How service request definitions are related to Atrium Service Catalog

When you create a service request definition (SRD) in BMC Service Request Management, it is translated into a requestable offering in the Atrium Service Catalog. This makes the SRD information (and its relationship to services and service offerings) available to other consumers. Users can browse the entire service catalog in one location.

A requestable offering is part of a service offering that defines a specific agreement between a service provider and a customer for a service. Each service offering defines a level of service for a price: it combines the service (utility), a service level target (warranty), add-on options, and requestable offerings.

All technical and business services must have at least one service offering. For example, an IT organization offers different service offerings, or levels, for a database server (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) based on response times. Each service offering also costs a different amount based on the service level target. A customer selects among the different database and operating system options for the service and then selects the Silver offering, which has a service level target of a 10-minute response.

Each service offering can have one or more requestable offerings. Like a service offering, an requestable offering defines a specific agreement between the provider and customer that combines the service (utility) and a service level target (warranty) at a specified price or cost. The requestable offering defines what requests and transactions can be submitted about a service offering. These might be requests to deliver or implement an instance of the service offering, or they might be requests for changes, requests for fixing issues, and so on.

The Atrium Service Catalog has a hierarchy of services as shown in the following figure:

Example of a service model

To summarize, the service model includes the following elements:

• Service (Business or Technical) — A high-level service that defines the "utility." A service is made up of service offerings.
• (Optional) Service level target — Target that defines the "warranty." Targets define the key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure the performance of a service offering.
• Service offering — A service that an IT organization makes available to its users. Service offerings are associated with service levels (such as Gold, Silver, and Bronze) and the warranty defined by those service levels. Aspects of a service offering that can be requested by users are specified by delivery (one-time) and transactional (ongoing) requestable offerings.
• Requestable offering — An aspect of a service offering that can be requested by users. BMC Cloud Service Management enables two general types of requestable offerings:
  • Delivery requestable offerings, through which users request the implementation of a service
  • Transactional requestable offerings, through which users request additional functionality of a service