This article explains the phase and status options available on service offering records in ServiceNow. NC State has adopted a streamlined version of the service offering lifecycle, and only requires a small portion of the options provided by ServiceNow.

The required status options are:

• Pipeline: Requirements, Analysis and Canceled
• Catalog: Operational and Retiring
• Retired: Retired and Obsolete

Note that campus units opting to create their own service portfolio may use some or all of the status options described below at their discretion.

Background

The standard process implemented by ServiceNow assumes that the organization has a defined service portfolio that is under management. The organization manages the service portfolio to ensure that the optimal mix of products and services are provided given the organization’s objectives and available resources.

The lifecycle of a service offering has three phases - Pipeline, Catalog and Retired.

• Pipeline - In the Pipeline phase a proposed service offering is defined and analyzed for inclusion in the organization’s service catalog. It begins with the gathering of requirements and ends with the creation of a charter describing the approved service offering.
• Catalog - In the Catalog phase the service offering is designed, implemented and made operational. It ends with the retirement of the service offering.
• Retired - In the Retired phase the service offering is no longer provided to customers. All related resources have been released and all contracts have been closed.

The Pipeline Phase

• Requirements - The needs that the service offering will address are defined. New service offering records are created with this status.
• Definition - The method that the service offering will use to meet the requirements is defined.
• Analysis - The proposed service offering is analyzed to determine if it is a good fit for inclusion in the service portfolio.
• Approved - Once the service offering has been approved it's management team begins the process of assigning responsibilities, allocating resources and determining a timeline for implementation. The full description of the approved service offering and its implementation plan are contained in a document called a charter.
• Chartered - Setting the status to ‘Chartered’ indicates that service offering is ready to be implemented.
• Canceled - The service offering has been canceled prior to becoming operational. Once marked as canceled the service portfolio management team will move the service offering record to the Retired phase.

The Catalog Phase

The service offering is now in the ‘Catalog’ phase meaning that it has been approved for inclusion in the IT Service Catalog and is ready to be implemented. There are four status options in this phase culminating with the service offering being operational.

• Design - The activities necessary to implement the service offering are documented as an implementation plan.
• Development - The implementation plan is executed.
• Build/Test/Release - The implemented service offering is tested to ensure that it is functional and fit for purpose.
• Operational - The service offering is now available for people to use.
• Retiring - The service is in the process of being decommissioned. Users are being migrated off of the service offering, the support staff are released, contracts closed, etc. Once completed the service offering is moved to the 'Retired' phase.

The Retired Phase

The service offering has been fully retired and no longer appears in the catalog of active service offerings. There are three status options that may be chosen. These options describe the final disposition of the service offering.

• Retired - This is the default final status for retired service offerings.
• Obsolete - The service offering was either canceled while in the pipeline phase, or the record has been replaced with a new one that better reflects the current features of an operational service offering.

Related articles:

See "Creating a new service offering" for information on service offering records in the pipeline phase.

See "Maintaining a service offering record" for information on service offering records in the catalog phase.

See "Retiring a service offering" for information about moving a service offering from the Operational status to Retired.