Can workplace conflict ever be healthy?

It is all too common for project professionals to find themselves caught up in the crossfire of conflict, acting as mediators. Refereeing between team members with strong ideas can be exhausting, and there are certainly times when we could do without it. But, can conflict actually be beneficial?

We’re here to argue the case that conflict can in fact be healthy. It is one of the best ways to reach optimum results, and investing your time, energy, and efforts into being a negotiator and peacemaker will pay dividends. Here’s how:

Conflict can spark creativity

When pushed to our limits, we look for solutions. Getting adrenaline pumping with healthy debate will engage our conflict resolution muscles, and we will start to form solutions. Creative thinking is a skill that will come naturally to some, but will need harnessing for others. As a leader it is your role to know your team member’s strengths and their behavioural traits, and drive any conflict to be a positive experience for all. Conflict can be uncomfortable, but by openly exploring, teams can channel disagreements towards reaching better outcomes, sparking ideas and innovations in the process.

Agreeing to disagree can bring teams closer

Collaborative practices bring teams closer together, and conflict is not exempt from that. Dealing with conflict in a safe and positive environment will bring your teams closer as they learn to work together to form resolutions. It is imperative that you have a workplace culture where individuals feel they can comfortably speak up.

It is also paramount that a balance is struck so that disagreements are non-hostile, but also don’t result in ‘groupthink’ where team members just comply in order to keep the peace. Friction is all part of resolving potential problems, but you must handle it in a way that means your team is still speaking to each other at the end!

Retention is improved with healthy disputes

Building a closer-knit team is sure to have a positive impact on retention. Teams that collaborate to find solutions will gain an improved sense of belonging. A well-handled, healthy dispute demonstrates to employees that their views are valued by their employer. What’s more, conflict can ensure leaders know exactly how their employees are thinking and feeling, rather than second guessing. This offers up an opportunity to foster that relationship, address any issues, and improve rates of retention.

Refereeing improves your skills as a leader

As we’ve touched on, there is a real talent to conflict resolution. Being a negotiator is a fine art. But by honing this soft skill, you look to gain all the benefits we’ve discussed above – enhanced innovation and creativity, closer and more productive teams, better working relationships and improved rates of retention. But the cherry on the top is that you will become a better leader by doing so!

Facilitate your conflict resolution skills by also improving soft skills such as active listening, risk-taking, and empathy. How you act and behave during conflict will influence how your team behaves too. Fostering healthy conflict will help you to resolve disagreements, fuel innovation and deliver the best results.

Rounding up

As project professionals, conflict is an inevitable part of our job, but we needn’t see that as a bad thing. As we’ve discussed, channelling honest, open disputes can drive us closer to our desired results and help us reach optimum outcomes. It is important that we handle conflicts to keep the project delivery moving forward, and see the resolution process as a key process in getting us there. With a shared vision of project success, conflict can have a positive impact on the project.

Source: prince2.com

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Zira, The Dutch Hospital Reference Architecture, A Tool To Address A Worldwide Need

A Standard Frame of Reference for Hospitals

The purpose of this blog is to introduce one such Dutch healthcare innovation—known as ZiRA—to a broad audience of English-speaking architects. In Dutch, a hospital is a “Ziekenhuis,” thus ZiRA means a “hospital reference architecture (RA).” Specifically, it is a set of interlocking components (templates, models, and downloadable files) that provide architects, managers, and high-level decision-makers tools they can use to a) understand and describe the current state of their hospital and b) transform virtually any aspects of their business to achieve desired states. The ZiRA can help users accomplish necessary, mission-critical objectives, including constantly evolving to provide high-quality health services, to improve patient outcomes, to enhance patient experience, and, generally, to operate efficiently and effectively.

Read More: The Open Group TOGAF 9 Part 2 (OG0-092)

The Power of Public and Private Partnerships

ZiRA is a product of Nictiz, the Dutch competence center for electronic exchange of health and care information. Nictiz is an independent foundation that is funded almost entirely by Holland’s Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport. For over a decade, Nictiz has encouraged ZiRA adoption by facilitating the establishment of collaboratives such as iHospital, a group composed of and led by key stakeholders from hospitals and related stakeholders across the Netherlands. 

Bringing ZIRA to a Broader Audience

Heretofore, ZiRA has been available in Dutch only. It stands to reason that this fact alone has precluded its broader adoption. Through the efforts of The Open Group Healthcare Forum (HCF) in collaboration with Nictiz and the ZiRA Governance Board, a complete English translation and clarification is underway. As of June 23, 2022, the first of two parts, entitled Hospital Refence Architecture. Understanding and Using the Dutch Ziekenhuis Referentie Architectuur (ZiRA), Part 1 is available at no charge in The Open Group Library here. In the Preface to this White Paper, the HCF discusses how Enterprise Architecture can help hospitals deliver higher value to patients and increase their functional efficiency.

Relating ZiRA to The Open Group Healthcare Enterprise Reference Architecture

The Open Group O-HERA™ standard, an industry standard healthcare reference architecture, provides a high-level conceptual framework that is relevant to all key stakeholders across all healthcare domains. Thus, the O-HERA standard is presented at a higher level of abstraction, whereas ZiRA is tailored to address specific needs and objectives of hospitals. The O-HERA standard makes it possible to create a crosswalk between the principles and objects modeled in ZiRA (primarily focused on the Architecture Model) with a variety of other emerging and possible less mature healthcare reference models worldwide.

10,000 Foot View: Applying Reference Architectures to the Health Enterprise Level

In 2018, The Open Group published the O-HERA Snapshot. This resource provides a cognitive map and conceptual guide that helps healthcare professionals consistently define their enterprise architectures for the benefit of effectively aligning information technology and other resources to solve business problems.

Read More: The Open Group TOGAF 9 Part 1 (OG0-091)

As depicted in Figure 1 below, the O-HERA is based on the conventional “plan-build-run” concepts gainfully employed by many industries for decades. In the “PLAN” phase (or “management model”), the organization focuses on vision, mission, strategy, capability, and transformational outcomes. In the “BUILD” phase (or “management model”), the organization addresses processes, information, applications, and technologies. Finally, the “RUN” phase (consistent with an “operations model”) emphasizes operations, measurement, analysis, and evolution. Security, ever so essential to the effective exchange of healthcare information, pervades the entire model. As demonstrated in the center of the diagram, the O-HERA standard is based on agility, a person-centric focus, and a strong preference for modular solutions.

Figure 1. The Open Group Healthcare Enterprise Reference Architecture – O-HERA™

The Vital Importance of Industry Standards

A notable success factor for ZiRA’s adoption in The Netherlands has been the country’s development and use of standards as a strategic method of ensuring that the best interests of its residents are met. Nictiz plays an active role in contributing to standards development and sharing information about best practices. ZiRA was built, starting about a decade ago, using The Open Group’s ArchiMate® modeling language.

ArchiMate provides the ability to create diagrams or pictures that explain the relationships among concepts and that this, in turn, improves communication and therefore understanding of complex ideas related to the architecture of enterprises, in this case the hospital enterprise.

Effective standards are essential to the establishment of information exchange in healthcare and this, in turn, is necessary to improve healthcare delivery and healthcare outcomes. When each hospital adopts its own preferred terminology and proprietary approach to describing the systems that support clinical care, significant barriers form against efforts to exchange health information effectively. We discuss this issue further at the end of this blog, in the context of a health care interoperability use case.

Without information flow, complex and expensive crosswalks and mapping exercises must be performed simply to correlate such basic yet essential data as individual patient identifiers. Data sharing agreements are equally costly and challenging to implement, as fundamental concepts and terminology must be exhaustively defined to ensure comprehensive mutual understanding between parties. Extensive reliance on such efforts at translation between proprietary systems also tend to be quite brittle and tedious to maintain.

How A Reference Architecture Benefits Communication

When a Hospital Reference Architecture such as ZiRA is adopted, a foundation is established to help hospital enterprises bridge challenges of communication between disparate internal and external systems. Nictiz established the foundation for this common basis of understanding by defining a “Five-Layer Interoperability Model”, as shown in Figure 2. Definition of standard terminology and explicitly related concepts helps advance common understanding within and between hospitals. For example, agreement on the meaning of “Business Functions,” “Services,” “Business Processes,” and “Business Activities,” helps reduce opportunity for ambiguity or misinterpretation.

Figure 2. Nictiz Five-Layer Interoperability Model

ZiRA further expands on the standard concepts expressed by Nictiz in the metamodel displayed in Figure 3. Here we see that reliance on The Open Group ArchiMate® modeling language, an international standard, is a key strategic success factor for ensuring the effectiveness of ZiRA. 

The ZiRA illustrates, with rich context from the healthcare industry, how adoption of The Open Group standards helps assure that a reference architecture is directly consumable by Enterprise Architecture practitioners, not only within the healthcare industry, but across all industry verticals and domains.

Using the same concepts from the ArchiMate standard across hospitals facilitates common understanding and makes it easier to compare differences when, for example when a merger is considered or systems need to collaborate to support care shared along the healthcare continuum.

Figure 3. ZiRA Metamodel

A ZIRA Use Case: Interoperability

ZiRA presents a conceptual and practical framework for undertaking a wide variety of hospital improvement objectives. It provides a common frame of reference and a unified modeling language uslng the ArchiMate standard. It promotes collaboration among participating hospitals via standardization, sharing best practices, and accelerating architecture and agile development processes. Of particular note is the objective to expand the establishment of interoperability in the healthcare chain between and among hospitals, health information networks (HINs), and a host of other providers.

Read More: The Open Group TOGAF 9 Combined Part 1 and Part 2 (OG0-093)

Interoperability, or rather the lack of it, is an international challenge, primarily involving difficulties in establishing data sharing agreements and in resolving data ownership and translation obstacles between and even within healthcare organizations. In the United States, “information blocking” has become such a challenge that legislative mandates such as the US Office of National Coordinator of Health IT’s 21st Century Cures Act have been adopted that require covered entities to support interoperability. Other countries have established similar rules and regulations. In such a climate, a ZiRA success story based on more effective collaboration provides valuable insights that other countries and other health systems might learn from.

Source: opengroup.org

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3 ways that Agile processes can streamline programme management

Executing even one project successfully can be a challenge, so when it comes to handling entire programmes of projects, it is imperative we use all the tools available to us in order to succeed. We must arm ourselves with all the required resources, a skilled and committed team of project professionals, as well as unfailing support and buy-in from stakeholders and sponsors. Yet even with these elements in our toolkit, we may hit roadblocks.

One of the biggest issues programme managers identify is a lack of consistency

When it comes to carrying out project activities, teams are often siloed, especially if being a part of a bigger, coordinated programme is unfamiliar territory for them. Internal silos, each working in their own way, results in poor communication, inconsistent outcomes, and delays due to reworks.

In order to overcome this, organisations must look to implement a shared set of practices and processes to get teams on the same page and projects running in a uniform manner. Using a methodology such as PRINCE2 Agile can be an ideal solution if lack of consistency is preventing you from achieving the results you want. PRINCE2 Agile is a proven methodology in project and programme management, and implemented across the board can help you reach a higher level of project success, and even streamline your programme management.

How a consistent approach can help

Consistency lends itself well to managing multiple projects. Programme management is demanding, but utilising a consistent methodology can help you to streamline your projects, making the path to success smoother. PRINCE2 Agile combines the clearly defined framework of PRINCE2 with the flexibility and responsiveness of agile. Here’s how Agile processes can help:

Regular retrospectives will keep work focussed

A key element of the Agile approach is conducting retrospectives. Often used in scrum and Agile methodologies, retrospectives are meetings held at the end of an iteration or sprint which allow the team to reflect before moving on. By looking back at what worked well, and identifying areas for improvement, you can take action and advance processes going forward. Retrospectives help project teams regain focus, and they encourage continuous improvement, resulting in better outcomes!

Smart use of resources will prevent delays

Agile practices allow projects to be just that – agile! Within PRINCE2 Agile, plans are laid out but not set-in-stone! The methodology values adaptability and responsiveness. This is of great importance in programme management, where clever use of resources can have a major impact, preventing delays and reducing conflict. Smart use of resources may include things such as consolidating tasks across a programme, or redeploying staff to help in other areas. Being agile and flexible will streamline projects, driving them to successful completions.

Utilising templates will keep projects harmonious

A top benefit to the PRINCE2 Agile methodology is that it provides practices and processes to work by. As we’ve established, a lack of consistency can result in costly delays, reworks, and miscommunication. So, by utilising templates within your programme management, you set a standard for the work being carried out. Afterall, starting everything from the ground up is not the best use of time, especially when templates can provide well-established foundations for teams to work from. Using templates across the board saves doubling up on work unnecessarily and, importantly, keeps things consistent and projects working harmoniously.

Source: prince2.com

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Planning to Take the TOGAF 9 Certification? Here Are the Best Tips

A TOGAF 9 certification is a feather in the cap for any IT professional and may help them improve their career prospects.

The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) is a framework that provides enterprises with a high-level approach to designing, planning, implementing, and maintaining their IT architecture. It was developed by The Open Group in 1995 and is used by leading IT organizations to improve their business efficiency.

What Is TOGAF 9 Certification?

TOGAF 9 is an industry-standard framework and methodology for enterprise architecture, including business architecture, IT architecture, and security architecture. TOGAF 9 Certification demonstrates that you know the TOGAF standard and can apply the TOGAF standard to developing and using your enterprise architecture.

TOGAF 9 certification needs passing a two-part exam. Anyone can take these TOGAF 9 certification exams, and no pre-requisites are required. You have to pass both exams to obtain your TOGAF 9 certification.

What to Expect in the TOGAF 9 Exams?

The TOGAF 9 exams consist of two parts. You will take both of these exams electronically, much like other graduate and professional certification exams.

TOGAF 9 Foundation Exam:

The TOGAF 9 Foundation Level - 1 part 1 asks 40 questions to be completed within 60 minutes. These questions are multiple-choice; you have to answer 55% correctly to pass.

The TOGAF 9 Foundation exam tests your knowledge of the wording and basic concepts of TOGAF 9. Enterprise architects who pass this exam show that they comprehend the core concepts of the TOGAF standard and its application to enterprise architecture.

Preparing for a TOGAF 9 Foundation Question:

TOGAF 9 Foundation questions are knowledge-based, and the exam covers almost all of the TOGAF Standard. Most students find the Foundation exam more difficult because of the detailed knowledge and the scope.

Once you comprehend the TOGAF 9 standard, look at the exam precisely like an introductory college exam. Only the course material is relevant. Keep the exam structure in mind. There will always be:

• Best Answer
• Dead Wrong Answer
• Distracting Answer

Consider the answers to remove distractors and wrong answers. Then select the best.

Tag any question you are uncertain of in the Pearson Vue software and come back to the question.

TOGAF 9 Certified Exam:

TOGAF 9 Certified Level 2 Part 2 asks 8 complex scenario questions to be completed within 90 minutes.

According to The Open Group, Level 2 goes beyond testing basic knowledge and understanding of TOGAF 9. It is created to test candidates' ability to analyze and apply knowledge of the TOGAF standard.

Both TOGAF 9 exams test your capacity to apply your knowledge of the TOGAF 9 documentation. Level 2 asks about the best method to use TOGAF in specific scenarios.

Preparing for a TOGAF 9 Certified Question:

TOGAF 9 Certified questions are application-based, and the exam is almost exclusively focused on developing and using enterprise architecture. Most students find the TOGAF 9 Certified exam easier.

Approach the exam the same manner you would like any exam. Take advantage of the fact that you can pass TOGAF Certified with the best or second-best answer.

Every TOGAF Certified question has a scenario that presents some background to what the architect is doing. Then there will be a question, which will always concentrate on something in the method.

Only the question is appropriate. Keep the exam structure in mind. There will always be:

• Best Answer
• Second Best Answer
• Poor Answer
• Dead Wrong Answer

Assess the answers to clear poor and wrong answers.

Tag any question you are unsure of in the Pearson Vue software and come back to the question.

How to Prepare for the TOGAF 9 Certification Exam?

The best way to prepare for your TOGAF 9 certification is to take the TOGAF 9 training and get the tools you need to achieve the exam on your first try. All Open Group accredited courses will include the cost of the exams themselves.

It would be best if you raised your exam preparations by studying. Good training courses should include the TOGAF 9 Study Guide, and the Study Guide consists of the official practice exams. We strongly suggest using the TOGAF 9 practice exams as a diagnostic.

You review everything you are having trouble with by connecting on-demand video-based TOGAF 9 training and the practice exam diagnostic lets.

TOGAF 9 Certification Benefits

The world’s leading enterprises use TOGAF 9 certification to ensure you know a standard body of core knowledge about enterprise architecture. TOGAF 9 certification shows your commitment to enterprise architecture as a profession to employers and peers.

Completing your TOGAF 9 certification aids ensure that you and your business comply with IT architecture industry standards.

IT architecture is overgrowing as digital transformation and new technology are developed. Achieving your certification in TOGAF 9 can show that you are using the highest level approach.

To Summing Up

Getting your TOGAF 9 certification can be straightforward, supplied you understand what to expect. TOGAF 9 certification can also be helpful to your career as an Enterprise Architect. These TOGAF 9 certifications ensure that you are prepared for both levels of the TOGAF 9 exam and make your certification on the first try.

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Project Manager vs. Scrum Master – How the Job Roles Differ

Scrum Master and Project Manager have become the latest buzzwords in the current era. For young professionals/individuals who have recently stepped into the IT industry, the job roles of Scrum Master and Project Manager seems quite similar. Both these roles are similar in their contribution to the completion of the project. Though the Project Manager and Scrum Master roles look similar, the fact is both are separate and distinct.

These two buzzwords have created chaos for the freshers aspiring to create a career in this domain as to which role they need to select to start their careers. 

Thus, prior to discussing the differences between these two roles, let’s take a clear look at the roles, responsibilities, and skills of each. This provides better clarity and understanding of the subject. 

Scrum Master- A brief explanation 

A Scrum Master is a mentor and servant-leader for Agile development teams. They assist the team including Kanban, SAFe, Extreme Programming, and Scrum to ensure whether the scrum process is being followed. They are accountable for managing information exchange between the team members.

Scrum methodology allows the team to self-organize and make necessary changes accordingly owing to Agile principles. Scrum Masters does every possible thing to aid the team to perform at its highest level. They remove all sorts of impediments hindering projects progress, facilitate meetings, and provide a high performing working environment. 

What does a Scrum Master do?

Here are a few examples of what a Scrum Master does:

◉ A Scrum Master could also be considered as a teacher as their main job role is to teach the people about agility and Scrum Master.

◉ The Scrum Master can be considered as a facilitator as they are involved in facilitating some of the scrum events such as sprint planning and sprint review. These activities just don’t mean booking rooms for meetings; instead, it means gathering observations, coaching the people for the event, and preparing for the upcoming events.

◉ A Scrum Master can be seen as a coach for customers, stakeholders, product owners, and development teams so as to assist them to get a better understanding of the scrum process.

What is not part of the Scrum Master’s Job role?

A Scrum Master job role doesn’t include the following aspects:

◉ Measuring projects progress.

◉ A Scrum Master is not involved with business requirements.

◉ Project risks, team performance, HR process, and performance management.

◉ Creating and handling project plans like project initiation, project plans, and others.

Scrum Master Roles and Responsibilities 

The Scrum Master job role doesn’t provide the authority to take strategic decisions regarding a project. It’s not the sole responsibility of the Scrum Master to handle projects progress or failure; instead, it’s the responsibility of the entire team. Their main focus is to manage the process towards project completion.

The Scrum Master role facilitates services to the following people within the organization:

Product owner 

◉ Organize scrum events upon requirement.

◉ Formulate techniques for effective product backlog management.

◉ Thoroughly understand and practice agility.

◉ The Scrum Master ensures that goals, scope, and product domains are thoroughly understood by every member of the team.

Development team 

◉ To eradicate impediments hindering the team’s progress.

◉ Facilitate scrum events upon requirement.

◉ Help the development team to create high-value products.

◉ Teach the development team in the organizations where scrum is not fully implemented.

Organization 

◉ Scrum Master assists the stakeholders and the employees to thoroughly understand and implement the scrum process.

◉ They are considered as a change agent to increase the productivity of the team. 

◉ Scrum Master takes part in scrum implementation within the organization.

◉ The Scrum Masters work closely with other Scrum Masters to improve scrum applications in the organization.

Here are a few responsibilities of Scrum Master:

◉ The Scrum Master ensures that a good rapport is developed between the product owner, members within the team, and outside the team as well.

◉ Protects the team from distractions and interruptions.

◉ The Scrum Masters are responsible for creating a work environment wherein the teams can perform effectively.

Challenges faced by Scrum Master

◉ Handling role expectations 

At times, managing the expectations of upper management is indeed confusing to the Scrum Master, which makes their life a little harder. It should be understood that Scrum Master is a mentor for the team, a process follower, and for the organization as well.

◉ Lacking Agile training for the teams

The major issue faced by a Scrum Master is to ensure all the team members have basic level of Agile training. 

◉ Distributed teamwork 

When the team is geographically distributed, there arises like cultural/regional issues, different time zone, and network issues. In fact, it is quite difficult to get connected to all the team members at a single stretch.

◉ Conflict to changes

Scrum Master is considered as the change agent while considering any scrum implementations. Resistance to changes is not a matter of surprise. In fact, it’s expected upon introducing a new change in the process.

◉ Maintaining a time-boxed process 

When implementing sprints, it should be noted that all the activities undertaken should be accomplished within the given time. 

For instance: let’s consider the daily scrum events. It should not exceed more than 15 minutes. But it can be seen that the team starts discussing the impediments, be it technical issues or anything else, and gradually the meeting extends.

Skills required to become a Scrum Master

Scrum Master requires certain essential skills to progress in their career. In order to become a proficient Scrum Master, here are few Scrum Master skills to consider:

◉ Remove Impediments and keep the team on the progress path

The main target of the Scrum Master is to keep the team members on progress track and find out the impediments hindering their work quality. Work distractions can be like work environment, unnecessary meetings, and procedural complexity

◉ Coaching capabilities 

An efficient Scrum Master should be capable of explaining WHY and HOW everyone in the team should be involved. Only a great scrum coach knows the strengths and weaknesses of the team. They assist the team members through self-organizing teams, project tracking, creating project vision, and executing simple methodologies.

◉ Growth Mindset and agility 

When implementing new ideas at the organizational level, setbacks and failures are quite common. The Scrum Master must educate the team to accept the setbacks and keep learning from it. 

Unlike agility, persistence is yet another skill for the Scrum Master. Its their duty to ensure that all the team members attend the meeting. Maintaining regular persistence help the team to accomplish its goals.

◉ Servant leadership and optimism

Having optimism in the work environment improves the efficiency of the team members. The main role of the Scrum Master is to motivate the team members to give their best results to the company by minimizing their weaknesses.

Project manager- A brief explanation

Project management is considered to be the most complex field in the industry. The best part of getting into this profession is, there is no space for boredom. 

A project manager plays a lead role during the entire project phase starting from initiation, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing a project. They are responsible for defining the project scope, forming a team, and resources.

To put it in simple words, a project manager is considered to be the champion of the project. He provides the overall vision and scope of the project to their team members and keeps their focus fixed on the same. They ensure that the project gets sufficient resources and manages good rapport with the stakeholders. A project manager is responsible for the success or failure of the project.

“By 2027, it is estimated that approximately 22 million will be added to the industry by 2027 by generating 88 million jobs worldwide, which in turn represents 33% growth in the industry.”

If you aspire to pursue a career in project management, let’s take a look at the various roles and responsibilities of a project manager in the below section.

Project Manager Roles and Responsibilities 

By taking look at the complexity of the project starting from its inception till completion, the project managers have the potential to shape the project success, helps to reduce the cost incurred, enhanced profit, and maximize efficiency. 

The responsibilities of a project manager vary based on the organization and type of projects you are tasked with.

Responsibilities of a project manager typically include the following:

◉ Time management 

During the completion of any project, adhering to deadlines is vital for the success of a project. When the requirements come for a project, they are responsible for communicating with the concerned department stakeholders to ensure the project is completed on time.

◉ Budget

Project managers are given the responsibility of devising the budget and adhere to it accordingly. If certain phases of the project cost more, then PMs will be responsible for re-allocating the funds wherever required. 

◉ Documentation

It is the responsibility of the project manager to measure the success of the project and it is being developed as planned in the planning phase. There are a few strategies to include while documenting a project such as verbal and written communication skills and data collection process.

◉ Maintenance 

Even after the completion of a project, there needs to be a perfect plan for maintenance. They are accountable for devising proper maintenance techniques, though not taking look at the day-to-day operations.

Challenges faced by the Project Manager

The major task of the project managers is to handle various projects and ensure that project is accomplished with positive outcomes adhering to deadlines. Nevertheless, there are certain issues that can affect the progress of the work, be it internal or external issues. 

Apart from having the capability to complete the work managing deadlines and handle resources, one must also be capable enough to handle challenges that might hinder the progress of a project. 

Let’s take a look at the few of the challenges that a project manager can expect to encounter while the project is in progress:

◉ Organizational issues

The major issue for a project manager will always be with the enterprise. At times, the organization may not clearly define goals/objectives, this in turn becomes a major problem for the project managers in the long run. 

◉ Keeping the team on the same phase 

Managing a globally spread out team is one of the biggest challenge for project managers. Managing all of them on the phase will let all the members of the team know about the latest updates within the team, where they are lacking behind, and what they are working towards.

◉ Managing expectations 

Being in a team means, each one in the team should know others expectations. Having a clear idea about each other’s expectations will make the team much easier to reach the planned goals. Having regular meetings and discussions within the team will help to overcome critical issues like project deadlines, availability of resources. 

◉ Indistinct goals and objectives 

The key to project success is well-defined goals. Having unclear goals and objectives in a project can easily push a project into danger. The project manager and the team together will have to face chaos and confusion, when they are not aware of “what”, “when”, and “,” why” of the project.

Shared skills/attributes of a Scrum Master and a Project Manager

There is a certain generic list of skills and characteristics shared by the Scrum Master and project manager. Here are a few of them:

◉ Well Organized

Both the Scrum Master and project manager should be well-organized and capable of handling their work efficiently.

◉ Communication

Professionals working in these job roles should possess excellent communication skills to communicate effectively with the stakeholders, team members, suppliers, users, customers, management, and many others.

◉ Leadership 

Leadership is the most important skill to consider for both roles. Nonetheless, the type of leadership varies according to the job role. For a project manager, it is essential to have great leadership skills such as directing people towards progressive paths in a project and motivating people. On the other hand, the Scrum Master is a servant leader and manages organizational growth in agility.

Take a look at the differences between a Scrum Master and a Project Manager

To know how these two job roles work together in large projects, consider the key differences:

PARAMETERS	PROJECT MANAGER	SCRUM MASTER
Goals	A project manager has a specific set of goals like timely completion of project, scope, and planned budget.	A Scrum Master ensures that proper Agile practices are inculcated to the entire team. They coach the team to accomplish the task within the given deadline
Quality assurance	A project manager knows the significance of quality but unaware of how to accomplish it. That’s the reason why a consultant is hired to fix the issues.	Scrum Master also knows the significance of quality and takes every measure to assure quality.
Team	Project managers prefer to work in large teams with a huge budget. Thus, they are promoted as program managers.	A Scrum Master always prefers to work with a team irrespective of budget.
Number of tasks	A project manager has to handle multiple projects at a single stretch to accomplish a project successfully and align with the business objectives.	A Scrum Master has to handle one project team at a time.
Knowledge	A project manager should be well-versed in planning, execution, monitoring, and closure of a project to make a project successful.	A Scrum Master should have sound knowledge of scrum and should serve as a good coach to the team.
Industry	A project manager works on different projects belonging to different industries.	A Scrum Master works specifically related to the IT industry or any other allied industry.
Certification	A project manager requires Prince 2 certification or PMP.	A Scrum Master should have CSPO/CSM certification issued by Scrum Alliance.
Reporting	A project manager reports to stakeholders/clients.	A Scrum Master usually reports to the product owner.

Source: invensislearning.com

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Roles and Responsibilities of a Project Manager in the Finance Industry

The finance domain is considered as an essential aspect of project management as every project needs to be meticulously planned considering budget constraints. Thus, the project manager should possess necessary budgeting skills, which allow them to assign a cost to various areas of the project.

The finance related organization encompasses risks, and managing those risks should be diligent enough and in the utilization of resources as well. People playing a prominent role in the field must be competent and skilled enough. They must be capable of monitoring the work carefully and complete the work on time.

However, a skilled project manager can create a considerable difference when handling finance projects and assure a higher level of productivity within the team. Finance project managers are the most sought after in organizations as they are proficient at completing the projects within the given timeline and budget. 

Want to know more about financial project managers

A finance project manager is a new role within the organization’s finance department. They are accountable for making suitable plans, technology improvements, and handling finance-related activities. People responsible for project management in the finance domain/people managing finance-related operations supervise from planning till implementation and assures on-time completion of projects with an assigned budget. This job role requires a proper balance of organization skills, financial expertise, and the ability to set schedules.

Financial project managers are responsible for the financial health of an enterprise. They are responsible for direct investment activities, financial reports, and develop strategies considering long-term/continuing financial goals. 

Essential skills

Let’s explore what are all the key skills required for a finance project manager will involve:

◉ Communication skills 

An efficient project manager should be a skilled communicator and should be able to thoroughly communicate with executives and team members across various departments and justify complex financial transactions. 

◉ In-depth knowledge of financial analysis

Knowledge is the primary differentiator that can decide who can be hired for a particular role. Project managers in this domain need to have extensive knowledge in financial management, and they will always be preferred for the job role.

◉ Interpersonal skills 

Being a project manager in the finance department, you need to connect with a lot of people across various departments such as suppliers, bankers, investors, etc. Thus, you need to have strong assertiveness and interpersonal skills. 

◉ Team coordination 

Coordinating with cross-functional teams is essential for an accomplished finance project manager. It is because projects involve sales, accounting, and other project-related activities. 

◉ Detail-oriented

While preparing income statements and balance sheets, the financial managers should be detailed and attentive/intent to their work to avoid errors.

Duties and responsibilities

The financial project manager’s job role is indeed a challenging task. They thoroughly analyze the financial data prepared by the accountants, monitor the financial status of the organization, and implement financial status. 

The key responsibilities of a financial project manager are:

◉ Financial planning 

Financial planning involves preparing and supervising the organization’s financial plan that projects expenditures and revenues, long-term investments, and cash flow. They should be able to come up with cost-benefit analysis concerning projects across various departments, thereby identifying cash flow and revenue where it could be improved. 

◉ Scheduling and organizing

Scheduling and handling project timelines is a vital aspect of the financial project manager’s duties. They work in correlation with the team members and the department managers to implement project timelines and ensure that the team meets milestones all through the project lifecycle. It’s the responsibility of the successful project manager to prevent delays and make sure that deliverables are completed as per the schedule. 

◉ Budget management

Finance project managers are skilled with budgeting skills and financial management to assist the teams in completing the project, considering the budget, and oversee the organization’s financial performance. An effective manager handles revenue and expenditure to make well-informed decisions about emerging opportunities and areas for improvement.

◉ Team leadership

The primary task of finance project managers is to develop and work with cross-functional teams. They coordinate across various departments and motivate the staff members to complete the projects considering external and internal deadlines. 

◉ Efficiency improvements

Project managers look for methods to improve the overall efficiency and performance of the project. This means coming up with cost-saving opportunities at the enterprise level. They ascertain the areas for improvement and identify solutions to avoid project delays and help a company to meet its cash flow goals. 

Education, training & certifications 

Financial project managers should possess a bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting, and finance. 

In fact, many employers seek candidates with a Master’s degree, particularly in economics, business administration, accounting, and finance. These programs help the students to progress analytical skills, financial methods, and software. 

On the other hand, experienced financial project managers can become Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) having the accuracy of the organization’s financial reporting. 

Industry-recognized project management certification courses are essential for aspiring financial project managers to demonstrate their understanding of various methodologies, frameworks, and best practices. 

Salary 

The average annual pay of a Financial Project manager is approximately $104,862 /year. The pay depends on various factors like education, training, industry, geographic location, and experience level. 

Source: Zip recruiter

Career prospects

Candidates with proficiency in finance and accounting, and particularly those with add-on certifications or master’s degree, enjoy the best career prospects in the industry. Having a thorough understanding of international and complex financial documents is indeed essential. 

Financial Managers – Employment Project Data, 2018-28

Occupational Title	Employment, 2018	Projected Employment, 2028	Change, 2018-28
Financial managers	653,600	758,300	16(Percent)	104,700(Numeric)

Source: collegegrad

Source: invensislearning.com

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How does a 4 day work-week affect productivity?

There has been an increased demand for 4 day work-weeks amongst employees. The pandemic has caused a rethink, and along with hybrid and remote working, working less hours is topping the wishlist for many professionals – it is apparent we are still striving for that elusive work-life balance!

Here we look at the options for working fewer hours, and the effects it may have on productivity. We’ll also weigh up the pros and cons of reduced hours, both from a business’ point of view and from the employee’s perspective. Read on…

Work less, achieve more

Shortened work weeks may take various forms. In some cases, it will be as simple as working a full day less – e.g. working 32 hours a week rather than 40. Others will condense five days into four – e.g. work four long 10-hour shifts. And some may reduce their hours by say 20%, and stretch the length of their days.

However you do it, there are extensive benefits to working four day weeks, which we’ll come onto shortly, but first, let us tell you about one of the largest work-week studies recently published by Autonomy…

The Icelandic Government trials a shorter working week

Iceland has been looking at the effects of shortening the work week, conducting trials over the last eight years. Thousands of participants (over 1% of Iceland’s entire working population) from various jobs and industries had their hours cut from 40 hours to 32 – 36 hours per week, with no reductions to pay. During the trials, the impact on both employees and their organizations were taken into account. Data was collected on a range of indicators including wellbeing, performance, and work-life balance.

The results: It quickly became glaringly obvious that worker wellbeing dramatically increased. Stress and burnout plummeted, and the health effects were hugely positive. So too were the productivity outcomes. Productivity was maintained or even improved for the majority of workplaces!

“The quantitative and qualitative data surveyed provides important real world evidence of the benefits of working time reduction, disarming worries about falling productivity and bolstering claims of improved worker wellbeing.”

There was a fear that employees would ‘cheat’ the trials by working in their own time to make up for lost hours, but that was not found to be the case, and workers were genuinely able to work shorter weeks whilst maintaining productivity. In many cases, they did so by improving efficiencies, although workplace happiness and motivation are sure to have factored into improving output too.

“To be able to work less while providing the same level of service, changes in the organisation of work therefore had to be implemented. Most commonly, this was done by rethinking how tasks were completed: shortening meetings, cutting out unnecessary tasks, and planning shifts arrangements.”

Should we all be working a 4 day week?

The results speak for themselves, but implementing a shorter work-week is not without its hurdles. Some companies may find that staff absence on 1 day of the week is detrimental to business, particularly where issues are time-sensitive and job sharing is not a viable solution. Research from Gallup has found that active disengagement spikes and workers who are already feeling disconnected from their company become more likely to drift further away if they work fewer days. As well as this, there is potential for teamwork to suffer. As employees become so focussed on completing their tasks in a tighter timeframe, collaboration can go out the window.

From an employee perspective, there is the risk that work will bleed into days off – Sunday evenings may end up being spent preparing for the week, and Thursday afternoons may become stressful when the reality hits that you have 1 less day to get through your workload. Likewise, your employer will need to be respectful of your time off and not treat it as though you are ‘on-call’. That said, these are relatively minor hurdles to overcome; teething problems which would be corrected over time.

The benefits of a 4 day work-week

Long weekends and bank holidays can leave us feeling refreshed and recharged, and are something we all look forward to. So why not experience these feelings every week?!

Three days off can help busy workers to bring a better sense of balance to their lives. It opens up time to pursue hobbies, spend time with family, and follow our passions – perhaps even building up skills for career progression too. It presents an opportunity to rest more fully too, in turn improving our mental well-being.

Compressing working hours into four days has further knock-on effects too. From lessening our carbon footprints by reducing commuting, to savings on childcare costs. In this example, a couple report that their shortened week allows their young children to go into childcare 1 less day, equating to a £400 a month saving!

Similarly, from the employer’s point of view, a more recharged staff has fantastic effects on motivation, engagement and workplace satisfaction. Happier staff are sure to be more content in their work and you will likely see improved rates of retention as a result. A four day work-week has been shown to lift employee wellbeing and reduce burnout, and can have a huge impact, reducing the number of sick days taken. Finally, offering a four day week will even attract new talents, who have shorter work-weeks on their job wishlist!

Rounding up

There is strong evidence to suggest that:

a) A four day work-week is topping employees’ wishlists – A survey of American workers showed a whopping 83% would prefer a four-day workweek. And employees who work a four day work-week rate their overall lives better.

b) Productivity is not reduced by working a shorter week – The extensive studies in Iceland have shown that productivity remains stable, and even improved for some teams, when cutting the 5 day work-week by a day.

c) Working a 4 day week correlates to better wellbeing – A shorter week allows for more downtime, which in turn improves focus, engagement and productivity, as well as happiness in the workplace. Contented staff improve the workplace culture as a whole.

Reducing the working week is not viable in every profession, and it will not suit everyone. If you can’t arrange a 4 day work-week at your company, at least be sure to take your holiday days. Evidence shows that employees are not taking half of their holiday days, and many of us are guilty of working even when we have a day off. Not getting enough restful time off work is a proven cause of burnout, which is not only detrimental to the company, but to individual’s wider health too.

It is evident that momentum is mounting for a four day work-week and we are sure to see further trials rollout. Watch this space!

Source: prince2.com

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The IT4IT™ Standard Streamlines Plug-and-Play Adoption of Business Tools

Imagine a technology implementation strategy that works harmoniously for both you as the customer and your suppliers. Whether you’re an Enterprise Architect, Digital Practitioner, Sponsor, or Vendor, it’s not as impossible as it seems when you’re utilizing the IT4IT™ Reference Architecture, a standard of The Open Group and a game-changing foundation for digital systems professionals.

We set out to solve the most common and most costly implementation issues, which include managing a complex landscape of different processes and tools, multi-vendor integration, automation, and end-to-end support.

For tool vendors and suppliers, the solution means enabling a plug-and-play implementation of their tools, driving the ease of adoption of their products, and ultimately increasing revenue opportunities.

For Digital Practitioners and other customers, solutions ensure that new tools can be easily plugged into a multi-vendor end-to-end tool chain in support of specific value streams or even the entire digital product delivery pipeline, improving interoperability across the ecosystem, reducing costs, avoiding outages, and enabling business process automation.

Benefits and Outcomes

Establishing the IT4IT Reference Architecture as the standard that your suppliers must meet removes lengthy discussions of “how” to integrate and makes the on-boarding and off-boarding of suppliers faster, easier, and more cost-effective on both sides.

Enterprise Architects, Digital Practitioners, Sponsors, and Vendors report increased success and satisfaction when collaborating across standardized systems and interfaces that seamlessly share data. Deploying new tools is faster, more automated, and offers better end-to-end system insights and measurements. With improved communication and support between multiple vendors, integration requires less effort and costs less to maintain, allowing vendors the opportunity for increased business.

Also, developing a clear vision of the target tool integration landscape supports both a given value stream and the entire value chain, allowing businesses greater agility when it’s time to adopt new practices and tools, e.g. DevOps, CI/CD, GitOps.

Identifying Key Challenges

Before we could identify solutions, we evaluated specific challenges from multiple stakeholder perspectives finding unanimous dissatisfaction with integration becoming expensive and cumbersome for both customers and suppliers.

Sponsors struggle with agility, unable to easily adapt to changes in business demand. Often redundancies occur across multiple tool vendors causing unnecessary cost increases and significantly reducing ROI. They also lack automated end-to-end flow of information, making it difficult to generate strategic business insight for decision-making.

Enterprise Architects waste time inefficiently integrating data across value streams with overlapping capabilities, with no industry standard common data model, and no ability to automate.

Digital Practitioners are left with unreliable, incompatible, or incomplete data, and are resistant to integrate a new supplier or tool due to the risk, complexity, and expense.

Meanwhile, the vendors seeking to offer solutions are faced with evaluating and rationalizing this messy portfolio of product offerings and are therefore not well equipped to convince a client that they can help enable their success.

Clearly all stakeholders would benefit by moving away from proprietary platforms and siloed solutions for specific processes and functions.

Implementing Solutions

Utilizing the IT4IT standard as a blueprint helps deliver a consolidated, modern, and automation-ready tool chain that accelerates flow, lowers the cost and complexity of digital product delivery, and enables an efficient exchange of data across the tooling landscape.

Customers and Digital Practitioners use the IT4IT standard to analyze and assess the current state of their tooling integration landscape, identifying gaps and overlaps in each tool’s functionality and interface, and enabling them to better understand the most effective ways to evolve their digital strategy with the needs of their business. They can improve transparency, traceability, and broad awareness of the data flows between teams and their tools, such as to existing vendors and tooling, to bottlenecks that need scaling and automation, to self-service/self-healing capability offerings, and for where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) could be utilized.

Vendors can offer standardized interfaces and data models in their toolsets based on the IT4IT Reference Architecture which provide for more automation and speedier delivery with more consistent, reliable information.

When decision-makers strategically engage with tool vendors that adhere to an industry standard data model, they ensure improved consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness for all stakeholders.

Source: opengroup.org

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The IT4IT™ Reference Architecture is a Digital Product Blueprint for Cost Savings and Automation

How many failed and de-railed technology solution implementations has your company been through? It’s past time to reevaluate your digital transformation strategy. Become the hero of your business by implementing a standardized operational backbone that saves money, automates processes, and reduces the waste and friction in your current technology solutions to keep you moving forward ahead of your competitors efficiently and effectively.

Enterprise Architects, Digital Practitioners, Release Chain Engineers, Release Chain Managers, Digital Product Development Teams, and CIOs may relate to many of today’s most common challenges, such as when moving to the cloud, deploying Agile or DevOps, undergoing a digital transformation, or moving to a product-centric operating model. It may seem inevitable to suffer through the risk and pain of fragmentation, redundancy, insufficient structure, error-prone manual processes, and a general lack of understanding across the value chain. Reaching agility, scalability, and extensibility is possible when rationalization, standardization, and automation are the foundation of your processes.

The IT4IT™ Reference Architecture, a standard of The Open Group, is a game-changing foundation for digital systems professionals. It provides prescriptive guidance to design, source, and manage services across a full range of value chain activities. It’s a blueprint for increasing operational efficiency so that a company can deliver maximum value for the least possible cost with the most predictability. It may sound too good to be true, so we’ll explain how it’s done and why we’re so confident.

The Open Group completed case studies from a cross-section of vertical industries, including Oil and Gas, Finance and Insurance, and the Technology sector, which show how they have used the IT4IT Reference Architecture to add value to their businesses with automation projects, streamlining software and service portfolios, and transforming to more agile, digital working models.

Known Benefits

It’s been said, “an hour of planning can save you ten hours of doing,” but only when you have a proven and effective strategy.

Digital systems teams running on the IT4IT engine reap large rewards in cost savings and automation freeing up valuable resources for continuous innovation. Especially for teams that act as integrators to multiple suppliers, by having an effective “how” discussion at the start, everyone will benefit from removing costly, time-consuming, and error-prone implementations.

With IT4IT usage at the core, CIOs demonstrate that providing a consolidated, modernized, and automated tool chain which accelerates the adoption of digital transformation while reducing costs isn’t a myth. Release Chain Managers efficiently build an integrated set of tools to facilitate digital product delivery. Digital Product Development Teams seamlessly co-create a target architecture with the business. And with all this success, team members experience less stress, more job satisfaction, and are less likely to quit during an implementation which is even more valuable in today’s challenging job market.

Identifying Challenges, Analyzing Data, and Finding Solutions

Reaching this technology Utopia requires taking a hard and honest look at your current processes and systems. You might find a surprising lack of understanding of the tooling landscape, hidden potential issue areas, poor training plans for demonstrating how digital product tools are integrated with other tools, redundant capabilities, and the potential for these cost-draining issues to occur again and again as your business evolves. What Enterprise Architects, Digital Practitioners, Release Chain Engineers, Release Chain Managers, Digital Product Development Teams, and CIOs have in common is their need to demonstrate that there is effective control of the investment, in both time and money, including the ability to bring in or retire tools with little disruption.

Reliable solutions begin by using the IT4IT Standard. The multi-step process begins with rationalization by creating a structured inventory of your current tools and plotting them against their capabilities and functional components. This includes components such as the application type, estimated costs, user base, value stream and capability map, and scoring the strategic fit, value, risk, and customer satisfaction. Refer to our full case study for a value stream and capability mapping example.

The initial analysis will highlight your business’ key challenges and gaps. Often the most critical find is in multiple tools supporting the same capability which has a direct negative impact on cost and complexity. Whether redundant or not, you may also identify capabilities that are poorly supported either due to their custom-built structure or the number of manual activities required, such as in testing and deployment. Existing tools may also lack the integrations required for data flows between the data objects they host. These findings are extremely common, and many are solvable.

Once analyzed, your business will create a vision of the target tool chain based on a new target technology operating model. This starts by identifying your digital technology management strategy and vision and identifying key gaps that need addressing, including where DevOps may enable improvements in productivity and effectiveness. You’ll explore how you might enable the building blocks for innovation, agility, scalability, and extensibility, deliver self-service, and leverage new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). In the process, you’ll identify existing strategic tools and vendors and opportunities for rationalizing or simplifying your tooling landscape. The result is more integrated and automated processes and support systems which accelerate the flow of work and create transparency and traceability across value streams.

Long-term Outcomes

Businesses worldwide of all sizes and industries using the IT4IT standard report that the benefits are ongoing during and after implementation. The most common long-term benefits include improved support of agile and digital transformation, improved efficiency, and improved effectiveness. Costs are reduced through fewer manual activities, removal of redundancies, and a higher degree of collaboration and information exchange. The insight gained during this process through data transparency will make your business more competitive by ensuring easier adoption of new practices and tools as your business evolves.

Experience the benefits for yourself. If you are an Enterprise Architect, Digital Practitioner, Release Chain Engineer, Release Chain Manager, a CIO, or a member of a Digital Product Development Team, contact us today to learn how tool rationalization and standardization through the IT4IT Reference Architecture can support the building and implementation of your winning strategy.

Source: opengroup.org

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A Complete Overview of What is ITIL Certification?

IT services and service providers are the heart of any company, big or small. Without them, it is not possible to run a company in this digital world where everything and everyone is connected. Managing these IT services is a daunting task considering the scale of implementation and usage. That’s where ITIL comes to the rescue.

History of ITIL

ITIL is an abbreviation for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. It was developed by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency in Norwich for the British government in the 1980s as a response to the increasing dependence of various firms on IT. In the absence of industry-wide standard practices, the government and private companies had created and were following their own IT service management processes.

Basic Concepts of ITIL

ITIL is a collection of best practices in detail that suggests the different paths and techniques which can be used by an IT professional or service provider to manage themselves in such a way to provide the best service possible. It provides a systematic set of processes, which can be used as a reference to solve the problems which arise.

It had its origins as a set of books published in 1989, with each one covering a specific topic in IT service management. After the initial publication from 1989-96, the total number of books in the ITIL Version1 grew to over 30 volumes.

Evolution of ITIL

In the year 2000-01, the ITIL V1 was replaced by V2, which consolidated the 30 volumes into 9 logical sets, which grouped the books in an organized manner. In 2007, the V2 was replaced by the ITIL Version 3, in which the books were grouped into just 5 volumes. This version is now known merely as the ITIL 2007 Edition. The governing body for ITIL is AXELOS. AXELOS is a joint venture company, created in 2013 by the Cabinet Office on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) in the United Kingdom and Capita Plc, to manage, develop and grow the Global Best Practice portfolio.

ITIL certification takes a modular approach towards the ITIL framework and is made up of a series of qualifications that are focused on various aspects of the best practices of ITIL in varying degrees of depth and detail. Since the qualification has several tiers, the candidates who are pursuing it can have a lot of flexibility with regard to the different disciplines and areas of ITIL. This allows them to focus mainly on the key areas of interest.

Levels Of ITIL Certification

The 5 levels of ITIL certification are:

1. ITIL Foundation Level

It is an entry-level certification offering a general awareness of the key elements, basic concepts, and technologies used in the ITIL service lifecycle. There are no prerequisites for this certification, and anyone can appear for the exam. This certification covers all 5 areas of the service lifecycle including the linkage between different stages of the ITIL lifecycle.

2. ITIL Practitioner Level

The next stage after Foundation is the Practitioner. It was developed to bridge the gap between the Foundation and Intermediate levels. It is the latest entry in the ITIL certification program, and the exam was conducted for the first time in 2016.

3. ITIL Intermediate Level

The Intermediate Level stage is modular, with every module focusing on a different aspect of IT Service Management. The modules can be classified as Service Lifecycle or Service Capability modules.

4. ITIL Expert Level

The Expert Level qualification is an advanced certification that covers in detail all the processes and practices across all disciplines of ITIL. This qualification is a prerequisite for the ITIL Master Level certification. The Expert Level certification is given to the candidates who have achieved the required credits from the Foundation, Practitioner, and Intermediate level modules and have superior knowledge and skill base in ITIL Best Practices.

5. ITIL Master Level

The Master Level in ITIL validates the ability of a person to apply the ITIL principles, methods, and techniques in the workplace or practical assignments involving real-world situations. There is no fixed syllabus or training course for this qualification since each candidate will choose a situation of their choice.

Cost of ITIL Certification

The cost of getting ITIL certification...

Course	Classroom Training (USD)	Online Training (USD)
ITIL Foundation	$ 1495	$ 1295
ITIL Service Strategy	-	$ 1495
ITIL Service Design	-	$ 1495
ITIL Service Transition	-	$ 1495
ITIL Service Operation	-	$ 1495
ITIL CSI	-	$ 1495
ITIL RCV	-	$ 2095
ITIL PPO	-	$ 2095
ITIL SOA	-	$ 2095
ITIL OSA	-	$ 2095
ITIL MALC	-	$ 2095

The total cost of the certification can be summarized as follows:

1. Via Lifecycle – $9370

2. Via Capability – $9675

Benefits of ITIL Certification

ITIL Certification provides the following benefits when the concepts of ITIL are implemented in an organization:

◉ It helps to improve services by providing ways to manage business risk and disruption of service.

◉ It helps to establish cost-effective systems to manage demand for services.

◉ It supports business change while maintaining a stable service environment.

◉ It helps to improve and develop positive relationships with your customers by delivering services that are efficient and meet their needs.

ITIL Certification Worth

◉ The highest average salary for an ITIL Foundation professional can go up to $ 130,000

◉ The highest average salary for an ITIL Intermediate professional can go up to  $150,000

◉ The highest average salary for an ITIL Expert professional can go up to $ 165,000

Source: invensislearning.com

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