Imagine your Service Catalog as the menu of your MSP business—a clear, organized list of all the services and products you offer. A well-organized catalog not only makes your operations more efficient but also helps your clients clearly understand what they can expect.
This guide will help you create and maintain a Service Catalog that includes everything your MSP offers, from IT support to hardware rentals.
Let’s start by breaking down the basics!
What is the service item?
A service item is any offering you provide to clients, ranging from services like remote support to physical products like laptops. These items form the backbone of your catalog and can be tailored to meet your client's specific needs.
Types of Service Items
There are three types of service items in your catalog:
Services:
Services refer to the tasks and activities you provide to clients. These are divided into two types:
Quantity-Based Services: Think of these as services that have a measurable quantity or unit. For example, Disk Backup - Charged based on the amount of storage used.
Hours-Based Services: These are time-tracked services where your technicians’ time is the key resource. For example, Remote Support – Charge for time spent resolving issues online.
Products:
Products are physical or digital items you provide. These come in two categories:
Inventory items: Items you stock and manage fall into this category. For example, Laptops or Monitors.
Non-inventory items: Items that you don’t maintain stock for but still provide to clients fall into this category. For example, Software licenses.
Packages:
Packages are bundled offerings that combine multiple services or products into a single plan. You can offer packages through contracts. Packages are of two types:
Custom Plans: You can bundle products and services and offer them as plans, such as gold plan, platinum plan, etc., each priced differently.
Retainers: Retainers are prepaid service plans that provide flexibility and predictable billing. There are two types of retainers:
Block Hours: Clients prepay for a fixed number of support hours (e.g., 10 hours for $500). Additional hours are billed at standard rates.
Block Money: Clients prepay a fixed amount (e.g., $2000). Charges for services or products are deducted until the prepaid balance is exhausted.
Retainer fees are a direct way of helping bring predictability and revenue for the business upfront, especially if you’re an MSP who’s just transitioned from break-fix services.
📝 Note:
Only when a service catalog item is marked as a worklog item, it is shown as a worklog option in a ticket. Once it gets displayed inside a ticket, the technician can choose the item, mention the duration of the service provided, and add the worklog.
Usually, contract items such as recurring charges are not marked as worklog items and are directly added to contract items for recurring billing.