The customer's demand
In a customer-provider relationship, the customer expresses its need for support in terms of demand: the specification of the support required by the customer from the provider.
In a business-to-consumer setting, the (end) customer is a consumer. Such a consumer shouldn't be bothered with the details of the management system of the service provider. From the perspective of that consumer, there is only one type of support: a support request.
From the perspective of the provider, however, this demand can be expressed in (only) four types of support requests:
- Wish: A request to create or adjust a service agreement.
- Request for change: A request to adjust the service in a way that has been agreed in the service agreement, with a permanent effect on the managed infrastructure of that service.
- Service request: A request to deliver a facility that falls within the agreed service, but without a permanent effect on the managed infrastructure of that service.
- Incident: A request to recover the service from a failure (or an imminent failure).
These four types of support requests specify the standardized interface with the provider's USM management system.
In a business-to-business setting, the customer is also a provider, and therefore, that customer could/should use the same interface to create a strong supply chain. If both follow the USM guidance for the concept of the link, both will use the same four types of support requests.
Each of these support request types triggers a unique, reactive process in the USM process model.
The support requests specify the needs of the customer in the terms of the service components: the relevant facility and the type of support required.
If the demand for the service is agreed, the agreed support is specified in the service agreement, just like the agreed facilities.
