What Top Level Service Catalog Categories do you use in your organizations?

[jonathonbarton]

Hi, all!

We're looking to our community to help guide our discussion of what Categories we might consider using as Top Level Categories for our Enterprise Customer-Facing catalog.

Currently we're using Hardware, Software, Is Something Broken (containing Something Is Broken - an Incident Record Producer), and I Need Something Else (which contains a Generic Service Request REQ/RITM producer)

A PC or Mobile Phone or Tablet or new Keyboard is pretty clearly Hardware.

Visio, MS Project, SnagIt, etc. are pretty clearly Software.

We're struggling with whether a "Cloud" service like a Sharepoint MySite/Skydrive (SP2010/SP2013), Maximo (Web-based app with a user license), ServiceNow ITIL License, etc. counts in the minds of our users as "Software" or if it's an "Account" or something else entirely from the end user's intuitive perspective.

We're also struggling how to intuitively catergorize things like AD account creation/updates, Onboarding, Offboarding, Security Badging, etc.

So, we're reaching out to all of you...

How are you categorizing these services and deliverables within your Service Catalog in your organization?

[sethhumphrey]

Educause, which is a leader in IT for Higher Education, produced a great document in 2015 detailing the organization of services and really defining what a service is.   Document: The Higher Education IT Service Catalog

Even if you're not in higher ed, this document can really help out in this area.   Here are the top level categories they recommend (they also go into 2nd level categories):

Administrative and Business

Enterprise and local services that support the administrative and business functions of an institution. Includes analytics, business intelligence, reporting, finance, human resources, student information systems, advancement, research administration, and conference and event management.

Communication and Collaboration

IT services that facilitate institutional communication and collaboration needs. Includes email, calendaring, telephony/VoIP, video/web conferencing, unified communications, web content management system, web application development and hosting, and media development.

End-Point Computing

Services that enable community members to do their day-to-day work, including providing access to enterprise services. Includes network access, user file storage, end-point computing backup solutions, desktop virtualization, computer labs, and printing.

Infrastructure

Enterprise-level hardware, software, systems, and network infrastructure that provide underlying support for institutional activities. Includes data centers, network backbone, wireless, central storage and system backup solutions, server virtualization, and systems management and operations.

IT Professional Services

Services that are consultative in nature, in contrast to the other categories, which tend to be technology based; these may be a combination of customer-facing and non-customer-facing services. Includes IT training, consulting/advisory services, business continuity/disaster recovery, enterprise architecture, portfolio/project management, and ITSM.

Research

Services supporting the institution's research activities, including specialized storage and computation, high-performance computing (HPC), visualization, and lab-management systems.

Security

Infrastructure and services that provide security, data integrity, and compliance for institutional activities. Includes security services such as virus protection, encryption, privacy impact assessments, information risk management, emergency preparedness, data security, identity management solutions, access controls (i.e., passwords, accounts, and authentication), audit and monitoring systems and services, and data access and stewardship.

Teaching and Learning

Instructional technology, tools, and resources directly supporting teaching and learning. Includes learning management systems, in-class and online course development, learning analytics, course evaluation, lecture capture, webinars, and other academic tools for faculty and students.