Description

This curriculum spans the breadth of a multi-workshop service governance program, addressing the same strategic coordination, financial oversight, and stakeholder negotiation challenges faced during enterprise-wide portfolio rationalization and operating model transformations.

Module 1: Defining Service Portfolio Boundaries and Scope

Determine which services to include in the portfolio based on business unit ownership, regulatory reporting lines, and customer-facing visibility.
Resolve conflicts between IT and business stakeholders over whether shadow IT systems qualify as formal services.
Establish criteria for decommissioning legacy services when business units resist retirement due to operational dependency.
Decide whether shared infrastructure components (e.g., identity management) should be represented as standalone services or embedded dependencies.
Negotiate inclusion thresholds for services managed by third parties under SLAs but critical to business continuity.
Implement version control for service definitions when multiple divisions use different naming conventions for the same service.

Module 2: Aligning Services with Business Capabilities and Value Streams

Map each service to a defined business capability in the enterprise architecture repository, reconciling discrepancies in granularity.
Identify redundant services across departments performing similar functions and assess consolidation feasibility.
Validate service contributions to specific value streams by interviewing process owners and analyzing workflow dependencies.
Address misalignment when a service supports multiple value streams with conflicting priorities or performance requirements.
Document service dependencies on upstream capabilities when those capabilities lack formal ownership or governance.
Adjust service categorization when business reorganizations shift operational accountability across units.

Module 3: Governance of Service Investment and Prioritization

Facilitate quarterly prioritization sessions where business units must trade off funding across competing service enhancements.
Enforce a standardized business case template for new service requests, including measurable outcomes and cost attribution.
Reject service proposals that lack alignment with current enterprise technology standards or security policies.
Manage disputes when high-cost, low-utilization services are retained for strategic reasons not reflected in ROI models.
Implement escalation paths for service owners when funding decisions contradict agreed-upon portfolio roadmaps.
Introduce scoring models for service investments that balance innovation, risk reduction, and operational efficiency.

Module 4: Service Lifecycle Management and Transition Oversight

Define exit criteria for services in the retirement phase, including data archival, access revocation, and contract termination.
Coordinate transition plans when a service moves from development to operations, ensuring support teams are resourced and trained.
Intervene when a service remains in "permanent pilot" status due to unresolved integration or performance issues.
Enforce mandatory post-implementation reviews to assess whether expected benefits were realized after service launch.
Track technical debt accumulation in mature services and determine whether refactoring justifies business disruption.
Manage exceptions when emergency deployments bypass standard lifecycle gates, requiring retroactive documentation.

Module 5: Financial Transparency and Cost Attribution

Allocate shared platform costs (e.g., cloud infrastructure) to individual services using usage-based or headcount-based models.
Reconcile discrepancies between actual spend and budgeted service costs due to unanticipated scaling or vendor price changes.
Implement chargeback or showback models that reflect true cost drivers without creating incentive misalignment.
Address resistance from business units when full cost recovery is introduced for previously subsidized services.
Define cost centers for composite services that span multiple teams and budget owners.
Audit service cost data annually to correct inaccuracies from outdated resource assumptions or incorrect tagging.

Module 6: Performance Measurement and Service Health Monitoring

Select KPIs that reflect both technical performance (e.g., uptime) and business outcomes (e.g., transaction volume).
Adjust performance baselines when external factors (e.g., market demand) distort service utilization trends.
Respond to service degradation caused by upstream dependencies outside the service owner’s control.
Suppress alert fatigue by tuning monitoring thresholds based on business impact, not just technical thresholds.
Report service health to executives using dashboards that avoid oversimplification but remain actionable.
Revise SLAs when business requirements evolve but underlying technology constraints limit achievable performance.

Module 7: Portfolio Rationalization and Strategic Realignment

Initiate consolidation projects when duplicate services are identified across merged business units or acquisitions.
Freeze development on low-value services to redirect resources toward strategic digital initiatives.
Negotiate with business sponsors to sunset services that no longer support core operations but retain emotional attachment.
Assess technical feasibility of replacing aging services with SaaS alternatives, considering data sovereignty and integration.
Conduct benchmarking against industry peers to validate portfolio composition and service delivery models.
Update the service portfolio structure in response to enterprise-wide transformations such as cloud migration or divestitures.

Module 8: Stakeholder Engagement and Decision Rights Framework

Define RACI matrices for service decisions, clarifying who can approve changes, retire services, or allocate funding.
Mediate conflicts between service owners and business unit leaders over feature prioritization and release timing.
Establish service advisory boards with rotating membership to ensure diverse input without slowing decisions.
Document escalation paths when service issues cross organizational boundaries and no single owner has authority.
Train service owners in negotiation and financial modeling to improve proposal quality and stakeholder credibility.
Revise governance forums when decision latency increases due to excessive stakeholder involvement or unclear mandates.