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.