It is most critical management system used to support all processes and describes a providers service in terms of business value- correspond to markets terms, providing a means for comparing service competitiveness across alternative providers.

Articulates business needs and the providers response to those needs.

Basis of a decision framework, a service portfolio either clarifies or helps to clarify the following strategic questions:
Why should a customer buy these services?
Why should they buy these services from you?
What are the pricing or charge back Models?
What are our strengths and weaknesses, priorities and risk?
How should my resources and capabilities be allocated?
The service portfolio is the complete set of services that are managed by a Service Provider.
Ideally the Service Portfolio should form part of a comprehensive Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) and registered as a document in the Configuration Management System(CMS).

Once a strategic decision to charter a service is made, this is the stage in the service lifecycle that Service Design begins architecting the service. The Service Portfolio should contain information relating to every service and its current status within  the organization.

The scope includes new services, and the changes and improvements necessary to increase or maintain value to customers over the lifecycle of services.

Service Design Includes:

New/Changed Services
Requirements, Resources, Capabilities

Management Systems, Tools

Service Portfolio and Catalogue

Technology and Management architectures

Processes Measurement systems

• Assets, Value Networks, Value Creation and Value Capture
• Type I: exists within an organization solely to deliver service to one specific
• business unit
• Type II: services multiple business units in the same organization
• Type III: operates as an external service provider serving multiple external
• customers.

Service Assets as Resources and Capabilities..

• Resource is a generic term that includes IT infrastructure, people, money or anything else that might help to deliver an IT service.
• Resources are direct input for production
• Capability is the ability of a service organization, person, process, application, configuration item or IT service to carry out an activity.
• Capabilities are intangible assets of an organization.

Service Provisioning Models

• Managed Service: where a business unit requiring a service fully funds the provision of that service for itself
• Shared Service: the provisioning of multiple services to one or more business units through shared infrastructure and resources
• Utility: services are provided on the basis of how much is required by each customer, how often, and at what times the customer needs them
• We need to design a service that is fit for purpose (utility) and fit for use (warranty). We provide services to the customer to get high return on assets in turn improving the performance of the customer assets.
• Therefore, Service Strategy is a guideline that describes how to design, develop and implement service management as an organizational capability.
• It is guidance on how to transform Service Management into a strategic asset and then think and act in a strategic manner.