Service catalogue - quick start guide

Your users need IT services. Your team provides them. But somewhere between those two facts, requests get lost, SLAs are guesswork, and nobody knows who actually owns "Email." The Service Catalogue schema fixes that by giving you a structured way to document, publish, and manage every service your IT department offers.

Eight object types work together to model the full service lifecycle: from organising services into categories, through defining SLA commitments and ownership, to enabling self-service through knowledge articles and request types. The result is a catalogue your users can browse, your team can manage, and your leadership can measure.

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When to use this schema

Choose the Service Catalogue if:

• You are building a formal ITIL-aligned service catalogue with defined SLAs, owners, and support structures

• You want a self-service portal where users browse services, read knowledge articles, and submit structured requests

• You need clear accountability for every IT service, with designated owners, support teams, and escalation paths

• Your primary focus is on the service layer (what IT offers to the business), not the infrastructure layer (what runs underneath)

Choose a different schema if:

• You need to track infrastructure components (servers, databases, networks): use Standard CMDB or Enterprise IT CMDB

• You need vendor and contract management: use Vendor Management

• You need a general-purpose CMDB rather than a service-focused catalogue: use Core Schema or Basic CMDB

• Not sure? Try Which Schema Should I Choose?

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Schema overview

The Service Catalogue organises into four tiers, from the organisational foundation through to self-service enablement.

Tier	Object Types	Purpose
Organisation	Service Category, Support Team, Service Owner	Structure, accountability, and routing
Services	Business Service, Service Level	Core service definitions with SLA commitments
Offerings	Service Offering, Service Request Type	What users can request and how requests are classified
Knowledge	Knowledge Article	Self-service documentation linked to services

Relationship architecture

Service Category
                         ▲
                    (Categorised As)
                         │
Service Owner ◄──(Owned By)── Business Service ──(Supported By)──► Support Team
                                    │
                              (Categorised As)
                                    │
                                    ▼
                              Service Level

Business Service ◄──(Categorised As)── Service Offering
Business Service ◄──(Categorised As)── Service Request Type
Business Service ◄──(Documented In)── Knowledge Article

Screenshot coming soon

Every Business Service sits at the centre, connected to its category, owner, support team, SLA tier, offerings, request types, and knowledge articles. These relationships drive everything from portal navigation to incident routing.

tip

Pro tip: Start with your 10-20 highest-impact services. A focused, well-connected catalogue is more valuable than a comprehensive but shallow one. You can expand the scope once the foundation is solid.

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ITIL alignment

The schema maps directly to ITIL Service Catalogue Management practices:

ITIL Concept	Schema Support
Service Portfolio	Business Service with Status lifecycle
Service Catalogue	Published services with offerings
Service Level Management	Service Level object type with availability, response, and resolution targets
Request Fulfilment	Service Request Type and Service Offering
Knowledge Management	Knowledge Article linked to services

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Documentation

This Quick Start Guide is split into three focused pages:

• Object type reference -- Full attribute tables, allowed values, and practical guidance for all eight object types

• Deployment guide -- Step-by-step guide to building your catalogue from categories through to self-service (6-8 weeks)

• Integration and operations -- Service desk integration, operational AQL queries, maintenance routines, and growth paths

Related documentation:

• Service Catalogue - Governance Playbook: service lifecycle and ownership model

• Service Catalogue - Forms Specification: data entry forms

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