Tuesday, December 18, 2007

New ITIL v3 Foundation released

It was expected and it is now a reality.

The new (interim) ITIL v3 Foundation syllabus has been released by the APM Group (the official ITIL Accreditor).

The talk was that elements from both the Service Strategy and Continual Service Improvement stages were going to be removed. They have; but it is not what you would term radical change.

There are, to say the least, minor elements that have been removed (including discussions about "value to the business" and specific concepts like Service Provider, but I don't think it will be considered anything major.

The problem is that it even the minor changes represent quite a bit of work for Accredited Training Organzations (ATOs). The good ATOs have developed material that interweave the differnt parts of the Foundaiton syllabus. They spent many hours taking the original syllabus and breaking it down, before re-building it into a cohesive story.

Now, these same ATOs have to disengage elements of the course and advise all their trainers of changes. Remember, it isn't a case of changing a few slides. There is the course outlines, support notes, revision guides, etc. that have to be updated.

Provided that the people who put the syllabus together learn from the exercise, then it isn't really an issue. But with 10 more ITIL v3 courses coming in the next few months, this is not an exercise that needs to be repeated !!

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Monday, December 10, 2007

ITIL v3 Foundation Syllabus to change

APMG have listened and will make changes to the course syllabus that describes the learning requirements for the ITIL v3 Foundation course.

All along they could have been told that heavy emphasis on Service Strategy was not a clever move and it is incredible that the examination panel responsible for the development couldn't see that.

Perhaps it was an ego boost for the exam panel to create a complex syllabus that they understood; but they failed the test of understanding the audience of interest for the course.

The word is that the new syllabus will have far less material on Service Strategy and Continual Service Improvement and more on the core processes. It is anticipated that the new syllabus will be available to ATOs by the end of calendar year 2007.

At least they listened, but let's hope that we don't face a similar situation again.

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Friday, October 12, 2007

Delay for Managers Bridge exam + Potential changes to Foundation syllabus

Word is out that the Managers bridge exam is to be delayed, due to the exams "not being balanced across the whole syllabus".

In the same release is a statement hinting at the possibility that the v3 Foundation syllabus may be too heavily weighted towards Service Strategy and Continual Service Improvement.

It would appear that this is a case of "about time". However, on the positive side it is an indication that complaints are actually heard and acted upon. However, how did we reach this situation in the first place.

The blame (for want of a better word) has to rest entirely with the parties on the examination panel responsible for the syllabus and ultimately the Chief Examiner for ITIL v3 - Sharon Taylor.

It would appear to this skeptic that the examination panel is made up of Service Management gurus and not one specialist education analyst amongst them. Was it not apparent that the qantum leap from v2 to v3 had to be handled very carefully and not simply scanning the table of contents and picking concepts at random.

Perhaps the Foundation course for v3 should not include Service Strategy and the Service Lifecycle at all. Keep the entry level for what will deliver the most benefit for the majority of people interested in it - discussions about process activities.

Is it really necessary to introduce the 4 activities of Strategy Generation at this early stage. Save that stuff for those that have an interest.

Is it too late to regain the lost ground - time will tell - what is important is that something has to be done and all indications point to the fact that it is.

Oh and one final point - someone please involve an education specialist who who understands the challenges of adult education and can put some real meaning to Blooms Taxonomy and Awareness, Comprehension, Knowledge - make it real.

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