Customer Sign In 1-888-250-8971
  • Products
  • Solutions
  • Pricing
  • Company
Start Free Trial

Products

Service management solutions that grow and evolve with your business.

SolarWinds Service Desk 

The smartest employee service management platform to run your service business.

SolarWinds Service Desk 

The smartest employee service management platform to run your service business.

Features  SEE ALL arrow-icn

  • Incident Management
  • Service Portal
  • Change Management
  • Service Catalog
  • IT Asset Management
  • Knowledge Base
  • Problem Management
  • Reporting
  • Discovery

Platform

  • Automations
  • Mobile
  • Internationalization
  • API
  • Documentation

Integrations  SEE ALL arrow-icn

  • Google Apps
  • Slack
  • Jira
  • Zendesk
  • Zapier

Solutions

Best practices and solutions to meet your service needs.

IT Management  SEE ALL arrow-icn

  • ITSM
  • ITIL
  • Computer Inventory
  • IT Service Desk
  • Microsoft Audit
  • IT Audit

Department  SEE ALL arrow-icn

  • IT
  • Human Resources
  • Facilities Management

Industry  SEE ALL arrow-icn

  • Financial Services
  • Healthcare

Company

Our leadership and team bring a fresh vision to the service industry.

Our Commitment

  • Customer Service & Support
  • Community
  • Contact

Our Insights  SEE ALL arrow-icn

  • Blog
  • Case Studies
  • White Papers
  • Datasheets
  • Webinars
  • Videos
  • Infographics

Who We Are

  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Products

    SolarWinds Service Desk

    The smartest employee service management platform to run your service business.

    Features
    • Incident Management
    • Service Portal
    • Change Management
    • Service Catalog
    • IT Asset Management
    • Knowledge Base
    • Problem Management
    • Reporting
    • Discovery
    See All Features arrow-icn
    Platform
    • Automations
    • Mobile
    • Internationalization
    • API
    • Documentation
    Integrations
    • Google Apps
    • Slack
    • Jira
    • Zendesk
    • Zapier
    See All Integrations arrow-icn
  • Solutions
    IT Management
    • ITSM
    • ITIL
    • Computer Inventory
    • IT Service Desk
    • Microsoft Audit
    • IT Audit
    See All IT Management arrow-icn
    Department
    • IT
    • Human Resources
    • Facilities Management
    See All Department arrow-icn
    Industry
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    See All Industry arrow-icn
  • Pricing
  • Company
    Our Commitment
    • Customer Service & Support
    • Community
    • Contact
    Our Insights
    • Blog
    • Case Studies
    • White Papers
    • Datasheets
    • Webinars
    • Videos
    • Infographics
    See All Our Insights arrow-icn
    Who We Are
    • About Us
    • Careers
Start Free Trial

IT Service Catalog Pitfalls – And How to Avoid Them

  • Tweet
  • Share 0
  • LinkedIn 0

By: Kyle Shepard LinkedIn   |   September 15, 2010

Categories: IT Service Management

For many organizations, creating an IT service catalog is new – and uncharted – territory. Without knowing how to approach it, mistakes are likely to be made. But, being aware of some of the most common errors that are made when companies put together their IT service catalog – and avoiding them – can help put you on the path to success.

Don’t Overdo It

There is such a thing as too much detail. And, if you create an IT service catalog that is hundreds of pages long, your end users will never even look at it. You don’t need to document every single step that will take place during the course of each service. All you need is a brief description of what each service entails, how users should go about requesting that service, who will deliver it, and the estimated time frame for completion.

Remember Your Third-Parties

Many companies employ third-parties to provide certain IT services, such as hardware maintenance and repair. Yet, when it comes to the IT service catalog, these services are often left out. Be sure to include any and all services that are available to your end users in the catalog, even if they are outsourced or provided by an external constituent.

Make It Easy to Understand

Remember that your IT service catalog is not for your help desk staff or your IT team – it’s for your end users. So, avoid technical jargon, or unnecessary details about system architecture, code, etc. Complex concepts like these will only serve to confuse them, and prevent them from properly utilizing the IT service catalog.

Avoid Being Boring

While IT services, in general, may not seem like the most compelling of topics, you’ll need to make your IT service catalog as interesting as possible in order to entice your end users to take advantage of it. You can do this by giving users the ability to personalize it (for example, by role), or by incorporating some automated features such as online service ordering or request status tracking.

Keep It Up-to-Date

Many companies make the mistake of creating their IT service catalog – then forgetting about it. But, the IT service portfolio can change frequently, particularly in large enterprises with sophisticated and mature IT operations. So, be sure to update the catalog periodically, so it reflects any new services that have been added, or existing ones that have been modified.

Kyle Shepard Portrait

About Kyle Shepard

Kyle is a Senior Manager of the Customer Success team for ITSM at SolarWinds. He works directly with customers to provide ongoing support in service management strategy for their evolving goals. He speaks on webinars and other educational resources in ITSM. He also played college lacrosse.

Read more articles by Kyle


  • Tweet
  • Share 0
  • LinkedIn 0
IT Service Catalog Pitfalls – And How to Avoid Them Click To Tweet

Tags:

IT Service Catalog

You Might Also Like:

related items icon
How to Build an Effective Service Catalog Workflow Image

How to Build an Effective Service Catalog Workflow

Five Samanage Customers on the Benefits of the Service Catalog Image

Five Samanage Customers on the Benefits of the Service Catalog

4 Service Catalog Requests That Touch Multiple Departments Image

4 Service Catalog Requests That Touch Multiple Departments

Follow Us
Facebook Icon
Facebook Icon
Facebook Icon
Facebook Icon

Subscribe to our Blog


Blog Home

View By Category
  • Cloud
  • Company
  • Employee Service Management
  • Enterprise Service Management
  • Friday Fun
  • Help Desk Software
  • Insights
  • IT Asset Management
  • IT Service Management
  • sdblog
150 Examples of Automating Service Management

Products

  • SolarWinds Service Desk

    The smartest employee service management platform to run your service business.

Resources

  • Blog
  • Case Studies
  • White Papers
  • Datasheets
  • Webinars
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Documentation

Company

  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Customer Service & Support
  • Community
  • Contact

© 2019 SolarWinds ITSM Israel Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Terms | Privacy | Sitemap