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Service Provisioning

SRP

The Service Provisioning (SRP) capability is the ability to manage the life cycle of IT services to satisfy business requirements. This includes ongoing activities relating to operation, maintenance, and continual service improvement, and also transitional activities relating to the design and introduction of services, their deployment, and their eventual decommissioning. The Service Provisioning (SRP) capability includes:

  • Defining and describing the services provided by the IT function.
  • Managing the IT services catalogue.
  • Managing IT service configuration.
  • Managing IT service availability.
  • Managing the IT service desk.
  • Managing requests, incidents, and problems.
  • Managing access to IT services.
  • Addressing requests for new IT services and decommissioning unwanted IT services.
  • Managing IT service levels and service level agreements (SLAs).

Structure

SRP is made up of the following Categories and CBBs. Maturity and Planning are described at both the CC and the CBB level.

ATransitional Execution

Manage the design, deployment, and decommissioning of IT services.

A1Service Definition

Identify and describe each IT service offering and its components — these include Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Operational Level Agreements (OLAs), and Underpinning Contracts (UPCs).

A2Service Architecture

Define the service architecture and all its component parts, their interrelationships, and the operational processes through which they interface with surrounding processes, supporting activities, and business ecosystem partners.

A3IT Service Life Cycle Management

Manage the life cycle flow of each IT service from its introduction through deployment to eventual decommissioning.

BOperational Execution

Manages the operations, maintenance, and continual improvement of IT services.

B1Customer-Facing Service Operation

Manage customer access to IT assistance — for example, IT helpdesk support, requests for IT services, and IT service performance reporting.

B2Internal Service Operation

Manage all non-customer-facing activities relating to IT service operation — for example service request fulfilment, incident/problem management, and service level management.

Overview

Goal

The Service Provisioning (SRP) capability aims to identify, deliver, and manage the IT services that enable the organization to meet its defined business objectives.

Objectives

  • Implement a transparent process for monitoring the services that the IT function provides to its customers in the organization and address any problems as soon as they appear.
  • Improve IT helpdesk productivity by quickly resolving any requests from customers, preferably during the initial contact with the customer.
  • Where IT services do fail, restore them as quickly as possible, and plan proactively for any necessary IT service disruptions.
  • Support business change while maintaining a stable IT service environment.
  • Promote active stakeholder management of users and customers.
  • Maintain the services portfolio so that it is fit for purpose and aligned to the organization's objectives.

Value

The Service Provisioning (SRP) capability helps to ensure that the organization's strategy and objectives are supported by reliable and effective IT services.

Relevance

Many businesses rely on the availability of internal and external facing business services to compete successfully. These business services are typically enabled by interconnected IT services and applications, whose stability and scalability are critical to successful business operations and competitive advantage1. For example, a survey of over two hundred organizations estimated that the financial impact per annum of business disruption due to the unplanned unavailability of IT services is on average more than US$100 million per organization2.

By developing an effective Service Provisioning (SRP) capability, an organization can unify the necessary production/operation components of IT service delivery so that the IT function can provide more reliable and more effective IT services.

Scope

Definition

The Service Provisioning (SRP) capability is the ability to manage the life cycle of IT services to satisfy business requirements. This includes ongoing activities relating to operation, maintenance, and continual service improvement, and also transitional activities relating to the design and introduction of services, their deployment, and their eventual decommissioning. The Service Provisioning (SRP) capability includes:

  • Defining and describing the services provided by the IT function.
  • Managing the IT services catalogue.
  • Managing IT service configuration.
  • Managing IT service availability.
  • Managing the IT service desk.
  • Managing requests, incidents, and problems.
  • Managing access to IT services.
  • Addressing requests for new IT services and decommissioning unwanted IT services.
  • Managing IT service levels and service level agreements (SLAs).

Improvement Planning

Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)

Representative POMs are described for SRP at each level of maturity.

2Basic
  • Practice
    Define the key IT services of the organization.
    Outcome
    Service definitions for key services are available to customers.
    Metric
    Percentage of services that are formally defined.
  • Practice
    Identify and document all underlying components for key IT services.
    Outcome
    An understanding emerges of the interdependency of components that support key services.
    Metric
    Percentage of services that are documented to the component level.
  • Practice
    Formally manage service introduction for larger projects.
    Outcome
    There is a greater chance that services will be more stable (and less disruptive to other services) when they are released.
    Metric
    Percentage of service introductions that include a test phase.
  • Practice
    Establish basic service-level measurement for key services.
    Outcome
    Objective monitoring of service levels aids the dialogue with customers.
    Metric
    Percentage of services that support service-level reporting.
  • Practice
    Ensure that IT service incidents are tracked, recorded, and reported in a satisfactory manner.
    Outcome
    The availability of current and historical incident data informs IT service improvement initiatives.
    Metrics
    • Number of incidents logged, fixed, and open per calendar month.
    • Percentage of recurring versus non-recurring incidents.
3Intermediate
  • Practice
    Expand service definition to all IT services, and validate KPIs for key services.
    Outcome
    Customers have a greater understanding of the services available to them.
    Metric
    Percentage of services that are formally defined and that include validated KPIs.
  • Practices
    • Expand the identification and documentation of components to all IT services.
    • Keep the definitions and documentation up to date as service components change.
    Outcomes
    • There is a comprehensive understanding of the relationships between the components and the IT services that depend on them.
    • There is improved traceability of any changes made to services and their underlying components.
    Metric
    Percentage of services with up-to-date documentation for their underlying components.
  • Practices
    • Mandate all new services to use a formal release management process.
    • Ensure a roll-back procedure is available and tested before a new service is introduced or an existing service is modified.
    Outcome
    The organization has the capability to introduce and roll back releases and upgrades to IT services, reducing the risk of negative impact on business operations.
    Metrics
    • Percentage of services introduced using formal release management protocols.
    • Percentage of attempted roll-backs that complete successfully.
  • Practice
    Standardize the reporting of IT service quality levels.
    Outcome
    The impact of IT service levels is clarified.
    Metric
    Percentage of services for which quality is reported using a standard format/content.
  • Practices
    • Record, track, and report on all incidents.
    • Prioritize and manage incidents based on the urgency to restore services as defined by SLAs.
    Outcome
    Incidents are systematically managed and the organization is aware of any SLA violations.
    Metrics
    • Percentage of incidents that have an SLA assigned.
    • Percentage of SLA violations.
4Advanced
  • Practices
    • Expand the definition of IT services so that they are expressed in business terms.
    • Define business KPIs for all IT services.
    Outcome
    Customers can make more informed decisions regarding IT service selection.
    Metric
    Percentage of services with business-assigned metrics (KPIs).
  • Practices
    • Define and document all underlying components for all IT services across the organization.
    • Manage the relationships between components and services in an integrated way.
    Outcome
    All service components for all IT services are linked within a database, and they are managed in an integrated manner.
    Metric
    Percentage of unscheduled service interruptions to IT services that result from changes to unidentified service components.
  • Practices
    • Mandate the use of a comprehensive change management process to accompany the introduction of an IT service.
    • Establish interfaces to the key surrounding processes — for example, asset management, demand and supply management, and people management.
    Outcome
    Service introduction is likely to cause minimal or no disruption to the business.
    Metrics
    • Mean time taken to introduce an IT service.
    • Percentage of IT service requests that result from IT service changes or introductions.
  • Practice
    Map IT service-level reporting to business operational metrics (for example, end-to-end availability) and enable it with tool-supported reporting.
    Outcome
    Stakeholders can readily prioritize service improvements.
    Metric
    Percentage of IT services incorporated in the organization's business operational metrics.
  • Practice
    Proactively collect event-monitoring data to ensure that all incidents are swiftly addressed.
    Outcome
    Service availability and reliability are increased.
    Metric
    Percentage of automated service restorations.
5Optimized
  • Practice
    Continually review service provisioning practices and document service improvements.
    Outcome
    Helpdesk requests for information on IT services decrease, and change control is enhanced.
    Metric
    Frequency of service documentation updates.
  • Practice
    Implement an integrated approach to maintaining relationships between IT service components.
    Outcome
    Change control is enhanced when the connections between related infrastructure and applications are clearer.
    Metric
    Percentage of unscheduled service interruptions to key services that result from changes to unidentified service components.
  • Practice
    Proactively review the scheduling and effectiveness of releases to accommodate business needs and schedules.
    Outcome
    New IT services or service upgrades are introduced into operations with no business disruption.
    Metric
    Amount of business service time lost because of release activity.
  • Practice
    Implement automated reporting for key stakeholders and for the service level management functions.
    Outcome
    Service level transparency is maximized.
    Metric
    Percentage of services that have automated service-level reporting to stakeholders.
  • Practice
    Complement the existing incident management system with self-healing processes.
    Outcomes
    • The majority of potential incidents are averted before they become significant issues.
    • Those incidents that do occur are remedied automatically.
    Metrics
    • Percentage of unplanned versus planned impacts on IT services.
    • Mean time to achieve incident resolution.

Reference

History

This capability was introduced in Revision 16 as a new critical capability.

It was deprecated in Revision 18.07, being updated by Service Provisioning (18.07).