The six activities of the service value chain
The service value chain comprises six activities that an organization takes in the creation of value:
- Plan
- Engage
- Design and transition
- Obtain/Build
- Deliver and Support
- Improve
Before we take a closer look at them, it’s relevant to say that all activities are interconnected, and each one of them transforms inputs into outputs; and that these inputs can be either demands from outside the value chain or outputs of other activities.
- Plan :- The Plan value chain activity’s purpose is to ensure a shared understanding of the vision, current status, improvement direction, etc.
Example inputs to the Plan activity are:
- Policies, requirements, and constraint details
- Demands and opportunities from “Engage”
- Third-party service component information from “Engage”
- New and changed products and services information from “Design and transition” and “Obtain/Build”
- Value chain performance and improvement information from “Improve”
Example outputs of the Plan activity are:
- Strategic, tactical, and operational plans
- A product and service portfolio
- Contract and agreement requirements for “Engage”
- Portfolio decisions for “Design and transition”
- Architectures and policies for “Design and transition”
- Continual improvement opportunities
- Engage :- The main objective of the Engage value chain activity is to ensure a good understanding of stakeholder needs, transparency, continual engagement, and good relationships with them. It’s an important primary activity.
Example inputs to the Engage value chain activity are:
- High-level demand data
- Product and service portfolio from “Plan”
- Requirements for services and products from customers
- Contract and agreement requirements
- New and changed products and services information from “Design and transition” and “Obtain/Build”
- Support task and performance information from “Deliver and support”
- Third-party service component information from suppliers and partners (as part of supply chain management)
- Improvement initiatives
Example outputs of the Engage value chain activity are:
- Demand and opportunities for “Plan”
- Requirements for “Design and transition”
- Support tasks for “Deliver and support”
- Change or project requests for “Obtain/Build”
- Contracts and agreements with internal and external suppliers for “Design and transition” and “Obtain/Build”
- Third-party service component information
- Improvement opportunities
- Service performance reports for customers
- Design and transition :- The Design and transition value chain activity’s goal is to ensure that products and services continually meet expectations for quality, costs, and time to market.
Example inputs to the Design and transition value chain activity are:
- Portfolio decisions and architectures and policies from “Plan”
- Product and service requirements, knowledge and information about third-party service components, and contracts and agreements with external and internal suppliers from “Engage”
- Service performance information from “Deliver and support”, and “Improve”
- Service components and new and changed products and services information from “Obtain/Build”
- Improvement initiatives and improvement status reports from “Improve”
Example inputs to the Design and transition value chain activity are:
- Contract and agreement requirements for “Engage”
- Requirements and specifications for “Obtain/Build”
- New and changed products and services for “Deliver and support”
- Performance information and improvement opportunities for “Improve”
- New and changed products and services information to all value chain activities.
- Obtain/Build :- The purpose of the Obtain/Build value chain activity is to ensure service components are available as needed, and meet agreed specifications.
Example inputs to the Obtain/Build value chain activity are:
- Architectures and policies from “Plan”
- Change or project initiation requests from “Engage” and “Deliver and support”
- Third-party service component information and contracts and agreements with external and internal suppliers from “Engage” (as part of supply chain management)
- Requirements and specifications from “Design and transition”
- Improvement initiatives and improvement status reports from “Improve”
- New and changed products and services information from “Design and transition”
Example outputs to the Obtain/Build value chain activity are:
- Contract and agreement requirements for “Engage”
- Service components for “Design and transition”
- Service components for “Deliver and support”
- Performance information and improvement opportunities for “Improve”
- New and changed service component information to all value chain activities
- Deliver and support :- The Deliver and support value chain activity’s purpose is to ensure that service delivery and support are in line with agreed specifications and expectations.
Example inputs to the Deliver and support value chain activity are:
- User support tasks and third-party service component information from “Engage”
- New and changed products and services for “Design and transition”
- New and changed service components and services information from “Design and transition” and “Obtain/Build”
- Service components from “Obtain/Build”
- Improvement initiatives and improvement status reports from “Improve”
Example inputs to the Deliver and support value chain activity are:
- Services delivered to customers and users
- User support task completion information for “Engage”
- Contract and agreement requirements for “Engage”
- Product and service performance information for “Engage” and “Improve”
- Change requests for “Obtain/Build”
- Improvement opportunities for “Improve”
- Improve :- The main goal of the Improve value chain activity is to ensure the continual improvement of products, services, and practices.
Example inputs to the Improve value chain activity are:
- Stakeholders’ feedback and third-party service component information from “Engage”
- New and changed products and services information from “Design and transition” and “Obtain/Build”
- Product and service performance information from “Deliver and support”
- Performance information and improvement opportunities provided by all value chain activities
Example outputs to the Improve value chain activity are:
- Improvement initiatives and improvement status reports for all value chain activities
- Value chain performance information for “Plan”
- Contract and agreement requirements for “Engage”
Service performance information for “Design and transition”