Sample ITIL Service Catalogue documents

FWIW, here are some sample ITIL service catalogue documents. They may not be flash but they are better than what you get in the ITIL V3 Service Design book. I have used these a couple of times with success but they are not extensively road tested: they are provided on an as is basis with no warranty or support.

The ITIL2 books don’t make much of Service Catalogue but it is the central, pivotal, fairly-static object in the ITIL world. (The central dynamic, transactional object is the Service Desk ticketing system, and the asset database). ITIL3 makes more of Service Catalogue, but still does not place it as centrally as the IT Skeptic and others would.

Service Catalogue drives your people. It is a key mechanism in cultural change, the foundation of customer relationship, and a pivotal tool for organising effort.

Service Catalogue informs your processes. It is only once the services are defined that all the ITIL processes know what is required of them, and how to prioritise.

In the IT Skeptic’s model, there are four levels of catalogue, which represent levels of maturity. Because ITIL2 and ITIL3 use “catalogue” slightly differently I thought about using another name, but “catalogue” exactly describes what people expect to find in such a document.

• Current Catalogue: an “as-is” snapshot that defines the current set of services being delivered. This includes legacy services which we have no intention of offering to any more users. It forms an essential artefact to focus staff on the service-oriented mindset - a touchstone - and it defines the “as-is” state. Target audience: IT.
• Brochure Catalogue: a high-level document written in business terms that defines what is on offer to the business. It is used by Relationship Managers to provide a basis for discussions. It is used by staff as a point of reference. In ITIL3 terminology, this is the Service Pipeline, plus those parts of the Current Catalogue that we want to continue to offer . It provides a definition of the “to-be” objective. Target audience: Customers, Users.
• Technical Catalogue: a union of Current and Brochure catalogues to describe all services actual and potential, with extensive supplementary information. It is used in the ITIL processes. The SLAs - once you have them - form a part of it, and there is much else: critical components, related services, escalation paths, available training etc. Target audience: IT.
• Automated Catalogue: an interactive tool that allows users to browse and order services. In the most advanced manifestation, services are provisioned in response to user ordering. This idea is all the rage in late 2008, although the technology has been available for a decade – think ASP. As with all of these things the technology is the easy part. The business model, the means and terms of chargeback, and most of all organisational acceptance and uptake are the real issues. And the automated tool still needs to be backed up with the three documents above. These levels complement each other, not replace each other. Target audience: Users.

The early outcome to look for is the Current Catalogue. The Brochure Catalogue and the Technical Catalogue grow over time. Many organisations will never reach the level of Automated Catalogue.