Instructions for service description
In the Suomi.fi Finnish Service Catalogue, a service refers to something with which the client contacts the organisation is in some way. The customer can be an individual, company, organisation or public authority.
A service description is a short description of what the customer can obtain from the organisation in question regarding a specific matter and what they must do to receive the service. The descriptions of the service channels connected to the service describe how the customer receives the service in each service channel.
Read more about service channels.
A service can also be a permit that the client is seeking from the organisation. Similarly, various notifications that customers must submit to the organisation are services.
Examples of services:
- Job search coaching (Suomi.fi)Opens in a new window.
- Money collection permit (Suomi.fi)Opens in a new window.
- Notification of noise or environmental hazard (Suomi.fi)Opens in a new window.
You can identify a service by the fact that a service will always have
- customers that want the service
- service channels through which customers can use the service.
If you can’t imagine a service channel for something through which the customer would try to receive the service, it is not a service.
Services do not refer to the tasks of the organisation
Think about the service from the customer perspective, not from the perspective or processes of the organisation that provides the service. Organisations have many internal and decision-making tasks, duties and processes that do not need to be described as services in the FSC.
If the matter is not something that the client would, for example, call the organisation to receive, it is not a service.
Example: It is unlikely that an organisation ever gets calls asking for "administration". In other words, administration is not a service that needs to be described in the FSC. Neither do services include invoicing, elections or supervisory tasks.
Active customers are key
Only services that a citizen, entrepreneur or public authority actively seek are described in the FSC. The customer is also considered to be active when they apply for a permit or fulfils some of their reporting obligations.
Example of employment services: Registering as a jobseeker is a service, because a customer can register as a jobseeker online or by telephone, for example. Job search training is a service because the customer can ask for it. However, an employment plan is not a service, because the customer cannot obtain an employment plan through their own activity.
Transactions related to a service may be
- initiated by the customer on their own
- situations where the customer carries out an obligation, such as applying for a permit or submitting a notification.
Define the service on the appropriate level
Describe the service in a sufficiently concrete manner without including all the activities of the organisation in a single service description. An individual service must be so narrow in scope that you can describe it in sufficient detail.
Example: Taxation is too extensive to be a single service, as taxation includes several separate services that the customer can use in different situations. Instead, you could describe the tax card as a service with various service channels.
When defining services, you should consider the narrowest need for service that the customer may have regarding a matter that your organisation handles.
Example: If someone wants to change their first name, they are not interested in services related to changing their last name. For this reason, we advise describing the changing of the first and last names as separate services, even if they are similar from the perspective of the organisation that handles the matter.
Most organisations tell their customers about their customer-facing services on their websites. You can use the service group of your own or another organisation’s website to identify your organisation’s services.
Use general descriptions
We recommend that municipalities, wellbeing services counties and parishes use existing general descriptions to describe their services, which the organisation can supplement with the information on their service. The information in the general description selected is visible as part of the information on the service.