Getting that elusive ITIL v3 Expert certificate

By now there are many folks that qualify as an ITIL v3 Expert, based on the number of credits they have earned.

The vast majority of these will be people that were ITIL v2 Managers certified and have completed and passed the exam for the ITIL v2/v3 Managers Bridge.

Questions are now being asked about how this qualification is actually recognized. Is it a case that the Managers Bridge certificate is proof of being an ITIL v3 Expert.

No.

There is actually a certificate and badge available for those that have qualified. It is driven by each individual Examination Institute (EI) and requires you to have completed the final exam that allows to qualify as an ITIL expert with the EI that you apply to for the certificate and badge.

For example, if you have done all your exams with APMG, but decide to take your Managers Bridge exam with Exin, then talk to Exin. If you have completed v2 Managers with Exin and done several Service Capability courses with Exin, that got you over the 22 credit line with APMG, then talk to APMG.

You'll find in the application that you have to sign away your soul (which is the equivalent of letting the itSMF hound you about joining their group), but it is perhaps a small price to pay to get that final certificate and "badge of honour".

More Classic Bloopers from ITIL v3 - Service Strategy

It is already acknowledged that there are some mistakes in the ITIL v3 Core volumes.
So this is not a dig at v3, but a service to assist people that have made the investment.

Blooper 1 - Service Strategy book, page 129
Diagram relating to Tight Coupling of Demand and Capacity.
Should read that Production cycle consumes CAPACITY.

Blooper 2 - Service Strategy book, page 31
Column 1 = "Value is defined not only strictly in terms of the customer's business outcomes...
Column 2 = "... value is defined strictly in the context of business outcomes".

What's in a name.... this is getting annoying!

Word on the grapevine is that the naming of the ITIL Expert level (formerly known as ITIL Diploma) is still up for debate.

I doubt that OGC appointed the APM group to run the ITIL certification scheme if they thought that they couldn't make decisions that are as trivial as what to call a particular certification level.

The arguement that different names mean different things in different countries is just silly. Exin and ISEB ran the scheme and had the ITIL Masters as the top level name for years.

Each country will make their own translations...

ITIL Diploma was fine...
ITIL Expert is FINE.... I would say, please just leave it as it is.. There are enough changes let's have some stability.

What is in a name change?

The IT Service Management Diploma has been replaced by the "ITIL Expert" as part of the lauch of the new v3 qualification scheme.

The paper outlining the program (authored by Sharon Taylor) included a warning to indicate that the name ITIL Expert could in fact change if something better came along.

I don't think I can recall such turmoil surrounding an education program and it raises obvious questions; the biggest one being why?. Well if we ignore the name change and look at the other major factor regarding ITIL qualifications; that of the exams.

All exams are going to be multiple choice. Is this a blatant money grab or an attempt to truly create a path for those with a genuine interest in furthering education standards?

It seems hard to be able to say that a multiple choice exam replacing the traditional essay style approach that was created by Exin and ISEB allows true expression of professionalism. However, the saving grace is that in order to take the advanced exams there is a requirement to be able to demonstrate attending an accredited course.

Perhaps the biggest news is that it is not a requirement to attend a traditional classroom course, but that self study is very much allowed.

New ITIL v3 certification scheme to be launched in UK

The new scheme for ITIL v3 certification will be launched at the itSMF conference in the UK this week. Prepared by Sharon Taylor it is the first time all the discussion has been drawn together into one paper.

The ITIL Diploma or Diploma in Service Management - which was to be near the top level certification for most ITIL professionals is now to be called the ITIL Expert.

That is about the only change for the much publicized and heavily criticized v3 certification program.

22 credits is the magic number to earn the ITIL Expert qualification.

Foundation earns 2 credits, each of the 5 Service Lifecycle programs is 3 credits, 4 for each of the Service Capability and 5 for the mandatory Managing across the Lifecycle.

The most annoying element of the program is still the amount of hours that each program is expected to take.

30 hours for Managing Across the Lifecycle
30 hours for each Service Capability course
21 hours for each of the Service Lifecycle courses
16.25 hours for the Foundation

So how does a training company decide how many days each course should be? It is even more complex when APMG haven't defined how many hours of contact time they consider a full traning day to contain.

Most people would say that a typical day involves 6.5 contact hours.
BUT APMG have said that the hours listed assume an 8 hour day... so now that is just plain silly...

Is a Foundation course expected to take two full days and then 15 minutes on the third... No, but equally would a vendor say that a Foundation is 2.5 days (assuming 6.6 hour days) ??

Why can't APMG just define this so that all ATOs have a common platform? My reason for why they cannot is that APMG are perhaps more interested in online study for each of the courses.

Maybe I am too cynical.... perhaps not!