Services Inventory and Attributes

The Services Inventory is one Noun Type inventory among the forty-five Noun Type inventories that constitute the IF4IT Enterprise Inventory Management taxonomy — the master catalog of all Noun Types the enterprise recognizes and tracks. The full taxonomy, the inventory governance principles that apply across every inventory in it, the Inventory of Inventories, and the framework for connecting inventories into the Enterprise Model are documented in the IF4IT Enterprise Inventory Management Best Practices document. Practitioners using this inventory should read that document as the broader governance context.

Within the EIM taxonomy, the Services Inventory has five closest neighbor Noun Types — the Noun Types with which Services have the most operationally significant, semantically rich, and governance-relevant relationships. First, the Capability Noun Type, governed in the IF4IT Capabilities Inventory and Attributes: Services realize Capabilities; Capabilities are realized by Services. The Capability is the standing ability the enterprise possesses; the Service is the deliberate, contracted, governed offering through which that ability becomes operationally available. Second, the Application Noun Type, governed in the IF4IT Applications Inventory and Attributes: Applications enable Services; Services are enabled by Applications. A single Application may enable many Services; a single Service may depend on many Applications. Third, the Vendor Noun Type, governed in the IF4IT Vendors Inventory and Attributes: Services are consumed from Vendors (for externally sourced Services); Vendors provide Services. Fourth, the Contract Noun Type, governed in the planned Contracts and Agreements Inventory: Services are governed by Contracts; Contracts govern Services. Fifth, the Product Noun Type, governed in the planned Products Inventory: Services and Products are peer offerings that may include, enable, or extend one another in either direction.

A Service is not a Capability, not an Application, not a Process, not a Service Request, not a Service Record, and not a Product. Services are distinct from each of these adjacent Noun Types in ways that the Service Management Best Practices document treats in detail. Services are not Capabilities because Capabilities are standing abilities and Services are deliberate, contracted offerings that realize them. Services are not Applications because Applications are software solutions that enable Services (often many Services per Application). Services are not Processes because Processes are sequenced activities that may exercise Services, while Services are the defined offerings the Processes exercise. Services are not Service Requests or Service Records, which are transactional instances of Services being invoked; the Service is the definition, while the Service Request is the single invocation. Services are not Products, though Products and Services are often related and may include one another reciprocally.