Talk:Service catalog

Is Service Catalog for User or Customer?
I am just learning ITIL -- as I work my way through ITIL Foundation training, it seems that Service Catalog, as defined in the Service Level Management process, is primarily a document intended for the Customer (the one who will pay for the service, negotiate agreements, etc.). However, this article describes a service catalog that is very much intended for the User, which seems quite different from what ITIL specifies (does the article reflect the reality of how the term is coming to be used in the marketplace?). Any comments from someone more expert in ITIL and ITSM? West81 20:24, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

The SC is divided into halves – The Business Service catalog and the Technical Service Catalog Service Level Management supports Service Catalog Management in the creation of a customer facing Business Service Catalog written with the customer in mind describing services without too much technical language or detail. Where as in the Technical Services Catalog services will be described with detail including all of the technical specifications.

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT STRUCTURES There are different types of Service Level Agreement structures: Customer Based – Separate SLA’s for each customer covering multiple services. This is used if separate customers have very different needs and requirements. Service Based – An SLA covering one single service for all customers that use that service. This is used when the requirements of IT services differs little between each customer; Multi-Level SLA - It is possible however that neither of the above options is suitable in which case a multi-level SLA could be used. This type of structure reduces the duplication of effort while still providing customization to customers and services.

Multi-Level SLA’s cover: Corporate Level – All generic issues are covered e.g. the corporate security service where passwords and ID cards are serviced; Customer Level – Issues specific to a customer can be dealt with e.g. the security requirements for one department within and organization is higher than the other; Service Level – All issues relevant to a specific service (in relation to the specific customer) are covered e.g., the email service for a particular department may need to be encrypted, and require secure backups.

SLA DESIGN When designing the contents of an SLA there are certain set criteria that need to be covered: •	Introduction •	Service Hours •	Availability targets •	Reliability •	Support Arrangements •	Transaction response Times •	Disaster recovery •	Reporting Requirements •	Incentives and Penalties

SLA LIFECYCLE The lifecycle of the SLA has the following phases: •	Begin with the creation of the Service Catalog. •	Discuss Service Level Requirements with the customer are discussed •	Service level requirements are mapped against Service catalog •	Sign Service Level Agreement once all negotiations on requirements are completed and agreed upon by the Service Level Manager and the customer •	Ongoing and frequent review of achievements comprised of feedback on how well the service level agreement has been managed •	Appendices (where appropriate) may be needed based on reviews. These would be added to the SLA. •	Review and renew of SLA’s

Links
I think the recent commercial link to a Software Catalog provider is inappropriate—it seems this section should either list multiple major providers or none at all. Due to conflict of interest, I will not edit the links section, but I encourage an impartial party to clean it up. West81 15:12, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

What is inappropriate about listing all vendors? It is information after all. I think listing only few is unfair. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Serviceguy (talk • contribs) 01:55, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is not for advertising or promotion. I think I have removed all the links to commercial vendors. Do not re-add them wtihout discussing them here first. KnightLago (talk) 02:15, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

The links that remain on this section seem to all point to one vendor! It even has a link to amazon to buy a book which is by this vendor! This hardly seems like it is being impartial! If the previous links section was removed because it linked to commercial vendors at least that was fair as there were a number of vendors. Now it appears that this is just a webshop for one vendor. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.155.97.46 (talk) 15:38, 13 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I persoanlly think the links are fine. They appear to be informational articles. We are not here to make sure every vendor gets to put in a link to their site. If you would like to suggest some new links that you feel go to a more neutral site then please do so. I did take the Amazon link out. KnightLago (talk) 16:39, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

great page however.....The link 'How to produce an actionable service catalog', is now out of date and is written by the CEO of a major vendor, who wrongly uses the word ITIL very liberally and this is just marketing blurb for them, not suitable for wikipedia. I have been looking for good external links, but impartial ones are very hard to come by. The ITIL books actually say very little and the page already covers whats in the published ITIL framework. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rebylrebyl (talk • contribs) 10:55, 26 June 2008 (UTC)