The ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle · Topic 2 of 2
Lifecycle Activities: Transition, Operate, Deliver and Support
The purpose of the transition, operate, deliver and support activities of the ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle, and how these four activities differ.
- 3 min
- Transition: make new or changed products and services available in a controlled way.
- Operate: keep live services running.
- Deliver: provide the product or service at the agreed level.
What it is
The last four lifecycle activities move a product or service into use and look after it there: transition makes changes available, operate keeps live services running, deliver provides the service to consumers at the agreed level, and support helps users. Operate, deliver and support are the three activities most concerned with a service in live use.
How it works
Transition
Purpose: to make new or changed products and services available for use in a controlled way.
Examples: moving an approved new version into the live environment and telling staff how to use it. A typical sequence for a purchased application is acquire it, build (adapt) it, then transition it to users.
Operate
Purpose: to keep live services running.
Examples: watching infrastructure, running scheduled jobs, and responding to events such as a monitoring alert that a component is running out of capacity. Operate is where a monitoring event on a live service is first dealt with.
Deliver
Purpose: to provide the product or service to its consumers at the agreed level.
A good measure of deliver is whether the service meets the levels agreed with consumers.
Support
Purpose: to help users with issues and requests.
Examples: responding when users report that a service behaves incorrectly, and handling their requests. Support also gives useful feedback to other activities, such as trends in the issues users report.
How they differ
| Pair | Difference |
|---|---|
| Transition and deliver | Transition introduces change; deliver provides the agreed service |
| Operate and support | Operate runs the service; support helps users |
| Operate and deliver | Operate keeps it technically running; deliver provides it to consumers at agreed levels |
When monitoring raises an event and users then call about the same failure, both operate (the event) and support (the user contacts) are involved.
If the scenario starts with a tool or monitoring, think operate. If it starts with a user asking for help, think support. If it is about releasing something new, think transition.
How the exam asks about this
- "Which activity makes changes available in a controlled way?" Transition.
- "Which three activities deal with live services?" Operate, deliver and support.
- "A user reports a fault and asks for help. Which activity?" Support.
What to remember for the exam
- Transition: make new or changed products and services available in a controlled way.
- Operate: keep live services running.
- Deliver: provide the product or service at the agreed level.
- Support: help users with issues and requests.
- Support feedback flows back to the other activities.
Do not treat deliver as releasing something. Releasing a change into live use is transition; deliver is the ongoing provision of the agreed service.
Common mistakes
Swapping operate and support. Systems versus users.
Calling a release deliver. It is transition.
Forgetting feedback. Support informs discover, design and the others.
Check yourself
What is the purpose of the operate activity?
To keep live services running.
Which activity provides the product or service to consumers at the agreed level?
Deliver.
What useful feedback can support give to other activities?
Trends in the issues users report.
Topic 2 of 2 in The ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle
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