Certification

ITIL Standard: Management Practices and Certification

ITIL stands for InformationTechnology Infrastructure Library. Due to the continuous emergence of IT, in the 1980s the UK government’s Central Computer and Telecommunication Agency (CCTA) developed a set of recommendations. It stated that due to the lack of standard practices, any organization whether its government-owned or privately owned started creating its own IT management policies. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library is a set of ITSM practices that are utilized and organized by many high profile organizations like NASA, IBM, etc. The motive behind this is to standardize the procedure of good IT management and help the business to accomplish the best possible quality service.

As the motive behind ITIL foundation was to standardized IT management services, in 1989 it published its first set of books of guidance as ITIL version 1, since then the number of volumes is rapidly increasing. During 2000 and 2001 ITIL version 2 was published which supports IT management, applications, and services. In May 2007, ITIL version 3 was published consisting of 5 volumes and based on the concept of service lifecycle structure. In February 2019, THe ITIL 4 edition was released. Since July 2013, ITIL has owned by AXELOS, it provides licenses to any organization to use the ITIL framework properly, and also manages and updates its framework regularly.

Necessity of ITIL

As you have understood from the above that ITIL is a standard followed by any organization, and they follow as there are certain necessities to do that. The first reason is following a standard everyone can be on one path of managing IT services. There are various practices provided by ITIL and they are General management practices, Service management practices, and Technical management practices.

General management practice consists of 14 management practices and they are Architecture management, Portfolio management, Service Financial management, Strategy management, Workforce, and Talent management, Continual improvement management, Risk management, Knowledge management, Information security management, Organizational change management, Project management, Relationship management, Supplier management and Measurement and reporting.

Service management practice consists of 17 specific practices and they are Service catalog management, Business analysis, Service level management, Service design, Availability management, Service desk, Incident management, Service request management, Problem management, Monitoring and event management, Service continuity management, Capacity and performance management, Service configuration management, Release management, change control, Service validation and testing, and IT assest management.

Technical management practice consists of three management practices and they are Deployment management, Infrastructure and platform management, and Software development and management.

To maintain all these its really a tedious work for any organization, so following the standard ITIL management services the work becomes a lot easier and effective.

Certification

The new ITIL 4 certification will slowly replace the existing scheme as it is designed to build a clearer path for an individual to become an ITIL professional. Axelos has the ownership of ITIL and it maintains the ITIL framework and accredits training and examinations. Many ITIL Accredited Training Organizations (ATO) are available that deliver training, and also ITIL certification exams. Certification exams may be conducted at the end of the training or depending on the individual examination institute, which works directly with the ATOs. ITIL uses a credential system for the foundation through an expert level, in which each certification earns a certain number of credits. A total of 22 credits is required to get an expert ITIL certification. There are 4 ITIL certification levels now which offers a modular approach. They are-

  • Foundation: This is just a general entry-level certification focusing on the basics of ITIL certification. It ensures professionals get familiar with basic concepts, elements, and terminology used in ITIL Service Lifecycle and also used in various stages.
  • Intermediate: This level goes into more depth of certification allowing the professional to be familiar with general industry-wide qualification for many prospective IT roles.
  • Expert: This level elaborates the ITIL scheme in full and enables professionals to know and understand the highly esteemed level of standard ITIL practices.
  • Master: The final certification consists of detailed knowledge of ITIL practices, principles, methods and advanced techniques of ITIL and its supporting management processes. Accomplishing this level of certification will make you feel the best and most valuable in any organization.

Each qualification is assigned a credit value; so that upon successful completion of the module, the candidate is rewarded with both a certification and a number of credits. At the lowest level Foundation, candidates are awarded a certification and two credits. At the Intermediate level, a total of additional 15 credits have to be earned. A candidate wanting to achieve the Expert level will have, among other requirements, to gain the required number of credits 22. The ITIL Certification Management Board (ICMB) manages ITIL certification. The Board includes representatives from interested parties within the community around the world.

Upon successfully passing all these levels the candidates are awarded badges or metal pins and they are-

  • ITIL Foundation Badge (Pastel Green).
  • ITIL Intermediate Capability Badge (Burgundy).
  • ITIL Intermediate Lifecycle Badge (Teal).
  • ITIL Expert Badge (Lilac).
  • ITIL Master Badge (Purple, with the letter M in the middle).

Getting all these pins or badges is an advantage as it highlights you among others and there is the highest probability of getting hired. If any individuals have these certifications then you are recognized and you can earn respect in your organization. Many organizations around the world are focussing on the certification of ITIL program to help their employees get ITIL certified and work together with a common goal to achieve more efficiency. Any organization will surely hire you with a higher pay scale, an organization across the world are looking for professional with sound knowledge in IT infrastructure management. Whatever your level of IT Organizational maturity, starting out on the ITIL path is the correct next step. Every organization must build their workflows to best meet their processes and using an ITIL-based framework allows you to customize to meet your needs. So enroll yourself get all the necessary resources to start ITIL practices and be an ITIL certified professional and explore the world of IT service management.

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