What to do this year for ITIL training?

The reality in the ITIL Training world for us is that throughout 2008 there are two equally viable choices concerning ITIL Education.

Choice 1 – Follow predominant v2 track, with view to upgrade later.
Choice 2 – Follow predominant v3 track.

The only way I can see that you can assist clients make the right choice is to ask a relatively simple question.

What is the current level of maturity within the IT department towards process driven service delivery?
Based on the answers to this question you can steer the client towards a solution.

Answer a) “huh what is process driven Service Delivery?” – head for v2
Answer b) “We’ve heard of it and begun some initial work” – head for v2
Answer c) “We’ve had staff trained and have some of the v2 processes in place already” – head for v2
Answer d) “We’ve been working v2 for some time now and have seen some tangible benefits” – head for v3
Answer e) “We are mature in our adoption of ITIL and are looking for the next step in our drive for improvement” – head for v3

What is the news on ITIL Exams?

It's been many months since APMG took over the reins of managing all the ITIL certification. What is the latest on their progress and performance?

By all reports things are going "ok" !
On a scale where OK sits halfway between awful and awesome it isn't a glowing report, but it could have been worse.

On the down side... exam certificates are taking weeks (if not months) to distribute. While this may not seem to be a major issue to the official accreditor, it has a lot to do with the way they are perceived in the marketplace. "Exin and ISEB managed to get certificates issued within a week of results. Why is it taking APMG so long?".

To be fair we need to remind ourselves that APMG wears two hats in this whole ITIL certification game. One is their role as an Examination Institute (EI). Like Exin, ISEB, Loyalist and others; EIs compete for the business of Accredited Training Organizations (ATOs). The other hat is the role of the "Official Accreditor".

As the official accreditor APMG has all EIs under their control with regards to exams, syllabi and general guidelines on how ITIL courses should be administered.

The issue with exam certificates rests with APMG the EI.

Also on the downside, there is too much indecision in the way that course syllabi are released. There are no fixed and firm dates and there is still no decision on withdrawl of older ITIL v2 exams. Such indecision causes confusion in the marketplace.

This is an issue that rests with APMG as the official accreditor.

However, I like to balance. On the sunny side, the industry is in a state of perpetual flux right now and any attempt to lock things into place requires involvement, sign-off and acceptance by so many parties; it's like juggling light beams.

APMG is doing everything in its power to keep everyone happy; perhaps this is the problem and they need to upset a few to get progress for the community at large.

Still questions on ITIL v3 certification

I am still getting questions about the ITIL v3 certification scheme. Here is the latest set of questions I got and the associated answers.

1. I would like to find out if the Manager’s is a certificate or the Diploma?
If there is any Diploma in this ITIL course let me know which one.

2. I have also learnt about the ITIL Expert, please elaborate what it is all about.


ITIL Managers, Diploma and Expert are all synonymous with the highest level qualification in ITIL.

The ITIL version 2 top level qualification is (and was always) referred to as “ITIL Managers”.

When ITIL v3 was published there was a lot of planning done by the APM Group regarding the new certification structure. Foundation level still remains as the entry level and pre-requisite for more training, then comes the Service Lifecycle and Service Capability programs, finally the top level examinable qualification (Managing Across the Lifecycle).

The plan was that if you were successful at all the examinable courses and once you had passed sufficient exams, you would automatically qualify for the ITIL DIPLOMA in IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT.

However, after a few months the DIPLOMA name was dropped and it is now referred to as “ITIL EXPERT”.
Remembering there is no exam to be receive the ITIL Expert certification, you have to qualify for it.


3. There was also what is called Practitioner Exam and Manager’s Exams. Does Practitioner’s exam still exist?

The ITIL v2 Managers exams and ITIL v2 Practitioner exams still exist and are likely to until APM Group decide that they are to be withdrawn. At this stage there are no plans to withdraw these exams until at least the end of 2008.

In ITIL v3 the Practitioner exams level is effectively replaced by four Service Capability courses and five Service Lifecycle courses.


4. I have also learnt of the Managers Exam V3 Bridge. In other words, are Managers V3 Exams available or not?

If you are ITIL v2 Managers certified or you have sufficient credit points earned from ITIL v2 Practitioner courses, then you can in fact take the ITIL v2 Managers Bridge course and exam. At the time of writing the exam is only available to Accredited Training Organizations, but it is expected the exams will be publicly available in the next few months.