This book focuses on complex services, that is, services embodying the knowledge and capabilities of professionals, sought because of the client’s lack of knowledge or skills in specialized fields. This book is also concerned with the many organizations, such as hospitals and banks, that provide services requiring a mixture of professional and other services to produce the results that customers or clients need. Professionals, semi-professionals, and technical workers laboring in all spheres of human endeavor, from law to medicine, accounting to engineering, social work to architecture, who are involved or are interested in taking part in managing their businesses, small or large, will find this book an invaluable tool in achieving success. This third edition comes with an augmented value proposition: as you read and try to understand and experiment with the material, you are invited at various points to view video clips, lasting between 15 and 25 minutes, that will clarify, complement, illustrate, or go further than what you are reading.

Different types of organizations provide services that require multiple, complex services to produce results. Oftentimes, those complex services morph into a maze of system processes that crisscross, impeding the smooth operation of processes and value creation. So how can you manage multiple services efficiently and effectively? This book outlines the strategy and execution needed to meet your goals. Numerous examples, exercises, and tools are included to help explain and clarify. The revised fourth edition includes a new focus on the impact of artificial intelligence in complex services, as well as links to video clips and podcasts. Professionals, semi-professionals, and technical workers in all areas, from law to medicine, accounting to engineering, social work to architecture, will find this book an invaluable tool in achieving success.

As the title makes clear, this book is about the design and delivery of service experiences. This includes the design of installations, facilities, technologies and scripts used in the staging of such experiences. It introduces the reader to many fundamental notions in service operations, from positioning to execution, with much attention paid to human experiences such as those of customers and service workers; be they performing simple repetitive tasks or complex mental tasks. The subject is treated in an user-friendly manner with a storytelling context, focusing initially on every day services (coffee shops, fast food, supermarkets) and then moving on to complex services (lawyers, physicians, engineers, accountants). Contrary to popular hype, not all service experiences are meant to be memorable. If all you need is a cup of coffee and this is done quickly, effortlessly, and painlessly, that's good. If there's a little plus along the way, that's better: you'll make a mental note that this is a good place to stop next time you are in the area. In an age of exponential technological change, service delivery processes are changing quickly and service industries are being creatively destroyed. You want to be the disruptor, willing to disrupt a large part of your actual income streams. The ability to maintain differentiation rests largely on an in-depth understanding of the service experience and operational excellence. The future belongs to the fastest learner. Intuition is only part of the story.

For the past decade, process validation issues ranked within the top six of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) form 483 observation findings issued each year. This poses a substantial problem for the medical device industry and is the reason why the authors wanted to write this book. The authors will share their collective knowledge: to help organizations improve patient safety and increase profitability while maintaining a state of compliance with regulations and standards. This book was written to assist quality technicians, engineers, managers, and others that need to plan, conduct, and monitor validation activities. To that end, the intent of this book is to provide the quality professional working in virtually any industry a quick, convenient, and comprehensive guide to properly conducting process validations that meet regulatory and certification requirements. It provides an introduction and background to the requirements necessary to perform process validations that will comply with regulatory and certification body requirements.

Designing Service Processes to Unlock Value explores how service processes can be designed to leverage the expanding range of opportunities for service providers and customers to co-create value. The service process design landscape is changing, with many of the previous limitations disappearing on how and by whom services are delivered. Opportunities for new service design configurations are being supported, to a large extent, by technology-enabled innovations; many tasks previously performed by the service provider may now be performed by either the customer or the service provider. As a result, customers are playing a more active role in the service process, not only through self-service but also by providing information to the service provider to create a more personalized service experience. Designing Service Processes to Unlock Value explores how service processes can be designed to leverage the expanding range of opportunities for service providers and customers to co-create value. Readers will learn about frameworks for value co-creation and models for designing all types of service processes, as well as the unique challenges of designing knowledge-intensive services. And with the growing number of alternatives for designing service processes and determining who performs the various service tasks, service performance outcomes are increasingly dependent on the knowledge, skills, and abilities—that is, capabilities—of both service providers and customers. Thus, the book concludes with approaches to unlock these capabilities–and further boost value co-creation.

The headline-grabbing financial scandals of recent years have led to a great urgency regarding organizational governance and security. Information technology is the engine that runs modern organizations, and as such, it must be well-managed and controlled. Organizations and individuals are dependent on network environment technologies, increasing the importance of security and privacy. The field has answered this sense of urgency with advances that have improved the ability to both control the technology and audit the information that is the lifeblood of modern business. Reflects the Latest Technological Advances Updated and revised, this third edition of Information Technology Control and Audit continues to present a comprehensive overview for IT professionals and auditors. Aligned to the CobiT control objectives, it provides a fundamental understanding of IT governance, controls, auditing applications, systems development, and operations. Demonstrating why controls and audits are critical, and defining advances in technology designed to support them, this volume meets the increasing need for audit and control professionals to understand information technology and the controls required to manage this key resource. A Powerful Primer for the CISA and CGEIT Exams Supporting and analyzing the CobiT model, this text prepares IT professionals for the CISA and CGEIT exams. With summary sections, exercises, review questions, and references for further readings, it promotes the mastery of the concepts and practical implementation of controls needed to effectively manage information technology resources. New in the Third Edition: Reorganized and expanded to align to the CobiT objectives Supports study for both the CISA and CGEIT exams Includes chapters on IT financial and sourcing management Adds a section on Delivery and Support control objectives Includes additional content on audit and control of outsourcing, change management, risk management, and compliance

Case managers provide an indispensable service, acting as both experts and liaisons to the wide variety of services, resources, and opportunities available to their clients. The authors use their extensive practice, classroom, and research experience to delineate clearly the steps of the case management process and to address the myriad roles case managers fill in different practice situations. By detailing the various processes and goals of case management and the different populations they help, the authors present a resource that is invaluable not only to social workers, but also to case managers in nursing centers, community mental health facilities, and criminal justice centers. The third edition of this book is updated to reflect the constantly changing nature of the helping professions. New and updated references provide readers with an array of options for pursuing specific aspects of case management. The book is attentive to the evolving needs of a variety of populations, and it now contains a new section on working with members of the military and their families. This edition also contains new information on case management within larger organizations that provide mental health services.