Service Management Best Practices - Glossary of Terms and Phrases

Service Management Best Practices

Glossary of Terms and Phrases

Overview

The following glossary defines terms and phrases used throughout this document. Terms are listed in alphabetical order. All definitions are specific to the context of Service Management as described in this document.

Terms and Definitions

Term or Phrase	Abbreviation or Acronym	Definition
Catalog Manager		The individual or team accountable for the overall governance, accuracy, and maintenance of the Service Catalog. The Catalog Manager ensures service entries are current, consistent, and aligned with organizational standards.
Customer Segment		The defined group of customers for whom a specific service is designed and delivered. Understanding the customer segment informs service design, SLA targets, communication strategies, and improvement priorities.
Enterprise Architecture	EA	The organizational function responsible for defining and governing the structures, standards, and strategies that guide how the enterprise uses technology and information to achieve its goals. EA operates with enterprise-wide scope and cross-organizational authority.
Portfolio Owner		The individual accountable for the health, strategy, and performance of a Service Portfolio. The Portfolio Owner is responsible for aligning portfolio composition with organizational priorities, managing portfolio-level investment, and reporting portfolio health to leadership.
Product Owner		In the context of Service as a Product, the individual accountable for the strategic direction, roadmap, and value delivery of a specific service. The Product Owner defines what the service should deliver, prioritizes improvement efforts, and represents the interests of the service customer.
Service		A defined capability or offering that an organization provides to its customers to help them accomplish a specific goal or outcome. A service has defined boundaries, a named owner, a value proposition, and a mechanism for requesting it.
Service Backlog		An ordered list of planned improvements, enhancements, and changes to a specific service. The backlog captures future work for the service and is managed by the Product Owner in priority order based on customer value and organizational impact.
Service Governance		The organizational framework of policies, roles, accountabilities, and decision rights that ensure services are properly owned, managed, and aligned with organizational goals. Service governance defines who has authority over service-related decisions and how those decisions are made.
Service Lifecycle		The defined stages that a service passes through from initial proposal to retirement. A service lifecycle typically includes stages such as Proposed, Active, Deprecated, and Retired, each with defined criteria and governance-approved transition processes.
Service Management	SM	The professional discipline of designing, delivering, governing, and continuously improving services to deliver consistent value to customers. Service Management encompasses service governance, ownership, lifecycle management, portfolio management, and continuous improvement.
Service Owner		The individual accountable for the definition, quality, performance, and lifecycle of a specific service. The Service Owner is the authoritative point of contact for all questions, issues, and decisions related to their service.
Service Pipeline		The collection of services that are currently proposed or under development — services that are not yet active and available in the Service Catalog but are planned for future delivery. The Service Pipeline represents the organization’s service development roadmap.
Service Portfolio		The complete collection of all services that an organization manages, organized by service area and ownership. The Service Portfolio includes active services in the catalog, services in the pipeline, and retired services. It is the authoritative record of all services across the enterprise.
Service Portfolio Management	SPM	The strategic discipline of organizing services into portfolios, managing them collectively, and ensuring the overall service landscape is aligned with organizational strategy. Service Portfolio Management provides a strategic view across collections of related services.
Service Roadmap		A forward-looking plan for the evolution of a specific service over a defined time horizon. The roadmap captures planned improvements, major releases, and lifecycle transitions, and is maintained by the Product Owner in alignment with customer needs and organizational priorities.
Service Value Proposition		A clear statement of the value a service delivers to its defined customer segment. The value proposition answers: who is this service for, what problem does it solve, and why is it the right solution for that customer.
SLA	SLA	See: Service Level Agreement.
Service Level Agreement	SLA	A documented commitment between a service provider and a service consumer that defines the expected level of service, including response times, fulfillment timelines, availability, and quality standards.

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