ITIL Service Management

Jan 21, 2008

ITIL Service Manager Exam Quick Reference

As I can see, a lot of people are still training for V2 ITIL Service Manager exam. Just for their convenience, I have added a few .pdf documents that I created while preparing for this exam.

Documents are not very tidy, maybe there is a typo here and there and they are not polished for publishing, but they are full of referent facts. And of course, they are free.

So here they are for you:

Jan 7, 2008

ITIL SM 2007 Recap

Here is a short recapitulation of 2007 themes on this blog:

ITIL SM 05-2007: ITIL
This was a short overview of ITIL V2.

ITIL SM 05-2007: Service Support
Here I covered ITIL V2 Service Support process & functions:- Service Desk- Problem Management- Change Management- Release Management- Configuration Management

ITIL SM 05-2007: Service Desk
Service Desk basics.

ITIL SM 05-2007: Service Desk Quick Facts
Service Desk quick reference data: Objectives, Activities, CSFs, Benefits.

ITIL SM 05-2007: Incident Management Elements
Incident Management Basics: Goal, Roles, Inputs, Activities, Output, Benefits, CSFs, KPIs

ITIL SM 05-2007: All About Incident Classification
Incident classification: categories, subcategories, problem type, product type, category tree, Assignment Queue...

Assignment and escalation
Problem analysis
Reporting.

ITIL SM 06-2007: Incident Priority - What Everyone Should Know
Incident priority is primarily formed out of it's Impact and Urgency. There are also additional elements, like size, scope, complexity and resources required for resolution.
Also, here are additional facts about Incident Escalation:

Functional Escalation
Hierarchical Escalation

I see a lot of visitors coming on this and the previous page.

ITIL SM 06-2007: Configuration Management Basics
Configuration Management Basics: Goal, Roles, Inputs, Activities, Output, Possible Problems, Benefits, CSFs, KPIs.
Configuration Management mind map (mmap).

ITIL SM 06-2007: CMDB - What You Need To Know
Some basics on Configuration Management Database.

ITIL SM 07-2007: Change Management Quick Reference
Change Management Quick Reference: Goal, Roles, Process, Inputs, Activities, Output, Possible Problems, Benefits, Responsibilities, CSFs, KPIs.

ITIL SM 07-2007: ITIL Service Support Process Interaction
ITIL Service Support Process Interaction in CMAP. Less people visited this page so I decided not to analyze too much in further posts.

ITIL SM 07-2007: ITIL V3 - What's New?
At this time, I've already read most of the new ITIL v3 books, so this is my view of what's new.

SERVICE LIFECYCLE:

Service Strategy: Creating the set of services that help achieve business objectives.
Service Design: Designing services, from technical and business perspective.
Service Transition: How to change live production infrastructure, implementing the needed services.
Service Operation: Day-to-day IT business, operating. A place to start if you are new to ITIL.
Continual Service Improvement: Evaluating and improving services in support of business goals.

ITIL SM 09-2007: ITIL V3 And The Vacuum
Waiting for the additional ITIL V3 complementary material.

ITIL SM 09-2007: ITIL V2 Mind Maps Free Download
Offered ITIL V2 Mind Maps for Free Download.

ITIL SM 09-2007: A Brief History of ITIL
A Brief (but not too brief) History of ITIL.

ITIL SM 10-2007: ITIL V3 Mind Map Download
Offered ITIL V3 Mind Map Download. I have created a simple mind map for the purpose of my own data organization. I thought that sharing it with a community would be a good idea. So I have put it for download.

ITIL SM 10-2007: ITIL V3 Service Portfolio, Pipeline and Catalogue
In ITIL V3, the customer is more into focus then technology. In V2, customer and his satisfaction were important on a declarative level, but minimum effort was made to point out methods, the whats and hows to improve the customer satisfaction. Instead of CMDB, the Service Catalogue is in charge now.

ITIL SM 10-2007: ITIL Foundations Exam - Go/No Go?
What about attending ITIL V3 Foundations?

ITIL SM 11-2007: ITIL V3 Introductory Overview: 'Littler ITIL' Free to Download
Finally a short overview of ITIL V3 by itSMF UK in association with Best Management Practice.

ITIL SM 12-2007: ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme
ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme for very smart people, and dummies also.

This year I will post about details in V3 that interest me the most, there will be updates to ITILv3 Mindmap. Right now I am researching tools for ITIL process automation, and I plan to give a critical comparison very soon.

Dec 3, 2007

ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme

The Ever-Changing Scheme Of Things

So there is an almost complete ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme for the people!
The scheme is comprised of five distinct levels. Every completed level or module earns specific amount of credit points, and upper levels sometimes have prerequisite of minimum credit points from the previous levels or bridged V2 levels.

For now, all of the exams are supervised, closed book exams. Candidates approaching the exam in their non-native language usually get 20-30% bonus time from the original defined duration.

ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme

Picture 1: ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme

1. Foundation
ITIL Foundation is an entry level introductory course. It is targeted to IT professionals who need understanding of basic ITIL skills and comprehension/awareness of the following:

Service Management as a practice (Comprehension)
Service Lifecycle (Comprehension)
Key Principles and Models (Comprehension)
Generic Concepts (Awareness)
Selected Processes (Awareness)
Selected Roles (Awareness)
Selected Functions (Awareness)
Technology and Architecture (Awareness)
ITIL Qualification Scheme (Awareness)

Foundation certificate earns you 2 credits. There is a recommended syllabus-based 16.25h classroom instruction, but it is not a prerequisite.

Exam duration is 60 min (75 min non-native + allowed dictionary), 40 multiple choice questions, with only one answer per question correct. False answers are not penalised.

There are online and paper based versions.

Pass Score is 65% (26 correct answers). No distinction level.

I have seen the course material and mock-questions. I have also seen some real exams. In some cases these two are very loosely related. My opinion from the previous post did not change much. If I hear anything new, I will let you know here.

2. Intermediate Level
This level kind of inherits the former practitioners course. It is divided in two modular streams, Lifecycle and Capability stream. Lifecycle stream is for people who need understanding of Service Lifecycle concept and its stages. Capability stream is oriented towards process/functions/roles type of IT Professionals.

2.a Lifecycle Modules
Five standard lifecycle modules - Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, Continual Service Improvement.

Each completed module earns 3 credits.

Prerequisites are a Foundation certificate and 21h of accredited classroom module course.

Recommended 21h of personal study.

Exam duration is 90 min (120 min non-native speakers + allowed dictionary), complex multiple choice, multi-part scenario based. One answer is most correct and earns maximum points. Two other options are consecutively less correct, marked slightly less then the correct answer. One option is incorrect and earns no marks. This is called Gradient Scoring.

Pass score is 65%, distinction score is 75%.

2.b Capability Modules
Four modules representing functional clusters:

Planning, Protection and Optimization (Availability Management, Capacity Management, IT Service Continuity Management, Demand Management, Risk Management, Information Security Management)
Service Offerings and Agreements (Service Portfolio Management, Service Level Management, Service Catalogue Management, Demand Management, Supplier Management, Financial Management)
Release, Control and Validation (Change Management, Service Release and Deployment Management, Service Validation and Testing, Service Asset and Configuration Management, Knowledge Management, Request Fulfillment, Service Evaluation)
Operational Support and Analysis (Event Management, Incident Management, Request Fulfillment, Problem Management, Access Management, Service Desk, Technical Management, IT Operations Management, Application Management)

Each completed module earns 4 credits. Less modules, larger module scope, more points then lifecycle stream.

Prerequisites are a Foundation certificate and 30h of accredited classroom module course. Recommended 12h of personal study.
Exam duration is 90 min (120 min non-native speakers + allowed dictionary), complex multiple choice, multi-part scenario based. Grading method is Gradient Scoring, the same as in Lifecycle stream.
Pass score is 65%, distinction score is 75%.
Exams can be online or paper based.

Capability stream is more to my liking, looks like sleeve-roll up stream for the guys in the trenches.

You can choose modules which are aligned with your current or intended job position, no defined order here. Logical to me would be to take one or two Lifecycle modules (Operation & Transition) and then a few practical Capability modules.

Earn 17 credits, and you can proceed to

3. Managing Across the Lifecycle
This title is a bit pompous and clumsy at the same time. Like some other things in V3, it looks like it was worked out in haste. Never mind. This course is meant for managers, and includes "ancillary" (this English kills me sometimes :-D) knowledge:

Introduction to IT Service Management
Business & Managerial Issues
Managing the Planning and Implementation of IT Service Management
Management of Strategic Change
Risk Management
Managerial Functions
Understanding Organizational Challenges
Lifecycle Project Assessment
Understanding Complementary Industry Guidance

Credits: 5
Prerequisites are a Foundation certificate and 30h of accredited course (classroom based or e-learning). Recommended 28h of personal study.

Exam duration is 90 min (120 min non-native speakers + allowed dictionary), complex multiple choice, multi-part scenario based. Grading method is Gradient Scoring.

Pass score is 65%, distinction score is 75%.

Exams can be online or paper based.

4. ITIL Service Management Expert Certification
By accumulating a minimum of 22 credits in the previous modules, one is entitled to this certificate. You get 2 credits from Foundation and 5 from mandatory Managing Across the Lifecycle. The other 15 you can collect from collecting Lifecycle and Capability modules credits. OGC says something about a balanced approach, which boils down to minimum two modules from each stream. Have a look at the Figure 3 table in the original document.
The other way to achieve ITIL Service Management Expert Certificate is to arrive from ITIL V1 or V2 Managers Certificate (17 credits) and obtain a V3 Managers Bridge (5 credits) certificate.

Picture 2: ITIL V2-V3 Bridging

5. Advanced Level is something I won't discuss here because it is still in development. I usually do not update my posts, but this particular one will be updated as soon as I have new info, since you people keep coming from all over, mostly via search engines and I know you would mind getting stale data on ITIL Exams.
Bridging
I choose not to go deeper into the bridging subject, since it's basics are obvious from the Picture 2, and it is well covered in the OGC/APMG original document. There is only one case which is benig discussed on http://itsmfi-forum.org/view_topic.php?id=5&forum_id=12&jump_to=323#p323 that still needs some clarification: what will a V2 Practitioner do if he/she didn't collect 12 credits. When it becomes clear, I will update this post.
Here is a short summary table with exam-specific parameters:

Picture 3: ITIL V2-V3 Bridging

Best of luck to anyone sitting an ITIL exam anywhere on the globe!

And of course, the complete Official Scheme PDF document with much more details can be viewed at http://www.best-management-practice.com/gempdf/ITILV3_Qual_Scheme_v3_0.pdf

Additionally, have a look at available syllabi at ITIL-OfficialSite:

Update September 08 - Syllabi for the Intermediate Level:
Capability Stream

Lifecycle Stream

Nov 20, 2007

ITIL V3 Introductory Overview: 'Littler ITIL' Free to Download

itSMF UK in association with Best Management Practice published a high-level overview of ITIL V3 - "An Introductory Overview of ITIL V3.

This is a small pocket book providing an executive level overview of the new ITIL V3 and its five lifecycle phases. Book has some 50 pages and reminds me of a similar IT Service Management book from 2001. This older one was about Support/Delivery in V2 and was very, very useful, since it was possible back then to put a complete detailed quick reference the core ITSM in cca 70 pages.

Now, in V3, scope being so seriously broadened, it would be difficult to compress it in a similar manner to less then 200-300 pages, so this is probably the best we can get (at this moment).

Basic lifecycle points are covered briefly and simply, main processes and their cross-references are touched, and it says a few in the end about the qualifications/certification, at least as it is in this moment (I hope to see some changes there).

Anyway, in this beginning era of ITIL V3, there was a need for this kind of publication, and here it is. Good for executive overview and introductory purposes. Maybe in next versions we will see some more meat in it, namely more basic process info and cornerstone diagrams.

For now, you can order it at your local itSMF chapter or download the .pdf from itSMF UK or Best Management Practice site.

Oct 29, 2007

ITIL Foundations Exam - Go/No Go?

Some of my friends and colleagues sat the ITIL V3 Foundations exam this week. Since I am in the business for some time, I helped them prepare. Of course, I was anxious what do the training, materials and the exam look like. I have seen some critiques and exam reviews in blogosphere, and first impression was that things are not very pink (ha, get it?).

I have read all five books this summer (some of them a few times) and my impression was that in 3 days of Foundations training you can't cover much more then some kind of extended glossary for these 32 ITIL V3 disciplines. People had two days to cover 11 disciplines (Processes/function(s)) in V2. Extending a training for one day to accommodate (a lot) more then 50% of increase in scope looks very brave and optimistic. What do the students say?

From what can be seen in student materials and exam questions, authors had a very high opinion on future attendees. Preparation questions were easy for me, I think I could guess my way thru at least 30 questions. But the EXIN set of exam questios was completely different thing. Without preparation, I would have flunked flat on this one.
I have no particular objection to the questions, they are understandable, do not suffer from English/English phrases and questions were rather equally divided between lifecycle stages. They were just too difficult for an introductory course.

Some of the new prep and real questions can be found on the web.

I have read somewhere that the syllabus is going to change a lot in Q1 2008. All the problems occurring in this phase were expected (at least by me), since this is all a matter of rough feedback-based tuning. So the first exam candidates will pay the price. If someone asked me, I would not sit an ITIL exam for at least six next months, like I wouldn't buy any (not even Japanese) car if a model is less then a year old. People invest three work days, some money and a piece of professional reputation here, only to end up ITIL exam guinea pigs. They should at least get some benefits for that (better price, longer training, free attempts...).

For now, the only thing stimulating people to show up on an exam is their ignorance. And some hype too. Everybody's doing IT(IL). But OGC and APMG people should have in mind that the Market is a bitch.

Oct 22, 2007

ITIL V3 Service Portfolio, Pipeline and Catalogue

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In ITIL V3, the customer is more into focus then technology. In V2, customer and his satisfaction were important on a declarative level, but minimum effort was made to point out methods, the whats and hows to improve the customer satisfaction.

In the age of V2, more palpable problems were of technological nature. Also, primary concern, especially in non-IBM IT communities was IT organisation, processes and procedures. So the main hub of all stories was the infamous CMDB, an organisational gadget with a techie name.

Now, the IT mindset is of a grown up, and we turn to what and how we are doing it. Following this thread backwards, we conclude that the main question is Why. We design services according to a market demand, for some of our present and future customers. So why should a customer by a service, why would he buy it from us, what are our competitive advantages, how are we going to charge for the services, what resources do we have... These are some of the strategic questions that need to be answered.

We define, analyse, approve and charter services in this phase. We are at the beginning of the Service Portfolio, in the Service Pipeline.

Thru transition processes, these services are introduced to operation, therefore they are in the Service Catalogue. Have in mind that this is the only profitable phase in this lifecycle perspective. Services that are no more needed are retired through Transition process

The objective is to manage the information contained within the Service Catalog and to ensure that it is accurate and reflects the current details, status, interfaces and dependencies of all services that are being run, or are in preparation to run in the live environment.

It has to be available and comprehensive to all parties involved, therefore it is divided into:

Business Service Catalog – A customer view: IT services delivered to the customer, including relations to business units and business processes it supports.
Technical Service Catalog – IT Services related to customer – related with infrastructure: supporting and shared services and CIs that support the provision of service. This view should not be presented to a customer.

KPIs , critical success factors and main risks of Service Catalogue Management process remind me a little of a former version Configuration Management and it's CMDB. Service Catalogue is pretty difficult to create and maintain, and yet, everyone already talks about it, and there are some people that say they have it.

Things become even more complex when we know that Service Portfolio encompasses Service Pipeline, Service Catalogue and retirement processes. For all this we have to have operative connections to a lot of acronyms: SKMS, CMS... Better part of it is served via the Service Level Management, the process that gave birth to portfolio and catalogue since the last version.

All this looks a bit confusing at a first glance, but when you seriously get into it you really get scared ;-)

Simplified, ITIL V3 is very customer oriented. There is a Service in every of the five books title (OK, I wanted this to be funny). Most of the stuff is hard to achieve, but in the end of the day, with V3, Service providers know better where to go and what to do. The mark is up there, everyone can decide for himself how close he wants to approach it.

Oct 7, 2007

ITIL V3 Mind Map Download

There is a lot of stuff in the new V3 core books. I have read most of it, and I was overwhelmed with new slang, archetypes, processes, acronyms.

After the second reading, you start noticing that there even exists a connection between the graphics and the text in these books. One just has to read carefully.

Memorizing and putting things in a perspective can be difficult when grasping such a broad scope. Mind mapping can help to some extent.

I have created a simple mind map for the purpose of my own data organization. I thought that sharing it with a community would be a good idea. So I have put it for download on this temporary space.

I took the measure of deleting the content that could be problematic as copyright goes. Still, a lot of public info and my own graphics are left inside. This is a working copy, and will be upgraded regularly. For now it is in Mindjet Mind Manager format, if you have trouble viewing it, let me know, I can maybe export it to xml.

Oct 1, 2007

ITIL Service Definition

"A service is a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific cost and risks. "

"Service Management is a set of specialized organizational capabilities for providing value to customers in the form of services. "

I could be wrong, but this is the definition of a Service! And it is finally here, after almost 20 years of ITIL. So at last we know what are we talking about.

Sep 25, 2007

A Brief History of ITIL

I have looked arround the web a little and was bored with the general ITIL history articles found on the web. There are a few inconsistencies and interesting myths circling around, like the one on the Falklands war and possible general war threat with Argentina, which are denied by the authors of V1.
The fact that Mrs. Thatcher came to power in 1979. and that ICT budget of UK government exceeded 8 bil. UK pounds was probably one of initiators of GITMM (or GITIMM, not sure).

So, here is a short list of important milestones:

1972: IBM starts research on quality service delivery called Information Systems Management Architecture (ISMA).

1980: IBM publishes Volume I of the IBM Management series titled "A management System for the Information Business", first public edition of ISMA.

1986: CCTA authorizes a program to develop a common set of operational guidance with the objective of increasing efficiencies in Government IT.

1988: "Government Infrastructure Management Method (GITMM)", is formalized and issued as 'guidelines' for Government IT operations in the UK focused on Service Level Management. Same year, the development team was expanded and work continued on Cost, Capacity, and Availability.

1989: GITMM title is inadequate. It is not a method, (last M), and it should lose its G letter in order to be marketable out of government. Renamed to ITIL.

1989: First 'ITIL' book published, Service Level Management, then Help Desk (incorporating the concepts of Incident Management), Contingency Planning, and Change Management. Books had 50-70 pages.

1990: Problem Management, Configuration Management and Cost Management for IT Services published.

1991: Published - Software Control & Distribution, on 89 pages.

1992: Availability Management, 69 pages.

1996: (July) First ITIL Service Manager class delivered in US by US company, ITSMI, 16 attended, 10 candidates, nine passes, one distinction, first US company authorized as an ITIL accredited course provider - ITSMI.

1997: Customer focused update to the Service Level Management book, 106 pages.

1997: ITIMF legally becomes what we know today as the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF UK).

2000: Service Support V2 published, 306 pages.

2001: Service Delivery V2 published, 376 pages.

2001: CCTA became a part of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC)

2002: Application Management, 158 pages, Planning to Implement IT Service Management, 208 pages and ICT Infrastructure Management, 283 pages, published.

2003: Software Asset Management, 146 pages, published .

2004: Business Perspective: The IS View on Delivering Services to the Business, published, 180 pages.

2006: (June) ITIL Glossary V2 published

2006: (June) APM Group Limited announced as preferred bidder of ITIL accreditation & certification program, over the itSMF International (expectant winner)

2007: (May) ITIL V3 five core books published.

2011: (July) ITIL 2011 update published.

Let's analyse this timeline a bit:

ITIL V1 was rather similar to IBM's ISMA, especially in support/delivery domain. Core ITIL V2 books did not differ much from ITIL V1. Only a few processes were altered slightly, but the focus and perspective was pretty much unchanged. And this process lasted for some 20 years.

ITIL V3 approximately doubled the scope, almost tripled the number of processes and functions and introduced a few new dimensions and perspectives. We have the first set of core books now, but a lot of time will be needed to develop all the complementary books, to groom and mature the training materials and to polish best implementation practices.

ITIL 2011 books grew 57% in weight and 46% in number of pages due to rewrite and redesign (larger font).