ITIL® 4 Foundation Certification - (How to become) Certification Process

The fourth version of ITIL®, the latest version of the world’s most popular ITSM framework, was released on 28th February 2019.

The previous versions of ITIL faced criticism based on the relationship with the ITSM community and its failure to keep up with the recent trends in IT operations and software development. ITIL® V4 has come up with community-driven updates and identifies Agile, DevOps, and Lean as key focus areas for integration with traditional ITIL best practices to address this criticism.

The certification scheme for becoming an ITIL Master has undergone some changes in ITIL®  V4. There are two designations which have been streamlined with certain modules to provide clear paths for practitioners to continue their ITIL journey. AXELOS has defined various paths to upgrade your ITIL® V3 certifications to corresponding ITIL® V4 certificates.

According to a report in CRN, ITIL is one of the top 15 money making certifications of 2015. This reflects its growing popularity among organizations who want professionals to enhance their profit margins by implementing the techniques of ITIL®. The Foundation Certification is also a stepping stone for certifications such as ITIL Managing Professional and ITIL Strategic Leader, which can help further enhance the IT service management of organizations.

ITIL® 4 today translates to big opportunities. Organizations realize that implementing ITIL® 4 techniques can help improve efficiencies by streamlining processes and facilitating communications between team members and stakeholders. This ensures maximum utilization of resources for project improvement.Organizations are therefore on the lookout for ITIL® qualified professionals and this in turn has increased the earning potential of such individuals by 17%, according to Indeed.com.

Below are the certification levels in ITIL V4:

• ITIL V4 Foundation- now available
• ITIL Managing Professional (MP)- launching 2020
• ITIL Strategic Leader (SL) - launching H1 2020
• ITIL 4 Master - launching H2 2020

One of the main characteristics of the new ITIL 4 certification scheme is that it is now formed by two different designation streams; ITIL Managing Professional (ITIL MP) and ITIL Strategic Leader (ITIL SL).

To become an ITIL Managing Professional (ITIL MP), you must complete the following modules:

• ITIL 4 Foundation
• ITIL Specialist: Create, Deliver & Support
• ITIL Specialist: Drive Stakeholder Value
• ITIL Specialist: High-Velocity IT
• ITIL Strategist: Direct, Plan & Improve

To become an ITIL Strategic Leader (ITIL SL), you must complete the following modules:

• ITIL 4 Foundation
• ITIL Strategist: Direct, Plan & Improve
• ITIL Leader: Digital & IT Strategy 

In order to be eligible to become an ITIL Master, you must have both the ITIL Managing Professional (ITIL MP) and ITIL Strategic Leader (ITIL SL) designations.

The ITIL® framework is comprised of a series of qualifications focused on different aspects of ITIL® best practices to various degrees of depth and detail. By completing each level of certification, credits are awarded which are needed to take you to the next qualification level.The five different certification levels within the scheme are:

1. Foundation level- The entry level of qualification 
2. Practitioner level- It provides the ability to adopt and adapt in ITIL® organizations 
3. Intermediate level- This level offers a module pattern providing a different focus on IT service management. 
4. Expert level- This is targeted at candidates who are interested in acquiring enhanced knowledge of the ITIL® scheme. 
5. Masters level- The final stage is the Masters level. Here you get to prove all you have learned in the previous stages. You must attempt and pass a qualifying exam for each level in order to achieve the certification.

There are certain prerequisites which you need to check while searching for the best ITIL® V4 Certification Trainer. They are:

• You should check if the trainers are ‘ITIL Master Certified’ and are Senior Consultants.
• The trainer must provide support before, during, and after the exam.
• Going further, you should check the total years of experience of the trainer in the field.
• You should also try to find out about the attitude of the trainer towards the candidates.
• Apart from the points listed above, you should also try to learn about the facilities provided by the trainer for learning.
• You should further consider the Certification Exam Preparation techniques adopted by the trainer.
• Finally, you should find out information about the fee structure of the ITIL® V4 Certification Trainer.

ITIL gets updated regularly to meet ever-growing expectations and competition. The latest version is the ITIL V4. The framework has been upgraded to lead business companies to approach new service management challenges. They also assist them in efficiently using modern technology to its highest ability. Flexibility, integration and coordinated systems have been given priority while designing this version.

Purpose & Focus of ITIL V4

The ITIL framework can be embraced by every type of business, irrespective of the sector, that wants to provide high quality and service, and enhanced customer experience. The framework will guide them not only in addressing management challenges but to effectively overcome them. The concepts are so developed that organizations or individuals can apply them to real-world business or enterprise challenges and ensure quick and effective solutions. ITIL V4 will assist in governing as well as managing every possible IT-enabled service

To become an ITIL® Managing Professional (ITIL® MP) you need to take up the following examination modules:

• ITIL 4 Foundation
• ITIL Specialist: Create, Deliver & Support
• ITIL Specialist: Drive Stakeholder Value
• ITIL Specialist: High Velocity IT
• ITIL Strategist: Direct, Plan & Improve

To become an ITIL® Strategic Leader (ITIL® SL) you need to take up the following examination modules:

• ITIL® V4 Foundation
• ITIL® V4 Strategist: Direct, Plan, and Improve
• ITIL® V4 Leader: Digital and IT Strategy.

To become an ITIL® Master you need to complete the modules under both the above mentioned designations, namely, ITIL®  Managing Professional (MP) and ITIL®  Strategic Leader (SL).

The service value system (SVS) is a key component of ITIL 4 and facilitates the co-creation of value through all the components and activities of an organization. The SVS forms an ecosystem by linking with other organizations, creating value in parallel for those organizations, their customers and stakeholders. ITIL SVS majorly focuses on these components - ITIL service value chain, ITIL guiding principles, ITIL practices, Governance, Constant growth.

The ITIL service value chain implements a working model for the production, delivery and constant growth of the services. The model consists of 6 key elements that can be linked together using various ways hence creating numerous variants of the value stream. In order to address the requirements of multimodal service management, the value chain is made flexible enough to be easily adapted through various methods like centralized IT and DevOps. It is this flexibility that allows the company to focus on its constant growth as well as to satisfy the ever-changing demands of the industry.ITIL practices assist in developing the service value chain by expanding their flexibility. To support the ITSM practitioners with a complete toolset, every ITIL practice supports multiple service value chain activities.

An organization’s behavior and the fundamental base play a major role in guiding its growth. This is why the ITIL guiding principles are implemented as they assist in building a productive environment through day-to-day activities. They make sure that everyone in the organization is on the same page and is working towards achieving a unified vision. The governing body supervises and shares some specific guidelines and strategies with the organization to improve productivity. The governance also helps in improving coordination among the members and hence boosting the company-value. The ITIL SVS is backed up by the constant growth models and procedures to keep up with the continuous changes and upgradations. This improves the adaptability and helps the organization to be versatile.

ITIL Service Value Chain (ITIL SVC): The SVC is an operating model for service delivery through six core activities, which can be combined in different ways to provide a flexible set of value streams.These six key activities of the Service Value Chain are Plan, Improve, Engage, Design and Transition, Obtain/Build, and Deliver and Support.All the entities in the chain share a common goal and customer satisfaction is the highest priority. Some of the benefits of ITIL SVC are:

• Innovation Advantage: Through the innovation value stream, the organization always holds a competitive lead over its rival. The innovations can be in terms of business or operation.

• Support Advantage: The ITIL support value stream helps increase productivity and reduce disruptions by efficiently managing the incidents.

• Transparency: Instead of relying on multiple processes, one can just keep the focus on the value stream chain and deliver value to the business while ensuring transparency in all activities.

ITIL Practices and Guiding Principles: ITIL V4 consists of the best practices used in the IT industry for seamless and increased productivity. Some of its benefits are:

• ITIL V4 offers a stronger alignment between the IT and business aspects within an organization.
• With an increase in productivity, costs are also gradually brought down, thus, making it cost-effective as well.
• Through its incident and problem management, ITIL V4 aims to manage and reduce risks both from business as well as IT perspective.

Governance and Continual improvement: The governance and CSI aims that services should always adheres to quality standards and should also respond appropriately to customer need changes. Its key benefits are:

• Helps in providing better metrics and measurements for reporting purposes.
• Increases the quality and efficiency of the services.
• Defines responsibilities and roles for the team.
• Fills the gap between the customer and business needs.

ITIL V4 aims to reduce the gap between the customer and service provider through a holistic approach. ITIL V4 framework, while retaining the former 4 P’s of ITIL (People, products, partners, and processes), redefines them to be more customer sensitive.All 4 of these dimensions are significant for creating value for the stakeholders which is why each component of SVS should adhere to these dimensions. The 4 dimensions of Service Management in  ITIL V4 are:

• Organizations and People: As the name suggests, these dimensions cover the case of ‘people’ or the professionals implementing it as well as the organization itself. It specifies that each person should be aware of his/her role to maximize their contribution to the service. It supports the corporate culture as well as the optimum level of staff capacity and competence.

• Information and Technology: The information here being talked about is the information used in the service itself be it any - supporting information or knowledge. This information is imperative for the management of services. Technology includes:
  • AI/ML
  • Use of Mobile platforms
  • Automation Testing
  • Continuous Integration/Development/Deployment solutions

• Partners and Suppliers: For every service, there are partners and suppliers who are directly involved in designing, deployment, supporting, and even the continual improvement process. The suppliers interact with the organizations and use their relationship to create value for them.

• Value streams and processes: Value Streams are generally a stream of steps which are integrated together to create value through products and services. The processes underpin these streams and produce output with given activities input.

There are two options for you to continue your ITIL journey after completion of your ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Lifecycle modules. They are:

Option 1: If you have achieved 17 credits or more since the ITIL® V3 Foundation then you are eligible to take the ITIL® V4 Managing Professional Transition module. This will help you to fast track past the V3 MALC course and exam. You don't need to take the Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC).

Option 2: If the credits earned by you don’t match the 17 credits required to take the ITIL® V4 Managing Professional Transition module, then you can continue to collect the V3 credits for an easier transition to ITIL® V4.

You need to fulfill certain requirements in order to take up the modules under ITIL®  Managing Professional (ITIL® MP) designation in ITIL V4. They are as follows:

• You can take up the modules under ITIL®  Managing Professional (ITIL® MP) if you are an ITIL® V3 Expert. It is advisable for you to take up this transition before June 2020 in order to keep up your ITIL® credentials.
  
  
• Another way to take up the modules is to start from ITIL® V4 Foundation. Even if you have an ITIL® V3 Foundation under your belt, AXELOS recommends you to make a transition to ITIL® V4 Foundation.
  
  
• If you have an ITIL® V3 Practitioner or an Intermediate and have achieved 6 or more credits then it is recommended for you to continue collecting V3 credits for an easy transition to ITIL® V4 and gain the ITIL®  Managing Professional. You need to reach 17 credits to be eligible to take the modules under this designation.

IT practitioners who are a part of the digital and technology teams across businesses are targeted under ITIL®  Managing Professional (ITIL® MP) in ITIL V4. The major role of the Managing Professional stream is to provide inputs on technical and practical knowledge required to successfully run IT projects, workflows, and teams.

Yes, AXELOS has recommended a few standard modules which should be completed in order to become an ITIL®  Managing Professional. They are:

• ITIL® V4 Foundation
• ITIL® Specialist Create, Deliver, and Support
• ITIL® Specialist Drive Stakeholder Value
• ITIL® Specialist High Velocity IT
• ITIL® Strategist Direct, Plan, and Improve.

Yes, the following modules have been recommended by AXELOS in ITIL® V4 to become an ITIL® Strategic Leader:

• ITIL® Strategist Direct, Plan, and Improve
• ITIL® Leader Digital and IT Strategy

The recommended approach to become an ITIL® Strategic Leader is that once you become an ITIL® Managing Professional, you need to complete all the modules under it.

The ITIL® Managing Professional Transition Module provides an opportunity to the ITIL® V3 Experts to align their ITIL® V3 certification to ITIL® V4 in order to continue their ITIL journey.  As this is a part of the V4 modules which are being introduced in 2019, it is the latest version and will hold good for a while.

ITIL® Strategic Leader recognises the value of ITIL® for all digitally enabled services and not just for IT operations. The major role of an ITIL® Strategic Leader includes the demonstration of a clear understanding of how IT directs and influences business strategy.

If you are planning in continuing your ITIL® journey after getting the designation of ITIL®  Managing Professional then AXELOS recommends that you should pursue the ITIL® Strategic Leader stream.Once you achieve the ITIL® Managing Professional designation, you need to complete the ITIL® Leader Digital and Strategic module under the ITIL® Strategic Leader stream to qualify as an ITIL® Strategic Leader. 

Yes, in ITIL® V3, to become an ITIL® V3 Expert you had to earn 22 credits from ITIL® V3 Foundation, ITIL® V3 Practitioner, ITIL® V3 Intermediate, and ITIL® V3 MALC in order to qualify for ITIL® V3 Master. Whereas, in ITIL® V4 you must have both ITIL® V4 Managing Professional (ITIL® V4 MP) and ITIL® V4 Strategic Leader (ITIL® V4 SL) designations to be eligible to become an ITIL® V4 Master.

There are two paths for obtaining the ITIL Foundation certificate. You can choose to attend a training course with an Accredited Training Organization (ATO) and can then sit the exams at the end of the course. Alternately, you can study privately and then book the exam without a training course via PeopleCert.

No, the ITIL4 Foundation certification is a certification for life; it does not expire.

• In ITIL v3, the process is a series of activities that are upgraded to practices in ITIL4. In the latter, practices are something you can perform with the help of the right resources.
• The Service lifecycle of ITIL v3 had 5 stages - Service Strategy, Design, Transition, Operating, and Continual Improvement. It was based on the waterfall model. The ITIL4 framework is based on the Service Value System (SVS) that gives the description of how the activities and components should work together for enabling the organization’s value.
• The CSI model of ITIL v3 is updated to the CI model of ITIL4. In the ITIL4, the Continual Improvement model provides a structured approach to identify and implement different approval at different organizational levels. It has seven steps that can be compared to the 7-step improvement process of the ITIL v3 framework.
• The four Ps of the ITIL v3 framework - People, Process, Product, and Partners have been changed to the four dimensions of the ITIL4 framework - People and Organizations, Information and Technology, Suppliers, and Partners, and Processes and Value streams.
• ITIL v3 framework considers service as a means to deliver value to the customer through the facilitation of the outcomes they want. In the ITIL4 framework, Service is a means of value co-creation through the facilitation of outcomes a customer wants without undergoing any risk of cost.
• The qualification roadmap for ITIL v3 is:
  • Foundation
  • Practitioner
  • Intermediate
  • Expert
  • Master
• The qualification roadmap for ITIL4 is:
  • Foundation
  • Managing Professional
  • Strategic Leader
  • Master

Please note that ITIL V3 Practitioner is not mandatory for taking up the Intermediate level. Also, you do not need to take the Strategic Leader level after the Managing Professional level. The only prerequisite for Strategic Leader is the Foundation. 

Your transition from ITIL v3 to ITIL4 will depend on what v3 certifications you have:

• ITIL v3 Foundation certified
  In this case, the next step is taking the ITIL4 Foundation to transition to the new version. The exam will assess your knowledge of the new guidance.
• ITIL Intermediate or Practitioner level
  If you have started collecting credits, it is best that you continue collecting credits to make an easy transition to the ITIL4 and get the ITIL Managing Professional designation. You will need 17 credits to take the ITIL Managing Professional Transition. 
• ITIL v3 Expert
  If you have reached this stage, you can directly take the ITIL Managing Professional Transition module and get the ITIL Managing Professional designation.

In the 1980s, when most organizations were planning to migrate or migrate to digital technology, there was an emergence of best practices of IT Service Management. Later, the term ITIL was introduced to refer to these practices. ITIL or IT Infrastructure Library is a group of documents providing best practices and a framework for building an ITSM or IT Service Management Best Practices. An IT Service Provider who follows the recommended ITIL processes can reduce their service management costs and increase efficiency.

Apart from the best practices, ITIL has also provided common terminologies like Incident, Change, Problem, Knowledge, Configuration Management Database (CMDB), and Configuration Item (CI). All these terms are frequently used by professionals working in IT Service Management.

ITSM or IT Service Management is about people, process, and technology. It is not a software solution. The solution is just one component of ITSM. IT Service Management can be considered a strategic approach to design, deliver, manage, and improve the way IT is used in an organization. Its goal is to ensure that the right people, processes, and technology are in place so that the company can meet its business goals. Most of the ITSM software tools have the following components: 

• Business objects (group, roles, etc.)
• Database
• Process engine

Software solutions used for supporting ITSM are designed to align with the best practice recommendations of ITIL.

If you’re already certified in ITIL V3 Foundation, the following approaches help to become ITIL® V4 Master:

a) You need to earn 17 credits from the modules under ITIL® V3 scheme which makes you eligible to take the ITIL Managing Professional transition module in order to migrate to the ITIL® V4 scheme.

b) Once you achieve the ITIL® V4 Managing Professional designation then you should also pursue the ITIL® V4 Strategic Leader. You can opt for ITIL® V4 Master once you complete the modules under both the designations. AXELOS has introduced ITIL® V4 with a few new modules which you need to take up to become an ITIL® Master. Once you complete the ITIL® V4 Foundation, you need to complete the modules under both the designations in order to become an ITIL® V4 Master.The ITIL® V4 modules recommended by AXELOS to become an ITIL® V4 Master are as follows:

The ITIL® qualification scheme equips IT professionals with the knowledge of best practices for the efficient execution of IT services and the improvement of service delivery to businesses. Its training focuses not only on technology or processes but also on the capability of the personnel using the technology and deploying the services.

The ITIL® qualifications are designed to help customers get value from IT services and ensure that organizations manage their services better in order to grow. The guidelines follow an end-to-end approach and critically assess and find optimal solutions to manage the entire service life-cycle, from requirements identification to the design and creation of the solution or service.

The factors which you should look for while searching for the best ITIL® V4 Certification Training Institute are the same around the globe. There are a few prerequisites which you must consider while looking out for the best ITIL® V4 Certification Training Institute. They are:

• The Training Institute must have accreditation from PeopleCert, APMG, and PECB.
• The Training Institute must have AXELOS Accredited courseware that is being used by various partners, internationally.
• You must also ensure that the Training Institute has a high passing rate.
• The trainers and consultants must be accredited and experienced in the field.
• You should also ensure that you are provided with an exclusive Pre-Courseware to come up with more specific queries.
• Moreover, you should check if the training is hands-on and offers consulting exposure, role plays, live case studies. It should not be confined to theory and slides alone.
• Finally, you should feel assured that you’re getting value for your money that you have spent to get the ITIL® V3 2011 Certification.

The examination has certain parameters which the candidate must qualify in order to be eligible to receive the  ITIL® foundation certification.

ITIL V4 has been anticipated to solve the problem which was highlighted in ITIL V3 - the inability to keep up with the new technological advancements in the IT industry. Some of the benefits of ITIL V4 framework compared to ITIL V3 framework are-

• It includes all the best things from ITIL
• It is flexible to work with other technologies and methods
• Provides a comprehensive approach for co-creating value for your customers
• Helps lay the course for the modern digital world

ITIL® V4 Framework comprises of two key components, namely, ITIL® service value system (SVS) and the four dimensions model. The benefits of the newly introduced ITIL® Framework are as follows:

1. The ITIL® SVS of the ITIL® Framework facilitates the integration and coordination of the components and activities which enables an organisation to create value through IT-enabled services.
   
   
2. ITIL® SVS further provides a strong, unified, and value-focused direction for the organisation.
   
   
3. An organisation can ensure its SVS remains balanced and effective by giving an appropriate focus on each of the dimensions under the four dimension model of the ITIL® Framework.

The certification is used to achieve quite a number of goals in the industry. Some of the benefits are: 

• The ITIL® certification increases the value of the professional in the labor market. 
  
  
• It provides the platform to stand apart from the multitude of uncertified IT professionals in the industry. 
  
  
• It is a medium for learning how to properly utilize ITIL® tools and their techniques, improve efficiency and effectiveness at the workplace, and get recognized for your expertise by your peers both inside and outside the organization.

Businesses who have adopted ITIL® can vouch for its numerous benefits. Some of them include improved customer satisfaction, better communication flow, reduction in external and internal cost, business productivity and competent IT staff. ITIL®, in short, helps businesses provide quality services. It also helps them manage business risks by preventing and resolving service disruption.

ITIL® has helped organizations improve the relationship they have with their clients.  It brings your business alive because it ensures the software and hardware systems are all working in sync to enhance overall efficiency and productivity. ITIL® is a framework that makes business activities easier, effective and efficient.

Yes, AXELOS recommends that it is mandatory for you to complete all the modules under ITIL® V4 Managing Professional (ITIL® MP) and ITIL® V4 Strategic Leader (ITIL® SL) designations in order to become an ITIL® Master.

You will get 16 PDUs.

The ITIL® certification can benefit anyone who is interested in IT service management. It should be acquired for the following reasons:

1. The certification will enable one to have a sound understanding of the ITIL® framework. 
   
   
2. It would assist those who have already adopted the ITIL® style to improve on their skill set in contributing to ongoing service improvement within the organization. 
   
   
3. It will help IT professionals enhance IT service management within the organization. 
   
   
4. It can help in acquiring the right skill set and qualifications needed for a chosen ITSM career

PDUs are credits awarded by the Project Management Institute. They recognize your dedication to the Project Management world through the award of credits for every educational effort you make throughout your career. PDUs are offered by the PMI®, and every PMI® certification, except the CAPM®, requires you to earn a specific number of PDUs per three-year certification cycle.

There is no fixed cost of the ITIL® certification. However, to determine the certification cost, two major components will have to be combined- the ITIL® exam cost and The ITIL® training cost. Other costs that are also included in the certification cost are the ITIL® study guide and the ITIL® practice tests. The ITIL® Certification cost depends on some other factors and these would cause a variation in price, such as the mode of the exam to be taken and the country of residence.

India: An instructor-led training for your ITIL® V4 Certification would cost you roughly around INR 19,999 in India.

US: Taking an instructor-led training for ITIL® V4 Certification in the US would cost you around $700.

UK: You can take an instructor-led training to get your ITIL® V4 Certification by spending around £925 in the UK.

Classroom training for ITIL® V4 certification in India would cost you around INR 19,999. These training usually take place for 2 days. You need to spend around $1,299 to take up classroom training for ITIL® V4 certification in the US. Taking classroom training for ITIL® V4 certification in the United Kingdom will cost you around £465. You can avail it from one of the leading training providers

No, your course fee includes the ITIL exam fee

ITIL® has become a standard in IT service management. Some of the key capabilities which  ITIL® offers to organizations are:

• Supporting all kinds of business outcomes
• Enabling business change
• Managing risk in line with the business needs
• Optimizing the customer experience 
• Showing value for money
• Continually improving the services by learning from success/failures of past services

EXIN is a renowned exam and certification institute that has certified millions of professionals in digital skills for tomorrow’s world. EXIN certifications assess and validate the competencies of professionals and organizations in different industry sectors across the world, and are in high demand.

Popular EXIN programs include VeriSM™, Agile Scrum, DevOps, SIAM™, Information Security Management, Data Protection (based on GDPR), Cybersecurity, Data Center Management and Cloud Computing and e-CF® NEXT, among others.

In order to become an ITIL® Foundation certified professional, one has to appear for the one hour online ITIL® Foundation certification examination that is held on the last day of the training.

The exam itself is a one-hour online examination comprising of 40 questions. You have to score 26 marks (65%) to attain the certification. You will be awarded 2 credits for the same.

The exam fee is one of the components of ITIL Certification cost. The exam fee varies according to the level of  ITIL® V3 2011 Certification exam which can be clearly explained through the following chart:

Costs indicated are as given on the Peoplecert website at this link: https://www.peoplecert.org/browse-certifications/it-governance-and-service-management/ITIL-1

The Foundation exam covers Continuous Service Improvement, Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, and Service Operation.

There are two ways through which a candidate can take the exam. The first and most common way is to join an ITIL training course with an Accredited Training Organization. After the end of your training, you will take up the examination. The second option is to do self-study. Once you have covered all the units, you can schedule the exam. Either way, in order to achieve the ITIL® Foundation certificate, you have to clear the examination.

The ITIL examinations are administered by AXELOS and the governing bodies under them. They usually declare the exam fees by the end of the year. The syllabus and content keep getting upgraded and hence, the exam fee also keeps changing.

ITIL® Foundation exam is an entry-level certification exam for IT personnel who are interested in boosting their skills in Information Technology Service Management. The ITIL® Foundation exam fee varies for different countries. In the United States, the exam fee is $314; while it costs £269.00 in the United Kingdom, $314.00 in Canada and AU $395 in Australia. You can get more information about the exam fee from your accredited training course provider in the country you intend to take the certification exam.

There are 40 questions in the ITIL V4 Foundation Certification Exam.

The exam comprises 40 single answer multiple choice questions that vary in style. Here are examples of some different styles of questions:

1. Single statement negative question e.g. which of these is NOT a concept in availability management?
2. Single statement positive questions e.g. which of these is a function?  
3. Single statement comparative questions e.g. Which of these is the best definition of a process?
4. Multiple statement questions e.g. Which of these is a process as defined by ITIL®?. (WITH 2 CORRECT ANSWERS) and other options.

You can register for your ITIL® V3 2011 Foundation exam session on Prometric. In order to so, you need to log in to www.prometric.com and then follow the following steps to register for your respective exam:

Step 1: Once you log in to the Prometric page, you need to click on the ‘SCHEDULE MY TEST’ option which you can find on the slider of the home page.

Step 2: That will lead to a page where you need to choose the test sponsor for your ITIL® V3 2011 Foundation exam. The test sponsor for ITIL® V3 2011 Foundation exam is PeopleCert.

Step 3: Clicking on the test sponsor’s name will lead you to the product page of PeopleCert where you will be able to find all the exams which are conducted by PeopleCert.

Step 4: Next, you need to click on the ‘SCHEDULE MY TEST’ option available on the page.

Step 5: That would take you to a page where you need to select your country. You need to select ‘INDIA’ from the list to schedule your appointment for the ITIL® V4 Foundation exam. After selecting the country you need to click on ‘Next’.

Step 6: Once you click ‘Next’, you will land on a page which consists of information on registration requirements and what you need to bring to the testing center. After reading the information, click on ‘Next’.

Step 7: The above step leads you to another information page which consists of the Privacy Policy Review. You must agree to the conditions mentioned on the page and click on ‘Next’ to proceed to the next page.

Step 8: In the next page, you must confirm if you are pre-approved for testing accommodation for the exam.

Step 9: In this step, you are asked to provide your Eligibility ID and the first 4 characters of your Last Name.

Step 10: Once the above information matches, you’ll end up on a page where you need to choose the date and time of your choice. In fact, this page will let you know the available options to choose the date and time for your exam.

Step 11: Your appointment is complete after your appointment verification process is over, once you choose your test center and provide other additional information

You need 26 marks (65%) out of 40 to pass the ITIL V4 Foundation Exam.

The usual timeline varies according to the examination center and training provider. However, the average timeline remains the same. Once the examination is over, the candidate will receive the results. The timeline of the result depends on the mode and type of examination. If it's a computer-based examination, the results are delivered immediately but if it’s an essay response examination, it takes 4-8 weeks for the candidate to obtain his/her result.

If the candidate has cleared the examination, he/she will be eligible to receive the  ITIL® certification. In case of web-based or computer-based examinations, the official certification takes 2 to 4 weeks to reach the candidate as it is supplied from the official Examination Institute. If the candidate doesn't receive the certificates within the mentioned timeline, it is highly prudent to contact their respective training providers or exam institute.

The ITIL® V3 Foundation exam is for those who want to learn the key elements, concepts, and terminologies in ITIL® service management. It is an entry level qualification which offers you a general knowledge of ITIL® service management.The duration of the exam is just 60 minutes and comprises 40 questions which consist of multiple-choice questions. You will be required to score 65% or more to pass this exam. This implies that you need to answer a minimum of 26 questions correctly from 40 questions.

The examination voucher can only be bought directly from Peoplecert’s website or through an accredited course provider.

Follow the below steps to get the  ITIL® voucher from Pearson VUE to schedule the  ITIL® exam:

• Step 1: Log onto Pearson Vue.
• Step 2: Select your country and check the voucher prices for different certifications.
• Step 3: Download the voucher form corresponding to your region and fill the form.
• Step 4: Submit the form. If you encounter any error submitting the form online, you can also email/fax them the form.

Duration -Once you obtain the voucher, it is valid for 12 months or 1 year since the effective day. For ITIL® Examination, the voucher is available in two different languages  -

•  ITIL® Foundation (English) 
•  ITIL® Foundation (JPN)

Conditions - These vouchers are not customizable. It means that the voucher has to be used according to the examination guidelines.

Pricing - The voucher price includes additional charges with the addition of VAT.

This is a closed book exam, and electronic devices are not allowed.

The new certification scheme that came into the picture after the ITIL® V4 was launched on 28th Feb 2019 which requires you to earn 17 credits to take the ITIL® V4 MP. The modules under ITIL® V3 Intermediate play a pivotal role for professionals who want to make a transition to the ITIL® V4 scheme. The professionals with a solid understanding of ITIL® V3 who move to ITIL® V4 will be able to help their organisation to evolve their service management.

ITIL® V3 Intermediate can be taken up by the professionals who want to make a transition to the ITIL® V4 scheme. The content of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate modules intends to benefit the end learners who are progressing on their ITIL® journey.

The principles, processes, and activities covered under the Service Lifecycle and Service Capability modules of ITIL® V3 Intermediate certification equips you with the essential knowledge that contributes toward a better understanding of the ITIL® V4 concepts that are reflected on the updated framework.

The knowledge that you acquire by taking up the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Certification benefits you in the following ways:

• Integrate the key concepts that exist in both the versions
• Understand the way these concepts interact, what remains core and what has evolved
• Continue supporting professionals with the challenges faced in their work environment.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate certification is divided into two modules, namely, Service Lifecycle and Service Capability.

As an end learner, you need to hold a professional experience of at least 2 years working in the field of IT Service Management to acquire your ITIL® V3 Intermediate certification. Further, you need to have prior exposure to the basic concepts in the field of Information Technology (IT) in order to acquire your ITIL® V3 Intermediate certification.

You need to have passed ITIL® V3 Foundation or ITIL® V4 Foundation along with ITIL® V3 Practitioner exam in order to acquire the ITIL® V3 Intermediate certification.

You need to earn 5 credits in order to move ahead with your ITIL® V3 Intermediate certification by completing the ITIL® V3 Foundation and ITIL® V3 Practitioner levels. The credit distribution under both levels are as follows:

ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle refers to the lifecycle approach to provide the best practice guidance for IT Service Management.The modules under ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle are relevant to those who intend to find a management or team leader role that requires management of different areas or work across different teams.

The modules under the ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle category focus on the process and practice elements used, and the management capabilities needed in order to deliver quality Service Management practices.

The modules under the ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle are as follows:

• Service Strategy (SS)
• Service Design (SD)
• Service Transition (ST)
• Service Operation (SO)
• Continual Service Improvement (CSI).

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy is one of the five modules under ITIL® Service Lifecycle. It provides you with the guidance enabling you to develop, design, and implement service provider strategy that is aligned with the organisational strategy.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy module under the ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle focuses on the importance of the strategic aspect of services within the IT service lifecycle. Further, it provides you with the specific knowledge and techniques in order to help you demonstrate the understanding of the risks and success factors and possess the skills to develop and progress strategy within an organisation and programme.

The course structure of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy module covers management and control of activities and techniques that are documented under the ITIL® Service Strategy publication, but it doesn’t provide full detail of each supporting process.

The cost of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy varies from country to country. You need to pay £283 towards the exam fee for ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy in India.

The key benefits of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy Certification are as follows:

1. Formulate IT service strategy by acquiring knowledge and management principles.
   
   
2. Provide vision and direction for Service Management by getting the organisational capability.
   
   
3. Deliver value to the organisation Getting a practical approach to moving an IT organisation from a focus on technology to a strategic approach in order to manage the Service Portfolio.

The exam format of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy certification can be listed down as:

You can earn 3 credits once you complete the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy module.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Strategy module is suitable for professionals working in the following areas:

• IT Management
• IT Finance Management
• Supplier Relationship Management
• Individuals who need to understand the relationship between the IT and general aspects of their work
• Individuals who need to appreciate the way ITIL® best practice framework can help them work more efficiently.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design module under the ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle focuses on the services of IT services and it covers the processes, architectures, documentation, and policies that will enable you to design services that meet the needs of the organisation or programme.

The purpose of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design module provides you with guidance on creating and launching products and services that will meet the immediate and ongoing needs of organisations and programmes. Moreover, a good service design can improve the alignment of IT along with the overall business as well as user needs. The certification illustrates the importance of designing consistent service design in order to achieve it.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design course introduces the purpose, principles, and processes of service design by covering management and control of activities and techniques documented in the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design publication, but it doesn’t provide you with the full detail of each supporting process.

The cost of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design exam differs from country to country. You can book for your ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design by paying £283 in India.

The key benefits of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design certification are as follows

1. Leverage your skills Meet the immediate and ongoing needs of organisations and programme by learning to create and launch products and services.
2. Help align business with IT Gain knowledge of good service design in order to improve the alignment of IT with the overall business and user needs.
3. Deliver valuable service Convert strategic objectives into IT service portfolios focused on value by getting the holistic design requirements regarding people, processes, technology, and governance.

The exam format for ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design certification can be shown as follows:

You can earn 3 credits after the completion of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design module.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Design module can be taken up by

• Capacity Managers
• Availability Managers
• Service Level Managers
• Business Continuity Managers
• Service Portfolio Managers
• CIOs
• CTOs
• IT Consultants
• IT Audit Managers
• IT Security Managers
• Other IT professionals involved in the design of IT services.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Transition is one of the five certifications with the ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle work stream. This module focuses on the process and practice elements, and management techniques that are required to build, test, and implement products and services. Further, it demonstrates the way service transition can apply to other stages of the IT Service Lifecycle and underpin decisions during the Strategy and Operations phases.

The purpose of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Transition under ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle is to teach you the way to plan as well as manage the move into initial operation for the new or revised resources that get created during the Service Strategy and Service Design stages involved in the ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle.It also provides you with the guidance on techniques for organising and managing the transition. Further, the certification covers the management of technology considerations and challenges and risks.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Transition course comprises of the management and control of activities and techniques that are documented in the ITIL® Service Transition publication, but doesn’t provide the full detail of each supporting process.

The cost of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Transition exam is not uniform throughout the world. You need to pay £283 in order to appear for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Transition exam in India.

The benefits of ITIL® V3 ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Transition certification are as follows:

• Get the skills to manage change: Learn the required techniques in order to understand and manage changes to IT services in line with users’ expectations as well as a business strategy.
  
  
• Provide improvements: Manage the changes flexibly and deliver improvement to services provided by organizations or programs of work.
  
  
• Deliver valuable service: Introduce new and changed services by getting best-practice guidance by ensuring that the value identified in the service strategy is maintained.

The exam format for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Transition certification can be explained as follows:

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Transition exam is suitable for the IT professionals working in the following positions:

• Release Manager
• IT Change Manager
• IT Configuration Manager
• IT Project Support
• IT Project Manager
• IT Programme Manager.

ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation is one of the five modules under the ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle. This module focuses on the processes, principles, functions, and operational activities enabling individuals and organisations in order to successfully manage the performance of their products and services. These activities can lead to the improvement of their IT service management.

The purpose of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation is to make you understand how the Service Operation best practice enables organisations and IT teams to sustain and maintain the products and services they develop and esure that they provide efficient resources for their users.

The course under the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation covers the management and control of activities and techniques that are documented in the ITIL® V3 Service Operation publication, but it doesn’t provide the full detail of each supporting process.

The cost of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation exam is not uniform throughout the world. You need to pay £283 in order to appear for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation exam in India.

You can reap certain benefits by acquiring the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation certification. The key benefits of the same can be listed down as:

1. Meet agreed service levels Deliver the IT services that meet agreed service levels for both business users and customers by getting guidance on the best practice.
   
   
2. Access processes and support tools Get the tools and techniques to deliver and support services through day-to-day management of the technology.
   
   
3. Maintain business satisfaction Deliver the agreed services efficiently that are essential to maintain business satisfaction and confidence in IT by getting guidance on the global best practices.

The exam format for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation certification involves the following:

You can earn 3 credits once you complete the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation module.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Operation exam can be taken up by IT professionals working in the following positions:

• Release Manager
• Security Administrator
• Applications Support
• IT Operations Manager
• Database Administrator
• Problem Manager
• Service Desk and Incident Manager
• Network Support
• Security Manager.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement is one of the five modules under the ITIL® V3 Service Lifecycle. It focuses on the way organisations and individuals can strategically review the products and services that they have produced following the design, strategy, operation, and transition stages of the IT Service Lifecycle.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement further guides you with the tools and technology that can be used in order to support the CSI activities as well as the ways to evaluate risks and critical success factors.

The purpose of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement practices is to help businesses and projects to continue to meet and adapt to the changing needs of end users as well as improving efficiencies and returns on investment for organisations.

The exam cost for ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement varies from country to country. You need to pay an amount of £283 in order to appear for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement exam in India.

The key benefits of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement certification are as follows:

1. Get more valuable skills Continual service improvement is an integral part of every stage of the ITIL® service management framework. So, equip yourself with a highly-demanded certification.
   
   
2. Reach CSI best practice Gain the ability to introduce a cycle of service management improvements by learning the best practice.
   
   
3. Be effective in what you do Learn to improve each stage of the ITIL® lifecycle and focus on effectiveness across services, processes, and costs by getting guidance to be able to identify opportunities.

The exam format for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement certification includes the following:

You can earn 3 credits upon completion of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement module.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Continual Service Improvement certification is suitable for the   professionals:

• CIOs
• CTOs
• Business Relationship Managers
• Cyber Resilience Consultants
• Service Level Managers
• IT Security Architects
• Business Continuity Managers
• IT Consultants
• IT Audit Managers
• Any IT professional involved in continual service improvement.

The ITIL® V3 Service Capacity updates you with the understanding of how different processes interact and their successful usage which plays an important role while understanding the ITSM frameworks. The ITIL® V3 Service Capability stream is divided into 4 modules that allow you to acquire and apply more specialized knowledge.

The purpose of the ITIL® V3 Service Capacity module is to get you equipped with specialized knowledge in one or more processes, with a focus on the day-to-day execution of ITIL® practices and the ways they interact.

The ITIL® V3 Service Capacity under ITIL® V3 Intermediate certification comprises of the following modules:

• Operational Support and Analysis (OSA)
• Planning, Protection and Optimization (PPO)
• Release, Control and Validation (RCV)
• Service Offerings and Agreements (SOA).

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Operational Support and Analysis (OSA) is one of the modules under ITIL® V3 Service Capability. It goes deep into the practical application of the OSA practices that enable event, incident, problem, request, technical, access, IT operations and application management.It also covers aspects in regards to people, procedures, relationships, and technology in order to ensure that the services provided under IT are of high quality and cost-effective as well as it meets organisational needs.

The purpose of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Operational Support and Analysis is to teach the organisations and individuals the ways to manage everyday operation of IT services and gain a better understanding of how to implement the ITIL® processes that will enable them to deliver and support the services provided to the customers.

The content of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Operational Support and Analysis course is based mainly on the best practice guidance contained in the ITIL® Service Operation publication.

The exam fee for ITIL® V3 Intermediate Operational Support and Analysis certification in India is  £283. However, the exam fee varies based on the country where you reside.

The key benefits of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Operational Support and Analysis certification are as follows:

1. Get more valuable skills Get yourself equipped with a highly-demanded certification.
   
   
2. Learn OSA best practice Equip yourself with the best practices in order to manage the everyday operation of IT services.
   
   
3. Deliver efficient services Get an understanding of the ways to implement the ITIL® processes that will enable you to deliver and support services to the customers.

The exam format for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Operational Support and Analysis certification includes the following:

You earn 4 credits once you complete the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Operational Support and Analysis module.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Operational Support and Analysis certification is suitable for IT professionals like:

• Configuration Managers
• Availability Managers
• System Software
• Applications Support
• IT Operations Managers
• Network Control and Operation
• Database Administrators
• Problem Manager
• Network Support.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation is one of the four modules under the ITIL® V3 Service Capability. The major focus of this module is on the practical application of PPO practices in order to enable capacity, availability, IT service continuity, information security, and demand management.

The purpose of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation module is to develop an understanding of the organisations and individuals about the ITIL® Service Design processes. Further, it helps to ensure that the user needs are met with the new and updated services, service management systems and tools, technology architecture, processes and measurement systems, methods and metrics. Once introduced, they will require a little further change.

The content of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation course is based mainly on the best practice guidance that is contained in the ITIL® Service Design publication.

The examination fee for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation varies from country to country. You need to pay £283 towards the ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation exam fee.

The key benefits of ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation certification are as follows:

1. Get more valuable skills Get equipped with a highly-demanded certification.
   
   
2. Learn PPO best practice Deliver services that meet business needs by equipping yourself with the knowledge of the best practices.
   
   
3. Understand the processes Get a valuable understanding of the ITIL® Service Design processes.

The exam format for the ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation certification includes the following:

You earn 4 credits once you complete the ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation module.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate IT Planning, Protection, and Optimisation certification is suitable for IT professionals working as:

• Capacity Managers
• Availability Managers
• Change Managers
• Security Administrators
• Applications Support
• IT Operations Managers
• Network Control and Operation
• Network Support
• Business Continuity Managers
• Security Managers
• Service Portfolio Managers
• Supplier Relationship Managers.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation is one of the four modules under ITIL® V3 Service Capability that focuses on the practical application of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation practices in order to enable to successful planning, testing, and implementation of new services that meet the needs of the organisation and users.

The purpose of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation module is to develop the understanding of ITIL® Service Transition processes among organisations or individuals while ensuring that the transitional changes are effectively managed, new services are validated and tested and that release and deployment fulfill organisational requirements. It further provides guidance on evaluating change and managing knowledge in order to improve decision-making processes.

The content of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation course consists of the best practice guidance contained in the Service Transition publication. The course is designed in order to develop an understanding of the ITIL® Service Transition processes across organisations or individuals.

The exam fee for ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation changes from country to country. However, you need to pay £283 in order to sit for your ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation certification exam in India.

The key benefits of taking the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation are as follows:

1. Get more valuable skills: Add certification to your profile which is highly-demanded.
   
   
2. Learn RCV best practice: Deliver services in order to meet the business needs by equipping yourself with the best practices.
   
   
3. Understand the processes: Get a valuable understanding of the ITIL® Service Transition processes.

The exam format of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation certification includes the following:

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Release, Control, and Validation certification can be taken up by IT professionals working in the following roles:

• Release Manager
• Security Administrator
• IT Operations Manager
• Database Administrator
• Security Manager.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Offerings and Agreements module is one of the four modules under ITIL® V3 Service Capability that focuses on the practical application of ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Offerings and Agreements practices in order to enable portfolio, service level, service catalogue, demand, supplier, and financial management.

The purpose of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Offerings and Agreements module is to make organisations and individuals understand the way in which five stages of ITIL® lifecycle which includes service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation, and continual service improvement can offer the value to projects and organisations.

The content of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Offerings and Agreements course contains the best practices guidance contained in the ITIL® Service Strategy and ITIL® Service Design.

You need to pay £283 towards the exam fee for ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Offerings and Agreements exams in India. Although, the exam fee changes from country to country due to the exchange rate.

You can reap the following benefits out of the ITIL® V3 Service Offerings and Agreements certification:

1. Gain valuable skills: Get equipped with a highly-demanded certification.
   
   
2. Learn SOA best practice: Deliver services that meet the business needs by learning the best practice.
   
   
3. Provide reliable service: Get guidance on how service offerings can be developed to support both business and user needs along with a valuable understanding of the five stages of ITIL® lifecycle.

The exam format of the ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Offerings and Agreements certification includes:

You earn 4 credits on completion of your ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Offerings and Agreements module.

The ITIL® V3 Intermediate Service Offerings and Agreements certification can be taken up the IT professionals working in the following roles:

• IT Management
• IT Finance Manager
• Capacity Manager
• Availability Manager
• Service Level Manager
• Business Continuity Manager
• Service Portfolio Manager
• Supplier Relationship Manager.

The purpose of ITIL® V3 Practitioner certification is to offer practical guidance to the end learners on how to adopt and adapt the ITIL® framework in order to support your business objectives.The content of ITIL® V3 Practitioner also reflects in ITIL® V4 intending to help the IT professionals to adopt and adapt ITIL® guidance to their own specific needs and circumstances. Further, the guiding principles can/should be followed in every stage of service delivery.

The ITIL® V3 Practitioner covers three key areas which play a crucial role in the success of any improvement initiatives. They are as follows:

• Organisational Change Management
• Communication
• Measurement and Metrics.

The 9 Guiding Principles that are followed by ITIL® V3 Practitioner are as follows:

• Focus on value
• Design for Experience
• Start where you are
• Work holistically
• Progress iteratively
• Observe directly
• Be transparent
• Collaborate
• Keep it simple.

Yes, you require to hold an ITIL® V3 or ITIL® V4 Foundation Certification in order to take up ITIL® V3 Practitioner Certification.

Yes, individuals intending to take up the ITIL® V3 Practitioner Certification exam must hold either an ITIL® V3 Foundation or an ITIL® V4 Foundation.

No, it is not compulsory to have an ITIL® V3 Practitioner certification for taking up ITIL® V3 Intermediate certification.

You can earn 3 credits at the completion of ITIL® V3 Practitioner certification which you can use towards the ITIL® V3 Expert certification in order to continue your ITIL® journey.

The key benefits of taking up the ITIL® V3 Practitioner certification are as follows:

• Learn the ‘how to’ The ITIL® V3 Practitioner certification helps you to learn to apply and adapt ITIL® within an organization.
  
  
• Make a difference Equip yourself with the new practical techniques in order to make a difference in your workplace.
  
  
• Leverage CSI Maximize the benefits of ITIL® and make a measurable impact by leveraging Continual Service Improvement.

The exam format of ITIL® Practitioner certification includes the following:

The exam fee for ITIL® V3 Practitioner is not uniform throughout the world. You need to pay an exam fee of £389 to book the ITIL® Practitioner exam in India.

ITIL® V3 Practitioner Certification should be taken up by the following professionals:

• Professionals who have already obtained the ITIL® V3 Foundation Certification
• Professionals with a basic understanding of IT Service Management.

The Successful Candidates Register of AXELOS provides the details of the previous candidates who have passed the AXELOS examination and have been elected to be included in it. AXELOS ensures the protection of the data by partially covering the candidates’ numbers. The candidates can also choose to opt out of this public listing whenever they want.

As a Successful Candidate, AXELOS will contact you with a discount code as long as you have opted into the Successful Candidates Register of AXELOS.

You can claim for your ITIL® Practitioner badge by becoming a My AXELOS subscriber.

You need to renew your ITIL® Practitioner digital badge in every 12 months by earning 20 CPD points.

ITIL® V3 Foundation is the basic or the Foundation that helps with the understanding of ITIL®. It is defined around a service life-cycle approach to ensure that the IT services provide the optimal business value. Axelos Ltd, the governing body of the ITIL® V3 Foundation certification defines it as the entry-level certification by which professionals can be accredited. This level offers a general awareness of the key elements, concepts, and terminology used in the ITIL® service life-cycle, including the links between life-cycle stages, the processes used and their contribution to IT service management practices while the higher levels go into greater depth for each of ITIL®’s five major modules.

ITIL® V3 lays out best practice guidelines for IT Service Management in a company, through a Lifecycle approach. The ITIL® service life-cycle is split into 5 stages: service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation, and continual service improvement.

1. Service strategy basically develops a strategy that will fulfill business needs in an optimal manner.
2. Service design makes sure that new services are developed to meet user’s expectations.
3. Service transition involves designing, testing, and production of the service.
4. Service operation ensures the delivery of the service and also resolving service disruption.
5. Continual service improvement improves the effectiveness and efficiency of the service.

The major certification level changes in ITIL® V4 can be identified in three phases, namely, certification schemes, Exam format, and career path modules. The various differences between ITIL® V3 and ITIL® V4 are as follows:

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) framework is the set of industry best practices and guidelines that describe the most effective way of implementing processes across the IT system. The ITIL® processes which are 5 in number, are structured as activities that fulfill a particular objective and add value within the ITIL® framework.The ITIL® framework is globally recognized as a methodology that works in IT service management and beyond, as it aims to align IT services with the current and future needs of the organization, its business processes and customers.

Yes, ITIL® is a framework. The framework is a model that lays out the best practices in the delivery of IT service management that are aligned to successfully achieving the business goals of an organization. It is termed a framework because it serves as a support to the organization throughout the operational life of the business.

The ITIL® V3 framework is the updated version of the previous ITIL® guidelines, which were formulated to resolve errors and inconsistencies. It is a widely accepted set of guidelines and practices for IT service management and is described as the best practice framework for identifying, planning, executing, managing and improving IT services.This framework has been found to strategically improve organizational processes and personnel; while making sure that in the event of any threats to the business or vulnerabilities, the organization can mitigate those threats, maximize the opportunities and stay ahead of the curve.

ITIL® is the only consistent and comprehensive documentation of best practices for IT Service Management. The ITIL® certificate is a qualification that equips you with the capability to implement a professionally valued approach to best practice methodology in ITSM.It helps to identify and concentrate on the highest value activities to help organizations achieve profitability through process efficiency. It is used to show compliance and to measure improvement.It has been adopted by hundreds of organizations around the world. The certificate validates the entire guidance contained within the ITIL® books and the supporting professional qualification scheme.

Taking up an ITIL® V4 Certification training will help you to understand the service management process. The ITIL framework ensures that there are consistency and predictability in service delivery across various organisations, units, and processes. The benefits of ITIL® V4 Certification training can be marked down as follows:

1. Better equipped: ITIL® V3 2011 training gives you more insight into the ITIL framework and hence, you can manage the work better. Further, it will enable you to appreciate the need and application of the activities and processes involved in ITIL which will enhance your productivity and help you work more efficiently.
   
   
2. Better pay: You always have better job prospects once you complete your ITIL® V3 2011 certification. The certification gives you an upper hand in the ITSM sphere compared to other non-certified candidates. An ITIL® V3 2011 certified professional can expect more than a 15% hike in his/her average annual salary in India & the US. Although, the salary figures can vary from individual to individual based on total years of work experience you can be assured about an increment in your salary after the completion of the ITIL® V3 2011 certification.
   
   
3. Recognition of expertise: Having an ITIL® V3 2011 certification under your belt will help you to get recognized for both your expertise and skills in managing the services in your organisation. Be assured that both your senior management and colleagues would appreciate your effective management of the services and processes.
   
   
4. Common terminology: ITIL® V3 2011 certification exposes you to the ITIL framework which helps you to know the common terminologies used across industries and countries.
   
   
5. Holistic view: The ITIL® V3 2011 Certification training gives you a detailed insight into the role of IT service and infrastructure in various businesses. This helps you to understand the bigger picture and enables you to make a valuable contribution to the organisation.

ITIL® today translates to big opportunities. Organizations realize that implementing ITIL® techniques can help improve efficiencies by streamlining processes and facilitating communications between team members and stakeholders. This ensures maximum utilization of resources for project improvement.Organizations are therefore on the lookout for ITIL® qualified professionals and this in turn has increased the earning potential of such individuals by 17%, according to Indeed.com.

ITIL® Foundation Exam is an entry-level certification for embarking on a career in Information Technology Service Management (ITSM). Clearing the ITIL® Foundation Exam will equip one with the right tools to implement all the processes essential for an organization to comply with the ITIL® framework, which describes the most suitable way of performing processes within the IT cycle.The exam is based on the implementation of the ITIL® V3 Foundation level curriculum.  By the AXELOS standard, the ITIL® Foundation exam usually takes this format:

1. Multiple choice examination questions 
2. 40 questions 
3. 26 marks required to pass (out of 40 available) - 65%  
4. 60 minutes duration 
5. Closed book.

According to a report in CRN, ITIL® is one of the top 15 High Paying certifications of 2015. This reflects its growing popularity among organizations who want professionals to enhance their profit margins by implementing the techniques of ITIL®. The ITIL® V3 Foundation Certification is also a stepping stone for certifications such as Intermediate and Expert, which can help further enhance the IT service management of organizations.

ITIL® training can be administered in the classroom, virtual classroom or e-learning modes. It will help you to understand the terminologies, concepts, and principles of ITIL® in order to pass the exam with ease. The ITIL® training is recommended to be completed before sitting for the exam. It exposes you to real-life examples and case studies associated with ITIL® service life-cycle management.

 The training is structured in such a way that will make you pass the exam at the first attempt and also enable you to align IT services with your business needs.

ITIL® stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library.  ITIL® encompasses a wide and complete set of tools and best practices that are best suited for developing and executing modern IT services.It comes with unbeatable benefits such as cost reduction resulting from increased competitive advantage, agility, growth, streamlining IT processes giving the positive result of increased business opportunity, improvement in the value of IT through goal alignment, IT operations and increased business strategies and last, improvement in all-around satisfaction from employees, customers to other users.

The new and updated ITIL® version is called ITIL® V4. The ITIL® V4 Foundation was released on 28th February-2019 and the publications associated with ITIL Strategist, ITIL Specialist, and ITIL Leader will be released along with respective modules in the second half of 2019.As the name suggests, it is going to play a pivotal role in supporting individuals and organisations to helm the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Its purpose is to provide comprehensive guidance to organisations for managing Information Technology in the modern service economy.

The purpose of ITIL® is to ensure all IT related services are effectively developed to meet the business objectives of organizations. The ITIL® framework details out a set of proven best practices for IT service management (ITSM), that serve to align IT services with the specific needs of the business.

1. ITIL® V1 - The Beginning: The first version of ITIL® was very technical in nature.
   
   Primary Focus of ITIL® V1: It included topics such as backup power supplies, cabling techniques, and office acoustics which spanned a collection of 40 volumes. It discussed processes involved in service support such as change management, help desk management, and software distribution and control. In the early 1990s, government agencies and large companies across the world began adopting the framework in order to help improve their IT services and delivery capabilities.
   
   
2. ITIL® V2 - The first major revision: the second version of ITIL® was published in 2001 and focused on the elimination of duplicate entries, improvement in the consistency of topics and inclusion of new IT concepts. 
   
   Primary Focus of ITIL® V2: Some of the topics covered in ITIL® V2 was release management, problem management, incident management, security management, service continuity management, and financial management of IT assets.
   
   
3. ITIL® V3 - Introduction of the Service Lifestyle: The ITIL® version 3 or ITIL® V3 was published in the year 2007 which adopted a lifecycle approach to service management with greater emphasis on IT business integration.
   
   Primary Focus of ITIL® V3: ITIL® version 3 was another upgrade which consisted of 26 functions and processes and was grouped into 5 stages. It focused on service strategy, service transition, service design, service operation, and continual service improvement. This new version doubled the scope and introduced a few new perspectives and dimensions.
   
   
4. ITIL® 2011 update: The ITIL® V3 2011 was an update made to the 2007 edition of ITIL® V3.
   
   Primary Focus of ITIL® 2011 update: ITIL® V3 2011 primarily aimed at resolving the errors and inconsistencies in the text and diagrams across the suite. The rewrite, redesign, and use of larger fonts in the ITIL® 2011 books which were done in order to make ITIL® more approachable to the reader made the weight of the books grow by 57% and pages grow by 46%.
   
   
5. ITIL® V4
   
   Introduced ITIL Managing Professional (MP) & ITIL Strategic Leader(SL)
   
   ITIL® V4 is the latest version of the world’s most popular ITSM framework which was introduced by AXELOS on 28th, February 2019.
   
   Primary Focus of ITIL® V4: ITIL® V4 majorly consists of two designations, namely, ITIL® Management Professional (MP) and ITIL® Strategic Leader (SL). This new ITIL® version came up with community-driven updates and identifies Agile, DevOps, and Lean as key focus areas for integration with traditional ITIL best practices to address the criticisms of the previous ITIL® versions.

AXELOS has come up with a few new changes in the certification scheme under ITIL® V4. The ITIL® V4 certification scheme has been streamlined and provides clear paths for you to continue your ITIL journey.You can get a clear picture of the changes in the following table:

The certification scheme for becoming an ITIL Master has undergone some changes in ITIL®  V4. There are two designations which have been streamlined with certain modules to provide clear paths for practitioners to continue their ITIL journey.

Begin your ITIL® journey:

1. To begin your ITIL® V4 journey you need to take up ITIL® V4 Foundation. 
2. The next step is to choose the modules to achieve one of the designations between ITIL Managing Professional (MP) and ITIL Strategic Leader (SL).

ITIL® provides an infrastructure to combine the best of capabilities from both, business as well as IT, to provide an optimal service to the customer.

Benefits of Implementing ITIL® in an organization are to:

1. Manage the business risk of services
2. Minimizing Service disruption
3. Quantifying and demonstrating the value of service
4. Benchmark services and maximize ROI
5. Obtain the value for money.

1. Manage business risk of services: It helps enable business change, optimize customer experience, and continually work to improve services by providing seven-step improvement processes to identify, prioritize, and improve the services, wherever the opportunity arises. It also manages risk in line with business needs by using:
   
   
   • ITIL® availability management
   • Capacity management
   • IT service continuity management
   • Information security management
     
     
2. Minimize Service disruption: It enables business change, optimizes the customer experience, and ensures continual improvement by identifying, improving, and then eliminating the root causes which eventually lead to the prevention of recurrence of incidents. It also manages risk in line with business needs with the help of below tools:
   
   
   • ITIL® incident management and problem management processes
   • Develop effective workarounds
   • Run blameless major incident reviews
     
     
3. Quantify and demonstrate the value of service: It supports business outcomes, optimizes customer experience, and continually improves the services. It also enables business change with the help of the following tools:
   
   
   • ITIL® financial management process
   • Show improved governance over investments
     
     
4. Benchmark services and maximize ROI: It optimizes customer experience, enables business change, and continually improves services by mapping customer requirements against the investments required to deploy the services customers need. It also manages risk in line with business needs by using:
   
   
   • ITIL® service portfolio management process
     
     
5. Obtain the value for money: It optimizes customer experience, enables business change, and continually improves the services. It also makes sure contracts with suppliers are optimized by using:
   
   
   • ITIL® supplier management process

• Service Strategy: Targets customers and market with suitable services.
  • Strategy Management: After a thorough assessment of competitor, market space, capabilities of the service provider, this process helps in developing as well as implementing the strategy to serve customers.
    
    
  • Service Portfolio Management: This process keeps check on the proposed new requirements and a potential return of investment when a change is introduced to an existing service or even if a new service is proposed.
    
    
  • Financial Management: Financial management provides an indication of the deviation between the cost of operating and the anticipated cost and, therefore, the potential return of investment.
    
    
  • Demand Management: All the customer demands are fed through to the service provider with the help of this process. This process also ensures that the provider has enough capability to satisfy customer demands.
    
    
  • Business Relationship Management: Rather than targeting customers with random services, this process helps in identifying the kind of services that would be the most suitable to a specific customer.
    
    
• Service Design: Caters to new requirements and offers changes and improvements to existing services.
  
  
  • Service Catalogue Management: It is the documentation of an organization which contains the list of services, their purpose, and the value they add to the customer.
    
    
  • Service Level Management: After gathering business requirements, this process helps in dealing with IT services and business needs to find a common goal.
    
    
  • Capacity Management: This process ensures that an organization is capable enough to deliver and support the service according to the agreed terms in an efficient and cost-effective way.
    
    
  • Availability Management: To cater to new business needs, it ensures that IT services are available for the job.
  • IT Service Continuity Management: After delivery, a service is needed to be supported continuously according to the agreed timelines and costs which this process takes care of.
    
    
  • Information Security Management: As ITIL® involves combining IT with business, it is imperative that IT security is also combined with the business security which this process ensures.
    
    
  • Supplier Management: Its sole purpose is to keep a check on suppliers/dealers and see that all of them adhere to the terms and conditions mentioned in the contracts.
    
    

• Service Transition: Builds and deploys new and modified services.
  
  

• • Transition Planning & Support (TPS): Ensures smooth transition of services into production without any disruption to productivity.
    
    
  • Service validation & Testing (SVT): After service is changed, it must go through validations and testing cases to pass.
    
    
  • Change Evaluation: It assesses any major changes that are needed either in the form of upgradation of an existing service or as a whole new service.
    
    
  • Release & Deployment Management: It builds, tests, and finally deploys the capabilities that are expected from a service. It takes help from the Service Strategy processes to accomplish its aim.
    
    
  • Change Management: Directly responds to the changes in customer needs and aligns them smoothly with business needs.
    
    
  • Service Asset & Configuration Management: It monitors the services and makes their information ready to be fetched or used.
    
    
  • Knowledge Management: Using a thorough analysis of information and services, this process aims to improve efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge.
    
    
• Service Operation: Takes care of operational tasks.
  
  
• • Event Management: By sensing the events throughout the lifecycle of a service, it determines the appropriate action to be taken.
    
    
  • Incident Management: Restoration of productivity as soon as possible by fixing the incident with at least a workaround to reduce direct customer impact.
    
    
  • Problem management: When multiple incidents of the same pattern start occurring, it becomes essential to file a problem and do a comprehensive RCA for the same.
    
    
  • Request fulfillment: It is a mechanism to manage the life cycle of all service requests by catering to what users are formally requesting from the service provider.
    
    
  • Access management: It controls access to the service. It designates which users are allowed authorization and which are not.
    
    
• Continual Service Improvement: Through continuous learning from the results of past services, it aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the existing ones.
  
  
• • The 7 improvement process: This process lays down steps to measure and report on service improvement.
    
    
  • Service Measurement: Identifies and quantifies service value which is used further for comparison and improvement purposes.
    
    
  • Service Reporting: After service is measured, all its metrics must be analyzed and reported to the required stakeholder which this process does

ITIL® is a set of best practices for IT service management. The ITIL® best practices are currently categorized under the following modules:

Five Stages of ITIL V3 Framework:

1. ITIL® Service Strategy 
2. ITIL® Service Design 
3. ITIL® Service Transition  
4. ITIL® Service Operation  
5. ITIL® Continual Service Improvement.

Some of the best practices include Incident management, Change management, Problem management, Service-level management, Continuity management, Configuration management, Release management, Capacity Management, Financial Management, Availability Management, Security management, Helpdesk management, and Knowledge management.

ITIL® is a broad framework that offers best practices for various services that are used in IT service management. There are 9 guiding principles:

1. Focus on value
2. Design for experience
3. Start where you are
4. Work holistically
5. Progress iteratively
6. Observe directly
7. Be transparent
8. Collaborate
9. Keep it simple

ITIL® is an acronym for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. ITIL® service management is concerned with aligning the IT needs of the business with the activities and services offered by the business. ITIL® service management is responsible for managing the quality and effectiveness of all services rendered by the organization. ITIL® service management is carried out by the service provider through personnel, processes, and technology to achieve the desired business goals.

The major certification level changes in ITIL® V4 can be identified in three phases, namely, certification schemes, Exam format, and career path modules. The various differences between ITIL® V3 and ITIL® V4 are as follows:

You must be thinking about whether undertaking the ITIL V4 certification is worth your time and effort or not. Having an ITIL® V4 Certification indicates that you are a motivated ITSM practitioner who is keen on staying updated with the latest advancements in your industry. It will also shape your decision-making skills in an innovation-driven and community-oriented manner.

Benefits of ITIL® Certification

1. Advanced ITSM: Any company in Information Technology field demands an ITIL professional who is proficient in the domain of ITSM.
   
   
2. Improved Customer Satisfaction: ITIL is flexible andthe latest releases are more aligned to the needs of customers in today’s market.
   
   
3. Recognition: ITIL certifications give an edge as well as recognition among the peers.
   
   
4. Prepared for the future: AXELOS is continuously working to inculcate major new trends in the IT industry with ITIL releases. It is also employed currently by a huge number of companies suggesting it is here to stay.
   
   
5. Flexibility: ITIL offers flexibility in the form of choice it gives to the industry as to which processes they might want to choose for their teams. Not all processes from a particular section are mandatory to be implemented.
   
   
6. Low-risk path: Unlike higher education paths that many still pursue, the path of ITIL certifications involves much less risk. There are ample opportunities in the market for an ITIL professional.
   
   
7. Better ROI: Hiring an ITIL professional is the best investment for an organization. The higher the certification, the more innovative and smart ideas he/she may bring to the table.
   
   
8. Higher Pay: An ITIL professional is one of the most sought after commodities in the IT industry due to the vast knowledge they bring. As the demand is high and supplies low, the pay is usually on the higher end.
   
   
9. Improved Skill Set: Latest release of ITIL contains modern trends in the technological world and the best practices used around the globe. Having a certification implies that you are proficient in these domains which will help improve your career prospects.
   
   
10. Edge over the rest:Any ITIL certified professional will hold an advantage over those without certification. Your skill set, knowledge, and credibility will be better than others.
    
    
11. No Pending work: Being an ITIL certified professional gives you the authorization and capability to end the cycle of pending work and act as a support system for the organization.
    
    
12. Reduced Cost: There are processes in ITIL whose sole purpose is to increase the cost-effectiveness of the service while maintaining the service quality, if not improving it. You’ll be saving money for the organization while providing optimum service quality.
    
    
13. Improved Communication: Implementing a common language for ITSM will help in communication inside the hierarchy.
    
    
14. Increased Pace: Due to the significant knowledge you had mustered through the certifications, you’d be able to increase your pace of work and get recognition among peers.
    
    
15. Improved Contribution to ITSM: Automating trivial tasks, aligning business and customer needs properly, and being more customer-centric would significantly improve your contribution to the ITSM. 

You need to go through a complicated and strict process to become an ITIL® Master. Currently, you can only find around 50 ITIL® Masters around the globe.

Axelos has been the owner of ITIL® since July 2013. Axelos is a joint venture between the UK Cabinet Office and Capita, and it has been charged with various responsibilities related to ITIL® courses, exams, and certifications. All interested firms that wish to use the intellectual property of ITIL® are licensed by Axelos.Axelos has partnered with many companies to carry out delivery of training related to ITIL® and other professional exams. The materials used as courseware by these accredited training providers must be certified by Axelos before being shared with candidates.

Once you clear the examination, you will receive a Foundation Level Certification from AXELOS.

PeopleCert is a recognized world leader in the professional skill certification industry. Across the world, it has partnered with other organizations and government bodies to develop and oversee the delivery of certification exams in domains that are industry relevant and sought after.Standardised exams are delivered to different categories of people worldwide using different languages and unbeatable assessment technology tools. With the use of proctors, individuals can now write their professional exams online using exam shield and through invigilation via the internet.Peoplecert oversees the content and delivery of several certification programs on behalf of Axelos, ISACA and other similar organizations. Currently, it is the only recognized institute that delivers Axelos examination services globally.

ITIL® is used by a wide range of organizations & industries around the world including large, medium, and small companies; U.S. federal, state, and local governments; and universities. The future will be built on ITIL®.This comprehensive listing in no way constitutes an endorsement or validation of ITIL® implementation in any organization. This is simply an aggregated collection of publicly available data reference to ITIL® involvement.US Federal Government:

• US Navy
• US Army
• IRS

US State and Local Government:

• City of Corpus Christi, Texas
• State of Alaska
• State of California
• State of Florida
• State of Georgia
• State of Illinois
• State of New Mexico
• State of New York
• State of North Carolina
• State of Pennsylvania
• State of Washington

College and University

• Ohio State University
• Oregon State University
• University of Wisconsin – Madison
• University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
• Yale University

Non-US Government:

• Canadian Fed. & Prov. Governments
• Ontario Justice Enterprise
• Victorian State Revenue Office (Australia)

US-Based Companies:

• ABN-AMRO Bank
• Aetna Life Insurance
• Avaya
• AXA Insurance Group
• Bank of America
• Bank of New York
• Barclays Bank
• Bass Breweries
• BHP Billiton
• BMC Remedy
• Boeing
• BP
• Capital One
• Caterpillar
• Checkfree
• Citi,
• Disney
• Eli Lily
• GE Capital
• Great West Life
• Hewlett-Packard
• Honda
• IBM
• JPMorgan Chase
• MeadWestvaco
• Microsoft
• Nationwide Insurance
• PEMCO
• Pershing
• Pfizer
• Procter & Gamble
• Raymond James Financial Inc.
• Sallie Mae
• Shell Oil
• Sony
• Staples
• Target
• Toyota
• UnitedHealth Group
• Visa
• Wal-Mart
• Zurich Life

Non-US Businesses:

• Australia Post
• Bank of Canada
• Bank of Montreal (Cebra, Harris Bank)
• British Airways
• British Telecom
• CERN
• ioko (York, U.K)
• Müller Dairy
• Telkomsel
• PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel)

IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) is a framework of best practices for building an IT Service Management (ITSM) solution. The IT infrastructure of any organization can be made more efficient while lowering service management costs if the recommended ITIL® processes are followed. ITIL® is a set of guidelines for effective ITSM. While IT Systems Management is technology-focused, ITSM is more customer-focused with the aim of continual improvement. ITSM defines the “what” should be done, while ITIL® defines the “how” it should be done.

The service management system is the way an organization has decided to provide its services. The service management system is designed to bring together all aspect of a service-oriented organization in terms of planning, service delivery, documentation, technology, customers and their location, location of services and policies and strategies. It is used to manage business services on a consistent and professional basis.SMS enables companies to manage the services they provide to their customers which includes order management, routine operations, stock taking and more. It improves services and also creates a consistent framework for service management automation and resource training.

Service management is defined as all the activities, functions and processes that are carried out by an organization to plan, design, deliver, operate and control services rendered to customers.Service management encompasses a series of specialized organizational capabilities and expertise for enhancing value to customers in the form of service. It focuses on customers’ needs and provision of services that can satisfy their need. It is a system that links the company’s sales to the client. It focuses on a client and a service and its aim is to reduce costs and maintain a smaller inventory level.

Service operations management is a stage in the ITIL® process which is responsible for fixing problems, resolving service issues, fulfilling user requests and also performing routine operational activities. It is a central organizational function responsible for identifying the service needs of the target customers and ensures that services are constantly improved.The service operations management ensures that IT services are rendered efficiently and effectively to customers. It is concerned with quality, cost, effectiveness, and efficiency. The aim of service operations management is to increase efficiency in the provision of services that meet customer needs.

ITSM stands for Information Technology Service Management. ITSM processes are the elements of ITIL® that supports its major concepts and describes the way the IT service management should go. A process is a sequence of work steps, tasks or activities with a beginning, an end and defined inputs and outputs. It produces a product, completes a task, renders a service or achieves a specific outcome. It also adds value to the inputs by changing them or using them to produce something new. The ITSM processes are contained under five modules:

1. Service Strategy
2. Service Design
3. Service Transition
4. Service Operation
5. Continual Service Improvement

Also known as ITSM suites, ITSM tools help to regulate and manage how IT services are delivered within companies. The capabilities of these suites to enable easy linking between incident, service request, problem and change records with each other can be a great advantage. ITSM tools are also popularly known as ITIL® tools. There are over 100 tools that are proclaimed ITSM or ITIL® tools. Some examples of ITSM tools are:

1. Service Now IT Service
2. Management Fresh service
3. Go To Assist
4. Samanage
5. InvGate Service Desk

Operations in Information Technology is a framework responsible for the operation of a company’s applications. It manages all operations related to IT services and infrastructure. It manages all networking functions which relates to internal and external communications. Operations in Information Technology refer to processes and services provided by a company’s IT department which includes support for software and hardware and administrative processes for both internal and external customers. Operations in IT determine how businesses manage their IT support, help desk, device management, and network administration. It is used to maintain reliability and stable provision of quality services.

The role of IT operations is to conduct proper running of the infrastructure and operational environment that support application deployment to internal and external customers.It handles all networking functions, including managing and configuring all internal and external communication lines so that customers, vendors, employees and any interested bodies can gain access to applications. It opens and closes ports on the firewall so that the network communicates with outside sources. It provides server management, the configuration of email and file server and also the capability to run backups consistently to ensure data can be recovered.

An IT operations engineer is a professional with excellent knowledge about troubleshooting complex cloud on-premise deployments. The IT operations engineer must have high technical, analytical, written and verbal skills and must be able to manage difficult problems across technical teams.He is responsible for efficiently designing and developing extensible automated and integrated tools to monitor and scale infrastructure operations. He manages critical problems and incidents and also identifies and resolves faults. An IT operations engineer is responsible for all the company’s infrastructure operations such as storage, server, and staff computers. He or she works on preventive maintenance of hardware and operating system.

The five stages involved in ITIL® V3 service lifecycle to provide best practice guidance for IT Service Management are as follows:

• Service strategy
• Service design
• Service transition
• Service operation
• Continual service improvement

ITIL® Service Lifecycle modules:

• ITIL® Service Strategy 
• ITIL® Service Design
• ITIL® Service Transition
• ITIL® Service Operation
• ITIL® Service Continual Improvement

ITIL® Service Lifecycle modules:

1) ITIL® Service Strategy

The Service Strategy certification explores the guidelines used for designing, developing, and implementing service provider strategy.

It focuses on providing the techniques and knowledge that helps you understand the success and risk factors.

They also help you hone the skills involved in the development and progress of strategy in an organization. 

The Service Strategy module is worth 3 credits.

2) ITIL® Service Design

ITIL® Service Design (SD) module is one of the certifications of the ITIL® Service Lifecycle work stream that focuses on designing the IT service.

It explores the processes, policies, architecture, and documentation of these services that meet the needs of the organization.

This module is important to understand the continued development and improvement of services in the IT lifecycle.

The Service Design module is worth 3 credits.

3) ITIL® Service Transition

The Service Transition (ST) module focuses on the processing and practicing of techniques used for building, testing, and implementing products and services.

It demonstrates the candidates how service transition can be applied to other IT Service lifecycle stages. 

The module will teach you the planning and management of the initial operation for the new resources. 

This module will help you earn 3 credits.

4) ITIL® Service Operation

The ITIL® Service Operation (SO) module focuses on the processes, principles, functions and operational activities that help in the successful management of the products and services. 

It helps the professional coordinates and executes the activities that enable the operation of the products or services and ongoing management. 

This module will help the IT teams and organization sustain the product and services.

The SO module can help you earn 3 credits.

5) ITIL® Continual Service Improvement

This certification focuses on the techniques from the ITIL® Lifecycle Continual Service Improvement stage.

It teaches the candidates how they can review the services and products following the strategy, transition, design, and operation stage of the IT Service Lifecycle. 

It also includes guidelines on how technology can be used to support CSI activities and evaluate risks and critical success factors. 

The CSI module is worth 3 credits.

ITIL® methodology helps to achieve organizational goals and objectives by outlining roles, processes, and responsibilities within the ITIL® framework that guarantee successful delivery of quality and acceptable IT services to customers. By implementing this methodology, suitable processes are developed to utilize, manage and support IT infrastructure.

The ITIL® methodology is split into two process areas: Service delivery which aims to improve an organization’s current services while proactively managing capacity for future service needs and Support services which deal with daily business activities using tools, Incident and Configuration management.

The key ITIL® concepts are:

1. Deliver the maximum value to customers without requiring them to own unpredicted costs & risks,
2. Deliver the maximum service value to customers,
3. Optimize the use of ‘resources’ & ‘capabilities’,
4. Offer services with the best utility and trustworthy warranty,
5. Plan the processes to meet specific objectives,
6. Define roles clearly for the task-oriented collective efforts.

An ITIL® Function is an organizational entity, characterized by a special area of knowledge or experience. A function is a team of people and the resources they used to carry out one or more processes such as facilities management. Functions can also be defined as closed units with the right abilities and resources necessary for achieving the desired performance and results.

Functions have means of acquiring their own body of knowledge, backed up by experience. They also provide the optimal structure and stability to the organizations. Several functions may have a part to play in a process. ITIL® 'Processes', are clusters of activities which produce a defined outcome, such as the ITIL® Incident Management process.

In the ITIL® vocabulary, a function is defined as a group of people and the resources they use to carry out one or more clearly defined processes or activities. An example of a function is the service desk.Functions have the capabilities and resources necessary for optimal performance and results. Through previous experience, they build the necessary capabilities and skills to carry out the required activity to their best possible capability.

There are 4 functions in ITIL. These are service desk, technical management, IT operations management, and application management. These four components play significant roles in the function of service operation.

• The service desk—also called by other names such as the help desk —helps in the organization of the entire operation from start to finish and maintains the continuity of the lifecycle process.
  
  
• All the people that work together as professionals in the organization and maintenance of various IT infrastructure are called the technical management team. Apart from planning and implementing various strategies, this team must have the needed skills and also be trained and updated where necessary.
  
  
• It is the function of IT operations management to ensure necessary system backups as well as restore data.
  
  
• Application management ensures that suitable software is developed and implemented to match each business requirement.

The function of the ITIL® process is to channel certain inputs into defined and discrete outputs within the ITIL® framework. This process is the key to running efficient IT Service Management by IT professionals within the ITIL® framework.Each ITIL® process has a set of tools, activities, and stages that are uniquely designed as inputs to deliver necessary outcomes known as the outputs. The ITIL® process is designed as a package of sequential events that are measurable with a specified outcome which will deliver specific results to users, customers, and other relevant stakeholders.

Incident management is aimed at restoring the actual service operation as quickly as possible to minimize the adverse effect on business operations, ensuring that the best levels of service quality and availability are delivered.Problem management is aimed at resolving the root cause of incidents to minimize the adverse impact, number, and severity of incidents caused by errors within the IT system and to prevent the recurrence of these errors. It also mitigates the effects of problems on the business and collates the details of the problem and their resolution, recording the details for the help desk.

The incident manager is responsible for improving productivity across the entire life-cycle of IT tickets and also reducing outages. The incident manager ensures that normal services are restored immediately.Incident managers are in charge of identifying, scheduling and conducting periodic incident reviews. They establish an effective communication with the incident process officer and also they also serve as the focal point for all major incidents. Incident managers ensure that there is a stable improvement in activities, performance, policies, procedures and a proper review of supporting technology.

A major incident can be defined as an event which has a significant impact or urgency on the organization and which demands an immediate response beyond the routine incident management process. For example, a failed configuration that affects the systems in a major way is termed an incident.

Problem management is a component of the ITIL® service management life-cycle. Its primary objective is to prevent problems from happening and also to reduce the effect of negative incidents that cannot be prevented. Problem management is responsible for detecting a problem which is referred to as ‘known error’.It logs the incident in the problem database and then it identifies ways to resolve such a problem. It handles root incidents and removes the cause of failed services. When incidents cannot be resolved, the problem management team works with the help desk to reduce preventable incidents, improving the provision of quality services.

ITIL® describes a problem as the root cause of one or multiple incidents. Problems can be moved up in response to one or more incidents, or they can be raised without the existence of an equivalent incident. Problems cause incidents. Some incidents, such as a faulty mouse at a user’s computer unit, are not pinpointing a deeper problem.

Other incidents, such as repeated network failure, create a problem that needs research due to their level of occurrence. Problems include issues such as failing hardware or a poorly configured catalogue query. However, problem management decreases the occurrence of such incidents in the long term. When problems cannot be resolved, problem management works alongside the service desk to try to alleviate the impact of the related incidents.

ITIL® Event Management is a process included in the ITIL® Service Operation stage that monitors all events that occur through an organization’s IT infrastructure. It ensures that operations are carried out in a normal mode, detects faulty conditions and analyses and controls them.  Activities within ITIL® event management include event detection, event analysis, and control determination. Its output is necessary for quality control and assurance, and service improvement.

Service level management is about discussing, negotiating and agreeing with the customer on what IT services should be provided and ensuring that the objective measures are used to determine that the service that has been provided is to the agreed level. It involves determining, bargaining, documenting and agreeing on what new services are provided.

Also, its purpose is to manage and review them through the service life-cycle into SLAs for operational services. It also includes monitoring and measuring service performance of all operational services against targets within SLAs and collating, measuring and improving customer satisfaction, in cooperation with business relationship management.

The aim of service level management is to liaise with the customers concerning service level agreements and also design services according to the agreed service level targets. The service level management is one of the five components in ITIL® which is responsible for creating a framework in which service level agreements and operational level agreements are developed in accordance with the service level target.The service level management partners with business units to identify their requirements and then translates them into IT requirements. Their aim is to develop, implement and then measure service level agreement performance.

ITIL® focuses on three types of SLA structures:

1. Service-based SLA- This covers one service for all customers. For instance, the IT service provider provides customer query service for several customers. In a service-based service level agreement, the service level of the customer query service will be similar to that of all the other customers that will use this service. 
   
   
2. Customer-based SLA- A customer-based SLA is an agreement with one customer, and covers all the services used by this same customer. 
   
   
3. Multi-level SLA- This SLA focuses on the organization of the customer. Here all services and their interrelationships with subsidiary services are put into consideration.

The ultimate goal of Change Management is to make certain IT and the business can be aligned and can be kept associated with most favorable competence and minimal disruption, re-work, and risk through the consistent and effective management of the changes needed to maintain an alliance.Also, the intention of the change management process is to ensure that all changes are managed through the standard procedures that ensure changes are effected on time, meet the specified requirements and are appropriately documented in the Configuration Management System.It also strives to ensure that all changes are recorded and then evaluated, prioritized, planned, implemented and reviewed adequately.

Capacity management serves to help organizations match their IT resources to business demands, and satisfy the demand for the services by providing sufficient capacity. Capacity management is focused on three sub-processes:

1. Business Capacity Management
2. Service Capacity Management
3. Component Capacity Management

An SLA is an acronym for Service Level Agreement. This is a formal document that defines a working relationship between parties for a service contract.  The third version of ITIL® defines an SLA as “An Agreement between an IT Service Provider and a Customer. The Service Level Management in ITIL® serves many purposes, including to:

1. Identify business requirements by working with business units 
2. Create a range of services, hours of operation, and service performance 
3. Interpret business requirements into IT requirements 
4. Develop and maintain a service record, including costs for different levels of service performance 
5. Perform gap study between business requirements and services.

The responsibilities and salaries of the ITIL® V3 2011 Service Strategy roles in India, US, and United Kingdom are as follows:

A service manager states the services to be rendered and also makes sure that the services rendered meet the company’s needs and are rendered in accordance with the requirement of the business. The service manager identifies the service team and also sets up activities and meetings.He or she will lead the team through the service life-cycle and also ensure adequate communication between client representatives, service delivery and support personnel, and ITS management. The service manager will work with the service team to ensure external service providers are managed properly, and tasks are assigned to technicians based on skills and availability.

• India: The national average salary for a Project Manager is INR 1,251,978 in India.
  
  
• US: The national average salary for a Project Manager is $132,453 in United States.
  
  
• UK: The national average salary for a Project Manager is £61,188 in United Kingdom.

The annual income of an ITIL® certified Service Delivery Manager varies from country to country. We have covered them below:

• India: The national average salary for a Service Delivery Manager is INR 13,78,143 in India.
  
  
• US: The national average salary for a Service Delivery Manager is $80,779 in United States.
  
  
• UK: The national average salary for a Service Delivery Manager is £50,000 in United Kingdom.
  
  

Note: The salary scales considered in this page are the salaries submitted by anonymous employees to Glassdoor and Payscale. The above-mentioned salaries are accurate as of January 2019.

The Salary of an  ITIL® V3 certified Incident manager varies from country to country. We have covered them below:

• India: Average annual salary of an  ITIL® V3 certified Incident Manager in India is about INR 8,80,000. It ranges from INR 3,00,000 to INR 100,000 per annum.
  
  
• United States: The salary of an  ITIL® V3 certified Incident manager varies from $25,000 to $200,000 in the US. The average salary is $90,000 per annum.
  
  
• United Kingdom: The salary range of an ITIL® V3 certified Incident manager in the UK starts from £20,000 and goes up to £61,000. The average salary is £31,447/yr.

The salary of a Business Relationship Manager with ITIL® V3 or ITIL® certification varies from country to country. The salaries in India, US, and the United Kingdom are as follows:

• India: The annual average salary of a Business Relationship Manager based in India is INR 5,77,268.
  
  
• US: The average annual income of a Business Relationship Manager is $97,222 in the United States.
  
  
• UK: The average annual salary of a Business Relationship Manager based in the United Kingdom is £39,944.

Salary of a Change Manager with  ITIL® V3 certification or  ITIL® V4 certification varies from country to country. We have covered them below:

• India: The national average salary for a Change Manager is INR 6,43,000 in India.
  
  
• US: The national average salary for a Change Manager is $92,000 in United States.
  
  
• UK: The national average salary for a Change Manager is £ 44400 in United Kingdom.

Salary of Problem Manager with  ITIL® V3 certification or  ITIL® V4 certification varies from country to country. We have covered them below:

• India: The annual average salary for a Problem Manager is INR 8,34,000 in India.
  
  
• US: The annual average salary for a Problem Manager is $84,879 in United States.
  
  
• UK: The annual average salary for a Problem Manager is £30,000 - £45,000 in United Kingdom.
  
  

Note: The salary scales considered in this page are the salaries submitted by anonymous employees to Glassdoor and Payscale. The above-mentioned salaries are accurate as of January 2019.

The annual membership cost of the AXELOS is  £59.(Link: https://www.peoplecert.org/browse-certifications/it-governance-and-service-management/ITIL-1)

The major benefits of subscribing to My AXELOS are as follows:

• Reliable resourcesMy AXELOS offers the most reliable resources. They provide everything from publications, methods to tools which are needed for a career boost. The best part is, one can get access to all these in just a few clicks.
  
  
• Regular UpdatesThe subscription gives regular updates on what's happening inside the industry.
  
  
• Expert guidance They provide highly qualified experts. This gives the students an opportunity to train with the best in the industry.
  
  
• ValidationThe digital badge is proof of the candidate’s skills and expertise in the field. Moreover, ITIL® requires continuous enhancement of knowledge because of which the student has to complete the continuing professional development or CPD activities every year to retain the badge.

My ITIL® is designed to assist the student effectively utilize the expertise achieved from the ITIL® Foundation and implement it in their professional life. It is an online content subscription which will help to get constant updates, therefore making it easy to adopt new skills and knowledge which will be as per the future innovations in the sector.

My ITIL® is a 1-year subscription. It is free for professionals applying for the ITIL® Intermediate exam.

The major purpose of My ITIL® is as follows:

• Complete access to the best practices offered by ITIL. It also allows the student to obtain the latest publications which assist the student throughout their ITIL® course.
  
  
• Advanced toolkit to enhance understanding.
  
  
• Exclusive whitepapers.
  
  
• A digital badge and certification to showcase the gained knowledge and expertise.

ITIL® Digital Badge is awarded to the students who have cleared the ITIL® examination. It appears as icons and is an indication of the knowledge gained by the person.

One can earn the ITIL® Digital Badge if they meet the CPD requirements. As soon as the requirements are met, the digital badge is issued. It's valid until the subscription expires.

A candidate needs to gain a minimum of 20 CPD to extend the validity of the badge for the next 12 months.

ITIL® keeps revising and updating their courses. Therefore, it also expects the students to be a part of this continuous learning process. Continuing Professional Development or CDP was designed with various activities which will enhance the skills in professional life. The whole requirement is divided into 3 stages to ease the process. The steps are as follows -

Step1: Evaluate the skills and abilities, this will help the candidates understand their development and give them a perspective of where they stand. Moreover, this will also allow them to determine the areas where they have to work. The evaluation also provides them with a list of various activities exclusively for them as per their needs.

Step 2: Once the student understands where they need to improve and what the development goals are, they can enroll in the development centers which will train them as per their choice of activities.

Step 3: Ultimately, the final stage concentrates on the result of the activities performed in order to achieve the goals. Here, the student’s understanding will be tested based on the outcome and they will be asked to describe their learning experience throughout the development period.