There are many ITSM processes that an organization may require to help deliver IT services to end users. Here a few of the most commonly adopted processes.
Incident management
In ITSM, an incident is an unplanned outage or interruption in service. Incident management is the process of responding to an incident with the goal of restoring the service with minimal impact to users and business processes.
Problem management
Problem management takes place when multiple incidents are related to the same root cause. ITSM defines how the IT department will investigate, analyze and eliminate the problem so it does not happen again.
Change management
Change management is the establishment of best practices to minimize IT service disruptions, compliance issues and other risks that might result from changes made to critical systems.
Configuration management
Configuration management is the process of tracking configuration items (CI) for hardware and software components. A tool such as a configuration management database (CMDB) may serve as a central repository of all IT assets and the relationships between them.
Service request management
Service requests for new assets, permissions or licenses can come from employees, customers or partners. Service request management defines the most efficient and accurate method for granting or denying these requests, often using a combination of automation and self-service capabilities.
Service catalog
A service catalog is a directory that may be integrated with service request management. Accessed through a menu or portal, it lists the IT services that are available to end users across the organization.
Knowledge management
Knowledge management (KM) is the process of identifying, organizing, storing and disseminating information within an organization. A searchable, self-service knowledge base is usually a core KM tool. It gives users across the organization easy access to IT service-related issues and resolutions, metrics, documentation, tech topics and other resources.
Service level management
Service level management is the process of creating, tracking and administering the lifecycle of a service level agreement (SLA). An SLA is a contract between IT professionals and customers that determines the required or desired level of a specific service, and the consequences for not meeting that target.
IT service desk
In ITSM, the IT service desk is the central point of contact for fielding and managing all incidents, problems and requests. Much more than a simple help desk, it also handles software licensing, service providers, pricing and third-party contracts as well as maintaining self-service portals and knowledge bases.
