Creating a service

The first question the creation flow asks is the one that matters most. A service is what someone books: software access, a support package, a managed device setup, anything with a lifecycle, an assignment and a bill. A product is the physical thing that ships and sits in inventory. They work together, and a service can carry products, which is why a laptop offer is a service with a device behind it rather than a product on its own.

Products vs. Services

The offer type is the second decision worth slowing down for. It is not a price tag, it is the commercial structure: whether there is a term, whether it renews, when it can be cancelled, how costs land over time. Purchase, subscription or a combination of both. Choosing the wrong one does not break anything today, it produces odd behaviour months later when renewals and terminations do not match the deal you actually made.

Term and extension follow from that. A twelve month term with a one month extension means the service renews monthly once the first year is over, until somebody cancels it.

Two controls decide who ever sees the result, and they are easy to mix up. Publishing prepares the commercial offer. Activating makes the service visible and orderable in the marketplace. You can publish early and activate later, which is exactly what you want while pricing is still being agreed internally.

One more thing the flow does not tell you: saving a service is not the end of the job. Without an offer it has no price, and without a bill of materials nothing gets delivered when someone orders it.

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Service Portfolio

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Some of these will go out again and again. Bundle them: Template management.