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Service catalog


A service catalog (or catalogue), is an organized and curated collection of any and all business and information technology related services that can be performed by, for, or within an enterprise.

Service catalogs act as knowledge management tools for the employees and consultants of an enterprise, allowing them to route their requests for and about services and services related topics to the subject matter experts who own, are accountable for, and operate them. Each service within such service catalogs is usually very repeatable and has controlled inputs, processes, and outputs.

Service catalogs also allow leadership and management, for example the Chief Operations Officer (COO), to compartmentalize the enterprise into highly structured and more efficient operational units, hence the descriptive phrase: "a service-oriented enterprise."

A service catalog is a means of centralizing all services that are important to the stakeholders of the enterprises which implement and use it. Given its digital and virtual implementation, via software, the service catalog acts, at a minimum, as a digital registry and a means for highly distributed enterprises to see, find, invoke, and execute services regardless of where they exist in the world. This means that people in one part of the world can find and utilize the same services that people in other parts of the world use, eliminating the need to develop and support local services via a federated implementation model.

Centralizing services also acts as a means of identifying service gaps and redundancies that can then be addressed by the enterprise to improve itself.

Service catalogs are implemented in a manner that facilitate the registration, discovery, request, execution, and tracking of desired services for catalog users. Each service within the catalog typically includes traits and elements such as:

The more descriptive the service details are, the easier it is for end users of the service catalog to find and invoke the services they desire.

A service catalog is commonly structured in a manner where its registered services are categorized. A large percentage of Categories for services are derived from the areas of an enterprise and the functions it performs, such as Information Technology, Operations, and Fulfillment. Examples of common service categories include Marketing Services, Product Development Services, Fulfillment Services, and Support Services, which are consumed and performed by most businesses.

The purpose of categorization of services is to facilitate service curation, such as how books may be curated in a library.

The utilization of service catalogs allow enterprises to allocate and track resources, both human and systemic, which are required for successful service delivery, operations, and support. This allows enterprises to understand where resources are allocated, whether there are too many or too few resources allocated, and whether or not the resources allocated are adequate for purpose. It also allows an understanding of what resources are shared between multiple services versus those that are fully dedicated to a single service..


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