At almost 500 pages the Guide to the Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (USMBOK) organizes, distills and provides ready access to a core body of knowledge for service management that can be universally applied within service provider organizations. The Guide provides a singular, coherent and consistent approach to the development of a service management system.
Service Management 101 announces the availability of the latest release of “The Guide to the Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (USMBOK)”, authored by Ian Clayton. This is a vital ‘must have’ reference for any service management professional or organization attempting to design or sustain a service management strategy, and is the basis for a role-based qualification scheme already progressing a journey through the ANSI accreditation process.
The USMBOK organizes, distills and provides a ready reference to a core body of knowledge for service management universally applicable to any service provider organization. The Guide provides a singular, coherent and consistent approach to the development of a service management system, and a description of the vital roles required to successfully establish and staff a service organization.
The Guide codifies and connects the numerous elements of a service management system and service organization into an operational service model, and enables the leveraging and exploitation of many disparate information sources, standards, and industry frameworks, such as the latest version of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
The USMBOK presents a common lexicon of over 850 definitions of concepts and artifacts, and over 650 best practice statements representing common sense do’s and don’ts.
“The USMBOK is an amazing achievement. Codifying what is in your head may sound like a good idea but try doing it; the size of the challenge for service management is immense. For Ian to have been able to take the time to do this is one achievement, but to make it coherent is another entirely! Ian has codified and documented a coherent body of knowledge for service management that is practical, clear, and that provides a genuine ‘how to’ starting point for the general, and IT service management professional. If I had a hat, I would take it off to him”. Brian Johnson, Vice President, CA Inc and ITIL Author & Pioneer.
The topics discussed within this Guide include:
- The fundamental concepts, theories and mechanics of services, service management systems, service provider organizations, and their product management relationship and heritage;
- The concept of Holistic Service Management and the key elements of a universally applicable service management system;
- The service offer, subscription, and provision management elements of a fifteen stage service lifecycle, critical artifact path, key inputs and outputs, major activities performed in each stage;
- The nine enabling and supporting lifecycles (Requirement, Request, Asset, Quality, Revision, Change, Release, Support and Event)
- Seven knowledge domains representing key roles that span the customer-infrastructure management continuum;
- Forty knowledge areas, each representing key skills, abilities and practice based competencies required;
- The vital service equations of value, expectation and quality required to successfully manage the service encounter.
“… this is the definitive text on the elements of a service management system written in plain English. It is a must for anyone in the service management profession looking for a singular guide to help them and their service organization gain added value and enhanced organizational performance”. Kenneth Gonzalez, Product Team Lead, Data Center Transformation Symantec Corporation.
Whether establishing a service management initiative for the first time, or revisiting, enhancing or upgrading an existing strategy, this guide is ideal for students, practitioners, managers, instructors and those seeking professional qualifications. It also acts as an invaluable codex for professionals interested in deciphering the meaning and direction of frameworks such as Version 3 of the IT Infrastructure Library.
Additional information on the USMBOK is available at: http://www.usmbok.org
Additional information on the best practice statement library is available at: http://www.servicemanagement101.net