Michael,
My intent here was to point out that saying two services are the same except for a, b, c, d, … makes it impossible to describe a single service except through large chunks of text, and this makes discovery very difficult unless you are prepared to read and understand the all this text. Additionally, if we get into large chunks of text, it makes it very difficult to parse the differences between two similar services from two different providers.
What constitutes a service is much more than its function. It also has to do with more specifically what real world effects result from an interaction, what are the conditions of use, and what are the operational characteristics. These are things description has to concisely and unambiguously convey.
I don’t believe we yet have a formula for evaluating what constitutes a “good” service. My major point was if you can’t concisely describe a service, you should question whether it is tightly enough scoped.
Ken
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Dr. Kenneth Laskey
MITRE Corporation, M/S H305 phone: 703-983-7934
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I was reading the section about service description (for my current work) and found a statement, which I am not sure how to understand:
2004 Recall, more than one service can access the same underlying capability, and this is
2005 appropriate if a different real world effect is to be exposed. Along these lines, one can
2006 argue that different QoS are different services because getting a response in one
2007 minute rather than one hour is more than a QoS difference; it is a fundamental
2008 difference in the business function being provided.
2009 As a best practice, a criteria for whether a service is appropriately scoped may be the
2010 ease or difficulty in creating an unambiguous service description.
To my understanding, the statement "it is a fundamental difference in the business function being provided." is simply wrong! More accurately, it is very programmer's perspective: a business function is the same in USA and in Africa, performed by a laser or a pistol... Function is function. If one consumer wants the business service response in 1 min while another consumer prefers it in 1 hour, function does not change because of this.
QoS makes sense only in the context of the Service Contract.The statement saying that "different QoS are different services" is a nonsense - it is rather a good or bad service, not a different service (this politically correct service of "different abilities" is a lie to yourself).
Thanks Ken,
Good to have.
Cheers,
Rex
On 3/2/11 9:35 AM, Ken Laskey wrote:
Gentlemen – I’m sending my rough notes and will clean up for public posting.
Michael – note definition of service management and agreed preference not to define management service.
Management is a process of controlling resources in accordance with the policies and principles defined by Governance.
Boris: service mgt is the process of managing services.
Rex: OK. People often think of service mgt but it is management of services they are talking about.
Boris: service mgt is the implementation
Rex: part of mgt is service mgt; service mgt in another paragraph
Boris: organizationally no separate mgt layer
Rex: no, is separate layer; service mgt is one responsibility (highly specialized)
Boris: service mgt is not management. Service management is the process of managing the services, not managing the people.
Is managing just managing people (Boris)? Ken says no.
Rex: service mgt as composite noun is service whose function of mgt. Separate thing is mgt of service.
Ken: wouldn’t that be mgt service rather than service mgt?
Boris: one of the facets of service mgt is setting up mgt services.
Rex: function provided either within service automatically or provided by service provider to manage service actively, i.e. looks at it every day.
Boris: getting into overloaded terms.
Ken: IT or business service?
Rex: mostly IT but monitored by people. Management of service within service or management from outside.
Boris: process of proactively monitoring and managing service behavior.
Rex: that can apply to multiple services (stuff above on mgt service was in context of single service)
Boris: process of proactively monitoring and controlling the behavior of a service or a set of services. Can be manual or automated.
Service management is the process – manual, automated, or a combination – of proactively monitoring and controlling the behavior of a service or a set of services.
Agreed: let’s not define management service because we run into all the complexities of what is meant by service.
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MITRE Corporation, M/S H305 phone: 703-983-7934
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Rex Brooks
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Starbourne Communications Design
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