I was having a discussion with a learner this morning about the difference between Service Requests and Standard Changes. This learner's organization publishes a list of standard services that users can request via a self-help tool. The Service Request is routed to the Service Desk. The Service Desk reviews the request. If appropriate, the Service Request may be fulfilled by applying a Standard Change that has been pre-authorized by the Change Enablement practice. By definition, a Standard Change is a low-risk, pre-authorized change that is well understood and fully documented, and which can be implemented without needing additional authorization. Standard Changes must be recorded, possibly as a Service Request. However, each individual change does not require operational oversight by a change authority. ‘Pre-authorized’ means that the procedure for making the standard change has undergone a full risk assessment and authorization. These risk assessment and authorization steps w...

Paul recently asked a question about Service Requests: Hello, when browsing the topic of Service Requests, I visited your site where a question was answered on the differences and similarities of Service Requests and Standard Changes . I was intrigued by the following passage: It is important to note that not all Service Requests are Standard Changes. Service Requests can include questions, queries, complaints, and compliments. Similarly, not all Standard Changes are Service Requests. Standard Changes can include batch jobs, patches, and other low-risk changes that are not 'requestable' by the user. Any Service Request or Standard Change that presents a higher risk may require reassessment and reclassification by Change Enablement. I am trying to think of a term that would differentiate one from the other. Considering that there are Service Requests that may invoke a Standard Change, I see two possibilities: it may be a Standard Change that can ...

🔄 Update Note (ITIL 4): Since the publication of this post, ITIL has evolved significantly. In ITIL 4 , the concept of First Call Resolution is encompassed within the Incident Management practice, which emphasizes a holistic approach to restoring normal service operations swiftly to minimize business impact. There's also an increased focus on enhancing customer experience throughout the incident resolution process. While the foundational ideas in this post remain relevant, we recommend consulting updated ITIL 4 guidance for the most current best practices. A reader recently asked me to comment on what a First Call Resolution (FCR) is according to ITIL and general best practice. When collecting metrics you want to be sure that the reporting brings good business value. From a reporting perspective, it might serve well to report incidents and requests separately. Each organization will have to have policies for how the metrics are reported based on business value. One opt...

I was having a discussion with a learner this morning about the difference between Service Requests and Standard Changes. This learner's organization publishes a list of standard services that users can request via a self-help tool. The Service Request will be routed to the Service Desk. The Service Desk will review the request. If appropriate, the Service Request may be fulfilled by applying a Standard Change that has been approved by Change Management. By definition, a Standard Change is a pre -approved, low risk change (such as a new hire) that can be fulfilled almost immediately. Standard Changes must be recorded, possibly as a Service Request. They do not require operational oversight by the CAB. It is important to note that not all Service Requests are Standard Changes. Service Requests can include questions, queries, complaints and compliments. Similarly, not all Standard Changes are Service Requests. Standard Changes can include batch jobs, patches and other low risk chang...