About the Book

By implementing good practice in service offerings and agreements, IT departments can achieve high levels of customer satisfaction. This book is aimed at Intermediate Certificate candidates and people within organisations of any size who are tasked with service portfolio management, business relationship management, service catalogue management, service level management, demand management, supplier management and financial management.
This guide provides clarification and expansion of the core ITIL® texts. This new edition reflects the current thinking from ITIL, in particular the greater emphasis on business relationship management, and is aligned to the latest syllabus for the Intermediate Certificate in Service Offerings and Agreements. An ITIL licensed product.
• Clarifies and expands on core ITIL texts
• Key resource for exam candidates at Intermediate level
• Offers practical guidance for IT departments

About the Author

Richard Griffiths has worked as a practitioner, trainer and consultant in all aspects of ITIL for a large range of organisations worldwide. He specialises in helping with the adoption and adaptation of ITIL, enabling organisations to standardise processes and become more business-aligned. Richard has been a question compiler and examiner at all levels and has used his comprehensive experience to tailor this book for ITIL exam candidates.

Table of Contents:
Figures and tables Author Abbreviations Glossary Useful websites Preface SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 1.THE CONCEPT OF SERVICE MANAGEMENT AS A PRACTICE: Service strategy • Service design • Service transition • Service operation • Continual service improvement • Related material 2.THE CONCEPT OF SERVICE. ITS VALUE PROPOSITION AND COMPOSITION 3.THE FUNCTIONS AND PROCESSES ACROSS THE LlFECYCLE 4.THE ROLE OF PROCESSES IN THE SERVICE LIFE CYCLE 5.HOW SERVICE MANAGEMENT CREATES BUSINESS VALUE 6.HOW SERVICE OFFERINGS AND AGREEMENTS SUPPORT THE SERVICE LlFECYCLE SECTION 2: THE SOA PROCESSES AND FUNCTIONS 7.SERVICE PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT: Introduction • The service portfolio and its relationship with the service catalogue and the service pipeline • Howa service portfolio describes a provider’s service and how it relates the business service with the IT service • The service portfolio management methods Information management in relation to service portfolio management • Critical success factors and key performance indicators for service portfolio management • Challenges and risks • Designing the service portfolio 8.SERVICE CATALOGUE MANAGEMENT:Introduction • Purpose, aim and objectives • The scope of the process • The interface to the service portfolio • The difference between a business service catalogue and a technical service catalogue • The importance to the service lifecycle and to the business Policies, principles and basic concepts • Key rnetrics, challenges, critical success factors and risks • Activities and use by other processes and functions • Producing a service catalogue • Information management 9.SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT:Introduction • Purpose, aim and objectives • The scope of the process • The value to service lifecycle and to the business • Principles and basic concepts • Process activities, methods and techniques • Deliverables • Monitoring service performance against SLAs • Key metrics, challenges, critical success factors and risks • The contents of OLAs, SLAs and review meetings • The interface with other processes and functions • Information management 10.DEMAND MANAGEMENT: Introduction • Basic concepts • Activity-based demand management and business activity patterns • The interface to the service portfolio • Managing demand for service • Information management • Critical success factors and key performance indicators • Challenges and risks for demand management 11.SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT:Introduction • Purpose, aim and objectives • The scope of the process • The importance of the process to the service lifecycle and how it generates business value • Principles and basic concepts • Activities, relationship to the service lifecycle, and evaluation of new suppliers • The use of supplier categorisation and maintenance of the supplier and contract database • Key metrics, challenges, critical success factors and risks • Inputs and outputs • Information management 12. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT:Introduction • Purpose, aim and objectives • The scope of the process • The concept of service valuation • The importance of the process to the service lifecycle and business value • Aspects and concepts of the process • Return on investment and the business case • Activities, methods and techniques • Design and implementation • Information management • Critical success factors and key performance indicators • Challenges and risks for financial management 13.BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT:• Purpose and objectives • Scope • The value to the business • Policies, principles and basic concepts • Process activities, methods and techniques • Triggers, inputs, outputs and interfaces • Information management • Critical success factors and key performance indicators • Challenges and risks 14.SOA ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: • Service catalogue manager • Service level manager • Supplier manager • Business relationship manager • Demand manager 15.TECHNOLOGY AND IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS:• Generic requirements to assist service design • Evaluation criteria for process implementation • Good practice • Challenges, critical success factors and risks • Planning and implementation 16.COMMON SERVICE ACTIVITIES: • The objectives, controls and types of monitoring • The CSI principles and ownership • Service and process improvement including the Deming cycle • Role definition • Understanding the relationship of CSI in respect of organisational change SECTION 3: PASSING THE SOA EXAMINATION 17.THE SCOPE OF THE EXAM AND QUALIFICATION: • Introduction • Bloom’s taxonomy and its use in the training and examination 18.TRAINING: • Introduction • Training, duration, structure and content 19.THE FORMAT OF THE EXAMINATION: • Introduction • Verifying your identity • Format of the scenario-based, gradient-scored questions • The examination environment • Typical examination question structures and styles • Guidance on selecting the best answer • Marks required to pass the examination APPENDICES A 1 SERVICE OFFERINGS AND AGREEMENTS SYLLABUS• Unit 1: Introduction • Unit 2: Service portfolio management • Unit 3: Service catalogue management • Unit 4: Service level management • Unit 5: Demand management • Unit 6: Supplier management • Unit 7: Financial management for IT services • Unit 8: Business relationship management • Unit 9: Service offerings and agreements role and responsibilities • Unit 10: Technology and implementation considerations • Unit 11: Summary, exam preparation and directed studies A2 SAMPLE QUESTIONS • Answers and rationale A3 THE GENERIC USE OF METRICS TO CHECK AND IMPROVE EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS • The seven-step improvement process • Service measurement • Business questions for CSI • Service level management A4 GENERIC CHALLENGES, CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS AND RISKS • Generic challenges • Critical success factors • Risks Index