Service Catalog Best Practices

Overview

Customers approach a Service Catalog with very different mental models and navigation preferences. Some know exactly what they are looking for and want to search for it directly. Others prefer to browse by category. Still others navigate by their role, department, or a recent event. A catalog that supports only one navigation style will fail the customers who prefer a different approach. A catalog that supports multiple navigation styles helps establish a higher probability for successful Service Management.

Best Practice

Design the Service Catalog to support multiple navigation paths simultaneously. Provide robust search based on service names, descriptions, and categories. Provide browseable taxonomy navigation from broad domains to specific services. Consider role-based or event-based views that surface the most relevant services for specific customer contexts.

Benefit(s)

Multiple navigation paths dramatically improve the probability that any given customer will find the service they need, regardless of how they approach the problem. Higher discoverability translates directly into higher utilization and fewer informal requests.