ITIL v2 to v3 Foundation Bridging course details

Perhaps the most anticipated ITIL program is the Foundation program that will upgrade current v2 certified staff to v3.

Details have now been officially released. The course will be a one day program, WITH a 20 question, 30 minute mock exam at the end of the day. The pass mark for the exam will be 13 correct answers.

So, all those pages you've read from others who said there would be no exam were incorrect.

The 1 day program will cover the differences in v2 to v3 at an awareness level. For example the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) is a new concept for version 3, but it covers the CMDB and Known Error data base (KEDB) which are v2 concepts. In service transition the Service V model is a new concept and must be explained in full.

Exams for the Foundation Bridging program will be available in the last week of August 2007. You will have to have passed and show evidence of your ITIL v2 Foundation certificate to attend the program.

Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas, Degrees and Doctorates

In a huge shake up for the industry, the APM Group have given the first hints of what is to come with regard to their ITIL certification program. In what can only be described as a bold move the APM Groups appointed Examination panel – chaired by the Chief of all things ITIL – Sharon Taylor – have unveiled their points based ITIL Certification scheme that culminates in the Advanced Service Management Diploma. Below the Advanced Diploma is a “Diploma in Service Management”.

The Advanced Diploma may well be out of the reach of mere mortals; it looks as if holding the Advanced certificate will mean that you either wrote ITIL or you are good enough to be asked to write ITIL or you’ve been a key player for many (many) years. The Advanced Diploma sounds as if it could be a “by invitation only” – perhaps a secret handshake as well.

It is the Diploma in Service Management for most of us. Your existing v2 Qualifications can be used as credits towards the (current thinking) 22 points required to be awarded the Diploma. The Diploma is earned by accumulating enough points.

1.5 points for your existing v2 Foundation, 15 points for your v2 Managers certificate, 3.75 points for an existing Clustered Practitioner and 1 point for a single Practitioner. There will be 0.5 points for passing the v2 to v3 Foundation upgrade exam.

The new v3 Foundation will be worth 2 points and there will be 3 points per exam, per book in the Core of ITIL. The examination panel is pushing the clustered approach for practitioners – with a to be created set of service capability programs.

There will be a “capping” course and Exam in the Service Lifecycle (worth 5 points) that all of us will have to do if we want to get the Diploma (so for those of you with Foundation, Managers and a few clustered practitioners behind you – you will still need to do the 5 day Service lifecycle course).

So, it is big change ahead for Education. We should remember that the new program outlined is under the control of the APM Group. As the “official” accreditor for the OGC they will manage the program once it is endorsed by the Examination Panel (the panel includes Exin, ISEB, APMG, Sharon Taylor and other notables that have been invited). Once approved then the program becomes law for ITIL v3 and it will be interesting to see how Exin and ISEB actually present to the marketplace.

Who will want ITIL v2 learning?

The Examination Institutes (APMG, Exin, ISEB) are happy to tell the public that v2 exams will co-exist with the new v3 exams for some time (up to 12 months).

Begs the question - who will want them?

Two schools of thought; but I believe both can be countered with a logical argument....

1. Consultants who need to get some ITIL Qualifications in order to apply for positions. Forget it, go for v3 - with Version 3 knowledge you'll be a shoe-in for any v2 work as well.

2. Organizations that have already invested heavily in v2 certification. Forget it, v2 exams will not be available in the future - bite the bullet and start investing in v3 certification and all those bridging courses that the vendors will offer.

May 30th 2007 - LAUNCH DATE !!!

Those among us old enough to remember the release of ITIL version 2 are eagerly anticipating the release of ITIL version 3.

Why?

Because of the chance to look for inconsistencies, errors, and flaws in the logic. And they are bound to be there....

Your ITSMER will be at the official launch of ITIL v3 coming up in London. The venue is near London Bridge - so lets hope that the structure remains intact (the bridge and the new version of ITIL).

INSIDE TIP: stop listening to all the chat about ITIL v2 being basically the same as v3. WRONG!.. huge differences and your blogger knows this from one on the "inside". The insider is sworn to secrecy; but they do report significant changes.

This begs the question - will the new version be globally accepted? The answer - "let's see in about 12 months". No one knows what the uptake is, but imagine you are a senior IT Executive that 12 months ago decided to pump a heap of investment into ITIL. How do you think it would look if you went to the board to ask for more money as the stuff you've done is now outdated.

Yes - outdated. No secret there; it's all over ITIL v3.. it will REPLACE v2 as a framework - could be some serious issues in that one.

Stay tuned - it's going to be a heck of a ride.