THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Question 1

The four dimensions are:

Answer 1

1. Organisations and people
2. Information and technology
3. Partners and suppliers
4. Value streams and processes

Question 2

Dimension 1: Organisations and people

Answer 2

“The complexity of organizations is growing, and it is important to ensure that the way an organization is structured and managed, as well as its roles, responsibilities, and systems of authority and communication, is well defined and supports its overall strategy and operating model.”

Question 3

Dimension 2: Information and technology

Answer 3

Organisations need to consider:
•What information is managed by the services
•What supporting information and knowledge are needed to deliver and manage the services
•How the information and knowledge assets will be protected, managed, archived and disposed of.

Question 4

Availability

Answer 4

“The ability of an IT service or other configuration item to perform its agreed function when required.”

Question 5

Reliability

Answer 5

“The ability of a product, service or other configuration item to perform its intended function for a specified period of time or number of cycles.”

Question 6

Dimension 3: Partners and suppliers

Answer 6

“The partners and suppliers dimension encompasses an organization’s relationships with other organizations that are involved in the design, development, deployment, delivery, support and/or continual improvement of services. It also incorporates contracts and other agreements between the organization and its partners or suppliers.”

Question 7

Dimension 4: Value streams and processes

Answer 7

“Applied to the organization and its Service Value System, the value streams and processes dimension is concerned with how the various parts of the organization work in an integrated and coordinated way to enable value creation through products and services. The dimension focuses on what activities the organization undertakes and how they are organized, as well as how the organization ensures that it is enabling value creation for all stakeholders efficiently and effectively.”

Question 8

The key message for processes is:

Answer 8

“A process is a set of activities that transform inputs into outputs. Processes describe what is done to accomplish an objective, and well-defined processes can improve productivity within and across organizations. They are usually detailed in procedures, which outline who is involved in the process, and work instructions, which explain how they are carried out.”