6.2

If the request results in an item being provisioned, it is added to Connie's list of items on the Items tab.
Here she can view the item details or perform additional actions on her items. In the virtual machine
example, she might be able to power on or power off the machine, connect to it through Remote Desktop,
reconfigure it to add more resources, or dispose of it when she no longer needs it. The actions she can
perform are based on entitlements and can also be made subject to approval based on flexible approval
policies.
Creating and Publishing Catalog Items
Service architects, tenant administrators, and business group managers can define new catalog items
and publish them to the service catalog. Tenant administrators or business group managers can then
manage the presentation of catalog items to the consumer and entitle the new item to consumers.
Typically, a catalog item is defined in a blueprint, which provides a complete specification of the resource
to be provisioned and the process to initiate when the item is requested. It also defines the options that
are available to a requester of the item, such as virtual machine specifications or lease duration, or any
additional information that the requester is prompted to provide when submitting the request.
For example, Sean the service architect creates a blueprint in the Advanced Services Designer. While he
is working on the blueprint, he can save it in the Advanced Services Designer in a draft state. When he is
satisfied with his work he can publish it to the catalog as a catalog item. A tenant administrator or
business group manager can perform similar steps in IaaS, and an application architect can perform
similar steps in Application Services.
After the blueprint is published, Sean, or a tenant administrator responsible for managing the catalog, can
then configure the catalog item, including specifying an icon and adding the item to a catalog service.
To make the catalog item available to users, a tenant administrator or business group manager must
entitle the item to the users and groups who should have access to it.
Service Categories
Service categories organize catalog items into related offerings to make it easier for users to browse for
the catalog items they need.
For example, catalog offerings can be organized into Infrastructure Services, Application Services, and
Desktop Services.
A tenant administrator or service architect can specify information about the service category such as the
service hours, support team, and change window. Although the catalog does not enforce service-level
agreements on services, this information is available to business users browsing the service catalog.
Catalog Items
Users can browse the service catalog for catalog items that they are entitled to request.
Some catalog items result in an item being provisioned that the user can manage through its life cycle.
For example, an application developer can request storage as a service, then later add capacity, request
backups, and restore previous backups.
Foundations and Concepts
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