Jyväskylä Universities launch competitive tendering for a shared service management system

The Jyväskylä Universities Strategic Steering Group has decided to jointly procure a service management system. The procurement aims to enable shared development resources and potential group-wide services while ensuring a consistent governance model. The reform will establish a shared foundation for managing and developing services, making service delivery more systematic, transparent and data-driven. The University of Jyväskylä currently uses the HelpJYU service management system, which runs on the ServiceNow platform.
Published
7.10.2026

What is service management?

A service management system is a system designed to manage university and higher education services throughout their lifecycle. It covers the service portfolio, service catalogue, service requests, incidents, changes, configuration information (CMDB), reporting, automation, knowledge base and service performance.

Effective service management requires the following:

  • An organisation-approved model for service delivery
    → A shared way of working that is followed across team and organisational boundaries
  • Service descriptions: What is offered?
    → A clear service catalogue and answers to the users’ question: “What can I order?”
  • Processes: How is the work carried out?
    → Consistent, repeatable ways of working that do not depend on particular individuals
  • Service conditions: When and on what terms are services provided?
    → Service hours, priorities, service commitments and responsibilities
  • Managing work through a single channel
    → A managed queue rather than requests bypassing the agreed process
  • Prioritisation and transparency
    → Everyone knows what is being done at present, what comes next and why
    Clear roles and responsibilities
    → Who does what, who decides and who owns the service?
  • Overview and measurement
    → A clear view of the current situation (turnaround times, workload, quality)
  • Continuous improvement
    → Learning from problems and systematically developing operations

Jamk University of Applied Sciences does not currently have a dedicated service management system; instead, service requests are handled through a ticketing system. The University of Jyväskylä uses ServiceNow (HelpJYU) for service management across a range of service processes, and the system has been actively developed over the years. The aim is to broaden the current approach to service management and expand its use towards a more comprehensive, unified and systematic approach.

Schedule

Preparations for tendering the new service management system will begin in the autumn, with the tendering process taking place in spring 2027. The new system will initially be introduced in IT services, and all services currently managed in the ServiceNow system will be transferred to it. A decision on the transfer of the University’s and Jamk’s other services will be made at a later stage.