IT Service Management Request Management

Service Request Management is the process by which IT fulfills customer requests for standard services. A service request is a formal request from a customer for access to standard services IT provides. 

The goal of Request Management is to deliver services in a defined repeatable, consistent and timely manner to support customers in the ability to get access to services to do their jobs. – Mitch Pautz, ITSM manager

What is it not? ​

• Restoration of a service, troubleshooting something that is broken – Incident management ​
• Work that does not have a predefined workflow or is not well understood – Project Management ​or Software Development
• Operational activities that have defined risk and impact or could disrupt normal business operations – Change Control

Request Management

1. Request Identification
   Users can submit a request through a number of channels. Users can initiate a request in the service portal using the service catalog, via a ticket or by contacting us via phone, chat or email.
2. Request Categorization
   Short description as well as request details are reviewed to check for completeness and to determine if the customer is eligible and if the request can be fulfilled.
3. Request Model & Control
   Request fulfillment follows a standard predefined request model.  In some cases, approvals might be required, or additional support teams involved. Request tasks are used to manage the work needed to fulfill the request.
4. Ad-hoc fulfilment
   Sometimes requests will come in that are not able to follow or don't have a predefined request model. These requests need to be reviewed and determined if the fulfillment team should make an exception or deny the request. If the request is fulfilled, we will document the results and follow up with a review.
5. Escalations & Approvals
   Users expect requests to be fulfilled in a timely and consistent manner according to agreed service levels. This may require approvals not within the current request model or may have to be escalated to remove barriers.
6. Fulfillment Review & Closure
   Fulfillment reviews are to ensure the service provided had the intended results. Requests can be fulfilled through automation or through validation without requiring direct contact with the user but in some cases will require user confirmation. The ITSM team reviews the process and collects user feedback for continual improvement.

NOTE: For Request Management How-To's and Training, please visit the ITSM Training page.