Information Technology Service Management

InformationTechnologyServiceManagement aim at providing a systematic mechanism to communicate with consumers of IT services what they are getting with their money.

The most comprehensive framework for this appear to be the UK government based ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) initiative.

Started in the 80's, it was developed with the input of many vendors providing services to the UK government. And it is said to be gaining importance in North America in this new century.

From ogc (UK Office of Government Commerce - ITIL owner) material on ITIL FAQ

ITIL benefits include

improve interface with partners and vendors where ITIL is specified
...

ITIL supposed to be closely aligned with UK BS 15000, and said to be adopted by BigBlue and MicrosoftCorporation, HSBC, Shell Oil, Proctor & Gamble, etc. See Planning book at http://www.get-best-practice.co.uk/serviceManagementInformation.aspx

There is a MicrosoftWay too. It is called ?MOF (MicrosoftOperationsFramework)

Resources

BS15000 certification at http://www.bs15000certification.com/