Service Catalog Best Practices

Overview

The services in a Service Catalog do not exist in isolation — they are delivered through technology components, systems, and infrastructure that have their own relationships, dependencies, and histories. A Configuration Management Database tracks those components and their relationships. When the Service Catalog and the CMDB are not connected, service delivery teams lack the contextual information they need to fulfill requests accurately and assess the impact of changes.

Best Practice

Establish a linkage between services in the Service Catalog and the configuration items in the CMDB that underpin the delivery of those services. At minimum, each service should reference the key technology components required to deliver it. Ideally this linkage is maintained bidirectionally so that changes to configuration items can be reflected in associated service entries.

Benefit(s)

Connecting the Service Catalog to the CMDB gives service delivery teams the contextual intelligence they need to fulfill requests, manage changes, and resolve issues more effectively. When a service request is received, operators can immediately see the underlying components involved and assess whether any current issues or changes might affect fulfillment.