Service Acceptance Criteria

I have often been asked what value does the Service Acceptance Criteria (SAC) provide? Along with other criteria and elements, the Service Acceptance Criteria forms what is described in ITIL and the Service Design Package. With so much importance on Design, Development and Deployment, the significance of the SAC increases as we look to optimize service value. Do you want to increase value to your business and customers? First let’s understand what the SAC is.

Service Acceptance Criteria:

A set of criteria used to ensure that an IT Service meets its functionality and quality requirements and

that the IT Service Provider is ready to operate the new IT Service when it has been deployed. This set of criteria is in the form of a formal agreement that an IT Service, Process, Plan or other deliverable is complete, accurate, reliable and meets the specified requirements.

In the past, this has sometimes been thought of and enacted on at the end of the value stream. High-performing service providers will frequently apply other methodologies such as lean, agile, and ITIL process improvements to ensure that the SAC is defined and improved throughout the development/deployment lifecycle. This is how ITIL intends it to be utilized.

We must understand that all design activities are triggered by changes in business needs or service improvements. In order to design and deliver IT services that meet the changing needs of the customers and the business, we must ensure that the contents of the Service Acceptance Criteria are incorporated and required achievements are planned into the initial design. What? Does this mean that the SAC starts in the requirements gathering stage and evolves throughout the delivery? Yes, and in doing so, a service provider could help to shift their organization to focus on value from a customer’s perspective rather than from that of the IT service provider's viewpoint.

The SAC is the document that will ensure the Service Provider is ready to deliver the new service by answering the following criteria:

Has the go-live date been agreed to with all parties?
Has the deployment project and schedule been agreed to and made public to all stakeholders?
Have all SLR/SLA’s been reviewed, revised, and agreed to with all stakeholders?
Has the Service Catalog/Portfolio been updated and all appropriate relationships established within the Configuration Management System?
Have all users been identified/approved and appropriate accounts created for them?
Can all SLR/SLA targets be monitored, measured, reported, and reviewed?
Can performance and capacity targets be measured and incorporated into the Capacity Plan?
Have incident and problem categories and processes been reviewed and revised for the new service?
Has appropriate technical support documentation been provided and accepted by Incident, Problem, and all IT support teams?
Have all users been trained and user documentation been supplied and accepted?
Have appropriate business managers signed off acceptance of the new service?

Consider now how the flow of work, the velocity of your team, and value to the business and external customers could be optimized with a focus on the SAC early in the value stream. With these documented criteria in hand, we can ensure that the Service Provider will meet the agreed needs of the customer and the business. It will ensure that availability, capacity, security, and continuity can be assured and thereby deliver value to the business.

For more information, ITSM Academy's All About ITIL page

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