USMBOK: Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (USMBOK)

The Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge (USMBOK™)

The Service Management System

The service management system is a 'productive' system with operating principles and deliverables that can be applied in any service organization. The service organization, as a result of the concerted effort of its constituent parts, produces "information-as-service" outputs, or offerings.

The components of the service management system, its elements, create, sustain and manage 'service encounters', and the fulfillment of a customer need, as a service level expectation.

A BOK defines the profession and the core competencies shared by the profession. It defines what we know and what we do with that knowledge.

The USMBOK codifies and defines service management as a system.

The USMBOK is a ‘living’ reference for, and of the profession. It is available in two forms, via this web site as a summary, and in a much more detailed and comprehensive published form - the GUIDE to the USMBOK.

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Large Map of the Service Management System

Services

A product or good is a tangible object created and sold, sometimes to be used later. Services are commonly described as follows:

Intangible and perishable and created an consumed simultaneously;
Acts or deeds, performed for the benefit of others;
Almost always accompanying purchased goods ;
Not completely distinct from goods, but rather one of two extreme classifications of a product on a continuum;
Increasingly associated with a third product category of information and knowledge-based
All economic activities whose output is not a physical product ;
Delivered under contract or agreement by a service organization;
Contained within a 'service encounter (see encounter tab).

Access Point

An authorized access point or 'point of service' from which a customer can request service and a service encounter start. Typically a physical location from which an authorized customer may access or request a service. Examples of a service access point include:

Automatic teller machine (ATM);
Internet or intranet portal or search engine service;
Car parking attendant - for payment;
Airport information desk;
An information system application;
A retail store;
A customer service desk or help desk.

The location, capacity, security controls, continuity considerations, and availability of service access points must be carefully designed and managed.

Service Menu

Sometimes termed a 'service catalog', a service menu describes service offerings of a service organization. The service menu is typically offered through a service access point.

Features or activities supported
Availability or hours of operation;
Performance, or throughput and response time;
Capacity, or optimum levels of demand, number of users;
Security and access controls;
Continuity considerations ;
Related service options ;
Level and type of support;
Associated costs, use and acquisition.

A service organization may offer a single menu, or multiple variations on a single menu, designed to give the impression to each target customer market or customer of having their own personalized service offerings.

Encounter

A service encounter is also known as a "moment of truth", and represents any episode where a customer comes into contact with any aspect of a service organization and may get an impression of the quality of service.

A service encounter may occur practically at any time and any place. In an encounter the customer typically perceives whomever, or whatever they are interfacing with, as representing the service organization.

Most customers do not think about a service or service organization outside of a service encounter unless encouraged to do so by a marketing effort or campaign. Service encounters are opportunities to make a good impression.

The term 'line of visibility' has been popularized to help document the points at which a service encounter happen, and the elements of a service and the organization visible to the customer.

Service Organization

The service agent or service employee is a critical human element in service encounters and both form part of the overall service organization. Sometimes termed the 'service provider organization', the service organization is that part of an organization focused on providing services, as opposed to just products. It is specialized in the provision, support, and ongoing management of a suite, or portfolio of services.

A service organization defines a service strategy for each target market or customer community it wishes to serve, and designs a service provisioning system or eachcommunity, and as a whole. The organization offers, contracts and provides service.

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