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Service catalogs sprawl. A 200-item catalog has worse self-service rates than a 30-item one. The goal is not coverage. It is findability.

The 80/20 rule for catalog items

Pull last quarter’s ticket volume. Eighty percent of tickets fall into 20 request types. Build catalog items for those 20. Everything else stays as a generic “Submit a request” form.

Name items as user search queries

“Order new laptop” beats “Hardware Acquisition Request.” Use the words employees type into the search bar. Pull the search-no-result log monthly to find naming gaps.

Search log:
  "headphones" → no result (catalog item is "Audio Peripheral Request")
  Action: rename to "Order headphones or audio gear"

Category structure: depth over breadth

Three top-level categories with 7-10 items each beats ten categories with three items each. Cognitive load on the landing page kills click-through.

Top-level:
  - Get equipment
  - Access and accounts
  - Software and licenses

Form fields: ask only what changes routing

Each form field is a friction point. If the field does not change who fulfills the request or how, drop it. Capture additional context via a single “Tell us more” textarea.

Approvals only when needed

Mandatory manager approval on every item creates a backlog. Define approval triggers per item: laptop = manager + IT director, mouse = no approval. Use cost thresholds, not blanket rules.

{
  "item": "Order new laptop",
  "approvals": [
    { "approver": "requester.manager", "required": true },
    { "approver": "it_director", "required": "amount > 1500" }
  ]
}

SLA per item

A “reset password” item has a different SLA from “provision new SaaS account.” Set per-item SLAs; do not let the global ticket SLA leak in.

Retire what nobody uses

Items with fewer than 3 requests in 90 days get archived. Less in the catalog means more findability for what remains.

What to do this week

Pull ticket volume by type, rebuild your top 20 catalog items with user-language names, collapse to three top-level categories, and archive items below the 3-per-90-day threshold.

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