Understand the purpose of the service operation: to deliver the services that have been designed and transitioned as efficiently as possible. During this stage, faults that were not detected during transition will be identified and resolved, and the delivery of the service will be optimized.

Service operations is required to deliver the services in line with the SLAs that have been agreed with the business. The transition stage should have validated the SLA targets through testing and piloting the service; it is for service operations to continue to meet the SLA targets during the operational stage of the service lifecycle.

By delivering the services efficiently and within service targets, service operations ensure that the business benefits from the service as planned. Be able to name and describe the four service operation functions: technical management, application management, IT operations management, and the service desk.

Understand the role of the technical and application management functions in providing resources to the other lifecycle stages and in specifying the operational tasks that service operation staff members should carry out. Understand the overlap between these functions and operations management.

Explain the difference between application development and application support. Understand the two areas of operations management: operations control and facilities management. Be able to think of examples of the responsibilities of each of these areas, such as monitoring environmental conditions (IT facilities management) and console management (operations control).

Know the role and importance of the service desk function. Be able to list the skills and attributes that service desk staff members should possess, such as business awareness, technical awareness, customer focus, and so on. Be able to describe the different service desk structures of local, central, virtual, and follow the sun, as well as when each might be used. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of each option.