Phases of Service Portolio, Describe service Catalogue

This article answers following queries:

ü  What are the phases of the Service portfolio?

ü  What is Service catalogue?

ü  Describe service catalogue

ü  Types of service catalogue

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Phases of Service Portfolio:

The Service portfolio is divided into 3 phases

§  Service Catalogue

§  Service Pipeline

§  Retired Services

Service Portfolio represents all the resources currently engaged or being released in various phases of the Service lifecycle. Each phase need resources for completion of projects, contracts and initiatives. This is crucial governance aspect of Service Portfolio Management (SPM).

The Service portfolio should consist of the right mix of services in the Service Pipeline and Service Catalogue to secure the financial viability of the service provider. The service catalogue is the only part of the portfolio that recovers costs or earns profits.

Service Catalogue

§  Is a structured document or a database which contains information about services currently active and those approved to be offered to current or prospective customers

§  Is a subset of the service portfolio. It is the ONLY part of the service portfolio published to customers

§  Is used to support the sales and delivery of IT services

§  Contains information about contact points, deliverables, prices, request and ordering processes

§  Is useful in developing suitable solutions for customers from one or more services

§  Is an important tool for service strategy as it is the virtual projection of service provider’s current capabilities

Items can be included in the service catalogue only after performing proper due diligence on related costs and risks. Resources are engaged to fully support active services. Items in the catalogue can be configured and priced suitably to fulfil a particular requirement.

Types of Service Catalogue

There are mainly 2 types of service catalogue

ü  Business Service Catalogue (Includes services offered to customers)

ü  Technical Service Catalogue (Includes Underpinning services internal to IT)