Continued from part 2 - click here to view

Now each consumer in this supply chain must be able to clearly and concisely articulate their requirements (demand) in service terms, not in technology requirements or technology specifications. This is one of the key differences between “techno centric” and “service centric” approach. The service catalog will provide service offerings expressed in service terms not in technology specifications.

This is because the service supplier is now solely responsible for designing technology solutions to supply the specified service offerings.

The service provider model talks about responding to and aligning with Business Needs. The Business Needs are very simply defined as “what the customer or consumer wants”. What we really mean by “business needs” for the Storage SP are the service needs required by the storage consumer.

How is demand placed on the various layers of the supply chain? The Business Unit will typically complete an SLRQ (Service Level Request Questionnaire) that has been carefully designed to capture all the information needed for each SP who may be involved in supplying the demand. It is important to note that each SP may also initiate a demand for services from the next lowest level in the supply chain.

Consumers at each level of the supply chain place demand on the next lower level. The Business Units use the SLRQ to place demand on the Application and DBA SPs, who then place demand on the Server SP, who in turn places a demand on the Storage SP.

The Business Units and the Application SP are the only customer/supplier relationship in the supply chain where an actual ITIL SLA rather than an OLA is used to govern the delivery of services to the “end user”, the Business Unit.

-Dick Benton, GlassHouse Principal Consultant