SSD.SG 2 Develop Service Systems

A service system can encompass work products, processes, people, consumables, and customer and other resources.

An important and often overlooked component of service systems is the human aspect. People who perform tasks as part of a service system enable the system to operate, and both provider staff and end users can fill this role. For example, a service system that processes incoming calls for a service should have available trained staff that can receive the calls and process them appropriately using the other components of the service system. In another example, end users of an insurance service may need to follow a prescribed claims process to receive service benefits from the service system.

A consumable is anything usable by the service provider that ceases to be available or becomes permanently changed because of its use during the delivery of a service. An example is gasoline for a transportation service system that uses gasoline powered vehicles. Even service systems that are composed primarily of people and manual processes often use consumables such as office supplies. The role of consumables in service systems should always be considered.

This goal focuses on the following activities:

• Evaluating and selecting solutions that potentially satisfy an appropriate set of requirements
• Developing detailed designs for the selected solutions (detailed enough to implement the design as a service system)
• Implementing the designs of service system components as needed
• Integrating the service system so that its functions and quality attributes can be verified and validated

Typically, these activities overlap, recur, and support one another. Some level of design, at times fairly detailed, may be needed to select solutions. Prototypes, pilots, and stand-alone functional tests can be used as a means of gaining sufficient knowledge to develop a complete set of requirements or to select from among available alternatives.

From a people perspective, designs can be skill level specifications and staffing plans, and prototypes or pilots may try out different staffing plans to determine which one works best under certain conditions. From a consumables perspective, designs can be specifications of necessary consumable characteristics and quantities. Some consumables can even require implementation. For example, specific paper forms may need to be designed and printed to test them as part of the service system later.

Development processes are implemented repeatedly on a service system as needed to respond to changes in requirements, or to problems uncovered during verification, validation, transition, or delivery. For example, some questions that are raised by verification and validation processes can be resolved by requirements development processes. Recursion and iteration of these processes enable the work group to ensure quality in all service system components before it begins to deliver services to end users.