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What Is Itil (and What Is Isn't!)
By Robin Yearsley
As a qualified and experienced ITIL Consultant - I'd like to set the record straight on a few points.The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is an excellent set of best practices, carefully Read more...
itil Partners:
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Planning Your It Service Management Project - Need For An Itsm Assessment
By Jeffrey HS Lee
Implementing IT Service Management is like going on a journey. Before you embark on your journey, you will need to define your end point or desired state. This means defining the Read more...
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Getting Employed With Itil: The It Service Management Qualification
By projectmanuk
Approximately 60% of IT Service Management jobs advertised in the UK require the ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) qualification. This corresponds closely to a 2008 global survey by Axios Systems, Read more...
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Economic Downturn Is A Time For Training And Certification
By Jeffrey HS Lee
In boom time, training and certification may lead to salary increase. Obviously, the direct impact of training is improved or higher skills for the person and hence leading to higher productivity Read more...
The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) represents best practice in IT service management. ITIL was created by the UK Government agency CCTA and ...
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Itil V.2 Or Itil V.3?
By Simon Buehring
ITIL v.2 was released in 2001 and lasted until 30th May 2007, when it was officially replaced by v.3. This essentially meant the publication of five new ITIL guides and the introduction of new, credit-based qualifications. However, the v.2 books are still available in print and online format from TSO (the official publishers), and the v.2 qualifications are still offered and recognised as industry standards.
So what is the difference between v.2 and v.3? Which is the version best for you? If you already have an v.2 certificate, do you need to upgrade or refresh your skills?
IT Infrastructure Library - the books
The books form the basis for qualifications and practice, and are designed as ˜best practice" guides for providing IT services. They have been written by expert IT service managers, and contain input from professionals from a wide variety of industry backgrounds.
ITIL v.2 contained eight core titles, of which only two were commonly studied. Service Support (describing best practices for day-to-day IT service management) and Service Delivery (best practices for planning IT service provision) were not only the most familiar v.2 guides, but also formed the two fundamental streams of the v.2 Practitioner and Service Manager qualifications.
The six remaining titles are: ICT Infrastructure Management, Planning to Implement Service Management, Application Management, Business Perspective (volumes one and two) and Software Asset Management.
One aspect of v.2 that the Refresh Board wanted to alter was the process-based structure of the library. This led to the introduction of a new concept, the Service Lifecycle, around which the v.3 volumes were to be focused. The purpose of using a service lifecycle framework was to improve the design logic, through which specific process elements could be introduced at the appropriate stages.
The five core v.3 volumes are:
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- Service Strategy (how to develop a business-driven strategy for IT service management)
- Service Design (how to design a system to support the strategy of choice)
- Service Transition (how to transition the new system to the production environment)
- Service Operation (how to support operations in the long-term)
- Continual Service Improvement (how to continually improve the IT services provided)
The chief purpose of restructuring was to provide more clearly-defined and specific guidance for IT service management best practices, and to fill in the gaps that emerged through the earlier, process-based approach. In addition to the new structure, therefore, v.3 also introduced 12 new processes and 3 new functions to the library.
Using in a modern business environment
Another new feature in v.3 was the focus on IT service management within the real world – hence the emphasis on a ‘business-driven’ strategy. Like PRINCE2 and MSP, the new aimed at eliminating processes and practices that had ceased to provide benefit to the business or organisation.
The Diploma
The concurrent use of v.2 and v.3 has led to confusion over which version is ˜better". As there is no date currently set for phasing out the old examination system, many individuals and organisations still follow the v.2 qualification pathway.
Individuals requiring qualifications fall into four main groups:
- Qualified in v.2 and intending to continue training in v.2
- Qualified in v.2 and intending to convert to v.3
- Unqualified and intending to train in v.2
- Unqualified and intending to train in v.3
For those already qualified in v.2 it is tempting to continue training in the same format. This has advantages in terms of immediate cost and consistency, but it does mean that students are not updated on the processes, functions and concepts new to v.3.
For this reason, has produced two ˜Bridging" courses, one designed to enable individuals qualified in v.2 Foundation to study for v.3 Intermediate qualifications, and the other to enable individuals qualified in v.2 Practitioner to become v.3 Experts. There are clear advantages to IT service managers in gaining the most up-to-date qualifications for creating strong CVs and applying for new service management positions.
Individuals who have not yet qualified in v.2 are most likely to choose to begin with v.3, as the Successful Candidates Register indicates there are already more than three times as many v.3 qualified students as those who have the v.2 certificate. This reflects the sharper focus on real-world business strategy, and the more logical structure of the v.3 course.
ITIL of the future
Just like PRINCE2 and MSP, strives to provide users with a methodology focused as closely as possible on practical management processes and techniques. The new is designed to draw together the best aspects of v.2, in order to develop a coherent, consistent and up-to-date guide to service management practice. While v.2 is a perfectly usable theoretical guide to service management, the improvements made to v.3 means that new students can only benefit from beginning with v.3.
Simon Buehring is a project manager, consultant and trainer.
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