Behaviour and ITIL 4

Why is behaviour a cause for concern in organizational change and improvement – and how does it relate to ITIL® 4?

Behavioural analysis has been around since the 1950s and actively used in companies since the 1970s.

Despite that, many managers today repeatedly tell employees to do things and then leave them to it. When they don’t fulfil expectations, bosses yell at them. What leaders and managers often miss is that people act on the consequences for them; when they are rewarded personally, they feel better and perform better. Yelling and scolding does not cause a specific behaviour; it can even produce undesirable behaviour!

Read More: ITIL 4 Foundation

Understanding the fundamentals of behaviour is leadership and psychology 101, before even thinking about making changes in an organization.

Behaviour and the “dead man’s test”

Behaviour is action: if we don’t have actions, we don’t accomplish anything.

This means behaviour must be active. The so-called “dead man’s test” in organizational behaviour management tells us what is active or not. For example, just being in a meeting could be done by a dead man, so it’s not active behaviour.

Such a test can be applied also to concepts such as agile: a method says “you need to be agile”, but how does that look? What is the active behaviour behind it? You “need to co-operate/collaborate/communicate”, but what is the active behaviour and how do you measure it?

Equally, a framework says you “must register incidents”. However, if it doesn’t tell you how, when and what’s in it for the employee, people can choose whether to “behave” or not.

If people understand the “why” and the consequences, then managers can begin to influence behaviour.

Behaviour and best practice frameworks

ITIL 4 is very aware of behaviour change and emphasizes it as important. For example, covering concepts such as co-operation and mindset at a high level.

However, the framework – like any framework – doesn’t make the change. In itself, it doesn’t pass the “dead man test”. This is not a criticism of ITIL, as we shouldn’t expect it necessarily to define behaviour, but it’s still knowledge we need to have. It is probably even impossible to define the actual behaviour behind ITIL 4 practices (along with practices in any model or framework), as performance (behaviour that produces results) depends on the context, organizational goals and other stuff.

When looking at the operative behaviour of people, it might achieve an end result but be either undesirable or unethical for some reason. Therefore, defining the right behaviour and looking at how to reinforce it by managing the environment and consequences is as important as producing the correct result.

Behaviour in ITIL 4

Certain types of behaviour are brought out in ITIL 4, such as servant leadership in ITIL 4 Specialist Create, Deliver and Support; communication and collaboration in ITIL 4 Specialist Drive Stakeholder Value and organizational change management in ITIL 4 Strategist Direct, Plan and Improve. Each organization must define its servant leadership and the behaviour behind it.

ITIL 4 gives you tools and possibilities but it’s people that make the actual changes and improvements. In numerous areas of ITIL, you need to work with people, mindset and organizational culture. Culture is the collective behaviour of people in the organization, but this begins with understanding individuals’ attitudes.

Practitioners need to go deeper into topics such as servant leadership to understand what their behaviour should be, i.e. being there, looking, listening and coaching people.

ITIL 4 practices and avoiding the punishment trap

Managers might think their job is to make other people change, but the job starts with them.

It takes reflection and self-knowledge to achieve personal behaviour change that then influences others. In traditional leadership styles – when leaders and managers use punishment – people might comply and the boss’ behaviour is reinforced. This is the “punishment trap” and to be avoided!

Combining better understanding of behaviour with methods like ITIL 4’s practices will lead to different discussions: not just about results, but about how people will arrive at those results. Rather than telling people what to do, asking them if they’re comfortable with a way of working and how they would do it instead builds better motivation. Knowing what a reinforcer is for each of your employees is the fundamental element for building a high-performance organization with happy people in it.

Seeking more knowledge about behaviour and how it can be used in organizations is one of the key parts we need to add to our portfolio of skills.

Source: axelos.com

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ITIL V4 update - Why & What Is The Reason? - here all you need to know

Reason for ITIL 4?

While ITIL Foundation level gives a high-level overview, and Practitioner focuses on how to practically adopt and adapt the ITIL framework and as per response from all around the world from organizations and IT professionals, ITIL helps them to improve their business and provide a better service to the customers but current era is digital era right?

Every organization or companies want to transform their businesses on digital platform, so it’s very difficult for the service provider to make new changes in their process to provide a better service for each and every new customer.

That’s why service provider adopted various framework like DevOps, Agile, Lean etc. to improve their productivity and better delivery on time and to keep up with that the new ITIL 4 is here with such adoptions and for establishing IT service management system.

What’s New in ITIL 4?

ITIL is really thinking about the future and that’s why the big change is coming in early 2019

The first major update to ITIL is announced by Peter Hepworth from AXELOS at the itSMF USA fusion 2017 conference and ITIL includes of renewed focus on following core principles:

◉ How to maintain the core principles of quality service management.

◉ Practical approach on how to use ITIL from large to small organizations.

◉ How ITIL can be used along with frameworks such as DevOps, Agile and Lean.

How is the ITIL 4 Certification scheme?

ITIL 4 has been developed to help organizations to achieve excellence in better solution provider in the increasing demand from the current complex digital environment.

The new ITIL scheme has been designed to be compatible with ITIL V3 and efficient to encourage go beyond ITIL foundation level.

The ITIL 4 Certification Scheme comprises of the following modules:

• ITIL4 Foundation
• ITIL4 Managing Professional Transition Module (Bridge Course)
• ITIL Specialist modules (3)
• ITIL4 Specialist Create Deliver and Support
• ITIL4 Specialist High-Velocity IT
• ITIL4 Specialist Drive Stakeholder Value
• ITIL Strategist
• ITIL4 Strategist Drive, Plan & Improve
• ITIL Leader
• ITIL Master

Purpose of ITIL 4 Foundation:

◉ ITIL 4 foundation will be released by Axelos in first quarter of 2019.

◉ ITIL 4 foundation is the entry level certification, offering individuals and end learners a basic awareness of the key elements, core concepts and the terminology used in ITIL 4.

◉ ITIL 4 Foundation level is aimed at entry level professionals, those who require a basic understanding of ITIL, or would like to go for higher levels within the ITIL 4 certification scheme.

◉ The main purpose of ITIL 4 is to introduce candidates to modern IT-Enabled Service Management.

 

What are the timelines of release for the itil v4 certification scheme modules?

The ITIL 4 modules will be released according to the below top-level timelines. More detailed release dates of the modules and new exams will be released to ATOs with the launch of ITIL 4 Foundation. ATOs will be provided with accreditation details, guidance and sales enablement information in sufficient time to be able to support the release of the further ITIL 4 modules.

◉ ITIL Foundation – Q1 2019

◉ ITIL Specialist modules (3) – H2 2019

◉ ITIL Strategist – H2 2019

◉ ITIL Leader – H2 2019

◉ ITIL Master – details to be released at a later date

I know you are thinking about why you are talking about ITIL4 Certification.. so lets see some interesting fact and features

Features of ITIL 4:

◉ ITIL 4 will help businesses navigate the new technological era, commonly known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The speed of current breakthroughs is disrupting almost every industry on a global scale.

◉ The Fourth Industrial Revolution is marked by emerging technology in fields including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, The Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, autonomous vehicles and much more.

◉ ITIL 4 will provide a practical and flexible basis to support organizations on their journey into the new world of digital transformation by helping them align their human, digital and physical resources to compete within the modern complex landscape and adopt this emerging technologies into their IT operations.

◉ The context of ITIL, with the release of ITIL 4 is now much bigger, with an emphasis on the business and technology world, how it works today, and how it will work in the future with Agile, DevOps and digital transformation.

◉ ITIL 4 will be much more relevant to developers, practitioners and businesses as a whole through promoting a holistic view of delivering products and services.

◉ ITIL 4 will be much more relevant to developers, practitioners and businesses as a whole through promoting a holistic view of delivering products and services.

Source: novelvista.com

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ITIL v3 vs ITIL v4, Is ITIL v3 failing to do the job?

ITIL is a framework consisting of best practices and processes that can be adopted in order to provide IT service management (ITSM)

In today’s digital era we know that every business has a dependency on Information technology and IT and IT service management is a serious job because all your people, processes and business depend whether you have IT organization, manufacturing or banking. That’s where ITIL is considered to be the perfect and most recommended framework to manage your services.

What is the name of updated ITIL4?

The updated ITIL framework will be called ITIL4. This name reflects the role ITIL4 will play in supporting individuals and organizations to navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Difference between ITIL v3 & ITIL4

In an ITIl v3 we learn that updated ITIL is more suitable for the current business environment or requirement because it has some strategic elements so that the IT service management is run along with business requirement.

On the other hand, ITIL4 is aligning with frameworks like DevOps, Agile and Lean by integrating this framework with the traditional ITSM practices to fill the gap between operational and organizational objective.

The Difference in ITIL v3 & ITIL4  core Values

ITIL v3	ITIL4
More service-oriented (Lifecycle approach to service management) Offers organized structure that adds flexibility	ITIL 4 is to provide organizations with comprehensive guidance for the management of information technology in the modern service economy.
Focuses on the full lifecycle of services, covering the entire IT firm and Clearly defines the roles and responsibilities, and reasons the role of communication in the entire lifecycle	Provide an end-to-end IT/Digital Operating Model, covering the full delivery (and sustaining) of tech-enabled products and services, guiding how IT interfaces with, and even leads, the wider business strategy

The difference - Value Vs Value co-creation

ITIL V3 2011 defined 'service' as a means of delivering value to the customer by facilitating the outcomes customer want to achieve without any ownership of specific cost or risk.

 

However ITIL 4 insists on changing the definition of Service as means of value co-creation by facilitating the outcomes customer want to achieve without any ownership of cost or risk.

Value Co – creation would not only need Service Provider contribution however equal participation and contribution from Consumers, Regulators and Suppliers.

Difference - Service lifecycle Vs Service Value System

Service Lifecycle

Service lifecycle covered five stages of service lifecycle in ITIL V3 2011. It followed more of a waterfall method. Service Strategy followed by Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operations and Continual Service Improvement.

As these lifecycle stages were often handled by separate teams and activities performed separately, it created Silo environment. That further increased the cost and slowed down the pace of IT impacting the overall Business.

Service Value System

The ITIL SVS describes how all the components and activities of the organization work together as a system to enable value creation. Each organization’s SVS has interfaces with other organizations, forming an ecosystem that can in turn facilitate value for those organizations, their customers and other stakeholders.

Service Value System defines Governance Principles as guardrails/boundaries to help the organization achieve its objectives and continually improve the services by meeting stakeholders’ expectations. To achieve set objectives, Organisations would need direction and control. This would be ensured by appropriate Governance.

To achieve set Objectives there is a need to define Service Value Chain, which would further have multiple Value Streams. Practices would be the set of organizational resources required to execute Value Stream activities. Thus SVS would help in eliminating the Silos.

Service Value Chain (V4)

An operating model which outlines the key activities required to respond to demand and facilitate value creation through the creation and management of products and services.

The six value chain activities are:

1. Plan

2. Improve

3. Engage

4. Design and transition

5. Obtain/build

6. Deliver and support

There was no specific guidance about Build in ITIL V3 2011. Service lifecycle missed the guidance for “Build” prior to starting a transition. It created a need for some guidance on “Build”. This is when Agile, Lean, DevOps and SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) were adopted by most of the companies, as guidance to address the “Build”.

To address these issues raised by Silo culture and for Service Management to function properly, ITIL4 has introduced Service Value System. IT would be interesting to see further guidance from Axelos on integration of ITIL4 with Agile, Lean, DevOps and other practices.

 

Difference - 4Ps (ITIL V3) Vs 4 Dimensions (ITIL 4)

ITIL V3 introduced 4 P’s of Service Management

1. People

2. Process

3. Product

4. Partner

 

ITIL4 introduced 4 dimensions

Organization and People

Apart from Organisation structure and detailed Roles and Responsibilities, this dimension is also providing guidance on how to manage a cultural change.

Information and Technology

This dimension is providing guidance on Information security for the entire business. It also shares insight on technologies required for Business Service Management and IT Service Management

Partners and Suppliers

This dimension is clearly differentiating between Partners and Suppliers. And also suggests to have SIAM implemented for multi-sourcing environment.

Value streams and Processes

This dimension has provided guidance on defining different value streams within processes. Value stream is defined as set of activities performed in a specific situation.

 

The difference - Processes Vs Practices

Processes

ITIL V3 introduced 5 phases of service lifecycle and total of 26 ITIL processes and 4 Functions. Focus was entirely on processes and further on only outputs not Outcomes

ITIL4 Practices

As processes were focused on only outputs they could achieve very little. ITIL 4 shifted its focus on capabilities and introduced 34 practices. 14 General Management Practices, 17 Service Management Practices and 3 Technical Management practices.

Difference between ITIL v3 & ITIL4 Certification path?

Source: Axelos

Some questions we received from ITIL v3 Experts and ITIL Practitioner?

HOW DOES ITIL V3 MAP AGAINST ITIL4?

Whilst ITIL4 retains many of the core elements of ITIL v3, and much of the existing guidance will be recognizable in parts of ITIL4, there are no direct like-for-like modules between the two certification schemes

Why ITIL4? Is ITIL v3 failing to do the job?

Let’s understand this answer from example, We all use smartphones but after a period of time, we have to change that because your device software lack to support the latest technology ultimately lack to provide full satisfaction to the customer.

This is the same issue some organizations are facing with ITIL v3 but still ITIL v3 is the best and most widely used or recommended framework for ITSM but to align with latest trends or practices like DevOps, Lean and mainly Agile, ITIL creators develop a new framework called ITIL 4 which will satisfy the customer or IT organizations requirements.

 

Will ITIL V3 certification remain valid?

The most asked question ITIL community asking is are ITIL v3 certification remains valid or not? Do not worry about that because ITIL v3 certifications will remains relevant after version 4 is released. That means ITIL practitioners who are familiar with current ITIL standards can continue to practice.

Note: The present curriculum of ITIL v3 will still remain the same as ITIL4 but ITIl4 is introducing a better examinable content. Most of the content will focus on new best practices and greater integration with other frameworks and systems, which will naturally reflect in the new ITIL4 examination

Why is there no ITIL4 Foundation Transition module?

Due to the structure of ITIL 4 Foundation, there will not be a transition module at the Foundation level. There is a large amount of new material in the ITIL 4 Foundation, therefore, a single exam is required to assess end-learners knowledge of the new ITIL 4 Foundation guidance.

ITIL Practitioner removed from the new certification scheme?

ITIL Practitioner will no longer be a separate module in the ITIL 4 certification scheme, however, the knowledge and principles from the ITIL Practitioner guidance will be fundamental to all modules in ITIL 4. Candidates can also use their ITIL Practitioner credits to continue their ITIL journey. If a candidate has collected 17 credits they will be eligible to take the ITIL Managing Professional Transition Module without taking the MALC exam.

I’ve just completed ITIL v3 Foundation certification, should I continue on ITIL journey with ITIL 4?

You should continue to achieve ITIL v3 credits under the current ITIL certification scheme now. Once you’ve achieved 17 credits, you can then formally transition your knowledge to ITIL 4 with the ITIL Managing Professional Transition Module.

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How ITIL 4 Enhances Service Management

ITIL and service management go inseparably. However, comprehend that they aren't something very similar and that the terms can't be utilized reciprocally – regardless of whether it's service management in essence or IT Service Management (ITSM). A simple method to see this is while ITIL is a collection of service management best practices, not all assistance the board depends on ITIL.

Service Management is a lot of procedures, exercises, and arrangements – for example, capacities – that IT organizations use to set up, convey, and oversee everyday IT services (and, all the more as of late, for the management of services in different lines of business, for example, (HR) as well). For IT divisions, administration conveyance, and bolster exercises need structure so as to be viable and repeatable. This is the place ITIL comes in. Since ITIL is a universally perceived system of service management best practice, with it relevant for ITSM specifically. It's right now on rendition 4 – or ITIL 4 – and this gives direction on everything from setting up your (IT) service desk to nonstop improvement.

To support your association, this blog takes a gander at eight manners by which ITIL improves administration the board and ITSM specifically.

1. Focusing on business value creation

The fundamental region of center in the most recent variant of ITIL is on offering some value. Value to the business, value to end-clients, and value to forward clients. Worth truly is upfront in ITIL 4.

In this way, ITIL 4 rotates around esteem creation as opposed to simply conveying innovation administrations. As a feature of this, it has presented these service value systems (SVS) and service value chain which take a gander at the various segments engaged with service delivery that will help to co-make a value for clients.

2. Building stronger relationships between IT and the rest of the business

Another region of center in ITIL 4 is the service relationship model to plan the connections between specialist co-ops and clients. Such service relationships are built up between elements to co-make esteem and incorporate service provision, service consumption, and service relationship management.

In ITIL 4, the service relationship model is upheld by relationship management practice. Its goal is to set up and improve the connections among IT and its partners by guaranteeing that:

Partner needs are comprehended and reflected in new administrations

The connection between IT and the remainder of the business is certain, valuable, and all around kept up

Accelerations are dealt with by a commonly concurred process.

3. Offering guidance on stakeholder mapping

Distinguishing and understanding the key players in your exercises is a key advance in any service management condition. These partners can incorporate procedure proprietors, administrators, clients, end-clients, senior administration, and outsider providers.

By having a strong partner the executives technique, your IT association can take out storehouses, make an increasingly straightforward workplace, and make more grounded commitment among IT and the remainder of the business.

4. Increased visibility of IT’s service offerings

One of the brilliant principles of ITSM is "consistently make it simple for individuals to utilize your services." ITIL assists with empowering this through the idea of a help inventory.

An assistance inventory expands the perceivability of administrations by posting what's accessible to some random piece of the business, it can go about as a statement of purpose for IT by expanding self-administration take-up, impact end-client practices with the request the executives, and advance supportive information content. It can likewise sign end-clients to logging their own episodes and administration demands.

5. The better management of business risk

ITIL 4 has a specific practice for risk management that aims to ensure that an organization recognizes and effectively manages risk.

Risk management ensures that decisions around risk are balanced such that the potential benefits are worth more to the business than the cost required to address the risk. This is done by ensuring that risks are:

Identified – that risks are identified and captured in a risk register.

Assessed – that the probability, impact, and proximity of risks are considered.

Treated – those appropriate responses to risks are taken including mitigation (for example, adding a UPS system to a data center in case of a power outage), removal (for example, investing in high-availability environments), or acceptance (for example, if the probability is so small and the costs to address the risk are prohibitively high a decision may be taken to accept the risk).

Once a risk register is in place, it can be mapped onto the service catalog such that risks can be further prioritized against live business services.

6. Improved management of the business and technical change

All changes aren’t created equal. Technical deployments need to be treated very differently from, say, people change. Luckily ITIL 4 has you covered. There are several ITIL 4 practices that manage the different types of change, including:

Organizational change management – the practice of ensuring that changes in an organization are smoothly and successfully implemented and that lasting benefits are achieved by managing the human aspects of the changes.

Change enablement – the practice of ensuring that risks are properly assessed, authorizing changes to proceed, and managing the change schedule in order to maximize the number of successful service and product changes.

Release management – the practice of making new or changed services available for use.

Service request management – which covers making small service actions that have been agreed upon as being a normal part of service delivery. Examples of service requests include moving a PC for an end user, installing an application, or granting access to a network share.

7. Facilitating continual improvement

Continual improvement is the ITIL 4 practice that looks at getting various aspects of service management better over time by making achievable improvements and then acting on feedback from the business.

In ITIL 4, continual improvement has brought in Agile concepts, advocating small bursts of improvement that are repeatable. Allowing for stability periods and then asking for and acting on feedback. It’s an improvement loop that means the service is always improving.

8. ITIL has global recognition and support

A huge benefit of ITIL per se is the level of help and support out there. As well as the official ITIL content there’s also help available via the global itSMF community, communities on social media, blogs, and webinar – the list of helpful ITIL-related guidance is endless.

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10 Tips For Problem Management Success Straight From The ITIL4 Diary

So, what does Problem Management mean exactly?

Problem management is actually one step ahead of Incident management that performs Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to identify, track, and resolve recurring incidents permanently. Problem management restricts incidents from occurring and ultimately for no incidents. Problem management can be proactive as well as reactive. In a nutshell, Problem Management is the IT Service Management (ITSM) practice that improves administration quality by forestalling repeating issues or possibly diminishing their effect. Here are ten tips that will assist your organization in delivering viable Problem Management capacity.

Here are 10 Tips for Problem Management:

Tip #1: Look at what you already have in place

Such a significant number of individuals get worried about how to begin, however, actually, you're most likely doing a type of Problem Management as of now. Do your service desk analysts help clients to introduce a reinforcement printer on the off chance that their closest one breaks? That is a "workaround"! Do your technical support teams have notes on the most generally happening issues and how to fix them? That is the start of a "known blunder database"! Start by taking a gander at what you have set up as of now and work from that point.

Tip #2: Reduce aged incidents

For whatever length of time that we've IT necessities, there'll consistently be matured episodes or occurrences that are as yet continuous route after the Service Level Agreement (SLA) target has been passed. As an IT organization, it's very simple to be so centered around firefighting the new stuff, with the end goal that the matured tickets (that are progressively hard to fix) stay in the line. In any case, take it from us, there's nothing more humiliating than being sat in a service review meeting to be gone up against with a bunch of tickets that are months, if not years, old. In this way, set aside some effort to experience your most established tickets as a component of your Problem Management endeavors.

Tip #3: Review major incidents

One potential Problem Management brisk win is to complete the root cause analysis after each significant occurrence. Because of the effect and perceivability of significant occurrences anything that sees what turned out badly, comprehends the root cause, and distinguishes both a fix and activities to forestall a repeat must be a success.

Tip #4: Tackle “frequent flyers”

Ask the service desk about the issues they see day-in-day-out. From secret key resets (can these be directed by means of self-improvement?) to month-end execution issues, take a gander at these "long-standing customers" to check whether any of them can be tended to, moderated, or automated.

Tip #5: Keep the service desk informed

Inform the service desk when you raise issues and known mistakes with the end goal that they can relate new episodes to the right issue record. While telling the service desk to incorporate the accompanying data:

Problem reference
Problem description
The support team that’s investigating
Any third-party reference or ticket details
Details of any workarounds

Tip #6: Start raising problems

Start by logging issue records to follow the "recover" activities from significant episodes or to advance matured occurrences. When raising issue records to ensure you catch:

Problem description
Priority (preferably using the same or a similar priority matrix as your incident management process)
The support team investigating and the details of any vendor support
A summary of current fix efforts
Date of next status update

Tip #7: Progress to known errors

Raise known error records to archive repeating issues and their workarounds. In the event that a perpetual goal has been recognized, work with changing the board to guarantee that the change has been raised and has the proper degree of help through the audit, endorsement, and usage stages.

Tip #8: Carry out problem reviews

Very frequently, the Problem Management is viewed as the spot that old episodes go to bite the dust. Rather, ensure you have ordinary updates from help groups so you realize every issue is being dealt with and you can investigate them in like manner.

Tip #9: Get proactive

Begin hoping to stretch out beyond the game. Formalize your audit of the previously mentioned "regular customers" and take a gander at crude information extricated from your occurrence the executives device to such an extent that you can get a genuine handle on current patterns. In case you're uncertain where to begin, take a gander at:

Incidents by affected service
Incidents by the support team
Incidents by priority
Incidents by affected user group
Incidents by affected location

Tip #10: Stay proactive

Arrangement in your continuous improvement workforce with the end goal that you can add the proactive substance to their CSI register. Thusly, the permeability of extraordinary issues is raised, and you may likewise get extra help. 

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Change Enablement in ITIL 4

Change enablement is a very critical service management practice within ITIL. It is here that we can introduce improvements in services as well as other service management practices.

A change is defined as the addition, modification, or removal of anything that could have a direct or indirect effect on services.

This would typically include changes to IT infrastructure, applications, documentation, processes, supplier relationships, and any other critical components of the service. Although some IT organizations limit their focus only to hardware and software change enablement, it is important to remember that other elements play significant roles in service development and delivery, and changes to them can negatively impact customers.

What is change enablement?

The purpose of the change enablement practice is to maximize the number of successful IT changes by ensuring that risks have been properly assessed, authorizing changes to proceed, and managing the change schedule.

The distinction between change enablement and organizational change management is important. While organizational change management manages the people aspects of changes to ensure that improvements and organizational transformation initiatives are implemented successfully, change enablement usually focuses on changes in products and services.

Change types

In ITIL, we usually identify three types of change that are each managed in different ways i.e. standard, normal and emergency changes.

Standard change	A low-risk, pre-authorized change that is well understood and fully documented, and can be implemented without needing additional authorization. Is often initiated as a service request, but may also be an operational change. Requires a full risk assessment and authorization only during creation, or modification due to business change or occurrence of an incident.
Normal change	A change that needs to be scheduled, assessed, and authorized following a standard process. Involves change models based on the type of change determine the roles for assessment and authorization i.e. low level changes require local (team or supervisor) authorization while high level changes may require board level authorization. Initiation is triggered by the creation of a manual or automated change request.
Emergency change	A change that must be implemented as soon as possible without strictly following the standard process e.g. to resolve an incident or implement a security patch. The process for assessment and authorization is expedited to ensure quick implementation, so scheduling and documentation is not a priority. The change authority may be separate from what is standard or normal practice, typically smaller in number but with greater capacity to expedite approval.

Change authority

The change authority is defined as a person or group who authorizes a change. This can be a team, supervisor, manager, CEO, board, customer or regulator depending on the nature of the change as well as the organizational approach and culture. It is essential that the correct change authority is assigned to each type of change to ensure that change enablement is both efficient and effective. There is no point constituting a board to review every relatively low risk change that can be locally approved.

In high-velocity organizations, it is a common practice to decentralize change approval, making peer review a top predictor of high performance. For example, an agile product team would make decisions on which elements of the product backlog will be tackled in a sprint, while the agile product manager would make decisions on which customer requirements would be included into the product backlog. Organizations adopting DevOps practices might establish systemic approval based on the success of automated checks in the continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline.

Change communication

Regardless of who the change authority is, they may need to communicate widely across the organization as well as to key stakeholders. It is important to prepare all persons involved and all persons affected in advance to prevent surprises. Good communication with the Service Desk, for example, may be important to ensure that high call volumes do not come as an unmanageable surprise following a change that went wrong. Marketing teams might wish to avoid planned campaign activity at a time when key systems are expected to be unavailable. Good communication is also particularly important where a large cross-section of persons with specialist knowledge are needed, for example when assessing the risk of a complex change.

The change schedule is used to help plan changes, assist in communication, avoid conflicts, and assign resources. It can also be used after changes have been deployed to provide information needed for incident management, problem management, and improvement planning. It is important to expose the change schedule to all key stakeholders involved in the changes, through communication channels which are likely to get the message to them in a timely manner.

Contribution of change enablement to the Service Value Chain

The change enablement practice is involved in all the activities of the service value chain as shown below:

Plan	Changes to product and service portfolios, policies, and practices all require a certain level of control, and the change enablement practice is used to provide it.
Engage	Customers and users may need to be consulted or informed about changes, depending on the nature of the change.
Design and Transition	Many changes are initiated as a result of new or changed services. Change enablement activity is a major contributor to transition.
Obtain/Build	Changes to components are subject to change enablement, whether they are built in house or obtained from suppliers.
Deliver and Support	Changes may have an impact on delivery and support, and information about changes must be communicated to personnel who carry out this value chain activity. These people may also play a part in assessing and authorizing changes.
Improve	Many improvements will require changes to be made, and these should be assessed and authorized in the same way as all other changes.

Source: bmc.com

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The Difference between ITIL® Foundation Version 3 and Version 4

AXELOS has released the latest version of the ITIL® Foundation certification, the world-renowned and widely used IT service management framework. This is the first new version to be released since the 2011 update. Version 4 of ITIL Foundation has been developed by more than 150 experts in the field along with a team of writers and contributors. A new ITIL development group has also been established, comprising of over 2000 members in order to gain input from large and modern organisations.

This latest version was released in the first quarter of 2019 after its announcement in 2017 at the itSMF (Information Technology Service Management Forum) USA Fusion conference.

What is ITIL?

For many years now, ITIL has been considered as one of the foremost IT service management best practice frameworks. ITIL helps ITSM professionals develop effective methods that follow best practices in delivering IT services to their organisations. This will help them not only manage risk and strengthen relationships with customers but will help them to ensure that their organisations’ IT services are cost-effective and delivered in an environment that is ready for change and advancement.

ITIL uses a set of Service Lifecycle stages, ensuring that the requirements for new services in the organisation are well documented and known to those involved in the change and those that are utilising existing services that need to be updated. Throughout the ITIL processes, knowledge management is vital and iterative improvements should be made wherever they are needed.

Who is ITIL for?

ITIL is the perfect best practice framework for those who work in, or are new to IT service management and will benefit anyone working in roles such as Senior IT Service Manager, Service Desk Analyst, Technical Relationship Manager, Telecoms Manager, Senior Desktop Technician, Application Engineer, Network Engineer, IT Change Analyst, IT Service Transition Analyst or Technical Business Analyst to name but a few.

What’s new in version 4?

Version 4 of ITIL Foundation has a strong focus on the integration of ITIL guidance with DevOps (Development and Operations), Agile and Lean best practices, taking a more holistic approach to IT service management. It also supports organisations that are moving towards a greater emphasis on digital transformation by providing a practical platform that is also flexible in nature.

ITIL Foundation V4 delivers an IT operating model that is end-to-end, supporting the delivery and implementation of IT products and services. This ensures that IT Teams continue to play a vital role in the business strategy of the organisation.

What will I learn?

The ITIL Foundation V4 curriculum includes the following:

◉ Introduction and overview

◉ Key concepts of service management

◉ Four dimensions of service management

◉ Service value system

◉ Introduction to practices

◉ Purpose of 11 practices and some definitions

◉ Introduction to seven key practices in detail

◉ Continual improvement

◉ Change control

◉ Incident management

◉ Service request management

◉ Service desk

◉ Service level management

◉ Exam simulator

Upon completing the ITIL Foundation V4 course and passing the accompanying exam, you will have a firm understanding of ITIL service management concepts and how your organisation will benefit from adopting ITIL service management. You will also gain perspective on the four dimensions of ITIL service management, the purpose and components of the ITIL service value system and the key concepts of continual improvement.

Why study ITIL Foundation 4?

In this new version of ITIL Foundation, the concerns regarding the framework’s relationship with the IT service management community and the relevance of version 3 to new and emerging trends in software development and IT operations. This is done by ensuring that the latest version is community-driven and by integrating Agile, DevOps and Lean into traditional ITIL best practices.

What if I am studying version 3?

If you are certified under version 3 of ITIL Foundation, fear not. ITIL Foundation version 3 certifications will remain relevant and you will still be able to apply your skills and knowledge gained from that certification. You will, however, not be ready to sit the new version 4 exam as the new version includes an array of new content that will be present during the exam.

There are also avenues to consider that will allow you to upgrade to version 4 from version 3. If you have already studied the modules beyond the ITIL Foundation version 3 certification, you will be able to transition to version 4 without having to start from the very beginning.

If you have gained the status of ITIL V3 Expert, or you have gained 17 ITIL version 3 credits, you will automatically qualify for the ITIL MP Transition module. This will allow you to gain your ITIL Managing Professional certification.

Those that have gained their ITIL Foundation V3 certifications but have nor gained 17 ITIL version 3 credits will have to sit the ITIL Foundation version 4 exam in order to become version 4 certified.

What about the exam?

During the ITIL Foundation 4 exam, you will be given 1 hour (60 minutes) in which to answer as many of the 40 questions as you are able to. In order to gain your ITIL Foundation V4 certification, you will be required to score a minimum of 65% (26 marks or higher). This exam is entirely closed-book and you will not be allowed to use any additional reading material while you sit your exam.

Upon passing your ITIL Foundation V4 exam, you will have the option to study towards two ITIL 4 certification paths. These are:

◉ ITIL Managing Professional which is aimed at IT practitioners

◉ ITIL Strategic Leader which focusses on digitally-enabled services and business strategy

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ITIL V4 update - Why & What Is The Reason? - here all you need to know

Reason for ITIL 4?

While ITIL Foundation level gives a high-level overview, and Practitioner focuses on how to practically adopt and adapt the ITIL framework and as per response from all around the world from organizations and IT professionals, ITIL helps them to improve their business and provide a better service to the customers but current era is digital era right?

Every organization or companies want to transform their businesses on digital platform, so it’s very difficult for the service provider to make new changes in their process to provide a better service for each and every new customer.

That’s why service provider adopted various framework like DevOps, Agile, Lean etc. to improve their productivity and better delivery on time and to keep up with that the new ITIL 4 is here with such adoptions and for establishing IT service management system.

What’s New in ITIL 4?

ITIL is really thinking about the future and that’s why the big change is coming in early 2019

The first major update to ITIL is announced by Peter Hepworth from AXELOS at the it SMF USA fusion 2017 conference and ITIL includes of renewed focus on following core principles:

◈ How to maintain the core principles of quality service management.

◈ Practical approach on how to use ITIL from large to small organizations.

◈ How ITIL can be used along with frameworks such as DevOps, Agile and Lean.

How is the ITIL 4 Certification scheme?

ITIL 4 has been developed to help organizations to achieve the excellence in better solution provider in the increasing demand from the current complex digital environment.

The new ITIL scheme has been designed to be compatible with ITIL V3 and efficient to encourage go beyond ITIL foundation level.

The ITIL 4 Certification Scheme comprises of the following modules:

◈ ITIL Foundation

◈ ITIL Specialist modules

◈ ITIL Strategist

◈ ITIL Leader

◈ ITIL Master

Purpose of ITIL 4 Foundation:

◈ ITIL 4 foundation will be released by Axelos in first quarter of 2019.

◈ ITIL 4 foundation is the entry level certification, offering individuals and end learners a basic awareness of the key elements, core concepts and the terminology used in ITIL 4.

◈ ITIL 4 Foundation level is aimed at entry level professionals, those who require a basic understanding of ITIL, or would like to go for higher levels within the ITIL 4 certification scheme.

◈ The main purpose of ITIL 4 is to introduce candidates to modern IT-Enabled Service Management.

What are the timelines of release for the itil v4 certification scheme modules?

The ITIL 4 modules will be released according to the below top-level timelines. More detailed release dates of the modules and new exams will be released to ATOs with the launch of ITIL 4 Foundation. ATOs will be provided with accreditation details, guidance and sales enablement information in sufficient time to be able to support the release of the further ITIL 4 modules.

◈ ITIL Foundation – Q1 2019

◈ ITIL Specialist modules (3) – H2 2019

◈ ITIL Strategist – H2 2019

◈ ITIL Leader – H2 2019

◈ ITIL Master – details to be released at a later date

I know you are thinking about why you are talking about ITIL4 Certification.. so lets see some interesting fact and features

Features of ITIL 4:

• ITIL 4 will help businesses navigate the new technological era, commonly known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The speed of current breakthroughs is disrupting almost every industry on a global scale.
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution is marked by emerging technology in fields including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, The Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, autonomous vehicles and much more.
• ITIL 4 will provide a practical and flexible basis to support organizations on their journey into the new world of digital transformation by helping them align their human, digital and physical resources to compete within the modern complex landscape and adopt this emerging technologies into their IT operations.
• The context of ITIL, with the release of ITIL 4 is now much bigger, with an emphasis on the business and technology world, how it works today, and how it will work in the future with Agile, DevOps and digital transformation.
• ITIL 4 will be much more relevant to developers, practitioners and businesses as a whole through promoting a holistic view of delivering products and services.
• ITIL 4 will be much more relevant to developers, practitioners and businesses as a whole through promoting a holistic view of delivering products and services.

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ITIL v3 vs ITIL v4, what is difference between this Framework

ITIL is a framework consisting of best practices and processes that can be adopted in order to provide IT service management (ITSM)

In today’s digital era we know that every business has a dependency on Information technology and IT and IT service management is a serious job because all your people, processes and business depend whether you have IT organization, manufacturing or banking. That’s where ITIL is considered to be the perfect and most recommended framework to manage your services.

What is the name of updated ITIL4?

The updated ITIL framework will be called ITIL4. This name reflects the role ITIL4 will play in supporting individuals and organizations to navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Difference Between ITIL v3 & ITIL4

In an ITIl v3 we learn that updated ITIL is more suitable for the current business environment or requirement because it has some strategic elements so that the IT service management is run along with business requirement.

More Info: ITIL Foundation

On the other hand, ITIL4 is aligning with frameworks like DevOps, Agile and Lean by integrating this framework with the traditional ITSM practices to fill the gap between operational and organizational objective.

The Difference in ITIL v3 & ITIL4 core Values

ITIL v3	ITIL4
More service-oriented (Lifecycle approach to service management) Offers organized structure that adds flexibility	ITIL 4 is to provide organizations with comprehensive guidance for the management of information technology in the modern service economy.
Focuses on the full lifecycle of services, covering the entire IT firm and Clearly defines the roles and responsibilities, and reasons the role of communication in the entire lifecycle..Read More	Provide an end-to-end IT/Digital Operating Model, covering the full delivery (and sustaining) of tech-enabled products and services, guiding how IT interfaces with, and even leads, the wider business strategy...Read More

Difference - Value Vs Value co-creation

Source: Axelos

◈ ITIL V3 2011 defined 'service' as means of delivering value to the customer by facilitating the outcomes customer want to achieve without any ownership of specific cost or risk.

◈ However ITIL 4 insists on changing the definition of Service as means of value co-creation by facilitating the outcomes customer want to achieve without any ownership of cost or risk.

     ◈ Value Co – creation would not only need Service Provider contribution however equal participation and contribution from Consumers, Regulators and Suppliers.

Difference - Service lifecycle Vs Service Value System

Service Lifecycle

Service lifecycle covered five stages of service lifecycle in ITIL V3 2011. It followed more of a waterfall method. Service Strategy followed by Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operations and Continual Service Improvement.

As these lifecycle stages were often handled by separate teams and activities performed separately, it created Silo environment. That further increased the cost and slowed down the pace of IT impacting the overall Business.

Service Value System

The ITIL SVS describes how all the components and activities of the organization work together as a system to enable value creation. Each organization’s SVS has interfaces with other organizations, forming an ecosystem that can in turn facilitate value for those organizations, their customers and other stakeholders.

Service Value System defines Governance Principles as guardrails/boundaries to help organisation achieve its objectives and continually improve the services by meeting stakeholders’ expectations. To achieve set objectives, Organisations would need direction and control. This would be ensured by appropriate Governance.

To achieve set Objectives there is a need to define Service Value Chain, which would further have multiple Value Streams. Practices would be the set of organisational resources required to execute Value Stream activities. Thus SVS would help in eliminating the Silo’s.

Service Value Chain(V4)

An operating model which outlines the key activities required to respond to demand and facilitate value creation through the creation and management of products and services.

◈ The six value chain activities are:

     - Plan

     - Improve

     - Engage

     - Design and transition

     - Obtain/build

     - Deliver and support

There was no specific guidance about Build in ITIL V3 2011. Service lifecycle missed the guidance for “Build” prior to starting a transition. It created a need for some guidance on “Build”. This is when Agile, Lean, DevOps and SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) were adopted by most of the companies, as a guidance to address the “Build”.

To address these issues raised by Silo culture and for Service Management to function properly, ITIL4 has introduced Service Value System. IT would be interesting to see further guidance from Axelos on integration of ITIL4 with Agile, Lean, DevOps and other practices.

Difference - 4Ps(ITIL V3) Vs 4 Dimensions (ITIL 4)

ITIL V3 introduced 4 P’s of Service Management

◈ People

◈ Process

◈ Product

◈ Partner

ITIL4 introduced 4 dimensions

Organisation and People

◈ Apart from Organisation structure and detailed Roles and Responsibilities this dimension is also providing guidance on how to manage a cultural change.

Information and Technology

◈ This dimension is providing a guidance on Information security for the entire business. It also shares insight on technologies required for Business Service Management and IT Service Management

Partners and Suppliers

◈ This dimension is clearly differentiating between Partners and Suppliers. And also suggests to have SIAM implemented for multi-sourcing environment.

Value streams and Processes

◈ This dimension has provided guidance on defining different value streams within processes. Value stream is defined as set of activities performed in a specific situation.

Difference - Processes Vs Practices

Processes

ITIL V3 introduced 5 phases of service lifecycle and total of 26 ITIL processes and 4 Functions. Focus was entirely on processes and further on only outputs not Outcomes

ITIL4 Practices

As processes were focused on only outputs they could achieve very little. ITIL 4 shifted its focus on capabilities and introduced 34 practices. 14 General Management Practices, 17 Service Management Practices and 3 Technical Management practices.

Difference between ITIL v3 & ITIL4 Certification path?

Source: Axelos

Some questions we received from ITIL v3 Experts and ITIL Practitioner?

How Does ITIL V3 Map Against ITIL4?

Whilst ITIL4 retains many of the core elements of ITIL v3, and much of the existing guidance will be recognizable in parts of ITIL4, there are no direct like-for-like modules between the two certification schemes

Why ITIL4? Is ITIL v3 failing to do the job?

Let’s understand this answer from example, We all use smart phones but after a period of time, we have to change that because your device software lack to support the latest technology ultimately lack to provide full satisfaction to the customer.

This is the same issue some organizations are facing with ITIL v3 but still ITIL v3 is the best and most widely used or recommended framework for ITSM but to align with latest trends or practices like DevOps, Lean and mainly Agile, ITIL creators develop a new framework called ITIL 4 which will satisfy the customer or IT organizations requirements.

Will ITIL V3 certification remain valid?

The most asked question ITIL community asking is are ITIL v3 certification remains valid or not? Do not worry about that because ITIL v3 certifications will remains relevant after version 4 is released. That means ITIL practitioners who are familiar with current ITIL standards can continue to practice.

Note: The present curriculum of ITIL v3 will still remain the same as ITIL4 but ITIl4 is introducing a better examinable content. Most of the content will focus on new best practices and greater integration with other frameworks and systems, which will naturally reflect in the new ITIL4 examination

Why is there no ITIL4 Foundation Transition module?

Due to the structure of ITIL 4 Foundation, there will not be a transition module at the Foundation level. There is a large amount of new material in the ITIL 4 Foundation, therefore, a single exam is required to assess end-learners knowledge of the new ITIL 4 Foundation guidance.

ITIL Practitioner removed from the new certification scheme?

ITIL Practitioner will no longer be a separate module in the ITIL 4 certification scheme, however, the knowledge and principles from the ITIL Practitioner guidance will be fundamental to all modules in ITIL 4. Candidates can also use their ITIL Practitioner credits to continue their ITIL journey. If a candidate has collected 17 credits they will be eligible to take the ITIL Managing Professional Transition Module without taking the MALC exam.

I’ve just completed ITIL v3 Foundation certification, should I continue on ITIL journey with ITIL 4?

You should continue to achieve ITIL v3 credits under the current ITIL certification scheme now. Once you’ve achieved 17 credits, you can then formally transition your knowledge to ITIL 4 with the ITIL Managing Professional Transition Module.

How is the ITIL4 Certification path?

◈ ITIL Foundation

◈ ITIL Specialist modules (3)

◈ ITIL Strategist

◈ ITIL Leader

◈ ITIL Master

To obtain the designation ITIL Managing Professional (ITIL MP) or ITIL Strategic Leader (ITIL SL), the professional must complete all modules in each stream, with ITIL Strategist being a universal module for both streams.

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