There are some major changes that you should know about before taking the exam of the newest release of ITIL. The current ITSM exam will be retired after December 31st, 2018, and replaced with a new certification exam called “IT Service Management Practitioner.” If you’re aiming to become an IT service management professional, it’s important to know how these changes will affect you!
What is in the newest release of ITIL?
- In this article, we’ll be going over some of the major changes that have been introduced in the latest release of ITIL.
- Firstly, the ITSM exam will be retired after December 31st, 2018, and replaced with a new certification exam called “IT Service Management Practitioner.” This new certification exam is going to have a more hands-on approach and so does require more work on the candidate’s part.
- Secondly, there’s going to be a focus on agility and cross-functional teams in order to keep up with today’s dynamic environment.
- There are several new roles that have been added to this latest release of ITIL. These roles will help teams keep up with the changing environment and help to make roles fit better within businesses.
- The first major update we’ll be looking at is the update to agile and cross-functional teams. In today’s dynamic business world, it’s more important than ever to keep up with change and adapt quickly. Having a team of experts from different fields that you can call on to help with change is key.
- What are some of the new roles in ITIL? Teams should have a Service Owner, Release Manager, and someone to handle monitoring. Having these different people on your team will help you keep up with today’s dynamic business environment.
Though the latest release of ITIL is packed with new material, it’s not all about updates. There are also some major changes to the structure and layout of the publication. For starters, there are two new modules:
- Digital Service Management and Release Management. These were added in anticipation of a shift towards digital services as a more efficient way for organizations to deliver value to customers while saving costs on labour and other resources.
- The rest of the book has been restructured into six sections:
1. Foundation
2. Planning & Support
3. Operation & Maintenance
4. Continual Service Improvement (CSI)
5. Knowledge Management (KM)
6. Change Management (CM)
The goal is that by breaking down these areas into smaller parts, readers will be able to find what they’re looking for more easily. This is a major change from ITIL 4, which featured chapters containing several different service lifecycle stages and processes. For example, the Continual Service Improvement section of ITIL 5 is broken out into:
- Continual Service Improvement and CSI in the service lifecycle
- KPIs and measures
- Forecasting and financial control
- Supplier management
- Collaboration with customers and other business units.
Each of these is meant to give teams a deeper understanding of how these areas affect day-to-day IT service management. As with other versions, ITIL 5 also features approximately 100 processes divided into eight main IT Service Management (ITSM) functions:
- Change Management
- Service Asset & Configuration Management (SACM)
- Availability Management
- Incident Management
- Problem Management
- Access Management
- Service Level Management (SLM)
- Financial Management for IT Services.
ITIL is divided into three complementary service lifecycle stages:
1. Service Strategy
2. Service Design
3. Service Transition
The ultimate goal of the ITIL framework is to drive organizational change in alignment with business goals and strategies.
The new release was split into three separate volumes to reflect the different areas of IT that users usually need:
Volume 1: Foundation — This volume covers ITIL’s process framework, concepts, principles, and key generic guidance elements. This is perfect for teams who already have a good understanding of the service lifecycle stages when starting to transition to ITIL.
Volume 2: Service Strategy — This volume covers the strategic management framework, service portfolio management, value management, financial management for IT services, demand management, and business relationship management. This will be an excellent material for teams who are looking to update their current processes to align with consumer demands.
Volume 3: Service Design — This volume covers service design aspects, including business and asset management. It also focuses on how to deliver a successful service, as well as the support processes needed to make it happen.
The newest update of ITIL, released May 2018, is now on version 4.0. This new release includes many enhancements to the current process, as well as additions to deliver new capabilities for managing digital transformation initiatives. Some of the main updates are:
>Preparing for changes in business
>Proactively drive change through collaboration and insights
>Deliver IT services more rapidly and with less risk
>Operate effectively at scale; without adding complexity
Triggers for Change:
The entire process of change has been streamlined and is now triggered during events that would typically result in a request to begin an IT service improvement or upgrade initiative. For example, your organization may identify that it needs to take advantage of new capabilities offered by a cloud provider or that the current version of an application has become out of date and needs to be upgraded. These triggers may be identified and brought forward by internal or external groups, such as an executive or partner, and become the opportunity for a change to take place. When this happens, the Change Manager will receive notification that a new request has been made. This process ensures that all changes are managed within ITSM and that all stakeholders are kept in the loop throughout the process.
Standard Change:
The definition of a “standard change” has been broadened in scope to allow for more flexibility when delivering IT services and meeting business needs. Before, standard changes were primarily used when implementing new IT services; however, this new version allows an organization to use the standard change when making any changes to an existing IT service. This is particularly helpful when a business requirement requires the launch of a new version of an application, for example.
Prioritization of Changes:
One of the main goals for ITIL version 4.0 is to provide more efficient and effective ways for an organization to deliver business value and ensure services are up, running, and performing as expected. This is done by focusing on the important changes that need to happen first and enabling team members to rapidly deploy these changes. Once it has been determined that a change is required, the Change Manager will prioritize the request based on several factors, including high-priority IT services or business needs, the possible risk involved for customers or users, and the overall cost of making the change.
The newest release of ITIL 4.0 includes many enhancements to the current process, as well as additions to deliver new capabilities for managing digital transformation initiatives. Some of the main updates are that there is a focus on preparing for changes in business, proactively driving change through collaboration and insights, delivering IT services more rapidly and with less risk, operating effectively at scale; without adding complexity. If you’re aiming to become an IT service management professional or want your organization’s processes aligned with how customers think (or what they need), this may be perfect for you!