It establishes assurance of the expected and actual service deliverables, and integrated elements that each service depends on to deliver and operate the service successfully. These elements include applications, infrastructure, knowledge, documentation, facilities, finance, people, processes, skills and so on. Where there is major change there will be complexity and risk. There are usually many interdependencies to manage and conflicting priorities to resolve, particularly as new and changed services transition and go live.
Service Transition takes into consideration aspects such as organizational change and adaptation of the wider environment in which they operate that would influence an organization’s use of the services and the associated risks. More is required than merely receiving a design containing detailed Acceptance Criteria, implementing according to that design and measuring against the criteria. This would be the case if stability could be assured but in the real world the design and Acceptance Criteria may be affected by changes to IT, other services, the business or other external factors.
Observation, interpretation and manipulation of the broader services environment are often necessary to deliver the benefits from the services required by the customer and envisaged by design. At all stages the likelihood of success is balanced against the consequences of failure and the costs (financial and other). The assessment and prediction of performance and risk is therefore an essential and day-to-day element of the Service Transition process. Successful Service Transition rests on effective understanding and application of Change Management, quality assurance, and risk management and effective programme and project management. This makes it possible, at every stage through the Service Transition process, to plan, track and confirm progress against current requirements, not just for one service but across all services in transition.
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