ServiceManagement

Service management is a set of capabilities for designing, delivering, supporting, and continually improving services in order to meet the needs of customers and users. It emphasizes value realization, outcome-based thinking, and coordination across people, processes, and technology.

IT service management (ITSM) is a common application within information technology. It is guided by frameworks such as ITIL and standards like ISO/IEC 20000. The ITSM approach centers on a service lifecycle, typically described in five stages: strategy, design, transition, operation, and continual improvement.

Core components include a service portfolio and service catalog, processes for incident management, problem management, change management, release management, request fulfillment, and service level management. Configuration management databases (or CMDBs) support asset and configuration data. Other areas include capacity, availability, security, and continuity management.

Roles and governance: service owners, process owners, and a service desk act as the primary user-facing functions. Performance is governed by service level agreements and objectives, with metrics and continual improvement driving optimization.

Relationship to business and other domains: Good service management aligns IT and other service domains with business goals, manages risk, and improves customer satisfaction. While ITSM is the dominant context, principles apply to facilities, customer service, and other domains.