Chapter 21
Service Management
Information technology service desk processes have matured and standardized over the years. Everything about service management can easily be found in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) or in the documents of the International Organization for Standards (ISO). While these and others have become established as standards, the actual delivery of the service, the tools, knowledge management, centralization of service desk, and associated processes have evolved over time. They continue to evolve to ensure cost optimization, automation, and consistency in delivery of service.
In this chapter, we review the service management life cycle, understand the steps and tools required in delivering a service, and explore different models used for delivering the service.
Service Management Life Cycle
The service management life cycle is an iterative five-step process, as depicted in Figure 21.1.
Figure 21.1 Service Delivery Life Cycle
Service Modeling
The service management life cycle essentially begins by defining a service delivery model (Step 1) that can be a combination of following options, which we discuss in subsequent sections:
Centralized or decentralized service desk
Outsourced or in-house desk
On-site, phone-based, or Web-based support ...
