Most Common Questions Asked about ITIL – Part 3

The industry has seen a significant change, and it is not at all unexpected to see how organizations are adopting the ITIL framework. Furthermore, many believe that the framework has helped them in laying down a cost-effective approach that enhances productivity.

This is the third part of the ITIL FAQ series where we would be covering reviews of the ITIL definition, training costs, and options available, along with ITIL-compatible tools. If you have missed our older versions of the FAQ series, here is the link to Part 1 and Part 2.

What Types of Organizations are Usually Benefited Using ITIL? And which Business Areas of the Organization are Implementing ITIL?

ITIL could be applied to any organization across different industries. History has shown that it has been effective and most successful for medium-size and large-scale organizations, whose processes are more organized and formal.

Today, even non-IT areas are also using ITIL for their best practice guidance. According to it SMF USA’s ‘Service Management not just for IT anymore’ survey 2014, more than 50% of the organizations surveyed are either applying or planning to apply service management principles in business areas outside of IT. Organizations that are related to financial services, human resources, facilities, and training – all can incorporate the ITIL framework.

What Should be the Expectations when an Organization Adopts ITIL?

The ITIL framework facilitates issue resolution, enhancing processes and implementation. As per industry statistics, the most widely used processes for ITIL adoption are problem management, incident management, and change management.

Therefore, once you are planning to adopt ITIL, your expectations should be set right, and once you have identified the process to be picked up first, stick to it. The right adoption and execution would improve productivity and reduce costs.

What are the ITIL Core Publications?

With ITIL Version 3, five core books were released. Each one is unique and provides a 360-degree overview of how an organization could enhance services by following a service life cycle approach.

• Service Strategy (Book 1):

  Provides guidance on how to leverage service management capabilities that deliver value to customers and service providers.
  This book guides the user in:

1. • • Capacity Development
     • Operational Effectiveness
     • Service Portfolios

• Service Design (Book 2):

  This book aids in design creation specifications that could be executed by Service Operation and Service Transition processes. It also shows us that any new and changed services are designed in an effective manner that meets customer expectations.

• Service Transition (Book 3):

  This book contains propositions to make sure your organization’s blueprint conveys the strategy and operations that address: service validation; managing changes; production environment controlling the assets and configuration items.

• Service Operation (Book 4):

  This fourth book explains daily ongoing service and managing the overall health of the service. This includes managing: service access; daily routine requests from end-users; determining the root cause of problems; disruptions to the services by quick restoration after incidents.

• Continual Service Improvement (Book 5):

  This book guides you to make sure a delivered service provides maximum benefit. It also talks about how effectively you could measure the performance of service throughout its life.

For an Organization using ITIL v3, What are the Different Levels of Training Available and how Much do they Cost?

There are five levels of ITIL qualifications:

1. Foundation Level:

   ITIL Foundation is for first-time participants. This course does not have any prerequisites and provides the participant with knowledge of the basics of ITIL.

2. Intermediate Level:

   This level has nine modules that focus on two streams – ITIL Intermediate Service Capability stream [process oriented] and ITIL Intermediate Service Life cycle stream [includes all five core books].

3. ITIL MALC:

   ITIL MALC focuses on both ITIL Intermediate streams in the Service Life cycle and Service Capability. This qualification is mandatory to achieve ITIL Expert Level. One needs to acquire a minimum of 17 credits from a balanced ITIL study.

4. Expert Level:

   This level does not have formal course material. However, it could be achieved once the participant accumulates certifications and 22 credits from previous levels.

5. Master Level:

   To achieve the ITIL Master qualification, you should be able to explain how you have personally applied ITIL knowledge to management techniques, to achieve desired business outcomes. To be eligible for this level, you must have cleared ITIL Expert Level.

ITIL training is usually provided for ITIL Foundation, Intermediate, and MALC.
The cost is quite varied, depending on the level of certification you are interested in and also your preference of visiting a training institute or taking an in-house trainer. For more information on ITIL training costs, please visit ITIL Foundation Course.

If you feel we have missed out on any questions, please drop them in our comments section. We will surely include it in our next FAQ series.

[Also read: ITIL FAQs on Invensis Learning’s website]