Unveiling ITIL Guiding Principles: A Roadmap to Operational Excellence

In the ever-evolving landscape of information technology and service management, one framework has consistently stood the test of time, providing organizations with a structured path to operational excellence - the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). Central to ITIL are its guiding principles, a set of best practices that serve as a North Star for businesses seeking to enhance their service delivery, customer satisfaction, and overall efficiency. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve deep into the heart of ITIL and explore these guiding principles that are vital for your organization's success.

The Essence of ITIL

ITIL, a framework developed by AXELOS, is a globally recognized set of practices designed to streamline IT service management (ITSM) and improve IT services. It focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of the business and delivering value to both the organization and its customers.

Understanding the Guiding Principles

At the core of ITIL are seven guiding principles that offer invaluable insights for achieving ITSM excellence. Let's unravel these principles and understand why they are indispensable for your organization.

1. Focus on Value

Value is the cornerstone of ITIL's guiding principles. It emphasizes the importance of understanding what 'value' means to your customers and how IT services can best deliver that value. By keeping the customer's perspective in mind, your organization can make strategic decisions that truly matter.

2. Start Where You Are

"Start where you are" reminds us that change is a journey. Your organization should leverage existing resources and processes, improving them gradually rather than attempting radical overhauls. This principle encourages efficiency, optimization, and sustainable growth.

3. Progress Iteratively

Iterative progress calls for making small, continuous improvements rather than aiming for monumental changes. This principle advocates for regularly assessing your services, learning from each iteration, and adapting your strategies accordingly.

4. Collaborate and Promote Visibility

The power of collaboration cannot be overstated. When IT and business departments collaborate effectively, they promote visibility and transparency. This leads to shared goals, effective communication, and a deeper understanding of how each party contributes to overall success.

5. Think and Work Holistically

Taking a holistic approach means looking at the bigger picture. Consider how various aspects of your IT services and business operations are interconnected. This principle helps in avoiding siloed thinking and encourages comprehensive, cohesive solutions.

6. Keep It Simple and Practical

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication," as Leonardo da Vinci once said. By keeping it simple and practical, you reduce the risk of complexity, making it easier for your team to understand, implement, and manage your IT services efficiently.

7. Opt for Automation Where Possible

In today's fast-paced IT landscape, automation is a game-changer. Leveraging automation where possible can lead to increased efficiency, reduced human error, and enhanced service quality. It's about finding the balance between manual and automated processes.

Why ITIL Guiding Principles Matter

The significance of ITIL's guiding principles extends beyond mere theory. They offer practical, real-world benefits to organizations of all sizes and across various industries:

Improved Customer Satisfaction

By aligning your services with customer needs and continuously improving, you naturally enhance customer satisfaction. Happy customers are more likely to be loyal customers.

Streamlined Operations

ITIL principles encourage you to optimize your processes and work holistically. This leads to reduced operational bottlenecks and smoother workflows.

Cost Efficiency

Through iterative progress and the simplification of processes, you can identify cost-saving opportunities and improve the financial health of your organization.

Enhanced Competitiveness

ITIL principles enable you to adapt to changing market conditions swiftly. This adaptability can give your organization a competitive edge in today's rapidly evolving business landscape.

Sustainable Growth

Starting where you are and making incremental changes promotes sustainable growth without risking operational disruptions.

Final Thoughts

In the world of IT service management, the ITIL guiding principles act as beacons, illuminating the path to success. By implementing these principles, your organization can consistently deliver value to your customers, optimize operations, and stay ahead in the highly competitive IT landscape.

So, as you embark on your ITSM journey, remember the essence of ITIL - focus on value, start where you are, progress iteratively, collaborate, think holistically, keep it simple, and embrace automation. These guiding principles will not only transform your IT services but also position your organization for a future of operational excellence.

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What is ITIL: Essential Guide to ITIL V4 Processes and Framework

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a set of best practices for managing IT services. It provides guidance and frameworks for IT service management (ITSM) with a focus on aligning IT services with business needs. ITIL V4 is the latest version of ITIL, which was released in 2019, and it incorporates modern approaches to IT service management. In this guide, we will explore the essential concepts and processes of ITIL V4.

What is ITIL V4?

ITIL V4 is the latest version of ITIL, which provides a holistic approach to IT service management. It focuses on the integration of IT services with business needs and includes four dimensions of service management: organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and processes. ITIL V4 provides guidance for organizations to develop and maintain effective IT services, ensuring they meet business requirements.

ITIL V4 Processes

ITIL V4 includes 34 practices that are grouped into four dimensions of service management. These practices are designed to be integrated into an organization's IT service management framework to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of IT services.

Service Value System

The Service Value System (SVS) is the core of ITIL V4. It provides a holistic approach to service management and includes five components:

◉ Service Value Chain

◉ Guiding Principles

◉ Governance

◉ Continual Improvement

◉ Practices

Service Value Chain

The Service Value Chain (SVC) is a series of interconnected activities that help organizations to create value for their customers. The SVC includes six activities:

◉ Plan

◉ Improve

◉ Engage

◉ Design and transition

◉ Obtain and build

◉ Deliver and support

Guiding Principles

Guiding Principles are a set of recommendations that organizations can use to guide their decision-making processes. These principles are designed to help organizations to focus on value, start where they are, progress iteratively with feedback, collaborate and promote visibility, think and work holistically, keep it simple and practical, and optimize and automate.

Governance

Governance is the framework of policies, procedures, and decision-making processes that an organization uses to manage its IT services. It includes the establishment of a governing body, the creation of policies and procedures, and the monitoring and control of IT services.

Continual Improvement

Continual Improvement is a process that organizations use to improve their IT services continuously. It includes four stages:

◉ What is the vision?

◉ Where are we now?

◉ Where do we want to be?

◉ How do we get there?

Practices

ITIL V4 includes 34 practices that are grouped into three categories: general management practices, service management practices, and technical management practices. These practices are designed to be integrated into an organization's IT service management framework to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of IT services.

ITIL V4 Framework

The ITIL V4 framework is a set of best practices that are designed to help organizations manage their IT services effectively. The framework includes the following components:

◉ Service Value System

◉ Four dimensions of service management

◉ Service Value Chain

◉ Guiding Principles

◉ Governance

◉ Continual Improvement

◉ Practices

Benefits of ITIL V4

ITIL V4 provides numerous benefits to organizations, including:

◉ Improved alignment between IT services and business needs

◉ Increased efficiency and effectiveness of IT services

◉ Enhanced customer satisfaction

◉ Improved decision-making processes

◉ Increased collaboration and communication within the organization

◉ Improved risk management

Conclusion

ITIL V4 is a set of best practices for managing IT services that provides guidance and frameworks for ITSM. It focuses on aligning IT services with business needs and includes a holistic approach to service management. The framework includes 34 practices that are grouped into four dimensions of service management: organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and processes.

Implementing ITIL V4 can bring significant benefits to organizations, including improved alignment between IT services and business needs, increased efficiency and effectiveness of IT services, enhanced customer satisfaction, improved decision-making processes, increased collaboration and communication within the organization, and improved risk management.

In summary, ITIL V4 is an essential guide for organizations that want to effectively manage their IT services. By implementing the ITIL V4 framework and practices, organizations can ensure the efficient and effective delivery of IT services that meet business requirements. With its focus on aligning IT services with business needs, ITIL V4 is an indispensable tool for organizations looking to improve their IT service management practices.

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How to Crack ITIL 4 Foundation Certification Exam 2022?

You want to prepare for the ITIL 4 Foundation exam and pass it the first time you take it. Understanding ITIL 4 Exam Concepts is important, but you must know the ITIL 4 Exam pattern to feel completely sure. So, this blog entails some amazing tips and tricks that can help you pass the ITIL 4 foundation exam.

What is ITIL 4 Foundation Certification?

The ITIL 4 Foundation certification introduces an overview of the ITIL framework. It allows candidates to view ITSM as an end-to-end operating model for developing, delivering, and improving technology-enabled products and services. Candidates who need a fundamental understanding of the ITIL framework, want to use ITIL to improve ITSM, or whose organization has adopted ITIL can benefit from the certification. The ITIL 4 Foundation course introduces participants to the ITIL framework, with a particular emphasis on the following topics:

◉ Key concepts and guiding principles of the ITIL 4 framework

◉ Understand the Service Value system and the four dimensions of Service Management

◉ Knowledge of the link between ITIL 4 and other practices such as Agile, DevOps, and Lean

◉ ITIL management practices and more

Who Should Get ITIL 4 Foundation Certification?

ITIL 4 Foundation is appropriate for individuals who need a fundamental understanding of the ITIL framework and how it can be utilized to enhance the quality of IT service management within a firm. The certification also relates to IT professionals who work in an ITIL-adopted organization and must be aware of and contribute to the entire service improvement program.

The ITIL 4 Foundation certification is intended for anyone working in IT who wants to learn about IT Service Management and how to deliver business value. Anyone who wants to improve their ITIL v3 certification and knowledge.

Job roles that can benefit from ITIL 4 Foundation course include, but are not limited to:

◉ IT Professionals

◉ ITSM Managers

◉ Individuals working in the areas of IT (Digital, Product, Development)

◉ Service Managers

◉ Database Administrators

◉ Software Professionals

◉ Service Process Owners

◉ Individuals starting their journey in

◉ Service Management

◉ Existing ITIL qualification holders

What is ITIL 4 Foundation Exam?

ITIL 4 was released by AXELOS in early 2019. It is the most recent version of ITIL’s evolution, the standard set of practices designed to assist organizations in their digital transformation. ITIL 4 is a complete IT services model for delivering and operating technologically enabled products and services. As a result, IT operations teams can play a larger role in overall business strategy by adhering to ITIL concepts.

The ITIL exam is a foundational certification that assesses your general understanding of ITIL concepts. It discusses the key elements, concepts, and terminology used in the ITIL service lifecycle, such as the connections between lifecycle stages, the processes used, and their contribution to service management practices. Following is the exam format of the ITIL 4 Foundation exam:

◉ Type: Multiple Choice Questions – 40 questions

◉ Duration: 60 Minutes (1 hour)

◉ Result: 26 out of 40 (65% pass mark)

◉ Open book: No

◉ Language: English

How Difficult is the ITIL 4 Foundation Exam?

Statistics show that nearly 80% of people pass the exam every time. The exam isn’t difficult, but it does necessitate thorough preparation. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan ahead of time. If the test isn’t difficult, it’s not easy. Therefore, to pass, you must have the necessary resources.

Official and online resources can be used to prepare for and practice exam content. So, use the right resources and prepare thoroughly to ace the exam. In addition, you can enroll in the Invensis Learning ITIL 4 Foundation certification, which will help you advance your career.

Tips on How to Crack the ITIL 4 Foundation Exam

There are numerous resources available for preparing for the ITIL 4 Foundation exam. However, because this ITIL 4 Foundation certification is quite difficult, you must exercise caution when selecting resources. Make certain that the resources you’ve chosen are appropriate for your level of understanding. Following are some of the tips to assist you in clearing the ITIL 4 Foundation exam:

Work Efficiently

Begin by becoming acquainted with the ITIL 4 Foundation certification examination framework. Then, prepare for the exam using official sample papers and practice questions. Finally, keep track of the time allotted for ITIL 4 Foundation practice exams, so you don’t miss the deadline. Moreover, a major cause of exam failure is a lack of time and the provision of a preliminary exam. As a result, it is necessary to practice as much as possible.

Discover the Modules of Capability and Lifecycle

Although intermediate ITIL certifications necessitate a deeper understanding of each lifecycle and capability module, your foundational knowledge should be solid. With ITIL 4 Foundation Training, you can learn the fundamentals and comprehend each stage of the ITIL lifecycle and capability modules. In addition, you should be familiar with abbreviations and jargon at all times.

Thoroughly Read and Comprehend the ITIL 4 Foundation Books

The Office of Government Commerce has the book for sale. The five ITIL 4 Foundation modules are set up like a lifecycle, with each module covering a step in the process. So, buying the whole suite is cheaper than buying each module separately. Moreover, there is a PDF version of the ITIL book. It’s best to give yourself enough time to study the material thoroughly. Only then will you be capable of understanding the question and giving the right answer.

Keep the Keywords in Mind

If you want to pass the test, you must correct the keywords. ITIL keywords include service strategy, design, transition, and implementation, linked to other ITIL model keywords.

Study Only ITIL

Many people respond based on current or previous organizational practices, which can backfire during the examination. When studying for the ITIL 4 Foundation level exam, concentrate on ITIL processes and best practices rather than your previous experiences. Above all, the ITIL 4 Foundation exam assesses your understanding of ITIL processes, functions, and concepts.

Take Mock Exams

Attend practice tests and prepare to score more than 26 out of 40. This will boost your confidence before taking the final ITIL exam. Start with the easy questions when you arrive for the exam on the scheduled date. Then, mark your answers following the instructions.

Additional Hints to Ace the ITIL 4 Foundation Exam

Following are some helpful hints to help you make the most of the class and ace the exam:

1. Investigate all of your options to find what you’re looking for. Begin by becoming acquainted with the subject matter. It will assist you in getting up and running as soon as the course begins.

2. Don’t be afraid to ask questions during the training—there will be plenty to think about. If you’re still unsure, please ask again. Moreover, it is critical to understand the concepts to avoid being stumped by exam questions.

3. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t understand a concept right away. Students may begin to learn the subject as the course progresses. In other cases, the material is not completely covered until the end.

4. Take copious notes, especially on ideas that challenge you. It will aid you in clarifying your understanding and highlighting concepts you may have overlooked previously.

5. Make use of real-world examples. Don’t be afraid to inquire about the applicability of ITIL 4 to your workplace. Your instructor will use real-world examples, and sharing your experiences will encourage and benefit you. When taking the exam, remember to answer questions from an ITIL perspective.

6. You will have the chance to take a practice exam. Don’t worry too much about the details; try to answer each question correctly. In addition, review the incorrect questions with the group to better understand what went wrong. The ITIL 4 app may assist you in preparing for the certification exam.

7. Don’t give up if you’re having trouble answering the questions. Before the exam, you can go over the things that are giving you the most trouble. However, avoid changing your answers throughout the exam because your gut instinct is usually correct. Only revise a response if you are certain you were incorrect.

Source: invensislearning.com

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A Comprehensive Guide on Change Management in ITIL

As businesses contend for market position and share, IT must be flexible and adaptive regarding its services. As a result, almost all businesses rely on the availability of IT services. Furthermore, businesses expect the IT department to consistently deliver effective and efficient changes without negatively impacting the services.

Successful ITIL Change Management safeguards the services provided to the business or customer while also facilitating Changes without unnecessary bureaucracy or control – ultimately, it could be described as ‘Change Enablement.’ In addition, ITIL Change Management aims to reduce the risks of service exposure, impact, and disruption by implementing changes successfully the first time, thus saving time and money. So, you can’t say enough about how valuable and important an effective and efficient ITIL Change Management Process is to IT and business.

What is ITIL Change Management?

Change Management, like other ITIL services, is a process that makes it easier for organizations to change their IT infrastructure. It develops a framework to assist organizations in requesting, prioritizing, authorizing, approving, scheduling, and implementing changes. In other words, it monitors and manages change throughout its entire lifecycle to control risk and limit disruptions caused by implemented changes.

Change management can be reactive when a problem requires a long-term solution or proactive when an IT team wants to introduce new software or processes into an organization. Every change will have a different impact and stakeholders. For example, relocating from on-premises software to cloud software may necessitate direct users, IT members, and security teams’ input, whereas changing an HR process might require input from every team in the company that onboards new hires. 

ITIL Change Management Objectives

Give Organizations the Authority to Manage and Control Their Changes:

Change management will give you more control over your change process and assist you in implementing changes with the least amount of risk. Change management ensures that all facets of each change, such as planning, risk assessment, and tracking implementation, are effectively managed by adhering to standard processes. Furthermore, using a service desk tool to track changes from beginning to end can help an organization better manage its IT infrastructure with well-planned and executed changes.

Assist Organizations in Better-implementing Changes

Change management allows organizations to stay on top of all change requests by tracking the entire change process. It also makes it easier to detect and limit unauthorized changes. Allowing users to submit a request for change (RFC) only through the service desk tool allows organizations to collect all necessary information about the change from the start and then decide whether or not to implement the change. Also, a strong approval system ensures that all permissions are given before any changes are made.

Allow for Continuous Improvement

Change management isn’t just for adverse conditions; its goal is to help organizations keep up with industry trends and make sure their infrastructure and processes are always getting better. It makes modifications smoothly and without disrupting service operations.

Types of Changes in ITIL

ITIL changes have different requirements, so not all changes are the same. For example, some modifications must be made immediately, while others need clearance from higher-ups. Changes, according to ITIL, are classified into three types: standard, normal, and emergency.

Standard Changes

These pre-approved changes have a low impact, are well-known, and have been documented. Therefore, a risk assessment and authorization are necessary when implementing standard changes for the first time. However, subsequent implementations can be performed without these safeguards as long as the change has not been modified.

Example: Changing the ink cartridge in a printer

Normal Changes

A normal change must go through the entire change process; it must be scheduled, risk assessed, and authorized. Minor (low to medium effect and urgency) and major changes are normal (high impact and urgency). In addition, all non-standard or emergency adjustments must be dealt with normally.

Example: Moving on-site services to the cloud

Emergency Changes

Emergency changes have a high impact and urgency, necessitating rapid assessment, approval, and implementation to regain services back up and running as rapidly as possible. Changes to components that impact business operations and cause downtime are classified as emergencies.

Examples: Primary server failure, data center interruption, and security vulnerability emergency patches.

ITIL Change Management Process

This section goes over the various ITIL change management procedures. Once you’ve grasped the concept, you can move forward without pausing to consider what comes next.

Creating a Change Request

When you make a change request, it is your job to write down details that will help others understand what needs to change and why you are making the request. If the initiator already has this information, the initial change request submission often includes details about the risk and implementation steps. This information, however, is not necessary at this time. A change request may contain the following information:

◉ Incidents necessitating the change

◉ Describe the change

◉ The effects of the change on all associated systems

◉ A risk analysis

◉ Everyone involved in the change’s contact information

◉ An outline of who must approve the request

◉ If the change fails, a backup plan is necessary

Examining and Evaluating a Request for Change

If you are in charge of reviewing a change request, you must evaluate it based on its practicality and priority. Therefore, it is your duty to assess whether the request is reasonable and to provide feedback on the request. Requests that relate to problems that have already been addressed or are impractical to implement will be ignored.

The originator of the request, the impact of making the change on the organization, the projected return on any investment made about the request, and the resources necessary to accomplish the request will all be taken into account when evaluating practical requests. You will also determine who will be responsible for fulfilling the request and the ability of the implementers to devote time to making the change.

Planning the Change

Once you ask for a change, you must plan for it as if it will happen. A change plan outlines the path the change will take, the resources required to complete the change and an implementation timeline.

Change Evaluation

If the change includes software debugging or other system modifications, it may be necessary to test the change before its approval. If the change request is approved, a small-scale test will be performed to demonstrate the procedure. Testing the change also allows you to work out any issues that may have arisen in your advanced procedures.

Developing a Change Proposal

A change proposal outlines the type of change, the priority given to a change request, and the potential repercussions of not implementing the change. You must explain why the change is necessary for your suggestion to the person with the power to make it. For example, a change with a high priority level may cause outages that affect customers and result in revenue losses. In addition, the people who make changes must be aware of the consequences of doing nothing.

Implementing Changes

Implementing a change is not an easy task. First, you have to plan for the change. Implementation is only one step in the process of managing change. After making the change, tests must be done to see if the results were what was a wish for. If the change doesn’t work, remediation strategies could be used to figure out what went wrong and put in place a backup plan to deal with the problems that led to the request for the change.

Examining Change Performance

The post-implementation review is a critical component of the change management process. As an IT professional, you want to know if your change procedures are working properly. This involves reviewing records to determine whether the change was successful or unsuccessful, as well as recording details about the time and cost of the change to determine the accuracy of estimates made before fulfilling a request. Furthermore, reviewing change performance allows you to fine-tune your change management process for better future results.

Process Completion

Once the change process is complete, ensure that it has been documented in a database that all stakeholders can access. The process is completed once this documentation is completed.

Advantages of Change Management

Following are the advantages of change management:

To the Organization: 

◉ Fewer change collisions as a result of effective change management

◉ The ability to implement upgrades without disrupting operations

◉ There are fewer failed changes

◉ Changes are classified correctly

To the End User:

◉ Improved communication about scheduled downtime and service unavailability

◉ Service operations run more smoothly, with fewer disruptions caused by poorly planned changes

Source: invensislearning.com

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Adopting ITIL 4 Using PRINCE2

Have you considered using PRINCE2 to help with ITIL 4 adoption? With the advent of ITIL 4, more and more organizations around the world are beginning to realize that IT must bring value. It’s a key reason why many companies want to incorporate ITIL 4 into their organization. For example, are any of the following expressions familiar?

◉ “We want to elevate IT to a strategic position in the business, and ensure that it contributes to our vision and objectives.”

◉ “We need to find savings in IT. We need to be operating as efficiently as possible.”

◉ “Our customers are not happy with the products and services we’re providing. How can we get better?”

In my opinion, we can all be better if we adopt ITIL 4 practices into our organizations. And this article looks at how the use of PRINCE2 will help.

The applicability of PRINCE2 to ITIL adoption

In my experience, many companies are reporting that: “Deadlines are delayed, costs are rising, and the motivation of specialists is decreasing. Quality suffers as a result.”

To avoid these issues and to bring your organization up to a new level of IT service delivery and support, I suggest adopting ITIL 4 using the PRINCE2 framework. This was developed under the auspices of the UK government to manage IT projects but has since undergone significant changes to adapt it for other industries.

Why do I think of ITIL 4 adoption as a project? Project management is the management of the change process required to achieve an end target, within certain time and cost parameters. ITIL 4 has no end target. However, we do have end targets when implementing certain ITIL 4 practices and adding value to our services. And this is a project.

This is a classic PRINCE2 process map but, if you’ve undergone any related training, you’ll remember that we tailor the PRINCE2 methodology to our project environment.

An example of using PRINCE2 for ITIL 4 adoption

ITIL 4 adoption can be done either by an internal team or by using external consultancy services. I’ll reflect on how to use PRINCE2 in both scenarios.

Starting up an ITIL 4 adoption project

A project mandate is the trigger for the project. Do we have clear reasons for adopting ITIL 4? What do we want to achieve? Which practices and elements from ITIL 4 do we want to include in this project?

Adopt ITIL, if there is a business justification for it, and only in this case.

Once all the necessary authorities exist for initiating the project, sufficient information is available to define it, and the scope of the project is confirmed, appoint individuals to undertake the work required for project initiation.

The project brief should be developed using the ITIL 4 guiding principles such that time is not wasted initiating a project based on unsound assumptions (scope, timescales, acceptance criteria, and constraints).

Directing an ITIL 4 adoption project with PRINCE2

Management direction and control are provided throughout the project’s life, including to help ensure that the project remains viable. I’d highly recommend including all C-level personnel on the project board. If you’re doing the project with an external consultancy company, a senior manager from the consultancy company should be included as well.

The project manager and the project team are assigned. If it’s your internal project, then the project manager should be an individual from your organization. If you’re using an external consultancy company, then the project manager and team roles should be taken by a principal consultant and consultants from the external company.

The project board should be involved in all project stages.

Initiating an ITIL 4 adoption project with PRINCE2

Consider ITIL 4 a product. Start with an assessment and gap analysis. At this point, the ITIL 4 guiding principles start to apply. This will show “Where are we now?”

Use value stream mapping to identify pain points and improvement opportunities, such as eliminating waste and blockers, start collaborating, etc.

Prepare a continual improvement register (CIR) based on the assessment, gap analysis, and value stream mapping. Control and monitor risks at all stages.

Define the project plan based on the CIR by stages. Adopt ITIL gradually. Ensure that each stage is measurable. Start where it’s most necessary or advantageous.

Controlling a stage

The project manager using PRINCE2 needs to focus on the delivery of the stage’s products. Risks and issues, and business case are kept under control and review. The agreed-upon products for the stage are delivered to the stated quality standards, within cost, agreed-upon effort and time, and ultimately in support of the achievement of the defined value.

Work packages are used to define and control the work to be done and to set tolerances for the project team. Work packages should be small pieces of improvement that are iterative and are going to add more value to day-to-day work.

Managing product delivery

The ITIL 4 guiding principle “progress iteratively with feedback” applies here. Once small pieces of work are implemented, provide a workshop. I’d highly discourage writing a stack of policies or processes first. Act iteratively, and don’t try to “eat the whole elephant.”

Don’t adopt ITIL 4 practices just for the sake of a “tick.” Start with small pieces. Set yourself achievable goals for a limited period. Then, ask yourself the question: “Did we get what we expected?” Analyze the challenges and bottlenecks, and gather feedback from IT staff and end users. Plan for further iterative practice development.

Managing a stage boundary

Assure the project board that all products in the stage plan for the current stage have been completed and approved. Review and, if necessary, update the project initiation document (PID) using PRINCE2 practices.

Provide the information needed for the project board to assess the continuing viability of the project – including the aggregated risk exposure and a record of any information or lessons that may help later stages of the project and/or other projects.

Continual improvement with PRINCE2

You might have expected to see a “closing the project” process here. However, with an ITIL 4 project, it’ll never come to the end. Always improve. Review the performance of the project against its baselines in the CIR. Assess any value that has already been realized, update the forecast of the remaining value, and plan for a review of the unrealized value. Also, ensure that provision has been made to address all open issues and risks with follow-up action recommendations.

Visualizing project element relationships

While the above will read in a very linear way, the reality of your ITIL 4 adoption project will be more like the image shown below.

Also, no matter which ITIL 4 practices you decide to adopt first, in my experience the service catalog should be one of the first project deliverables. This’ll lay the foundation for the development of a service-oriented culture in the organization.

Source: itsm.tools.com

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Is The ITIL Framework Really Useful for Start-Ups?

Startups are basically everywhere now. Be it someone with years of experience or someone who has come out of a business school fresh, everyone aspires to start their own venture someday. Till 1st February 2020, the department for the promotion of industry and internal trade, which comes under the ministry of industry and commerce, has recognized over 27,916 startups in India. Considering the big organizations seeing the increasing scope of investing in startups of India, this should be huge news. But disappointment strikes when 8 out of 10 startups fail every year for a lack of knowledge in order to apply technology. 

More Info: PeopleCert ITIL Foundation

Technology is something that can be beneficial to each and every business in some way. AT&T and the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council conducted a survey that shows that with the help of smartphones, any business owner can save 1.24 Billion hours a year, as well as mobile technologies are saving small businesses more than USD 65 Billion a year.

In the modern technological era that we live in, technology is helping us with every step. Through online orders, accepting mobile payments, managing feedback, it is bringing the organization a great deal of customer satisfaction. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework, is basically designed to standardize the planning, selection, support, and delivery of IT services to business. ITIL can be a great help to startups in identifying services they should offer, designing their services, transiting them, supporting and delivering the services, and most importantly,  continuously improve the overall service map.

In a nutshell, ITIL is far more than just an operations and technology approach. It is an entire way of thinking and behaving since it provides a rounded up approach to proceed forward with any business that utilizes technology to deliver services. That’s the reason ITIL is perfect for startups Because it has the power to change your entire vision about your own startup. 

How ITIL framework helps your startup?

1. Strategy

This component of ITIL gives you a detailed vision of:

understanding and knowing your customers,

Understanding the kind of services your customers need,

The types of services you can provide to them and

the requirements for the successful execution of the necessary services.

This component helps you to have a clear goal of your customer needs and the ways of fulfilling them. Understanding this concept of ITIL can help you to strategize the entire thing and to find out the ways to move forward with the resources you have. 

2. Design

This ITIL component ensures makes sure that the services you are providing are meeting customer expectations in a cost-effective manner. It points out if you are considering the most effective and efficient; design, technology, process, and service management system are while supporting a business process or solving a business problem.

3. Transition

This component provides a framework that allows your startup to; approve, build, test, and deploy to your customer, in a repeatable, controlled, efficient, and standardized manner.

In this phase, the business owner can make the changes required by controlling assets, validating services, or assigning tasks for deployment.

4. Operation

Operation in ITIL advocates for proactive support, which will prevent a firefighting approach that many startups have an affinity for.

With the help of this component, the following things can be achieved.

service delivery is regularized and monitored for failure or success,

trends of recurring issues can be tracked down and their causes could be defined,

systems with issues can be restored

end-user or customer routine requests can be handled.

5. Continual Service Improvement

This component details an approach to identify and implement improvements by;

measuring and improving the quality of service continuously

Making sure that technology being used is up to date

Managing the services well

This component helps in continuous delivery directly and hence, great customer success can be achieved.

How ITIL will impact your startup

Along with accelerated efficiency, consistency and general improvements, the other benefits of implementing the ITIL framework for your startup include:

Proper utilization of employee skills and experience

Increased productivity

Reduced costs

Improved delivery of 3rd party services and

Improved customer satisfaction

ITIL provides your organization with a set of frameworks to meet customer expectations more predictably. Also, stakeholders including employees and 3rd party service providers’ relationships can be easily promoted and managed, because ITIL sets a really high standard.

Putting into practice ITIL for your startup

To implement ITIL for your startup first thing you need to do is do a proper assessment of the process and best practices that your specific business has and can be benefited the most from ITIL. This empowers you and your staff to forecast and envisage how ITIL could affect your startup.

Thus, to implement  ITIL you will need to:

Document your set business goals and objectives,

Document what plans you currently have in place to achieve those goals

Shortlist the relevant plans that you need to improve upon by identifying the gaps between your current services and goals for improvement

Choose processes and best practices

Use project management tools and techniques to put your new plans into action and

Measure and monitor the changes that you have made to ensure that you are meeting goals and that you are making adjustments to improve when you are not meeting your goals.

Source: novelvista.com

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How to Calculate ITIL Network Availability

Here is my Question

◉ What will be network availability value formula if the VPN tunnel is down, but not the Internet connection?

◉ Will this availability value calculation formula change if the Internet connection goes down?

Solution

We discussed this, brainstormed and got amazing answers… Here is summary of discussion

In normal situation we will calculate network availability based on the uptime of the Internet connection, because if the Internet goes down, it will affect both internal and external applications. But on other side in reality - a failure of the VPN tunnel would still impact the access to internal applications but not external applications (partial outage).

◉ Both VPN and Internet will have its own availability measures different technology even if they are network related. Best would be to divide and measure them.

◉ E2E business KPI's is what customers are looking at.. as we have business processes.. we have to link infrastructure and software components associated and measure business KPI's rather than SLA.

◉ One of approach to calculate network availability can be weighted average between the availability of the Internet connection and the availability of the VPN tunnel: “Network Network Availability = Weight external_apps x Network Availability Internet + Weight Internal_apps x Network Availability VPN"

◉ The two weights values should be set and discussed with the business architect considering business criticalness.

◉ For example, let’s assume that 80% of the business applications used by the users are external (Internet) and that the remaining 20% are internal (VPN). If in one-year time interval, the Internet connection never failed, while the VPN tunnel was unavailable for 1 day, then the value of the overall network availability for that location is:

◉ Network Availability = 80% * 100% + 20% * (99.726%) = 99.945%

Source: novelvista.com

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Whats the difference between ITSM and ITIL?

Professionals who are new to the Service Management domain have the eternal haziness on the interconnections between the terms ITSM and ITIL. Exchange of these terms in different contexts take them to the point of thinking whether these are one and the same. Let us understand these terminologies, their objectives and demystify the relationship between these two.

IT Service Management:

IT Service Management which is abbreviated as ITSM stands for the specialized organizational capabilities of the Service Provider organizations which are leveraged in delivering value to customers through the IT services delivered. These capabilities includes all processes, tools, functions as well as tangible and intangible assets used by the organization for delivering customer value.

ITIL:

ITIL®, the popular acronym for IT Infrastructure Library, as its name indicates, was created as a library of books that document industry-accepted best practices for IT service and infrastructure management. Since its inception in early 1980s, it evolved through versions and matured from infrastructure management guidance to matured approach for managing the lifecycle of IT services from strategy to operations and final retirement. ITIL® provides a cohesive set of best practice guidance, drawn from private and public sectors internationally and helps service providers on the provision of quality services along with processes, functions and other capabilities required to support the services.

Read More: ITIL Practitioner

ITIL® became the most popular best practice guidance for Service Management, even to the extent that it became synonymous with ITSM. It is recognized worldwide as the best practice approach for delivering and managing IT services and is the choice of businesses across domains across the globe in streamlining IT operations.

Conclusion:

Today IT industry is at an interesting juncture. Digital technologies, which is considered as the fourth wave of industrial revolution is taking IT services by a storm through its gamut of options including Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Automation, Cloud-based services, agile service delivery and much more. IT Service Management which is tasked to manage all types of IT services irrespective of technologies and delivery models is right in the middle of the storm with the sublime task of strategizing and managing new age IT services driven by the digital world. New version of ITIL®, ITIL®4 is coming up to set the direction for this journey. It’s interesting times ahead for Service Management professionals to explore ITIL®4 and utilize the practices for driving IT services in the digital path.

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How to implement ITIL in 4 easy steps?

How to Implement ITIL

ITIL Implementation? Is It Possible.....…My opinion…..You can’t.

That’s because ITIL is a framework of guidance and it is not something to be implemented; everything you do with ITIL and ITSM is about change in mind state or cultural transformation.

Today, too many businesses are still focused on delivering technology when they should be focused on providing an end-to-end service & achieve desired business growth.

Instead, ITSM professionals need to help businesses change attitudes and behaviors, focus on customers, customer requirement, outcomes, and business values and provide the linkage between them.

Implementation implies a start and a finish, but ITSM is about continual incremental improvements that are sustainable. So, how to do that successfully?

The few key factors which should be considered while ITIL implementation are:

1. Start from where you are 

The ideal way to begin ITIL journey is by considering the current situation.

There are many things which you are already doing, many things you can and can’t do: existing processes as well as current roles, cultures and behaviors, should all be reviewed and evaluated before making changes.

At this stage, many businesses just focus on the processes, but practitioners should refer to the guidance in ITIL: Planning to Implement Service Management and consider the following seven aspects:

◉ Organizations Vision

◉ Organizations strategy & Governance

◉ The People

◉ The Process

◉ The product and technology

◉ The culture, service and attitude

◉ The organization, communication and relationships 

Out of the above, process is only one part so it’s important to take a step back and look at what works and what doesn’t across all these areas. Then, you can identify your current capabilities and, critically, your pain points and where you’re bleeding from.

2. Where does the business want to be?

On many occasion it is observed and surprised to see that how often IT teams fail to understand their role within the bigger picture, they just fail to understand what business requirement is.

On many occasions when met with Customers IT Head or CIO, who, when asked about their current challenge and what they’re trying to achieve, they simply say: “we’re trying to make this or that work”. Their answer rarely illustrates overall objective the business is striving for.

Every organization has a certain culture and values it holds , but often IT teams don’t know these values or have a clear understanding of how their actions helps the business for achieving the bigger strategic goal. Instead, people are just too focused on the day job.

To use ITIL effectively, you need to understand how you fit in and the role of IT in the business strategy.

ITSM is there to make something better, faster or cheaper for customers and users and everyone need to always have that in mind.

3. Build capability

Once you know where you are and where the business wants to get to, you should then think about what you need to do to get there. ITSM is about building capability, which is the power and ability to do something.

The third stage, so-called ‘implementation’ is understanding the what, when and where of your capability. What are the priorities to improve?

What capabilities do you need to develop internally and what are you better to outsource?

Internally, businesses should be focusing on the high value activities whereas the repetitive elements should be done by someone else externally.

IT teams should also be thinking about how this approach will change over time. As ITSM evolves, I believe successful organizations will adopt a more service integrator role where internal IT teams oversee and bring together different providers to deliver an end-to-end service. This will then allow them to focus on the most important capabilities.

4. Evaluate and continue 

Every incremental change must bring value to an organization, and that is the objective of service improvement programs.

ITSM is continuous so make time from the day job to continually improve to deliver even greater value to the business.

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ITIL - Service Operation Overview

Service operation ensures that services are being provided efficiently and effectively as per SLAs. It includes monitoring services, resolving incidents, fulfilling requests and carrying out operational tasks.

Key Points

◉ Service Operation includes five process and four functions.

◉ Service operation deals with day-to-day activities and infrastructure that are being used to deliver the services.

◉ Service Operations is where all design and transition plans are executed and measured.

◉ From customer point of view, Service Operation is where actual value is seen.

Service Operation Processes

Service operations include total five processes as described in the following table −

Sr.No.	Process & Description
1	Event Management The objective of this process is to make sure all CIs are monitored constantly. It also filters and categorizes the events in order to decide on appropriate actions.
2	Incident Management The purpose of Incident Management is to restore the service to the previous stage as early as possible.
3	Request Fulfillment This process deals with handling requests such as change password, create new user and create email id etc.
4	Access Management This process deals with granting rights to authorized user to use the service.
5	Problem Management This process deals with finding root cause of the problem and prevent incident to occur again.

Service Operation Functions

Service Operation comprises of four functions as shown in the following diagram −

Service Desk

Service Desk is the first and single point of contact. It plays a vital role in customer satisfaction. It coordinates activities between end user and IT service provider team. It also owns the logged requests and ensures closure of these requests.

There are four types of Service Desk −

Central Service Desk

In this, there is only one central Service Desk.

Local or distributed Service Desk

It is costly but closer to the user. It is difficult to manage and maintain.

Virtual Service Desk

It is very costly and result in fast processing.

Specialized Service Desk

It includes dedicated skilled staff for specific queries.

IT Operation Management

This function is responsible for managing organization’s day-to-day operational activities

Technical Management

Technical Management staff includes technical expertise that is responsible for management of overall IT infrastructure.

Application Management

Application Management is responsible for managing the applications and software throughout the lifecycle of the service.

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How to implement ITIL?

1. ITIL Implementation “When”, “Why” and “How”

ITIL, we all knew it is a best practice guide for IT Service Management. Yes, ITIL is a guide split in 5 Books and available to study. ITIL focus on “Customer Satisfaction”. Now that we understand what is Service Management?

Imagine you are the Project Manager/Service Delivery Manager and you have all the power to guide the team about the best practices to be followed in day-to-day Service Operations. You ensured all the team is following the same practice, but still “Did you find a gap?” or “Did you find something incomplete?”

Did you meet the Customer Satisfaction? Obviously NO, the above practice would be incomplete, as the sender and receiver of the Service is not just one –to– one mapping. i.e., One team (say 6 members) giving the service to Customer (only 6 members).

When you are working for an Organization either it can be Service Receiver or the Service Provider, there are many things to be considered when you want to apply the best practices you have studied in ITIL in reality. ITIL in reality is nothing but when providing the services to the Customer or when receiving the services from the Service Provider.

Consider you are working for Service Provider giving the Services to the Customer, and you want to apply the ITIL best practices, how you will know

1. What are the processes that we are agreed with the Customer?

2. How you will ensure your way of applying the ITIL best practices in the team matching the Customer requirements?

3. How you will ensure the Customer also following the ITIL best practices?

4. How you will ensure that you are team is meeting the Service Level Agreements?

5. Does the SLA Capturing mechanism agreed with the Customer?

Basically, it is not one team applying the ITIL best practices, it is mutually agreed between the Customer and the Service Provider about the ITIL best practices as a “Process” that needs to be aligned and followed. To achieve the Customer Satisfaction and to deliver the Services that are agreed with the Customer and to meet the Customer Expectation, that’s why any Organization need a separate focus on ITIL Implementation.

You are in the right direction, as you have completed the ITIL Study and your vision is to follow the ITIL best practices while providing the Services to the Customer, definitely it’s not one person ownership to achieve this, so now comes to the fact How to implement ITIL?

ITIL never says how to implement, ITIL explains what the best practices are. ITIL Framework can be implemented without tailoring i.e., ITIL AS-IS. (OR) ITIL fits in any of the framework to ensure the Quality of the Services. ITIL can be implemented by adding Agile Methodologies which is nothing “Agile Service Management”, ITIL can be implemented by adding our well known Governance Framework “SIAM”.

Let me explain you How to implement “ITIL AS-IS”, “ITIL Agile” and “ITIL SIAM” along with Pros and Cons.

2. ITIL As-Is

Out of my experience here is the best way to implement ITIL.

I’m introducing you to the ITIL Implementation Framework. This Framework is nothing but 4 Phases. 

For a successful ITIL Implementation the detailed activities segregated for each phase in the above picture.

3. ITIL in SIAM

ITIL talks about the best practices that can be followed while delivering the services to the Customer. However, ITIL didn’t explain the Governance part of it especially when “Customer” is receiving the Service from Multiple Service Providers to achieve the common business objective.

We have SIAM framework only talks about the Governance mechanism when the Customer has Multiple Service Providers for delivering the Service, but it doesn’t explain end to end Service Management.

Now your organization completed the multi sourcing RFP approach, is in the need of using both ITIL Framework and the SIAM Framework. Let’s see on How to Implement ITIL in SIAM i.e., SIAM-as-a-Service?

There are certain Pre-Requisites to implement ITIL in SIAM

◉ Understanding of the SIAM Governance Model Framework

◉ Validate whether the Business Case for implementing the SIAM is justified

◉ Able to drive the streamlining of vendor management and sourcing processes

◉ Ensure all the required Outputs at “Discovery & Strategy” , “Plan & Build” phase are ready for smooth and successful ITIL implementation in SIAM

◉ Meet the checkpoints of Discovery and Strategy , Plan and Build phase

Below are the different phases of SIAM Framework. At the end of “Implement” stage, the new SIAM with ITIL model is ready to use.

Out of my experience here is the best way to Implement ITIL in SIAM.

Once done with Implementation, now you are in Run & Improve phase of SIAM.

4. ITIL Agile

We keep hearing the buzz word call Agile Service Management. It’s nothing but implementing the ITIL in Agile way. Agile is nothing but a mindset.

If you would like to implement the ITIL in agile way, first understand Agile Manifesto with respect to Services and understand the Agile Principles align that with ITIL.

Agile principles, as per the Manifesto and Principles discussed earlier come down to a number of core ones when applied to Service Management

Implement the above principles to achieve Agile in ITIL

5. Best Practices in ITIL Implementation

◉ Regular Customer Feedback

◉ Ongoing Change Management (Service Improvements)

◉ Customer Collaboration in Swift manner

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The Era of Introduction to ITIL Foundation Certification

Doing ITIL Certification has soon become a hygiene factor instead of a differentiator as it was in the past. It is a factor that adds value to your profile as an Individual or organization in today’s competitive market. But we require to realize that certification is just the First step of the learning process. The value derived from accreditation depends on the role, type of business, experience, and how you apply the knowledge to the situations to resolve business problems.

ITIL, formerly recognized as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, consists of several types of IT service management practices required by businesses and IT organizations to increase the quality of IT services.

ITIL Foundation is one of the most inquired after and highly credible certification for seeking IT professionals. If you are already employed, then getting this credential can be challenging as you might need an effective learning strategy to prepare for the ITIL certification exam without settling on your performance at work.

Some Essential Factors to Study for ITIL Foundation Certification

Here are some essential factors to study while preparing for the test:

1. Time Management Is the Key

Once you have chosen to obtain an ITIL Foundation certification, you need to estimate how much time you will require to prepare for the exam. You need to select according to your current work schedule, learning capabilities, and familiarity with the exam topics.

Despite your learning capabilities, you should spend at least two months to prepare for the test. You can use this time by going through the study guide available, solving practice questions many times, and working on your weaker areas. In this way, you can indeed prepare for the test by studying for 7-8 hours a week. You can learn daily, on alternate days, or weekends depending upon your availability and work schedule.

2. Get Familiar with the Test Pattern

Apart from learning essential concepts for the ITIL Exam, it is equally crucial that your study of the ITIL test pattern perform better on the exam day.

An updated version for the ITIL exam was launched earlier at the commencement of 2019. The ITIL exam's previous version included outdated topics and not entirely relevant to the latest IT practices, tools, and technologies.

Since the ITIL foundation exam is an easy level certification, with the aid of proper training and a sound learning strategy, it is likely to clear the exam within the first attempt.

3. Learn About the ITIL Lifecycle

The exam covers the fundamental ITIL concepts and checks your knowledge about the ITIL service lifecycle. There are a total of five steps in the ITIL lifecycle. They are:

• Service Strategy

• Service Design

• Service Transition

• Service Operation

• Continual Service Improvement

4. Passing Criteria

The ITIL foundation exam consists of forty MCQs, and the time duration for the test is 60 minutes. The candidate requires a minimum of 65% of marks to clear the ITIL foundation exam. With individual guidance and preparation, it should not be too difficult.

5. Examination Fee

The ITIL exam fee can cost you up to five hundred dollars based on your provider.

6. Keep Updated Notes

There are various topics and formulas that you require to study to prepare for the ITIL Foundation certification exam. You can try making notes of them. This will save you time as you can look at the notes from time to time to refresh the ideas instead of going through the complete study guide or lecture.

It is essential to note that the ITIL foundation displays and reflects the procedures and strategies of practical implementations and the regulation of new IT services that any organization wants to provide.

7. Concentrate on Practical Knowledge

Knowledge of practical implementation of ITIL services is of great value. Most authorities believe that, more often than not, trainees appear to make mistakes in some of the most accessible questions asked in the examination and lose marks. Professionals in IT suggest that you can correctly answer most of the exam questions if you have already got some first-hand practical experience with ITIL at your workplace. You merely require to make some common sense and apply some basic logic.

8. Explore Online ITIL Foundation Courses and Videos

Even if you have a good understanding of the ITIL framework, it is still desirable to directly enroll in an online ITIL program, as getting enrolled in an ITIL foundation certification online is an excellent method to prepare for your ITIL foundation exam in lesser time and with good, professional guidance.

9. Check out Self-study Options

Since the ITIL foundation exam is an easy level certification, it is possible to clear the exam and obtain this certification through self-study if you do not have sufficient time or money to invest in an ITIL foundation certification online program.

You can also prepare for the exam efficiently through special ITIL mobile applications that have been specially designed for mobile users and implement a variety of practice tests to practice almost anytime and anywhere.

10. Study the Course Outline

Before preparing for your ITIL foundation exam, make sure to study the course outline carefully. This can help you have explicit knowledge of all the topics you need to cover for the exam.

11. Discuss with Your Trainers

If you are planning through a trainer-led study program, do not hesitate to ask questions to clear your concepts. Without having an in-depth knowledge of fundamental ITIL concepts, it might be hard for you to prepare for more advanced level ITIL certification exams as all ITIL concepts are interconnected with each other.

12. Practice Is Important

Make sure to solve practice questions. It will aid you to become mentally prepared for the exam in advance. It will also encourage you to work more on your weaker areas.

13. Join the Online ITIL Community

Once you have cleared your ITIL Foundation certification, you can quickly become a member of the ITIL online community, which allows special ITIL tips and articles to its members, which can be quite helpful. You are also kept updated about various seminars and workshops on ITIL, which can help you with your professional preparation and advance your career with greater efficiency.

Ending:

Once you have cleared your ITIL foundation exam, you can also consider opting for more advanced ITIL certifications for professionals such as the ITIL Practitioner and Intermediate Level certification.

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