What is ITIL Service Design?

In order to introduce Service Design, it is good to use one of the fundamental concepts theorised by AXELOS itself regarding this practice:

Products, services and practices must be exploited in the best possible way in order to ensure both customer satisfaction and value creation. Furthermore, it is always crucial to work following an incremental approach to Service Design. This ensures that products and services introduced into already active systems can constantly adapt and align to the needs of evolving customers and organisations.

What is ITIL Service Design?

The purpose of having a Service Design practice into place, is designing products and services to fit their purpose and use, so they can be delivered by the organisation and its ecosystem. This includes the organisation of people, planning, partners and suppliers, communication, information, technology, and practices for new or changed services and products, as well as interaction with customers.

With the introduction of ITIL 4, the concept of Service Design has undergone a radical change, becoming one of the framework’s best practices. A best practice is a set of organisational resources designed to best perform a job or achieve a goal. These resources are grouped in the 4 dimensions of Service Management:

1. Organisation and People
2. Information and Technology
3. Value Stream and Processes
4. Suppliers and Partners

Read more: What is ITIL?

ITIL Service Design Objectives

The practice of Service Design ensures that all products and services are:

• Business- and customer-oriented, focused and driven
• Created to improve the user experience
• Cost-effective
• Capable of meeting the security and information requirements of both the organisation and external customer
• Flexible and adaptable, but also fit for purpose at the point of delivery
• Able to meet increasing demand both in volume and speed of change
• Able to meet the growing demands of organisations and customers for continuity of service
• Managed and operated at an acceptable level of risk

Service Design & Service Value System

All aspects of a Service Management activity need to be addressed and analysed through a holistic result-oriented approach.

It is essential that when any of the elements are changed or updated, all related aspects are considered. For this reason, it is essential that Service Design is perfectly coordinated with the organisation’s Service Value System.

The Service Value System aims at facilitating the integration of components and activities of an organisation in order to make them work in synergy.

In the activities carried out to structure, implementing or modifying a product or service will have an impact on:

• Other products and services
• Stakeholders and all parties involved
• Existing structure
• Technology required for implementation
• Service Management Practices required for implementation
• Necessary measurements and metrics

Not all implementations and changes require the same level of service design, so it is essential to always consider all these aspects.

Service Design Package

Service Design document(s) defining all aspects of an IT Service and its Requirements through each stage of its Lifecycle.

– Definition of Axelos

A Service Design Package (SDP) can be created for each IT service and then periodically updated. However, it can also be created during moments of major change: its purpose is always to ensure that all the main elements of a service have been taken into account and included in the documentation.

To implement a SDP, it is necessary to focus on customer and user experience. This means integrating the 4 dimensions of Service Management as represented in the picture:

Defining a Service Design Package: the process

There are some aspects that must be considered when defining a Service Design Package:

• Link the Service Design strategy to the risk appetite of the company
• Consider all 4 elements of Service Management
• Develop a template which identifies the type of information needed
• Involve stakeholders to avoid misunderstandings (and therefore delays)
• Develop a communication strategy that promotes the integration of Service Design Packages into the service design and delivery process
• Integrate SDPs into the value stream of all aspects of Service Management

Key Aspects of Service Design

There 3 Key Aspects of Service Design:

1. Service Planning
2. Risk Identification
3. Service Design Orchestration

Service Planning

Service Planning is a strategic phase aimed at designing and developing services in the best possible way. The purpose is to develop ‘what good looks like’, while not compromising User and Customer Experience for the services provided.

In the development phases it is important to define some preliminary elements, for example:

• How does the project help to achieve the desired outcomes?
• How is value created?
• How should the service change according to changing needs?

These are just some of the basic questions whose answers can be found in the 4 dimensions of Service Management, which define the organisation’s ability to respond to the needs of the stakeholders involved.

Risk Identification

There are 3 fundamental questions for carrying out risk identification activities in IT services:

1. What does the organisation want to achieve?
2. What are its objectives?
3. What works for the organisation?

Service Design Orchestration

Service design orchestration ensures all resources required to achieve the outcome, including suppliers, information, technology, people, processes and operating models, are considered when designing and transitioning IT services.

– Definition of AXELOS

Thus, Service Design Orchestration uses the principles of service integration and management to ensure that the level of risk agreed by the business is best managed.

Do you want to learn more about the ITIL framework and its practices? Discover QRP International’s training courses! Visit our website or write to us.

ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.