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Service Portfolios and the Service Lifecycle

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • What a service portfolio is
  • The three portfolio states
  • Why every service needs an owner
  • How to build the SNWR IT portfolio

🔁 Quick look back: Last time: Services and Service Offerings. You learned the difference between a business service, a technology management service and a service offering.

1 “Do we still run that?”

Anita asks for a list of IT’s services.

  • Riya finds an old spreadsheet with 60 rows.
  • Some services were switched off years ago.
  • New ones being planned aren’t on it.

🎯 The problem: Without one list of services and their state, nobody knows what IT runs.

👉 The fix: keep a service portfolio in ServiceNow, with each service’s state and owner.

2 The portfolio

Key term: Service portfolio

The full list of services: being planned, running now, and retired.

Key term: Service owner

The person who answers for a service, like Arjun for SNWR Email.

The SNWR IT portfolio in three states. Pipeline, being planned: SNWR Video Calling. Catalog, running now: SNWR Email, owner Arjun Mehta, and SNWR Network. Retired, switched off: SNWR Fax. A note says only Catalog services should be used on incidents and changes.
Figure 1. Every service, in one of three states.

3 The three states

State Means
Pipeline Being planned or built. Not ready for users.
Catalog Live and supported. Use it on records.
Retired Switched off. Kept for history.

💡 Good to know: Review the portfolio every quarter with service owners. Move services between states as they change.

📝 Note: Newer CSDM versions also track life cycle stage fields. Use the one your release and your CMDB team agree on.

4 Let’s try it: build the SNWR IT portfolio

  1. Open Service Portfolio Management and create a portfolio named SNWR IT.
  2. Add SNWR Email and SNWR Network. Set their portfolio status to Catalog.
  3. Set Owned by on SNWR Email to Arjun Mehta.
  4. Add SNWR Video Calling in Pipeline and SNWR Fax in Retired.
  5. Check that only Catalog services show when you pick a service on an incident. If not, note it for the next lessons.

5 Quick recap

  • A service portfolio lists every service
  • States: Pipeline, Catalog, Retired
  • Every service has an owner
  • Only Catalog services go on records
  • Review the portfolio every quarter

6 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 SNWR Video Calling is being planned. Which state? Show answer

Pipeline.

2 Who owns SNWR Email? Show answer

Arjun Mehta.

3 Which services should agents pick on incidents? Show answer

Only services in Catalog.

4 SNWR Fax was switched off. Delete it? Show answer

No. Move it to Retired, to keep history.

Nice work! SNWR now has one list of its services. 🎉
Next up: Service Offerings and Service Commitments

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