Topics like management and strategy have a special \u201cplace\u201d in IT, but pretty often \u2013 they don\u2019t belong among anyone\u2019s favorite topics. Sure, management of the IT organization is deeply involved in the above-mentioned topics, but everyone else\u2026 well, try to talk to the operating personnel (who make up the vast majority of IT employees) inside IT and you will get the answer.<\/p>\n
ISO 20000<\/a>\u00a0requires an SMS (Service Management System) policy<\/a> to exist, and sets pretty clear expectations of its content, i.e., its purpose. When you read the standard, then the questions start coming: What to do with it, why do we need one, where to use it, who does what, etc. Let\u2019s clarify the SMS policy and the standard\u2019s requirements, and answer all those unpleasant questions.<\/p>\n First of all, the SMS policy is your internal document, meaning you will not involve your customers in the creation of the policy. But, your customers are \u201cpart\u201d of the policy through the services they use. Namely, the SMS policy should be specific to the services you provide and the customers you support. So, some generic statements or documents will not be good enough, because they don\u2019t provide any value to the management, nor for the employees of the IT organization.<\/p>\n That gets us to the purpose of the SMS policy. The policy should be based on the scope of the SMS (to learn more, read the article: How to define the scope of the SMS in ISO 20000<\/a>) and aligned with the more detailed elements of the SMS \u2013 SMS plan<\/a>\u00a0and SMS objectives.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s the purpose of it?<\/h2>\n