Service Management (services, SLAs, contracts) Module

IT Service Management (ITSM) is a process-based practice intended to align the delivery of IT services with needs of the enterprise. Part of this, is the management of the service catalog that defines services, SLA and contracts with the end users (or customers).

This module allows a service manager to define all the pieces of the service catalog:

• Service
• Service subcategories
• SLA & SLT
• Customer contracts
• Provider contracts

The service management is integrated with the ticket management system:

• When creating a ticket for a given customer, the agent can select the service amongst the list of services defined for this customer.
• Ticket deadlines are computed depending on the SLA signed with the customer.

There is two alternatives to manage the service catalog in iTop:

• Service Management (services, SLAs, contracts)
• Service Management (services, SLAs, contracts) for Service providers

The first one is used to manage service within a single company, whereas the second is designed for service providers. Both modules provide the same elements to be managed, the differences are the relationships between those elements. In the sections below we describe those differences.

The contract type allows you to define a typology for the customer and provider contract in order to regroup them. For instance:

• Hardware contract
• Maintenance contract
• Outsourcing contract

A customer contract allows you to define which services have been purchased (requested) by a customer and what are the SLA corresponding to those services. By default, no coverage window is defined in iTop.

It is possible to document several contracts for a given customer. For each customer contracts you can link documents, and contacts related to it.

The menu “Customer contract” provides a list of already defined customer contracts. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

The tab “Services” display the list of services provided to the customer for this contrat. You can specify for each service which SLA is applicable and which coverage window is used

A delivery model defines which teams are providing support and services to a set of organizations (customers). It can be used also to document key people with their role: * Service Manager * Chief technology officer * Helpdesk manager

Several customers can share the same delivery model. Nevertheless, it may be useful to define several delivery models, especially if you want to limit the number of teams to which you can assign a ticket.

The delivery model of a given customer is used to identify to which team you can assign a ticket for this one.

The menu “Delivery models” provides a list of already defined delivery models. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

A provider contract allows you to document all the contracts you have with your providers (Support, maintenance, hardware contracts, etc.) This helps you to retrieve quickly such information and better manage the contract renewal process.

You can also link configuration items that are covered by a provider contract. For each customer contracts you can link documents, and contacts related to it.

The menu “Provider contract” provides a list of already defined provider contracts. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

A service level agreement (SLA) is a group of SLT. It defines the agreement between a provider and a customer for a given set of services.

Each IT department can define its own list of SLAs.

The menu “SLA” provides a list of already defined service level agreements. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

A service level target (SLT) allows you to define metrics for agreements that have to be respected. By default, iTop is proposed with two types of metrics:

• Time to own (TTO): This is time between the creation of a ticket and the time to take it into account (assign it to an agent)
• Time to resolve (TTR): This is the time between the creation of a ticket and the time to resolve it

A SLT is defined by:

• a name
• the type of metric
• the type of request
• the priority of the request

The menu “SLT” provides a list of already defined service level targets. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

The services are the basis of the service catalog. They are used to document all the services that can be provided by one or several IT Departments. For example:

• Application management
• Desktop and End user management
• Network management
• System management

Each IT provider can define its own list of services. Services are used to characterize a user request or an incident.

Services can be grouped into service families.

For each service you can document:

• the configuration items required to deliver the service
• the provider contracts, on which the service is depending

The menu “Service” provides a list of services. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

The service family allows you to define group of service. For instance:

• Application management
• Network Management
• End user support

It is useful mainly for reporting purpose.

The service subcategories are used to define more precisely a service. For example you can define the following subcategory for the service System management:

• Troubleshooting
• Order a new server
• Configure a new virtual machine
• Repare a server

A service subcategory is related to a type of user request (Incident or Service request). This is done to automate the qualification of a user request or an incident.

The menu “Service subcategories” provides a list of service subcategories. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

The coverage windows are used to define the office hours used to compute SLA for the services. For example:

• Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 6:00 pm
• Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 6:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00am to 12:00pm
• 24 hours by 7 days

A coverage window is identified by it's name. Hours are define with the following format : hh:mm For define a 24 hour period you have to define 00:00 to 24:00

The menu “Coverage windows” provides a list of already defined coverage windows. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

The holidays are used to define non working days and used to compute SLA for the services. For example:

• Christmas
• Thanks giving
• National day
• Vacation period

A holiday is identified by it's name and date. The calendar is used to regroup holiday together.

The menu “Holidays” provides a list of already defined holidays. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.

The holiday calendar are used to regroup holidays. It is identified by its name

The menu “Holiday calendars” provides a list of already defined holiday calendars. Just click on the button “New” to create a new one.