Service Portfolio

The service portfolio is made up of three distinct elements. These are the pipeline, catalogue, and retired services. The services themselves will move through thirteen unique statuses that help to define where the service is currently in its lifecycle. The portfolio represents the complete set of services that is currently being managed by the service provider and in turn represents the service provider’s commitments and investments across all of the customers and market spaces the provider is engaged in. It is a portrayal of all contractual commitments with current customers, new service developments for either current or new customers and any ongoing improvement plans initiated from CSI. Additionally the portfolio can also contain any third party services that are currently being engaged by supplier management. It can be presented as anything from a structured document to a database and is a tool that is utilized from service strategy to continual service improvement.

The pipeline element represents all services that are under consideration or development, but are not yet available to customers. It can include investment opportunities, since these must be traced to the delivery of the service and the value proposition that is under consideration. This offers a business view of possible future services which may not yet be published to the customer or user communities. This therefore represents the service provider’s strategic vision and future growth direction and should be continually fed by service strategy, service design and CSI to ensure the ability to meet changing customer requirements and to remain relevant in the market space. Service will move from the pipeline to the catalog normally when the service is moved from development to operations.

The catalog represents all live IT services, including those available for deployment. This is the only element that is available for viewing to customers and is used to maintain the sale and delivery of IT services. It may have several customer views and shows the services that are currently available for use, how the services are intended to be used, the business functions and or business units the services enable and functionality and warranty (tied to SLAs and SLRs) that the customer or user can anticipate from each service. The catalog in many cases will also list dependencies between services. This can be presented in the form of service units and or service packages. There are to distinct views of the catalogue. There is the customer view which was described above and there is the technical view. This is the part of the catalogue used by the IT service provider and is not viewable by the customer or user groups. This part of the catalogue is used to show the service and the underlying supporting services and IT infrastructure that is used in delivering customer facing services.

Retired services represent the services that are either in the process of being retired or have already been retired. Services being retired are ones that are still being used by a portion of the customer community but are no longer available for use by anyone who is not already engaged in using that service. Retired services are no longer in use by anyone from the user community but are still listed in the catalogue. Service Portfolio Management will define a policy around how long a service will remain in the service portfolio and works with service transition in ensuring the services are appropriately retired from operation in the live environment.

Four Service Characteristics

Recently I came across several articles by researchers and experts that laid out definitions and characteristics of services. ITIL provides us with a definition that can help drive the creation of value-laden services: A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. An area that ITIL is not so clear is in terms of service characteristics. Several researchers and experts put forth that services have four basic characteristics (IHIP): Intangibility—Services are the results of actions not things. They have no physical presence and represent a logical set of elements. One way to think of service is “work done for others.” Heterogeneity—Also known as “variability”; services are unique items because of the mechanisms used to deliver services, which is people. Because the people element adds variability, the service is variable. This holds true, especially for the value proposition—not eve...

What Is A Service Offering?

The ITIL 4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group. As a service provider, we can’t stop there! We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer. Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include: Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions 1. Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods. Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service then toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you. You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you. ...

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

This article was originally published in 2015. With the Introduction of ITIL 4, some of this best practice has changed. See ITIL 4 and the Evolving Role of Roles . Updated Definitions in ITIL 4: Process Owner: In ITIL 4, the concept of 'processes' has expanded into broader 'practices.' Consequently, the Process Owner is now often referred to as the 'Practice Owner.' This individual is accountable for the overall design, performance, integration, and improvement of a specific practice within the organization. They ensure that the practice achieves its intended outcomes and aligns with the organization's objectives. Process Manager: Now commonly known as the 'Practice Manager' in ITIL 4, this role is responsible for the day-to-day management of the practice. The Practice Manager ensures that activities are carried out as intended, manages resources assigned to the practice, and oversees the practitioners performing the work. Process Practit...

Search