Service life cycle management

Services are represented as Configuration Items (CIs) in Service Manager, which enables CI access to all related support and delivery processes. Life cycle processes include the following:

  • Define a new service.
  • Discover, define, and manage CI relationships.
  • Add Service Levels (service-oriented SLA).
  • Publish a service to the Service Catalog.
  • Sign up customers and manage their subscriptions.
  • Fulfill subscription requests through Change Management.
  • Monitor and support by using Incident, Change, and Problem Management.
  • Monitor SLAs and optimize service delivery.

Services are provided by IT to satisfy a range of business needs. Services can be delivered to individuals, departments, or an entire enterprise. Sample services can include email, billing system, workstation backup, or office automation. The service instance is the deployment of a service, modeled as a CI in the CMDB, and it can have related CIs, customers, incidents, and changes.

Once the service is deployed, the Service Catalog lists and describes all of the services that IT offers, providing customers with a view to browse and make requests. Catalog items can range from single-user workstations to department or enterprise application support.

Note For more information on Service life cycle management, refer to the white paper, Service life cycle management, document ID KM524933, published in the Customer support knowledgebase.

Related topics

Visual design of CI relationships
Publish services in Service Catalog
Requesting services
Service-oriented SLAs
Service support
Subscriptions