5 Steps To Defining IT Services - A Hands On Workbook

5 Steps to Defining IT Services:
A Hands-on Workbook
An ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES (EMA) Workbook
March 2008
IT Management Research, Industry Analysis, and Consulting

A Hands-On Workbook
Table of Contents
The Promise of ITSM................................................................................................................................................. 1
Defining IT Services: The Cornerstone of ITSM................................................................................................. 1
A Model for IT Service Definition........................................................................................................................... 2
5 Steps to Defining an IT Service............................................................................................................................. 3
Step 1: Select an Enterprise Product and Identify Supporting Services...................................................... 3
Step 2: List All Related IT Systems..................................................................................................................... 4
Step 3: Mark IT Services as CFS or RFS........................................................................................................... 6
Step 4: Map RFSs to CFSs.................................................................................................................................... 8
Step 5: Identify the Resources that Make Up the Resource Facing Services ............................................. 9
Next Steps....................................................................................................................................................................10
About EMA................................................................................................................................................................10
Learn More about ITSM Consulting Services from EMA........................................................................... 10
Page
2008 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

A Hands-On Workbook
The Promise of ITSM
In todays world, IT organizations are struggling to keep pace with rapid change, skyrocketing complexity, and increased demand for IT services. IT is tasked with addressing these formidable challenges while simultaneously improving IT service quality,
controlling IT costs, and aligning IT with the business.
To meet these objectives, IT cannot simply work harder IT must work smarter.
Existing IT controls no longer work in todays world. The answer is to transition IT
from a technology focus to a service focus. IT Service Management, or ITSM, provides a structured approach to help IT organizations address these challenges while
dramatically increasing the contribution of IT to the business.
Figure 1: The Value of Transitioning to Service Management
Defining IT Services: The Cornerstone of ITSM
Managing IT by service and not technology is the message of ITIL v3. Unfortunately,
most IT professionals really struggle with defining IT services. In fact, some
30% of ITSM projects are unable to move forward because of this roadblock.
IT service definition is the first (and most important step) in Service Portfolio
Management (SPM), Business Service Management (BSM), Service Level Management
(SLM), and IT Service Management (ITSM). If you dont get this fundamental step
right, the odds are that your entire ITSM initiative will go down in flames. However,
while all of these technology areas use the word service and purport to manage IT
services, none of them describes the nuts and bolts of how to define a service.
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A Model for IT Service Definition
Telephone companies have been selling services for over 100 years. The
Telemanagement Forum (TMF) is an international group of telecommunications carriers and service providers, and the TMF New Generation Operations Systems and
Software (NGOSS) Service Information Data model (SID) is the de facto standard
for IT service definition.
SID combines very nicely with ITIL to offer a layered construct for IT service provisioning based on unambiguous service definitions. SID concepts include products,
services, and resources:
A product is what we sell or deliver to customers
A service is an IT activity that supports delivery of the product
A resource is an IT system required to implement the IT service
SID defines two types of services: Customer Facing Service (CFS) and Resource
Facing Service (RFS). CFSs are used and acquired by a customer. RFSs support CFSs
but are not visible to or acquired by a customer RFSs are used only to build CFSs.
Figure 2: How CFSs, RFSs, and Resources Combine to Produce Products
Lets look at a real-world example. Imagine that your enterprise is in the building
products industry, and your core product is concrete.
Your internal users rely on CFSs to carry out the business of the enterprise making,
delivering, and selling concrete to end customers. Consider these business processes
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A Hands-On Workbook
further. In this example, a CFSs may be telephone service, which your internal users
use to receive orders and dispatch trucks. Such a service could include other CFS as
well perhaps voice mail.
A CFS consists of one or more RFSs. RFSs may not be acquired by an internal user
except as part of a CFS and users are typically unaware of RFSs. Consider the optional
voice mail CFS in our example. This service may not function without routing and
storage services relying perhaps upon an RFS of Domain Name Services (DNS).
An RFS, such as DNS in our example, consists of shared IT resources. These resources run the gamut of classic ITIL Configuration Items such as hardware, software, data, etc.
5 Steps to Defining an IT Service
After helping IT organizations throughout the world successfully define IT services,

the experts at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) have leveraged the SID
model to develop a straightforward 5-step process for defining an IT service. In this
section, we walk you through the model and provide you with guidance to help you
define your own IT services.
Step 1: Select an Enterprise Product and Identify Supporting

Services
The first step in the process is to select an enterprise product and identify the IT
service(s) that support the delivery of this product to end customers. Your enterprise
product is the primary output that is sold to customers.
Here are a few examples:
Enterprise
Product
Building Products
Concrete
Stone
Lumber
Phone Company
Internet Service
Telephone Service
Cable TV
Local Government
Police Service
Fire Department
Water
Software Company
Web Application
Training
Consulting
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A Hands-On Workbook
Now, lets look at your organization

What is your enterprise product? What products and/or services do your end customers acquire
or purchase from your company? (Hint: Think about your enterprise marketing and
communications.)
Enterprise
Product(s)
Step 2: List All Related IT Systems

The second step is to create a list of all IT systems relating to the support of the enterprise product. These are NOT hardware or software. Rather, they are often major
applications that help sell, provision, service, and support your enterprise product.
They often combine people, product, and process resources and their name is usually not technical, but rather, functional. Examples include major Customer Resource
Management (CRM) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications, or even
simple names like e-mail or phones.
For example:
Enterprise
Product
IT Systems
Building Products
Concrete
Dispatching
Mixing
Database
Phone Company
Internet Service
Ordering
Customer Service
Traffic Shaping
Local Government
Police Service
Dispatching
Crime Reporting
Fingerprinting
Software Company
Web Application
Online Support
Backup Power Systems
Generator
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A Hands-On Workbook

What IT systems support the delivery of each of your enterprise products to end customers?
Enterprise
Product
IT Systems
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A Hands-On Workbook
Step 3: Mark IT Services as CFS or RFS

The next step in the process is to identify the service as either a Customer Facing
Service (CFS) or a Resource Facing Service (RFS). Remember: enterprise products
are composed of and/or supported by CFSs and customers acquire CFSs from IT.
In contrast, RFSs are used only inside of IT to build CFSs. CFSs include common
applications and systems relied on by users across the enterprise to support end customers of your product. For example, e-mail, ERP, and CRM systems are all CFSs.
RFSs include special applications and systems used within IT exclusively (e.g., backup,
DHCP). Not all IT systems can be classified as CFS or RFS. Some are resources, and
some are functional such as the Help Desk or Service Desk.
Use the following rules-of-thumb to help determine whether each IT service is a CFS
or an RFS:

Your IT service is customer facing when the user: (1) is aware of and uses the
service directly; and (2) can purchase or acquire the service individually.
Your IT service is resource facing when the user: (1) is unaware of the service;
and (2) is not able to directly acquire the service.
Also note that a CFS can be an RFS, and vice versa, depending on how the consumer
of the service gets the service from IT. For example, an application hosting service
might be a CFS to a customer who just wants hosting and it might be an RFS in a CFS
to a Web-hosted application provider.
Lets expand on our examples:
Enterprise
Product
IT Systems
CFS
Building Products
Concrete
Dispatching
Mixing
Database
Phone Company
Internet Service
Police Service
Ordering
Customer Service
X
X
Dispatching
Crime Reporting
Fingerprinting
Software Company
Web Application
Online Support
Backup Power Systems
Generator
Resources
Traffic Shaping
Local Government
RFS
X
X
X
X
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A Hands-On Workbook

What IT systems support the delivery of each of your enterprise products to your end customers?
Enterprise
Product
IT Systems
CFS
RFS
Resources
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A Hands-On Workbook
Step 4: Map RFSs to CFSs

The next step is to map RFSs to CFSs. Remember that more than one RFS is typically
used to deliver a CFS. Resources create RFSs, and RFSs create the CFS. Think of
RFSs as the glue between the resources (e.g., ITIL Configuration Items like hardware,
software, people, data, and accommodation) and the CFS. Remember that users and
customers are generally unaware of an RFS. It is common to have one RFS used by
many CFSs. For example, consider the IT systems responsible for database backup or
storage. These systems contribute to most other IT services, including other RFSs.
The rules-of-thumb for RFSs are:
The service is only available as part of a CFS
T
he user: (1) is unaware of the service; and (2) is not able to directly acquire
the service
Lets drill down on a few of our examples:
Enterprise
Product
CFS
RFS
Building Products
Concrete
E-mail
Backup
DNS
Microsoft Exchange
Phone Company
Internet Service
Ordering
SOAP/SOA Web Application

Credit Scoring
Local Government
Police Service
Crime Reporting
800 Service
Software Company
Web Application
Online Support
IM Applet
800 Service

Which resource facing services are required to support the key customer facing services at your
company?
Enterprise
Product
CFS
RFS
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A Hands-On Workbook
Step 5: Identify the Resources that Make Up the Resource

Facing Services
Resources are individual ITIL Configuration Items (hardware, software, people, etc.)
that combine as a system to produce RFSs and CFSs. Examples of resources include
radios, servers, towers, networks, call centers, etc.
Remember that many RFSs (and by extension CFSs) share resources. Dont be surprised
to see the same resources and RFSs used several times as you define your customer
facing IT services. The rule here is simple: identify the individual bits of hardware,
software, data, and people that work together to accomplish the goal of the RFS.
Lets take our example one step further:
Enterprise
Product
CFS
RFS
Resource(s)
Building Products
Concrete
E-mail
Backup
SAN
Backup Software
Tape Drives
Phone Company
Internet Service
Ordering
SOAP/SOA Web
Application
Server
Router
Router OS
Local Government
Police Service
Crime Reporting 800 Service
Voice Mail Server

Storage System
Voice Recognition Software
Software Company
Web Application
Online Support
IM Applet
ACD
Agent
Knowledge Base

What classic ITIL Configuration Items do your IT services rely on? Hardware? Software? Data?
People? Vendors?
Enterprise
Product
CFS
RFS
Resource(s)
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A Hands-On Workbook
Next Steps
Using the 5-step process described in this document should give you a head-start
on defining your own IT services. Instead of arguing about what is and what isnt a
service, the SID rules will guide your decisions in hours instead of days. Connecting
your product offerings to your CFSs has the added benefit of moving your IT organization closer to your end customer.
Moving forward, gather all the data you have (and you no doubt have lots) about
a CFS customer names, locations, and so on. Gather the tools you use to manage the RFSs and resources. This information forms the basis for a Configuration
Management Database (CMDB) as well you are capturing the content and context
of your infrastructure.
Working hand-in-hand with your users and customers, use your data and service
definitions to measure and value your IT services. If you plan to charge for IT services, begin gathering costing information labor, vendors, and so on. Relate these
costs to the services.
This is only the beginning of your ITSM journey much work lies ahead. But you
simply cannot benefit from ITSM or ITIL without first properly defining your IT
services.
About EMA
Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting

firm 100% dedicated to the IT management market. We provide enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established
and emerging technologies, including ITSM based on the IT Infrastructure Library
(ITIL) and component technologies like CMDB, Service Catalog, and Service Desk.
Learn More about ITSM Consulting Services from EMA

Do you need some expert guidance to get you (or keep you) on the road to ITSM
success? EMA does not sell vendor solutions or provide implementation services.
Rather, through our ITSM Consulting Services, we help guide you through the
potential roadblocks inherent in adopting ITSM best practices. To learn more,
contact us at info@enterprisemanagement.com or +1.303.543.9500 or visit
http://www.emausa.com/Web/ema_services.php?type=1504.
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About Enterprise Management Associates, Inc.

Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market.
The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging
technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and
service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and
convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firms extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions
Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.enterprisemanagement.com.
This report in whole or in part may not be duplicated, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or retransmitted without prior written permission of
Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All opinions and estimates herein constitute our judgement as of this date and are subject to change without notice.
Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. EMA and Enterprise Management
Associates are trademarks of Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
2008 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved. EMA, ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, and the mobius
symbol are registered trademarks or common-law trademarks of Enterprise Management Associates, Inc.
Corporate Headquarters:
5777 Central Avenue, Suite 105
Boulder, CO 80301
Phone: +1 303.543.9500
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www.enterprisemanagement.com
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5 Steps to Defining IT Services:

IT Management Research, Industry Analysis, and Consulting