The four dimensions of service management conjures up visions of some fantastic journey to another reality.
What we are really speaking about is the varying perspectives that are critical to effective and efficient facilitation of value for customers and other stakeholders.
If we were to visualize this it might look like the four legs of a table, while it might be able to stand with only three legs it won’t be very stable in the long run.
The four dimensions include:
- Organization and People
- Information and Technology
- Partners and Suppliers
- Value Stream and Processes
In this post we will talk about Value Stream and Processes
Value stream and processes
The ITIL service value chain is an operating model which has a series of steps incorporated called value streams.
Value Streams
A value-stream is a series of steps that an organization uses to create and deliver products and services to a service consumer. Value streams can be beneficial for an organization in a variety of ways.
Improved performance
Value streams help improve the overall performance of an organization so it’s essential to identify and understand the various value streams of the organization.
Better understanding
Organization should structure their service or product portfolios as it provides two primary benefits
- It allows us to understand what value an organization delivers
- It helps to facilitate continual service improvements long term
Increase productivity
Value streams help organizations to analyze how they perform their work. The analysis enables them to find waste in their current workflow such as any obstacles and non-value-added activities and increase value outing activities.
Continual Improvement
For your organization to achieve its objectives you will need to continually review and improve upon your value streams.
Processes
A process is a series of actions which are carried out to transform inputs into outputs. They typically define a sequence of actions and their dependencies, detail who is involved in the process, and outline the work instructions which explain how activities are carried out.
Processes described what should be done to accomplish the organizational objectives and improve productivity within the organization.
When we are considering the structure of services, we want to make sure that they have look similar to the value chain, value streams, processes and procedures. To do this the organization should consider some key questions when creating delivering and improving a service.
- Who performs the actions for the required service?
- What value streams are involved in achieving the outputs of the service?
- How does the service work?
The answers to these questions may vary from service to service depending on your organization.
This is just one of the four dimensions of service management. Nothing in ITSM should be done in isolation so having the other dimensions in place is critical to getting the value we are searching for. Stay tuned for additional posts on this subject.
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