Service Catalog Best Practices

Overview

One of the most common causes of Service Catalog end-user frustration is the inability to find and invoke (i.e., submit a request) for a specific service. A user finds the service area they want to engage with and cannot find the service they wish to request. This calls for a catch-all service.

Best Practice

Implement user domain-specific Other services as domain-specific catch-alls.

Benefit(s)

This ensures that there is no dead-end for any service area. Even if a service requestor finds the right service area but cannot find the specific service they wish to request, they can at least invoke the Other service for that area.

Best Practice

Implement a master “Other” service catch-all at the tops of both the business taxonomy branch and the IT taxonomy branch. These top-level Other services act as general catch-alls and should be routed to a group that acts as a concierge service helping route requests to the correct organizations. The people behind these general services should act as enterprise Runners, whose primary responsibility is to help the requestor find and connect with the organizations and people who can help them.

Benefit(s)

Having two general Other services, one for the Business and one for IT, ensures that:

• A service requestor always has the option of entering a generic request that a service operator — acting as a general Business or IT concierge — will help fulfill.

• Usage of Other services helps identify services that need to be created, published, and automated for specific service areas.