process.
What is a process owner responsible for?
The process owner is to be the person who manages the process and its metrics, its strategy, and its documentation. They aid in the process design and improvements.. They ensure those who are running the process are qualified and trained.
What is a process manager?
A process manager is the person accountable for the operational management of a process. There can be several of these.
What is a process manager responsible for?
A process manager is to work with the process owner on planning and coordinating process activities. They act as managers, appointing people to roles, monitoring the process, identifying areas for improvement (and making those improvements).
What is a practice practitioner?
A practice practitioner is the poor sod who carries out the process. Sometimes, this is combined with the process manager.
What is a process practitioner responsible for?
Obviously, performing the activities of a process, understanding how they play in to the completion of said process, and masking sure they do their jobs right.
What is a practice?
A practice is a way of working, or a way in which work must be done.
What is a best practice?
A best practice is a practice that has been verified as the most effective of its kind, having been verified by several organizations.
Why do we want to be able to tie an internal service to an external one?
We want to be able to tie an internal service to an external one in order to understand the internal service’s contribution to business outcomes.
Define core services.
Core services are those that deliver the basic outcomes desired by the customer. Basically, services that the customer is willing to pay for.
Define enabling service.
An enabling service is a service that is required to deliver a core service. They are usually not visible to customers, and even if they are, they’re not “purchasable”.
Define enhancing service.
An enhancing service is one that adds to a core service to make it more attractive to customers.
What is a service package?
A service package is a collection of two or more services that have been combined to offer a solution to a specific type of customer need, or to underpin specific business outcomes.
A service package can consist of a combination of core services, enabling services, enhancing services, and OTHER SERVICE PACKAGES.
Why are service packages useful?
Service packages allow for services to be pre-customized for a specific type of customer, changing components of the package or service levels of components to fit their needs.
What is an example or two of service packages?
Service packages can be seen in things like “business-class” seats in an airline, or VIP-programs at Disney world.
Where does the value of a service come from?
The value of a service comes from what it enables the customer to do; services aren’t intrinsically valued, like physical goods are.
