Glossary

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A

Agreement

An agreement is a document describing a formal understanding between two or more parties. An agreement is not legally binding unless it forms a contract.

Analytic report

Reports that reflect historic data for a record type over time. They are calculated according to a defined schedule and can include calculated fields. Analytic reports can be set as active or inactive; the active reports are counted toward the quota defined for the tenant.

Application Portfolio Management

The Application Portfolio Management module enables the assessment and prioritization of the current application portfolio, and determines which applications need to be modernized. This module is the first step towards application transformation.

Approval

Official agreement by an approver, or an approval group, to accept the risk, cost, and responsibility to implement a change or complete a task. The System Administrator defines membership in an approval group in each user’s record according to their User Role. Change requests and tasks have approval requirements. Approvals enhance the Change Management ability of an organization.

Asset

An asset is a generic term referring to any resource used in service delivery. An asset can be any potential resource or capability that contributes to the delivery of a service. Assets can be any one of the following types: Applications, Financial Capital, Information, Infrastructure, Knowledge Management, Organization, People, Hardware, Software, or Process. Information Technology (IT) assets that need to be individually managed are also Configuration Items (CIs).

Asset Management

A generic activity or process responsible for tracking and reporting the value and ownership of assets throughout their lifecycle.

Attribute

A piece of information about a configuration item. Examples are name, location, version number, and cost. Attributes of CIs are recorded in a configuration management database (CMDB) and maintained as part of a configuration management system (CMS).

Availability

Ability of an IT service or other configuration item to perform its agreed function when required as defined in the Service Level Agreement (SLA). Availability is determined by reliability, service availability, performance, and security. Availability is usually calculated as a percentage. This calculation is often based on agreed service time and downtime. It is best practice to calculate availability of an IT Service using measurements of the business output.

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B

Breach

A failure to meet the objectives specified in a Service Level Agreement.

Bundle

A bundle is a group of items available within a Service Catalog offering.

Business impact

A measure of the effect of an incident, problem, or change on business processes. Impact is often based on how service levels will be affected. Business impact and urgency are used to assign priority.

The Service Management business impact values are as follows:

• Enterprise
• Site or department
• Multiple users
• Single user

Business rule

Business rules are the building blocks from which the business logic of a workflow is constructed. You can define business rules for records, processes, metaphases, phases, and transitions.

Business services

An Information Technology (IT) Service that directly supports a specific business process, as opposed to an Infrastructure Service which is used internally by the IT Service Provider and is not visible to the Business. Services can be grouped into Business Service groups that include Configuration Items (CIs), documents, resources, or any other components that comprise a defined business service. The services can then be delivered to business customers by Business Units, such as the delivery of financial services to customers of a bank, or products to customers in a retail store. Successful delivery of Business Services often depends on one or more IT Services.

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C

Calculated fields

Calculated fields are user-defined fields which contain information based on a formula, calculation, or evaluation of an expression. Service Management includes several calculated field templates with parameters. To define a calculated field for a record type, you select a template and supply a value for each parameter. The calculated field can then be added to analytic reports for that record type.

Capacity management

The process responsible for ensuring that IT Services and the IT infrastructure are able to meet agreed capacity and performance related requirements in a cost-effective and timely manner. Capacity management considers all resources required to deliver services, and is concerned with meeting both the current and future capacity and performance needs of the business.

Capacity management includes the following sub processes:

• Business capacity management
• Service capacity management
• Component capacity management
• Capacity Management Database (CDB)

A Capacity Management Database (CDB) consists of one or more databases that serve as a repository for holding multiple types of data used by its subprocesses. The core infrastructure record, the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), provides information about the state of Configuration Items (CIs) and the relationships between CIs. By providing performance and resource information about the (CIs), a CDB works with the CMDB to provide a complete and reliable view of the IT infrastructure.

Capital item

A capital item is an asset or fixed asset, also referred to as a Configuration Item (CI). The CI is registered and managed in the general ledger for depreciation and investment. The item is managed by the organization from the perspective of total value. A capital item has attributes such as:

• Book value depreciation schema
• Depreciation start date
• Accumulated depreciation
• Residual value

Category

The named group of things that have something in common. Categories are used to group similar things together. For example, cost types are used to group similar types of cost, and Incident categories are used to group similar types of incident.

In a Service Catalog context, a category describes similar services and offerings that users can select from a catalog.

Change

The addition, modification or removal of anything that could have an effect on IT services.

The scope should include changes to all architectures, processes, tools, metrics, and documentation, as well as changes to IT services and other configuration items.

Change Advisory Board (CAB)

• A group of people that advises the Change Manager in the assessment, prioritization and scheduling of Changes.
• This board is usually made up of representatives from all areas within the IT organization, the business, and third parties such as suppliers.

Change Analytics

An analysis of change management KPI performance.

In Service Management, the Change Analytics feature:

• Displays a graphical analysis.
• Offers insights based on the available data, and suggestions for improvements in change management.
• Can be configured to help sharpen the analysis.

Change Approver

A Change Management default role: the person who evaluates and authorizes (or rejects) a request for change.

Change Assignee

A Change Management default role: the person responsible for an assigned change.

Change Calendar

The Change Calendar displays changes and time periods, and allows you to view, schedule, and manage changes in a Gantt chart. Each change record also includes an individual Change Calendar, displayed in the Schedule tab of the record.

Change category

A change category is assigned to a change record to classify change records. The change category affects the availability of change models for selection.

Change Coordinator

A Change Management default role: the person who coordinates all requests for changes throughout their lifecycle.

Change Management

The process responsible for controlling the lifecycle of all changes, enabling beneficial changes to be made with minimal disruption to IT Services.

• The ITIL term for the process of controlling changes to an organization's infrastructure to minimize the disruption of services.
• The application used to request, manage, approve, and control changes to an organization's infrastructure.

A change generally affects multiple users or business units. Examples include changes to the network environment, facilities, or telephony. For user requests for products and services, refer to Request Management.

Change Manager

A Change Management default role: the person who manages changes and functions as the point of escalation.

Change model

A repeatable way of dealing with a particular kind of change.

A change model may be very complex, with many steps requiring authorization. For example, a major software release. Or a change model may be simple, with no authorization required. For example, a password reset.

When a new change record is created, selection of an Service Management change model pre-populates fields, and may create the tasks necessary to complete a change request.

Change Owner

A Change Management default role: the person who reviews and manages assigned changes.

Change phase

The change workflow is the end-to-end process from the change creation to the change closure. The workflow is determined by the change type (Standard, Normal, or Emergency) and consists of metaphases. Each metaphase has one or more subordinate phases. A change record life cycle consists of progresses through change phases.

Change priority

The priority of the change, based on business need, automatically calculated by Service Management.

Change Process Owner

A Change Management default role: the person who is accountable for all change related activities. Functions as the champion, advocate, and design leader of Change Management.

Change proposal

A document including:

• A high level description of the significant change or potential new service introduction.
• The corresponding business case.
• The expected implementation schedule.

Change proposals are typically created by service portfolio management, and are passed to change management for authorization.

The change proposal allows change management to assess the potential impact on other services, other shared resources, and the overall change schedule, and determine if the change is feasible. The assessment results in either authorization or rejection of the change proposal.

Change record

A record containing the particulars of the change. Each change record documents the life cycle of a single change. A change record is created for every request for change received, even those that are subsequently rejected.

Change Requestor

A Change Management default role: the person who submits a request for change, starting the change process.

Change Schedule

The Schedule tab in each change record includes the following sections:

• Change Calendar - Displays the change, when scheduled, and time periods. (Time periods may include maintenance times, blackout times, work schedules, holidays, and events.)
• Scheduled times - Details of the scheduled times for the change. For example, scheduled start and end time.
• Actual times - Details of the actual times for the change. For example, actual start and end time.

Change task

A change task is a unit of work in a change record workflow, assigned to a person or a group. A task may be automatic or manual.

Change Task Assignee

A Change Management default role: the person who is responsible for closing assigned change tasks.

CI type

A CI type is a category used to classify Configuration Items (CIs). The CI type identifies the required attributes and relationships that comprise a configuration record. CI Types include:

• Actual service

• Device

• Service component

• System element

Configuration Item (CI)

Any component or other service asset that needs to be managed in order to deliver an IT service. Information about each configuration item is recorded in the configuration record in the configuration management system, and is maintained throughout its lifecycle by service asset and configuration management. Configuration items are under the control of Change Management. Configuration items typically include IT services, hardware, software, buildings, people, and formal documentation such as process documentation, and service level agreements.

Configuration Management

The process responsible for ensuring that the assets required to deliver services are properly controlled, and that accurate and reliable information about those assets is available when and where it is needed. This information includes details of how the assets have been configured, and the relationships between assets.

Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

A database used to store configuration records throughout their lifecycle. The configuration management system maintains one or more configuration management databases, and each database stores attributes of configuration items, and relationships with other configuration items.

Configuration Management System (CMS)

A set of tools, data, and information used to support service asset and configuration management.

The CMS:

• Is part of an overall service knowledge management system, and includes tools for collecting, storing, managing, updating, analyzing and presenting data about all configuration items and their relationships.
• May also include information about incidents, problems, known errors, changes and releases.

Configuration record

A record containing the details of a configuration item. Each configuration record documents the lifecycle of a single configuration item. Configuration records are stored in a configuration management database and maintained as part of a configuration management system.

Contacts

Contacts are an enterprise-wide address book of internal and external individuals, stakeholders, vendor liaisons, or others who might have a business relationship with the organization.

Contract Management

Contract management or contract administration is the management of contracts made with vendors.

Contract management includes negotiating the terms and conditions in contracts, and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions, as well as documenting and agreeing on any changes or amendments that may arise during the implementation or execution of the contract.

Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT)

The acronym for Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT). COBIT is a set of best practices for IT management created by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) and the IT Governance Institute (ITGI). The framework provides managers, auditors, and IT users with a set of generally accepted measures, indicators, processes, and best practices to assist them in maximizing the benefits and developing IT governance and control in a company.

Cost center

A cost center is a business unit that is only responsible for the costs that it incurs. The cost center is the main dimension to aggregate the actual cost. Its performance is usually measured through the comparison between the incurred and budgeted costs.

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D

Data domain segmentation

Data domain segmentation in Service Management provides the ability to restrict the visibility of specific records and actions (such as tasks and approvals) to specific people, roles, or groups. Data domain segmentation is composed of two parts:

• Assignment of permissions to view particular data domains to a person, role, or group.

• Assignment of data domains to records.

Definitive Media Library (DML)

One or more locations in which the definitive and authorized versions of all software configuration items are securely stored. The definitive media library may also contain associated configuration items such as licenses and documentation. It is a single logical storage area even if there are multiple locations. The definitive media library is controlled by service asset and configuration management and is recorded in the configuration management system.

Development environment

An environment used to create or modify IT services or applications. Development environments are not typically subjected to the same degree of control as test or live environments.

Device

A general classification for both assets and configuration items.

Draft phase

In Knowledge Management, when a new article or news item is created, it is added to the list in the Draft phase. The article or news item must be reviewed, and then published internally or externally before users can view it.

In Idea and Proposal Management, when a new idea is created, it may be saved as a draft. If this is done, the idea enters the Draft phase.

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E

Effectiveness

A measure of whether the objectives of a process, service or activity have been achieved. An effective process or activity is one that achieves its agreed objectives. See also key performance indicator.

Efficiency

A measure of whether the right amount of resource has been used to deliver a process, service, or activity. An efficient process achieves its objectives with the minimum amount of time, money, people, or other resources. See also key performance indicator.

Emergency change

A change that must be introduced as soon as possible – for example, to resolve a major incident or implement a security patch. The change management process will normally have a specific procedure for handling emergency changes.

Emergency Change Advisory Board (ECAB)

A subgroup of the change advisory board that makes decisions about emergency changes. Membership may be decided at the time a meeting is called, and depends on the nature of the emergency change.

Encryption domains

You can encrypt specific record type fields via the creation of Encryption domains. This enables you to restrict access to sensitive information to selected users.

Enrichment rules

Rules used to automatically assign values to record fields when data is imported. For example, an enrichment rule can set the asset-model, the vendor, and the brand of a device record according to the value populated in the inventoried model attribute of the device.

Entitlement rules

Rules used to restrict offerings, knowledge articles, service definitions, categories, and custom themes in the Service Portal to limited audiences in specified locations, and belonging to specified user groups.

Escalation

Transferring an incident, problem or change to a technical team with a higher level of expertise to assist in an escalation.

Event

A change of state that has significance for the management of an IT service or other configuration item. The term is also used to mean an alert or notification created by any IT service, configuration item or monitoring tool. Events typically require IT operations personnel to take actions, and often lead to incidents being logged.

Event Management

The process responsible for managing events throughout their lifecycle. Event management is one of the main activities of IT Operations.

The objective of ITIL Event Management is to make sure CIs and services are constantly monitored. Event Management aims to filter and categorize events, in order to decide the appropriate required actions, if any.

Expression Language

The Expression Language is a language that enables you to construct meaningful expressions that can be entered in different parts of the user interface. It includes logical and mathematical expressions, as well as object properties and functions.

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F

Field

A single data element within a database dictionary record. For example, name is a field in the operator database dictionary record, and its value for one user might be Joe. A field is equivalent to a column in a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS).

Financial management

A generic term used to describe the function and processes responsible for managing an organization’s budgeting, accounting and charging requirements. Enterprise financial management is the specific term used to describe the function and processes from the perspective of the overall organization. Financial management for IT services is the specific term used to describe the function and processes from the perspective of the IT service provider.

Service Management's Financial Management module helps you manage money in an efficient and effective way, so as to align with enterprise strategy and achieve business objectives. It assists with budget planning and the execution, monitoring, and control of financial resources.

Floating users

Operators authorized to log into Service Management, based on the number of floating seats available in the license pool.

A floating user ID may log into Service Management more than once; however, each time an ID is logged onto the system, that user counts as a floating user for that Service Management system. When the maximum number of floating users licensed to a given system are concurrently logged on, no more floating users can connect to that system.

Form Editor

Enables you to view and edit Service Management forms.

Fulfillment

Performing activities to meet a need or requirement – for example, by providing a new IT service, or meeting a service request.

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G

Group

An administrator can create and manage user groups. Groups are useful for making assignments, identifying Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 support groups, or assignment groups. After you create a new user, you can add the user to one or more assignment groups. Role assignments can be automatic if you assign one or more roles directly to the group and then add a user to that group. The user inherits those group role assignments.

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H

Hot Topic Analytics

Service Management's Hot Topic Analytics helps support agents to analyze:

• Questions and requests submitted by Service Portal users.
• The types of information that Service Portal users are looking for.

Hot Topic Analytics reviews the search strings that were entered by the users as well as the questions asked. It also analyzes how users treated the generated search results, looking at which search results were further drilled into, and so on.

The Hot Topic Analytics maps display a graphical view of important areas of interest that have arisen through the Service Portal.

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I

Idea & Proposal Management

Service Management's Idea and Proposal Management module enables users to directly collect feedback from the service consumer, which ensures continuous improvement of the IT service and drives innovation. With social collaboration, ideas can evolve to proposals or changes after being categorized, reviewed, and approved. When an approved idea is in place, a proposal or change record can be easily created in Service Management with a few simple clicks. When the proposal is created, it is entered in the project and portfolio management domain.

Impact

A measure of the effect of an incident, problem, or change on business processes. Impact is often based on how service levels will be affected. Impact and urgency are used to assign priority.

Incident

An unplanned interruption to an IT service or reduction in the quality of an IT service. Failure of a configuration item that has not yet affected service is also an incident – for example, failure of one disk from a mirror set.

Incident Management

The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all incidents. Incident management ensures that normal service operation is restored as quickly as possible and the business impact is minimized.

Incident model

An incident model, is a method of predefining steps to handle the Incident Management process. The model includes steps to take, chronological order of the steps, who is responsible for each step, a time scale, and escalation procedures. In addition, the model ideally includes necessary activities required to preserve evidence, such as security and capacity-related incidents. Some incidents occur frequently and require a quick and consistent manner of registration. For this reason, you can create predefined incident models or interaction models that include values for attributes, such as description, priority, impact, and service. You can then apply the predefined models to incidents as they occur.

Incident record

A record containing the details of an incident. Each incident record documents the lifecycle of a single incident.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

A set of best-practice publications for IT service management. Owned by the Cabinet Office (part of HM Government), ITIL gives guidance on the provision of quality IT services and the processes, functions and other capabilities needed to support them. The ITIL framework is based on a service lifecycle and consists of five lifecycle stages (service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation and continual service improvement), each of which has its own supporting publication. There is also a set of complementary ITIL publications providing guidance specific to industry sectors, organization types, operating models and technology architectures.

Information Technology Service Management (ITSM)

The implementation and management of quality IT services that meet the needs of the business. IT service management is performed by IT service providers through an appropriate mix of people, process and information technology.

Interaction

An interaction is the record of the contact between a user and the Service Desk when a user requests assistance or requests a service. An interaction typically results in logging an Incident or Service Request.

IT Service Desk

The ITIL term for the process of delivering and supporting the Information Technology (IT) services appropriate to the business requirements of an organization.

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K

Key performance indicator (KPI)

A metric that is used to help manage an IT service, process, plan, project, or other activity. KPIs measure the achievement of critical success factors. Many metrics may be measured, but only the most important of these are defined as KPIs and used to actively manage and report on the process, IT service, or activity. They should be selected to ensure that efficiency, effectiveness, and cost effectiveness are all managed.

Knowledge management

The process responsible for sharing perspectives, ideas, experience and information, and for ensuring that these are available to the right people, in the right place and at the right time. The knowledge management process enables informed decisions, and improves efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge.

Known Error

A problem that has a documented root cause and a workaround. Known errors are created and managed throughout their lifecycle by problem management. Known errors may also be identified by development or suppliers.

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L

Lists

There are two types of lists:

• Volatile lists. Created when defining a user option inside an offering or model.
• Non-volatile lists. Created in the List Management module.

Live Support

A module in Service Request Management for dealing with telephone support calls. With the appropriate configuration and an integrated CTI system, Live Support provides you with key information and tools that can help to efficiently process new service and support requests and inquiries received by telephone. For example, if your system is appropriately configured, when you receive a call from a user, Service Management can automatically identify the caller's details and recent requests.

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M

Messages

The Change Management application sends specified messages in response to an event. The messages are directed to specific operators listed in the event record and contain values from specified fields in quote, order, and line item records that trigger the initial event.

Metaphase

A portion of a workflow that includes one or more phases.

Model

A repeatable way of dealing with a particular type of change, incident, or problem. A model defines specific steps to be followed for a particular type of record. Some models may be very complex with many steps. Other models can be simple to expedite closure. For example, a complex change model might require multiple levels of authorization (such as a major software release). The simplest incident model has a quick resolution (such as a password reset).

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N

Normal change

A change that is not an emergency change or a standard change. Normal changes follow the defined steps of the change management process.

Notification

• A Service Management message delivered in an on-screen active note, the form window's status bar, or the mail file.
• A message sent externally, using email, pager, or fax.

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O

Offering

The services in the service catalog are divided into service offerings and support offerings. Offerings are used by the Service Request agents in the Service Request Management module. When an agent opens a request, he can select an offering to channel the request directly to the correct team for handling.

On-Premise Bridge

The On-Premise Bridge is a platform that enables communication between on-premise applications and Service Management - in both directions. Because on-premise applications are located behind firewalls, initiating a connection from Service Management to an on-premise application is not possible; therefore, a "bridge" component is required.

OO flow

An OO flow refers to a flow from Operations Orchestration. An OO flow is a set of linked actions that automate health checks, troubleshooting or any other repetitive IT support tasks. For more information about OO flows, refer to the Operations Orchestration documentation.

Operational Level Agreement (OLA)

An agreement between an IT service provider and another part of the same organization. It supports the IT service provider’s delivery of IT services to customers and defines the goods or services to be provided and the responsibilities of both parties. For example, there could be an operational level agreement:

• Between the IT service provider and a procurement department to obtain hardware in agreed times
• Between the service desk and a support group to provide incident resolution in agreed times.

Operational report

Reports that reflect real-time data for a record type. They are generated on the fly and do not count toward the tenant's report quota.

Order

A record that defines basic ordering information such as assignee, vendor, required dates, coordinator and description. An order does not contain detailed parts information.

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P

Phase

Phases and metaphases reflect the stages of a workflow. The phases are connected by transitions.

Post Implementation Review (PIR)

A Post Implementation Review (PIR) is a formal project review used to answer the question: "Did we achieve what we set out to do and, if not, what should be done?" For major changes, there can be several PIRs scheduled over time. A PIR checks whether benefits have been achieved and identifies opportunities for further improvement. Without a PIR, you cannot effectively demonstrate that your investment was worthwhile.

Priority

A category used to identify the relative importance of an incident, problem or change. Priority is based on impact and urgency, and is used to identify required times for actions to be taken. For example, the service level agreement may state that Priority 2 incidents must be resolved within 12 hours.

In Service Management, priority is determined by the average of the impact and urgency.

Proactive problem management

Part of the problem management process. The objective of proactive problem management is to identify problems that might otherwise be missed. Proactive problem management analyzes incident records and uses data collected by other IT service management processes to identify trends or significant problems.

Problem

A cause of one or more incidents. The cause is not usually known at the time a problem record is created, and the problem management process is responsible for further investigation.

Problem Management

The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems. Problem management proactively prevents incidents from happening and minimizes the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented.

Problem record

A record containing the details of a problem. Each problem record documents the lifecycle of a single problem.

Process

A structured set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective. A process takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. It may include any of the roles, responsibilities, tools and management controls required to reliably deliver the outputs. A process may define policies, standards, guidelines, activities and work instructions if they are needed.

Production environment

A controlled environment containing live configuration items used to deliver IT services to customers.

Project and Portfolio Management (PPM)

Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) is a term used by project managers and project management organizations to describe methods for analyzing and collectively managing a group of current or proposed projects. Each project is based on several key characteristics. The primary objective of the PPM process is to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of proposed projects to best achieve the overall goal. This is typically expressed in terms of economic measures, business strategy goals, or technical strategy goals while honoring constraints imposed by management or external real-world factors. Typical attributes of projects analyzed in a PPM process include each of the following: Total expected cost, consumption of resources (human or otherwise), expected timeline and schedule of investment, expected nature, magnitude, timing of benefits to be realized, and relationships or interdependencies with other projects in the portfolio.

Projected data

Data copied from fields in an existing (source) record to identically named fields in a newly opened (target) record.

Projected Service Outage (PSO)

A document that identifies the effect of planned changes, maintenance activities, and test plans on agreed service levels.

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Q

Queue

The Approvals queue displays the approvals that require your attention, and the Tasks queue displays the manual tasks that are assigned to you.

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R

Release Management

Release Management is the process that includes planning, designing, building, configuring and testing hardware and software releases, to create a defined set of release components - changes. Key activities include planning, preparation, scheduling, training, documentation, distribution, and installation of the release. In short, Release Management enables you to plan, schedule, and control multiple changes and additions to existing services.

Remediation

Actions taken to recover after a failed change or release. Remediation may include back-out, invocation of service continuity plans, or other actions designed to enable the business process to continue.

Request

A request for products and services. Unlike changes, requests affect only the person making the request, or a subordinate group of employees. Examples include password resets, individual PC upgrades, and new employee setup.

Request for Change (RFC)

A formal proposal for a change to be made. It includes details of the proposed change, and may be recorded on paper or electronically. The term is often misused to mean a change record, or the change itself.

Request Management

The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all service requests.

Resource

A generic term that includes IT infrastructure, people, money, or anything else that might help to deliver an IT service. Resources are considered to be assets of an organization.

Response time

A measure of the time taken to complete an operation or transaction. Used in capacity management as a measure of IT infrastructure performance, and in incident management as a measure of the time taken to answer the phone, or to start diagnosis.

Review

An evaluation of a change, problem, process, project etc. Reviews are typically carried out at predefined points in the lifecycle, and especially after closure. The purpose of a review is to ensure that all deliverables have been provided, and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Reviewers

Personnel who can examine the tasks and phases of a Change Management change, but who do not have approval authority.

Risk

A possible event that could cause harm or loss, or affect the ability to achieve objectives. A risk is measured by the probability of a threat, the vulnerability of the asset to that threat, and the impact it would have if it occurred. Risk can also be defined as uncertainty of outcome, and can be used in the context of measuring the probability of positive outcomes as well as negative outcomes.

Role

A set of responsibilities, activities, and authorizations.

Root cause

The underlying or original cause of an incident or problem.

Routing definition

An automatic routing solution for routing records to the correct groups based on the information contained in the record. It can also be used to specify the values that appear in the drop-down list for a selected group field for a record, based on the path defined in the selected routing definition. The Routing Definitions module enables you to create and edit a visual routing definition which is easy to read and maintain.

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S

Service Portal

Provides one centralized location for all employee issues related to IT. Enables users to independently request support, search a self-help knowledge base, and browse a service catalog.

Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM)

Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM) is the process that is responsible for ensuring that the assets required to deliver services are properly controlled, and that accurate and reliable information about those assets is available when and where it is needed. This information includes details of how the assets have been configured and the relationships between assets.

Service management administrators and other personnel need current information about business services and devices to close defects, fulfill change requests, and solve problems. Most business services depend on hardware and software to run efficiently. When there is an outage, the interruption can affect the entire organization, a special group, or just a few individuals.

Service

A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. The term ‘service’ is sometimes used as a synonym for core service, IT service or service package.

Service Catalog

The Service Catalog contains services arranged by category. The services are further divided into service offerings and support offerings. The content in the Service Catalog is displayed on the home page of the Service Portal.

Service Catalog Management

The process responsible for providing and maintaining the service catalog and for ensuring that it is available to those who are authorized to access it.

Service Contract

A contract to deliver one or more IT services. The term is also used to mean any agreement to deliver IT services, whether this is a legal contract or a service level agreement.

Service Design

A stage in the lifecycle of a service. Service design includes the design of the services, governing practices, processes and policies required to realize the service provider’s strategy and to facilitate the introduction of services into supported environments. Service design includes the following processes: design coordination, service catalog management, service level management, availability management, capacity management, IT service continuity management, information security management, and supplier management. Although these processes are associated with service design, most processes have activities that take place across multiple stages of the service lifecycle.

Service Desk

The single point of contact between the service provider and the users. A typical service desk manages incidents and service requests, and also handles communication with the users.

Service Hours

An agreed time period when a particular IT service should be available. For example, ‘Monday–Friday 08:00 to 17:00 except public holidays’. Service hours should be defined in a service level agreement.

Service Level

Measured and reported achievement against one or more service level targets. The term is sometimes used informally to mean service level target.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

An agreement between an IT service provider and a customer. A service level agreement describes the IT service, documents service level targets, and specifies the responsibilities of the IT service provider and the customer. A single agreement may cover multiple IT services or multiple customers.

Service Level Management

The process responsible for negotiating achievable service level agreements and ensuring that these are met. It is responsible for ensuring that all IT service management processes, operational level agreements and underpinning contracts are appropriate for the agreed service level targets. Service level management monitors and reports on service levels, holds regular service reviews with customers, and identifies required improvements.

Service Level Target (SLT)

A commitment that is documented in a service level agreement. Service level targets are based on service level requirements, and are needed to ensure that the IT service is able to meet business objectives. They should be SMART, and are usually based on key performance indicators.

Service Operation

A stage in the lifecycle of a service. Service operation coordinates and carries out the activities and processes required to deliver and manage services at agreed levels to business users and customers. Service operation also manages the technology that is used to deliver and support services. Service operation includes the following processes: event management, incident management, request fulfillment, problem management, and access management. Service operation also includes the following functions: service desk, technical management, IT operations management, and application management. Although these processes and functions are associated with service operation, most processes and functions have activities that take place across multiple stages of the service lifecycle.

Service Package

Two or more services that have been combined to offer a solution to a specific type of customer need or to underpin specific business outcomes. A service package can consist of a combination of core services, enabling services and enhancing services. A service package provides a specific level of utility and warranty. Customers may be offered a choice of utility and warranty through one or more service options.

Service Portfolio

The complete set of services that is managed by a service provider. The service portfolio is used to manage the entire lifecycle of all services, and includes three categories: service pipeline (proposed or in development), service catalog (live or available for deployment), and retired services.

Service Portfolio Management

The process responsible for managing the service portfolio. Service portfolio management ensures that the service provider has the right mix of services to meet required business outcomes at an appropriate level of investment. Service portfolio management considers services in terms of the business value that they provide.

Service Request

Service requests are the set of predefined activities that can be performed against the service itself (such as increasing the size of a standard email mailbox, requesting additional memory for a virtual machine, or resetting a password for a specific application).

Service Request Management

Service Request Management enables you to create, escalate, execute, and monitor service requests. Service requests can be either support requests or service requests. If you do not select a relevant catalog offering, Service Management opens a generic support request.

Severity

An attribute in Incident Management and Problem Management that describes the degree of impact on the user when the issue occurs. Severity can also indicate the number of users affected. For example, a server crash that caused loss of data would be of critical severity.

Shopping cart

A system for users in the Service Portal to collect and submit requests for multiple goods and services. As each item is added to or removed from the cart, the total number of items is updated and displayed beside the cart image. The user can click the cart image to edit, duplicate, or remove items, and to submit them.

Software Asset Management (SAM)

The process responsible for tracking and reporting the use and ownership of software assets throughout their lifecycle. Software asset management is part of an overall service asset and configuration management process. This process is not described in detail within the core ITIL publications.

Software Asset Management (SAM) is the practice of integrating people, processes, and technology to allow software licenses and usage to be tracked, evaluated, and managed. The goal of SAM is to reduce IT expenses, human resource overhead, and risks inherent to owning and managing software assets. This includes, but is not limited to, maintaining software license compliance, tracking inventory and usage of software assets, and maintaining policies and procedures surrounding the definition, deployment, configuration, use, and retirement of software assets. SAM represents the software component of IT Asset Management (ITAM), including hardware asset management. SAM is linked to ITAM due to the concept that, without effective inventory hardware controls, efforts to control the software are significantly inhibited.

Standard Change

A pre-authorized change that is low risk, relatively common and follows a procedure or work instruction – for example, a password reset or provision of standard equipment to a new employee. Requests for change are not required to implement a standard change, and they are logged and tracked using a different mechanism, such as a service request.

Status

The name of a required field in many types of records. It shows the current stage in the lifecycle of the associated configuration item, incident, problem etc.

Supplier

A third party responsible for supplying goods or services that are required to deliver IT services. Examples of suppliers include commodity hardware and software vendors, network and telecom providers, and outsourcing organizations.

Support Request

Support requests encompass those requests that have not been predefined or expected by the service owner. This can include questions, suggestions, or even complaints.

Survey Management

Survey management enables you to create surveys to be sent to end users, and to consume the data collected by the surveys.

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T

Task

The work processes necessary to complete a change. For example, a change to replace a hard drive with a larger model might include these tasks: ordering the new drive, backing up the old drive, and installing the new drive.

Tasks must belong to a change. Task start and end dates, if specified, must fall within the start and end dates of the parent change. Tasks are classified by categories. Tasks can be broken into phases, if that level of discrimination is necessary. Work cannot proceed to the next phase until all tasks beneath it are complete.

Time Period

Service Management's Time Period Management module enables users with the appropriate permissions to create, edit, and manage time periods for use in Change and Service Level Management. You can create maintenance, blackout, work schedule, holiday, and event time periods. Time management helps users plan implementation of changes, so as to minimize disruption, and maximize the efficient use of resources. Service Management uses work schedule time periods in Service Level Management calculations.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) a form of full cost accounting. It is a financial estimate designed to help consumers and enterprise managers assess direct and indirect costs commonly related to software or hardware. The total cost includes all financial consequences of owning a Configuration Item (CI) or asset. For example, in addition to the initial purchase price, the total cost includes maintenance, accommodation charges, potential opportunity costs, training costs, consumables required, internal and external support, and interest on capital.

Transition

The progression from one phase to another in a workflow. A transition may be automatic or manual.

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U

Underpinning Contract (UC)

A contract between an IT service provider and a third party. The third party provides goods or services that support delivery of an IT service to a customer. The underpinning contract defines targets and responsibilities that are required to meet agreed service level targets in one or more service level agreements.

Urgency

A measure of how long it will be until an incident, problem, or change has a significant impact on the business. For example, a high-impact incident may have low urgency if the impact will not affect the business until the end of the financial year. Impact and urgency are used to assign priority.

Users

People (contacts) who have a Service Management license.

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V

Vendor Management

Vendors are companies that provide your company with goods or services. Vendors can be internal or external, vendors, suppliers, distributors, service providers, cloud service providers, or wholesalers.

In Service Management, you manage vendors in the Vendor Management module.

View

A view is a list of records produced by a search or filter operation.

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W

Workaround

Reducing or eliminating the impact of an incident or problem for which a full resolution is not yet available – for example, by restarting a failed configuration item. Workarounds for problems are documented in known error records. Workarounds for incidents that do not have associated problem records are documented in the incident record.

Workflow

A workflow is the end-to-end process from the record creation to its closure. The building blocks of the workflow are metaphases, phases and transitions.