An introduction to the service management practices of ITIL 4 Definition A practice is a set of organisational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective. These resources are grouped into the four dimensions of service management: value streams and processes; organisations and people; information and technology; partners and suppliers. What are the service management practices? The ITIL 4 service value system includes 14 general management practices, 17 service management practices, and 3 technical management practices. General management practices: adopted and adapted for service management from general business management domains. Service management practices: developed in service management and ITSM industries. Technical management practices: adapted from technology management domains for service management purposes by expanding or shifting their focus from technology solutions to IT services. The service management practices are as follows: 5.2.1 Availability management 5.2.2 Business analysis management 5.2.3 Capacity and performance management 5.2.4 Change control 5.2.5 Incident management 5.2.6 IT asset management 5.2.7 Monitoring and event management 5.2.8 Problem management 5.2.9 Release management 5.2.10 Service catalogue management 5.2.11 Service configuration management 5.2.12 Service continuity management 5.2.13 Service design 5.2.14 Service desk 5.2.15 Service level management 5.2.16 Service request management 5.2.17 Service validation and testing Further information on the items covered in this section can be found in the book ITIL® Foundation, ITIL 4 edition, chapter 5.2.