Month: February 2015

ITIL – Foundation Certification Outline

Learning Objectives

Knowledge and Understanding of the following

  • Service management as a practice
  • The ITIL service lifecycle
  • Generic concepts and definitions
  • Key principles and models
  • Selected processes
  • Selected functions
  • Selected roles
  • Technology and architecture
  • Competency and training

Service management as a practice

Define the concept of a service, and to comprehend and explain the concept of service management as a practice.

  • Describe the concept of best practices in the public domain
  • Describe and explain the concept of a service
  • Define and explain the concept of internal and external customers
  • Define and explain the concept of internal and external services
  • Define and explain the concept of IT service management
  • Define and explain the concept of stakeholder in service management
  • Define process and functions
  • Explain the process model and the characteristics of processes

The ITIL service lifecycle

Understand the value of the ITIL service lifecycle, how the processes integrate with each other, throughout the lifecycle, explain the objectives, scope and business value for each phase in the lifecycle.

  • Describe the structure of the ITIL service lifecycle
  • Account for the purpose, objectives and scope of the service strategy
  • Explain what value service strategy provides to the business
  • Account for the purpose, objectives and scope of service design
  • Explain what value service design provides to the business
  • Account for the purpose, objectives and scope of service transition
  • Explain what value service transition provides to the business
  • Account for the purpose, objectives and scope of service operation
  • Explain what value service operation provides to the business
  • Account for the purpose, objectives and scope of continual service improvement
  • Explain what value continual service improvement provides to the business

Generic concepts and definitions

Define  key terminology and explain the key concepts of service management.

  • Utility and warranty
  • Assets, resources and capabilities
  • Service portfolio
  • Service catalog (two and three view types)
  • Governance
  • Business cases
  • Risk management
  • Service provider
  • Supplier
  • Service level agreement
  • Operational level agreement
  • Underpinning contract
  • Service design package
  • Availability
  • Service knowledge management system (SKMS)
  • Configuration item (CI)
  • Configuration management system (CMS)
  • Definitive media library (DML)
  • Change
  • Change Type (standard, emergency and normaal)
  • Event
  • Alert
  • Incident
  • Impact, Urgency, & Priority
  • Servcie request
  • problem
  • workaround
  • known error
  • known error database (KEDB)
  • Role of communication in service operation
  • Release policy
  • Types of services
  • Change proposals
  • CSI register
  • Outcomes
  • Patterns of business activity (PBA)
  • Customers and users
  • Deming Cycle (plan, do, check, act)

Key principles and models

Understand models of service management and it’s opposing forces within service management.

Service stragegy

  • Value creation through services

Service design

  • 4 p’s  of service management (people, process, product & partners)
  • 5 aspects of service design
    • 1. Service solutions for new or changed service
    • 2. Management information system and tools
    • 3. Technology architectures and management architectures
    • 4. Processes required
    • 5. Measurement methods and metrics

Continual service improvement

  • Continual service improvement explination
  • Role of measurement for continual service improement and explain the following:
    • Relationship between critical success factors (CSF) and key performance indicators (KPI)
    • Baselines
    • Types of metrics (technology metrics, process metrics, service metrics)

Processes

How service management processes contribute to the service lifecycle. Explain the purpose, objective, scope, basic concepts, activities and interfaces of the

  • 4 core processes
  • 18 remaining processes

Service strategy

  • Service portfolio management
  • Financial management for IT services
  • Business relationship management

Service design

Purpose objectives, scope, basic concepts, process activities and interfaces fo:

  • Service level management (SLM)
    • Service-based SLA
    • Multi-level SLA
    • Service level requirements
    • SLA Monitoring
    • Service Review
    • Service improvement plan
    • Relationship between SLM and BRM
  • Service catalog management
  • Availability Management
    • Service availability
    • Component availability
    • Reliability
    • Maintainability
    • Serviceability
    • Vital business functions (VBF)
  • Information security management
    • Information security policy
  • Supplier management
    • Supplier categories
  • Capacity management
    • Capacity plan
    • Business capacity management
    • Service capacity management
    • component capacity management
  • IT service continuity management
    • Purpose of business impact analysis (BIA)
    • Risk assessment
  • Design coordination

Service transition

Identify purpose, objectives, scope, basic concepts, process activities and interfaces

  • Change management
    • Types of change management
    • Change models
    • Remediation planning
    • Change advisory board/ emergency change advisory board
    • Lifecycle of a normal change
  • Release and deployment management
    • 4 phase of release and deployment
  • Knowledge management
    • Data-to-information-toknowledge-to-wisdom (DIKW &SKMS)
  • Service asset and configuration management (SACM)
  • Transition planning and support

Service operation

Identify purpose, objectives, scope, basic concepts, process activities and interfaces

  • Incident management
  • Problem management
  • Event management
  • Request fulfillment

Continual service improvement

  • Seven steps of the improvement process

Functions

Explain roles, objectives and organizational structures of the service desk function

  • Explain role, objectives and organizational structures for:
    • Service desk
    • Technical management function
    • Application management function
    • IT operations management function

Roles

  • Process owner
  • Process manager
  • Process practitioner
  • Service owner
  • Responsible, accountable, consulted, informed (RACI) & organizational structure

Technology and architecture

  • Service automation & expediting service management

Competency and training

  • Service Management competence and skills
  • Framework
  • Training

ITIL Exam Format

  • Multiple choice 40 question test. The questions are selected from a full ITIL foundation certificate in the large question bank
  • Testers are allowed 60 minutes to answer the questions in their respective languages
  • If completing the exam in a language not your native tongue, an additional 15 minutes are allowed to complete the exam as well as a dictionary
  • The exam must be taken from an accredited testing center
  • The exam must be supervised
  • The exam is closed book
  • A passing score of 26/40 (65%) is needed
  • The exam can be taken online or in paper format

ITIL – Service Operations Overview

Overview

Coordinates activities to deliver at agreed levels. Where all service processes come together.

Process

  1. Event Management: detection of notifications of CI’s and Services
  2. Incident Management: Getting things working again
    1. Indecent Diagnosis
    2. Resolution/Recovery
    3. Closure
  3. Request Fulfillment: Access to standard IT Services
  4. Problem Management: Eliminating problems in IT Structure
  5. Access Management: user given rights to IT Service
  6. Operation Management

Roles

  1. Incident Manager
  2. First Line Support
  3. Second Line Support
  4. Third Line Support

Terms

  • Alert
  • Event
  • Impact
  • Incident
  • Known Error
  • Known Error Database (KEDB)
  • Priority
  • Problem
  • Service Request
  • Urgency
  • Workaround

ITIL – Service Transition Overview

  1. Transition Planning and Support
  2. Change Management: Ensure reliability & continuity of IT services, minimize risk of change
  3. Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM): Via CMS logical representation of physical infrastructure
  4. Release and Deployment Management: Ensures planned & cost effective implemented it service
  5. Service Validation Testing: Confidence that new service delivers expected outcome
  6. Evaluation: Service change has intended effect & desired effect
  7. Knowledge Management: Availability & quality of knowledge assets

7 R’s of Change management

  1. Raised
  2. Reason
  3. Return
  4. Risk
  5. Resources
  6. Responsible
  7. Relationship

Service Transition Roles:

  1.  Service Transition Management
  2. Planning & Support
  3. SACM Management (Service Asset & Configuration Management)
  4. Change Management
  5. Performance & Risk Management
  6. Service Knowledge Management
  7. Service Test Management
  8. Release & Deployment Management
  9. Release Packaging & Build
  10. Release Packaging & Build
  11. Deployment
  12. Early Life Support
  13. Build & Test Environment Management

Terms:

  • Build
  • Change
  • Configuration Item (CI)
  • Configuration Management System (CMS)
  • Definitive Media Library
  • Release
  • Release Unit
  • Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS)
  • Transition
  • Validation
  • Change Advisory Board: Customer, Process, Technical

ITIL – Service Design Overview

Service Design Process

  1. Service Catalog Management: Maintaining catalog & it’s availability
  2. Service Level Management: negotiating achievable service level agreements
    1. Service Based SLA
    2. Customer Based SLA
    3. Multi level SLA
  3. Capacity Management: Service & Infastructure meet needs of a service
  4. Availability Management: Ensure service is available
  5. Service Continuity Management: 
  6. Information Security Management: Ensuring assets, information & data are secure
  7. Supplier Management: Ensures value for money from suppliers

Service Design Scope

  1. Design Coordination
  2. Service catalog management
  3. Service level management
  4. Availability management
  5. Capacity management
  6. IT service continuity management
  7. Information security management
  8. Supplier management

Service Design Principles

! 5 Major ASPECTS of service design (STAMP)

1. Service solution: new functionality offered by an application or other service.
2. Tools and systems for management information
3. Architectures
4. Measurement system
5. Processes

  1. Service Portfolio Design
    1. Use to evaluate competitiveness
    2. Provide decision framework
    3. Provide means to compare services
    4. Holistic Approach
    5. Business requirements
  2. Business Requirements in Service Design
  3. Technology Design
    1. Strategic blueprint for development & deployment
  4. Process Design
    1. details process, goals, inputs, outputs, activities, task
  5. Measurement Design

Service Provider Models

  1. In Soure
  2. Outsource
  3. Co-Source
  4. Partnership or Multi-source
  5. Business Process Outsource (BPO)
  6. Application Service Provision (ASP)
  7. Managed Service Provider (MSP)
  8. Knowledge Process Outsource (KPO)

Service Design Analysis: Using RACI model to define Responsible, Accountability, Who is consulted, who is informed

  • What does service design provide to the business?

SLA

 

OLA

 

SLM

Service Level management (SLA): Ensures that all current and planned IT service are delivered to agreed achievable targets.

SLRs

 

SLAM

 

Review

  • Service design considers how the service will be run and managed in operations for both new and changing services.
  • New or changed services should work efficiently and fulfill business requirements including capacity, continuity, availability and security.

ITIL – Service Volume Outline

Service Strategy

  1. Guidance clarification & prioritization of service providers investments in service
  2. Focus on Improving and developing over long term
  3. IT Service Management
  4. Service Portfolio Management
  5. Financial Management for IT Services
  6. Demand Management
  7. Business Relationship management

Service Design

  1. Service Catalogue Management
  2. Service Level Management
  3. Availability Management
  4. Capacity Management
  5. IT Service Continuity Management
  6. Information Security Management
  7. Supplier Management

Service Transition

  1. Transition planning and support
  2. Change management
  3. Service asset and configuration management
  4. Service validation and Testing
  5. Change Evaluation
  6. Knowledge Management

Service Operations

  1. Event Management
  2. Incident management
  3. Request fulfillment
  4. Problem Management
  5. Identity (Access) Management
  6. Operation Management

Continual Service Improvement

  1. Service Measurement
  2. Service Reporting
  3. Service Improvement

ITIL – Acronyms

Acronym Term
ACD Automatic Call Distribution
AM Availability Management
AMIS Availability Management Information System
ASP Application Service Provider
BCM Business Capacity Management
BCM Business Continuity Management
BCP Business Continuity Plan
BIA Business Impact Analysis
BRM Business Relationship Manager
BSI British Standards Institution
BSM Business Service Management
CAB Change Advisory Board
CAB/EC Change Advisory Board / Emergency Committee
CAPEX Capital Expenditure
CCM Component Capacity Management
CFIA Component Failure Impact Analysis
CI Configuration Item
CMDB Configuration Management Database
CMIS Capacity Management Information System
CMM Capability Maturity Model
CMMI Capability Maturity Model Integration
CMS Configuration Management System
COTS Commercial off the Shelf
CSF Critical Success Factor
CSI Continual Service Improvement
CSIP Continual Service Improvement Programme
CSP Core Service Package
CTI Computer Telephony Integration
DIKW Data-to-Information-to-Knowledge-to-Wisdom
eSCM-CL eSourcing Capability Model for Client Organizations
eSCM-SP eSourcing Capability Model for Service Providers
FMEA Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
FTA Fault Tree Analysis
IRR Internal Rate of Return
ISG IT Steering Group
ISM Information Security Management
ISMS Information Security Management System
ISO International Organization for Standardization
ISP Internet Service Provider
IT Information Technology
ITSCM IT Service Continuity Management
ITSM IT Service Management
itSMF IT Service Management Forum
IVR Interactive Voice Response
KEDB Known Error Database
KPI Key Performance Indicator
LOS Line of Service
MoR Management of Risk
MTBF Mean Time Between Failures
MTBSI Mean Time Between Service Incidents
MTRS Mean Time to Restore Service
MTTR Mean Time to Repair
NPV Net Present Value
OGC Office of Government Commerce
OLA Operational Level Agreement
OPEX Operational Expenditure
OPSI Office of Public Sector Information
PBA Pattern of Business Activity
PFS Prerequisite for Success
PIR Post Implementation Review
PSA Projected Service Availability
QA Quality Assurance
QMS Quality Management System
RCA Root Cause Analysis
RFC Request for Change
ROI Return on Investment
RPO Recovery Point Objective
RTO Recovery Time Objective
SAC Service Acceptance Criteria
SACM Service Asset and Configuration Management
SCD Supplier and Contract Database
SCM Service Capacity Management
SFA Service Failure Analysis
SIP Service Improvement Plan
SKMS Service Knowledge Management System
SLA Service Level Agreement
SLM Service Level Management
SLP Service Level Package
SLR Service Level Requirement
SMO Service Maintenance Objective
SoC Separation of Concerns
SOP Standard Operating Procedures
SOR Statement of requirements
SPI Service Provider Interface
SPM Service Portfolio Management
SPO Service Provisioning Optimization
SPOF Single Point of Failure
TCO Total Cost of Ownership
TCU Total Cost of Utilization
TO Technical Observation
TOR Terms of Reference
TQM Total Quality Management
UC Underpinning Contract
UP User Profile
VBF Vital Business Function
VOI Value on Investment
WIP Work in Progress