All change... and introducing change

As those of you who have been here awhile will know, I've been trying to get an ITSM Programme going at my organisation for some time.  I finally get the budget and the buy-in, and submit the mandate for approval to the board only for me to go and get another job.  My timing is impeccable.  I'm finding it quite difficult to let go as I still have this wonderful vision in my head that I want to make a reality.  Anyhow, as that isn't going to happen time to replace it with a new vision - but I digress.

Some months ago I was tasked with quickly introducing change control ahead of change management as part of the approved ITSM Implementation Programme.  As you can imagine, I wasn't keen on doing this as I wanted it to be done in a properly managed way - however the business need was and continues to be there so I threw something together (through workshop with other key managers).  They specificially didn't want a lot of documentation so two sides of A4 had to suffice.  As predicted, confusion reined for people failed to understand what it was all about, how and when to use it, etc.  What did they expect without allowing time for training or enough documentation to provide the detail required?

Anyhow, one of my tasks before I head off is to train the IT managers in the basics of change management and teach them how and when to use our revised new change management process (only covers normal and emergency changes in an initially small scope).  I spent today fleshing out the document with sufficient detail to address the questions they already have and those that will be asked and preparing some training packs and little laminated cards that they can stick by their PCs.  Tomorrow I aim to finish the presentation that will go with it all because I'm delivering it on Wednesday afternoon!  I'll let you know how it goes...

ITIL v3 books - 1st impression amendments

I've seen comments in forums about issues with the 1st impression of the core v3 books and the inconsistencies across them.  I'd also heard that there were some amendments available but they aren't exactly widely advertised - if you can find the pointer on the OGC site please let me know!  So, if like me you bought a set at launch, be sure to download and print these amendments.

• Service Strategy
• Service Design
• Service Transition
• Service Operation
• Continual Service Improvement

ITIL Live Portal - what DID they promise anyway?

Well, this business has bugged me so much that I went back and checked 'The Official Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle' found the following on page 7:

"1.6.3 ITIL web support services
These products are online, interactive services including a Glossary of Terms and Definitions, Interactive Service Management Model, online subscriber services, case studies, templates and ITIL Live (www.itil-live-portal.com), an interactive expert knowledge centre where users can access time with ITSM experts to discuss questions and issues, and seek advice."

Let's go through these services one by one.

• A Glossary of Terms and Definitions - Freely available on OGC Best Management Practice site
• Interactive Service Management Model - currently the demo available on ITIL LIVE PORTAL which is hosted by TSO
• Online subscriber services - Well... seems this is being tied in with the ISMM above.
• Case studies - Where? These hardly count...
• Templates - Also being tied in with the ISMM which will be a subscriber service.
• ITIL Live (www.itil-live-portal.com) - Subscriber service
• Interactive expert knowledge centre - Where? Is this supposed to count?

Due to the use of commas in the text, I interpreted the statement as meaning that there will be online subscriber services but because they were listed separately to others that they were NOT the same as the ITIL Live OR the 'Interactive Service Management Model'.  Seeing as the currently ITIL Live Portal demo IS an Interactive Service Management Model it makes me wonder if we'll be expected to subscribe for the other web services that I understood to be free.  Is the misinterpretation all down to the use of grammar - or did they really mean to mislead us?  It seems I'm not the only one who was under this misapprehension either... check out The IT Skeptic.

ITIL Live Portal - Cheeky blighters, part 2

Okay... I've had a look and it strikes me that they are trying to go into direct competition with the likes of PinkElephant's PinkATLAS and Fox IT's FoxPrism products. This colours my prior indignation a little bit in - but only a little bit. I suppose we can't expect to get anything for free these days - especially from TSO.

1. The 'demo' is a bunch of screenshots with hyperlinks to other screenshots with a couple of templates for download. If compared to the quality of information available from PinkAtlas and FoxPrism - I think we'll find this sorely lacking so I hope the price tag will reflect this.

2. They haven't tested their survey before putting it out live to an ITIL best practice community. Well ain't that sensible? :P


3. Did I misinterpret the words of Sharon Taylor at various events? Is this 'Living Library' only about selling materials or is it really about a community sharing best practice?

4. Looks like they missed an option on their preferred service payments, i.e. free ;)

7) Having digested the offering, which of the 4 subscription models would you prefer?

Individual Lifecycle Stage Service Model: Provides access to the Service Model for one or more of the lifecycle stages. Any item from the Knowledge Base would be paid for on an ad hoc basis.

Service Model: Provides an annual online subscription to the entire Service Model. Any items from the Knowledge Base would be paid for on an ad hoc basis.

Service Model plus limited Knowledge Base: Provides an annual online subscription to the entire Service Model with a finite amount of content from the Knowledge Base, for example the templates. Any additional items would be paid for on an ad hoc basis.

Tailored Access Model: Provides access based on your Organisations profile. For example a consultant would require access to everything ITIL LIVE has to offer whereas a Change Manager may only require access to Service Transition, Operation and Design.
i. If yes, what areas of the site would you be interested in?

ITIL Live with full access to the Knowledge Base: Provides an annual online subscription to both the Service Model and all content within the Knowledge Base. – skip question 9

Points for design, not so many for content yet. Maybe we'll have that in another year?

By all means go ahead and take a look and be sure to let them know what you think. I have!

ITIL Live Portal - Cheeky blighters!

Well... we interrupt this broadcast with some disturbing news. Since June last year we've been looking forward to the promised complementary guidance that will be available on the ITIL Live Portal. The prospect of an official community all coming together for knowledge sharing seemed almost too good to be true - and well, it is. Silly me for thinking it would be a free service.

As someone registered as interested, I just received this e-mail:

Meeting the needs of the community

You recently registered your interest in ITIL Live via the website. To help ensure ITIL Live meets the needs of the IT Service Management community we are undertaking some quantitative research. As a thank you all respondents who complete the questionnaire by 1st July 2008 will receive a 10% discount off their year one subscription*.

This survey involves a short demonstration of ITIL Live followed by some questions relating to the offering. We would be very grateful if you could spend ten minutes reviewing the offering and completing the survey linked below.

ITIL Live Product Offering

ITIL Live has been created with the help of the Chief Architect and Authors of ITIL Version 3 to help you increase your understanding and assist you with your implementation of the ITIL Service Management Lifecycle.

It brings together, for the first time, the main practice elements of each of the lifecycle phases, the 27 processes that underpin each lifecycle phase and the Roles associated with each stage in a graphical Service Model. ITIL Live will help you see at a glance how the lifecycle works, who is involved, what they need to do and will offer supporting tools to enable them to deliver.

We would be very grateful if you could spend a few minutes reviewing the ITIL Live Demo.

As you will have seen from the demo, the Service Model will be accessible via three routes. Each offers several tiers of drill down capability each illustrating a further level of detail. Within the deepest level you will find the Knowledge Base offering access to downloadable templates and, in time, other documentation such as real life examples, further guidance and subject-specific publications to assist with you day-to-day use and adoption of ITIL.

Please let us know what you think of ITIL Live by completing a short survey

*Assuming the product goes ahead this offer is for one single user base subscription only per respondent. Redeemable within one month of product launch this offer is not to be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount.

Excuse me... am I supposed to be pleased at the idea of a discount for something that we were led to believe would be free of charge?

I'm off to review the product (which it now clearly is) and fill out the survey. I recommend that you do the same!

I shall write up my thoughts on the product for my next blog post, delaying the write up of the itSMF e-symposium on Service Delivery Automation.

Service Delivery and Service Automation

On Thursday I attended the latest itSMF e-symposium 'Service Delivery and Service Automation' (the presentations will be available from the archive in a couple of days if you missed it). There were four presentations, each of which seemed to skew more towards either the 'Service Delivery' element or the 'Service Automation' element. They were:'

- 'The Strategy for Success' by Chris Dowding of Fox IT
- 'How to create an automated Service Management structure in line with business need' by Jack Robertson Worsfold of Icore
- 'Building a foundation for an effective approach to process automation' by Chip Mason of IBM
- 'For the Customers ........ we change and automate' by Matthew Burrows of BSMImpact

I thought the most useful of the four was the third presentation by Chip Mason although there were a few things in each of the others that made it worthwhile. So if you only have time to listen to one - make it his. In the main, the e-symposium confirmed that I'm heading the right way with our soon to actually happen (maybe? hopefully? !) ITSM Programme in terms of definition of services and workflow to automate delivery of said services where possible.

As with the last event, I will post my key learning points from each presentation over the next two blog entries covering two presentations in each as well as detailing the Q&A.

Just a note about the facilitation by Mike Simons of Computerworld UK... better than the last in that we actually got comfort breaks this time (much appreciated). However, when it was clearly not an appropriate forum to be asking presenters for their recommendations on ITSM and workflow tools - why put them in the awkward position of asking? Far better I think to acknowledge the volume of requests, state that it was not an appropriate forum for vendor recommendations and refer people to the itSMF discussion or private e-mails (which happened with each but why put 3 of the 4 presenters through the question?).

Whitepapers and research

I've been catching up on some reading the past week and wanted to share some links with you.

1. Whitepaper: ITIL® V3 and ISO/IEC 20000 by Jenny Dugmore and Sharon Taylor
This outlines the differences between ITIL V3 and ISO/IEC 20000 from 'the perspective of each clause in the standard where the core 5 ITIL books either do not cover it or cover it differently. It does not cover changes that mean ITIL V3 is closer aligned to
ISO/IEC 20000 than was ITIL V2. The table included within this white paper is an ISO/IEC 20000-1 centric document. It identifies clauses where there are notable differences between ISO/IEC 20000 and ITIL V3 that are not simply due to the different purposes of the two sets of documents.'

As it is only 6 pages are we to infer that there aren't many differences? As I have not yet read a fully copy of the ISO 20000 standard I'm unable to comment. I thought this may be useful for those of you who are going down that route though.

2. The Forrester Wave: Service Desk Management Tools, Q2 2008 by Chip Gliedman
Garner have the 'Magic Quadrant' and Forrester the 'Wave'. This report evaluates 16 products from 13 vendors and presents two waves. One for large enterprises (or those with complex requirements) and one for small enterprises (or large ones with simple requirements). The results are pretty consistent with HP, Remedy, CA, IBM, and Axios solutions classed as 'leaders' for large enterprises. What is interesting is that Infra who were only added to the Gartner Magic Quadrant last time around have also made it into the 'leader' class. Also, the software as a service solution from Service-now.com it only just outside as a 'strong performer'. Interesting times for vendors...

3. Whitepapers from EMC (Infra Enterprise)
Normally I'm not a fan of vendor whitepapers as they are generally a major sales pitch. Spurred on by the Forrester Wave I thought I'd take a look at those from Infra and I was pleasantly surprised. Aside from a few typographical errors and a missing word that changes the meaning of a sentence to the exact opposite in one (immediately obvious to anyone who knows ITIL, so much so that you almost put the missing word in without realising) I thought there were some good ideas in there - particularly the service catalogue. I'd only seen this sort of thing in dedicated products like Newscale.

Moving your ITIL Implementation Forward - part 4

It's here, the final part in the series! This covers the question and answer session from the itSMF e-symposium entitled: 'Moving your ITIL Implementation Forward - what are your next steps?' on 18th March 2008.

Round Table - Questions and Answers
I didn't catch the names of everyone who asked questions, suffice to say it was worthwhile hanging on until the end.

Q1. How do we measure the ROI of ITIL v3 adoption?
A1. Rob Stroud observed that the last 60 days have seen a massive move to v3 and went on to say that IT needs to measure things at a different level in a way that the business see as important, i.e. the provision of service. He states that the ROI of ITIL is not necessarily tangible in bankable cost-savings.
Malcolm lightened the mood by informing us that he often thinks of the ROI of ITIL as the 'return on insurance', i.e. the potential cost of not doing it.
Sharon was quick to point out that there are other benefits aside from the financial.

Q2. Can you drive COBIT and ITIL agenda from middle management or does it have to be C-level?
A2. Harvey was strongly of the view that it doesn't need to wait for higher level management. He has been fortunate in his role to take what he needs and get on with it. He did note that for funding senior management do need to be involved.
Georges echoed Harvey's viewpoint stating that you can always start within your own area of responsibility. The organisation can then look at your area as a centre of excellence and adopt in the wider scene (why does Zapp! come to mind?). He did advocate the need to sell to senior management to expand beyond your own area.

Q3. ITIL certification is always on individual basis. Will it ever be organisational?
A3. Sharon sees no need for ITIL certification to go beyond the individual as for organisational certification there is ISO 20000 (ITIL v3 is aligned with ISO 20000). One of the drivers for individual certification is to promote ITSM as a profession within the IT industry. Harvey reiterated that "ISO 20000 is the quality standard for ITSM".
Rob informed the delegates that he often is asked for products that are actually ITIL accredited. (ITILImp: Currently there is only the PinkVerify scheme which has recently been updated to take account of v3).

Q4. Why do you need to know what level something is at?
A4. Georges picked this one up but I didn't make many notes other than the comment that COBIT certification is for the individual only, not the organisation.

Q5. v3 exams are now multiple choice rather than written. Is this a dumbing down of the qualification?
A5. I've heard this comment a lot since the itSMF conference last year and the answer hasn't changed.
Sharon stated that it is not a dumbing down and that there is a misconception regarding multiple-choice. The exam formats have been based upon research into undergraduate and postgraduate university examinations. The ITIL exams will use a blend of simple multiple-choice at foundation level whilst the higher level exames will use gradient, complex multiple-choice (e.g. one answer is the most correct, another is less correct, etc.). Apparently this challenges the application of what someone knows rather than their ability to write a paper. Exam pilots suggested that this format is actually harder than the v2 essay format for the manager's certificate. She also made the valid points that it removes the objectivity in terms of the exam grading and will benefit those writing in non-native languages.

As an academic himself it is not surprising that Georges stressed the benefits of multiple choice commenting upon their adaptability to the complexity of questions you want as well as being easy to mark.

Malcolm isn't a fan of these and believes that they lack the interpretation... the why. I liked his suggestion that for the new v3 Advanced ITSM Diploma candidates could write a white paper or say 30 pages as a way of demonstrating that they are a proven practitioner. The end result could then form part of the ITIL v3 complementary guidance. Sharon interjected to say that something akin to this IS part of the advanced service professional certification.

Q6. Will the business guys be worried that IT want to take over the business?
A6. Rob didn't think so, "Communication is the key".
Georges pointed out that ITSM benefits from the business as it positions IT to deliver capabilities. A service is not worthwhile if it is not delivering what the business needs. He also said that it helps accountability with clarification betweeen business failures vs it failures.
Sharon wrapped up by paraphrasing from a Harvard study, "CIOs have to be business leaders, not IT-centric".

All in all, a good set of questions and answers. Although I'm sure there were lots more questions that didn't make the cut. I put a few in (one being a request for Harvey's full workshop as it was really good stuff) and had one answered but the one that I thought would be a quickie that wasn't answered was: "When will the ITIL Live Portal be going live?" It's mentioned in all the books and it now almost a year since they came out. Since then, on a little adventure this ITIL Imp notices that the http://www.itil-live-portal.com address is now redirected to The Stationary Office (TSO) which assures us that it is 'coming soon' (Perhaps that is June, or the next eclipse of the moon, who knows?). Register for updates to find out.

There we have it... the final in this series. I wonder where my next adventure lies...

Moving your ITIL Implementation Forward - part 3

Before I start, my apologies for failing to get this up on Tuesday 25th March as hoped. I almost wonder whether I should start following ITIL principles for my blog posting regime ;)

Today's post was going to be the final part in this series. However, as I was writing it became longer and longer so I figure you can have a part 4 on Friday!.


Georges Ataya and Rob Stroud - IT Governance for the Real World, Mapping COBIT & ITIL
This presentation started off with a little background about ISACA and the ITGI. One thing that I wasn't aware of is the introduction of a qualification: Certification in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT). Aimed squarely at professionals and management who are responsible for governance in one of the domains, the first exam will be in December 2008.

The presenters reiterated the message that most of us reading on the subject already know: COBIT and ITIL are complementary - they are not competitors. (As mentioned in a previous blog entry, we are still waiting for the updated COBIT 4.1 to ITIL v3 mapping which is apparently close to completion - at the time of writing not published on the ISACA website).

After a high level summary of the content of COBIT (and I mean high-level!) the point was made that, when considering the introduction of IT governance and IT Service Management, a top-down approach should be used, i.e. IT Governance first and IT Service Management next. As with ITIL implementations, they recommend that you select the bits that are immediately relevant to you to solve business issues rather than trying to implement all domains in one go.

There was nothing else that leapt out at me during the presentation other than:
1. Reference to the COBIT Maturity model, level 3 is considered to be 'compliant'.
2. I believe that Rob Stroud (apologies if it is George Ataya) is currently writing a service management guide to 'implementing COBIT in your environment'. It's already on my 'to buy' list :)

The final part of this series will be on Friday as I have already written it (I am testing the new Blogger scheduling function which if it works, may lead to more regular updates).

Moving your ITIL Implementation Forward - part 2

This post continues my summary of key points from the itSMF's latest e-symposium, 'Moving your ITIL Implementation Forward' this time focusing upon Malcolm Fry's 'ITIL V3 Essentials and the Role of a CMDB' and Harvey Davison's 'What Should Configuration do for Change?'

Malcolm Fry - ITIL V3 Essentials and the Role of a CMDB
I've seen a lot of presentations from Malcolm on-line but not had the opportunity to see him live so this was particularly interesting to me - if its possible to assess a presenter's style from an online web seminar anyway!

One of the things that I found interesting was his immediate acknowledgment of the v3 certification scheme being superior to that of v2. He strongly felt that in v2 everyone forgot about the other 7 ITIL books (true enough) and that with v3 the assessment of ALL core books will lead to more rounded ITSM professionals.

He also dropped a plug for a book that he is writing at the moment with working title: 'How to build a service management department'. I look forward to seeing what it has to offer.

His presentation faltered a moment for me when he talked about the v3 lifecycle and had the wrong order of the core books up on screen (had transition after operation instead of before). Something fundamental like that inevitably then makes you question the accuracy and validity of the rest of the presentation but thankfully that was the only error I spotted.

The slides showing how v2 and v3 work together were quite helpful, but most amusing was his use of a perfume analogy to achieve an ITIL implementation road map. Apparently in perfume making there are four key things: Primary, Modifier, Blender and Fixative. He expounded upon the analogy by showing how the various ITIL processes could slot into one of these categories, e.g. Incident, Problem, and Change Management came under Primary with Financial management listed as a fixative.

There wasn't really anything of note in the section on the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) except that he reiterated the benefits of template CIs. Towards the end of the presentation he did make a joke regarding how there should be a 'decision management' process in ITIL. Someone pointed out in the Q&A afterwards that this exists in the form of IT governance and went on to promote A 8015:2005 which is the Australian standard which has been taken to form the basis of a new ISO standard.

Harvey Davison's 'What Should Configuration do for Change?'
Of all the presentations I think that this was the most interesting and useful for me. This may be because he is working in the trenches of Lloyds TSB and using ITIL theory successfully in practice. I really liked the whole approach to identifying which areas to attack first in the creation of a CMDB and using change management as a driver for this.

The approach sounds simple enough... define the objectives, identify the results required, and ascertain what is needed to deliver those results. Actually doing this can be quite a challenge though.

When it came to defining their CIs they divided into type, role, and status. In doing this they were then able to produce a cube which showed where best to focus their efforts.



An analogy I liked was seeing the infrastructure as a jenga tower. The CMBD then tells you which brick you can pull out safely without the tower falling down.

To be honest there was so much good stuff in this presentation that, rather than me trying to summarise it here, I highly recommend that you sign up to the itSMF e-symposium and go listen to it and download the slides in the archive!

Check back on Tuesday for the final summary featuring Georges Ataya's and Rob Stroud's presentation on 'IT Governance for the Real World, Mapping COBIT & ITIL' and a summary of the roundtable Q&A.

Moving your ITIL Implementation Forward

This afternoon I 'attended' an itSMF e-symposium entitled: 'Moving your ITIL Implementation Forward - what are your next steps?' Before I summarise my thoughts on the whole thing I must say that I didn't think that any of the presentations, or indeed answers to the questions, addressed the question posed. It was really more of an introduction to ITIL and IT Governance than what I interpreted it to be, i.e. a high-level process for planning and implementing ITIL with focus on the first steps of visioning, road-map etc. Admittedly the summaries of the presentations immediately suggested that it was not going to deliver what I hoped, but still I thought it worth attending. So... coffee in hand and Mind Manager at the ready, I listened to the music before the symposium began.

The Interface
The enterprise web-cast platform is provided by Brightcast. Having pre-registered for the event I received a reminder e-mail the night before and it was a simple matter to login with my username and password. As a spectator rather than presenter there was no need for me to dial up to listen, just delivered as you would expect through your PC soundcard. Limited controls during the live symposium as there was no way of pausing when I wanted to nip to the toilet / get a drink. However, there were tabs to make it easy to submit questions (shame you could not view which other questions had already been asked) and download the presentations in PDF format. Finally there was a tab to take the CPD test to get your certificate.

The Presentations

Sharon Taylor - What's going on out there?
This was fundamentally an updated version of the presentation she delivered at the itSMF conference last year. A few points:
- She believes that ITIL v3 will achieve an increase in the measurement of both Business value and ROI.
- Observed that the ITIL was previously geared towards a purely operational audience and now this is broader including CIOs and the wider business.
- Ran through some of the areas that people are picking from v3 for early adoption.
      - Service Portfolio Management
      - Service Catalogue Management
      - ROI Business cases
      - Event and request management
      - Supplier Management
      - Service Measurement
- She has this idea that everyone is actually doing ITIL because v3 is based on v2. Personally I think this is a nice concept but don't believe this to be truly the case in reality.
- As with v2, Sharon stressed the importance of picking and choosing what is needed for your organisation and the benefits of an incremental approach to implementation.
- When asked about the v3 qualifications capability and lifecycle streams she advised that the syllabi are complete and going through checks for consistency between the streams. The sample exams are in pilot as part of QA and there will be a further pilot with accredited training providers, i.e. a way to go and will be some sonths before release.

Check back on Friday for my summary of Malcolm Fry's 'ITIL V3 Essentials and the Role of a CMDB' and Harvey Davison's 'What Should Configuration do for Change?'

Another place to have your say...

Where has the month gone? I must be getting old!

It looks like things are finally back on track with the itSMF International website. Unfortunately you have to sign up all over again which is mildly annoying. Whatever happened to integrated logins across the same organisational body? Oh, and not forgetting the other login for the forums!

That said, the forums do so far have some pretty good responses from the people in the know (aka Sharon Taylor) so it is worth signing up and keeping your eye on things.

In other news... the presentation last month went very well, objective achieved. I got some lovely compliments on both presentation style and content as well which is always nice. Now I'm musing as to how I can use the same techniques in my next presentation outing later this month.

COBIT and ITILv3

First of all a delayed Happy New Year. 2008 thus far has already had it's share of ups and downs and no doubt that shall continue for the remainder of the year!

For those of us interested in COBIT (Control OBjectives for Information and related Technology - an IT governance framework) and ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) as they relate to IT Service Management, it is good news to hear that the 'COBIT® Mapping: Mapping of ITIL v3 With COBIT® 4.1' will be published on the ISACA website before the end of the first quarter of 2008.

itSMF Conference, v3 Qualifications and News

Well I've just returned from this year's itSMF conference '[R]evolution?'. I've mixed feelings about it this year as I felt that the quality of some of the seminars wasn't as high as last year. Perhaps I was unfortunate in my selection of which I chose to attend. That said, there were some excellent seminars and I shall endeavour to write my thoughts and share some useful nuggets from those in the coming weeks. As always, I'm sure it won't be long before the itSMF publish all the presentations on their website. Incidentally, we're supposed to be seeing a brand new design for their website launching at some point in Decemeber. About time too!

Today I just wanted to bring two things to your attention:

1. The ITIL v3 Qualification Scheme has been finalised (well, according to the website, but at the conference Rosemary Gurney did put in a little caveat). You can read the full qualification scheme information on the OGC's Best Management Practice website.

2. The final edition of the ITIL Refresh news is out (picked up a copy at the conference and now see it online).

That's all for the moment, more to come soon!

ITIL Manager Bridge Delayed

When you get out of the habit of something it's very easy to let things slide. Had a great holiday so now it's time to pick up the blog habit again. If anyone's still reading - thanks for sticking around!

This month the APMG has announced that the ITIL Manager Bridging v2-v3 Qualification will be delayed until next year due to an imbalance in the syllabus regarding coverage of certain topics.

They are also reviewing the Foundation v3 exam because training providers believe there is too much focus on Service Strategy and Continual Service Improvement.

I haven't got funding to do the bridging exam yet so chances are that I will do a different version of the exam to that some of my friends have completed.

ITIL Refresh v3 - Qualification Scheme

Bruce: And what do points make?
The ITIL Imp: One small step for the individual up the career path for IT service management professionals! (Doesn't quite work does it? ;) )

Today I attended the ITIL v3 Launch in London and I promise to write up my thoughts on what was said and my 'concerns' regarding the deployment of the books and online service (Read: "I'm annoyed my books still have not arrived and my online access does not work!"). However, there is far too much to put into one blog entry so I'm kicking off with the area which particularly interests me - the qualification scheme.

Today the APMG released a press release regarding the proposed ITIL v3 Qualifications Structure. Sharon Taylor gave a half-hour presentation on this and for me personally it was the most worthwhile part of the day. She stressed that most of the structure (a modular points-based system) has not yet been signed off by the Qualifications Board so it IS all subject to change.

First of all, the proposed structure:
Everyone needs an ITIL Foundation in Service Management worth 2 points before progressing onto either:
- The lifecycle stream (built around each of the 5 core books. Each module is worth 3 points)
- or The capability stream (built around job roles - service portfolio & relationship management; service design & optimisation; service monitoring & control; and service operation & support. Each module is worth 4 points).

If you wish to progress (and it seems that as career-oriented service management professionals we are expected to want to) you will need to complete a 'Managing Through The Lifecycle' which will be designed as a 'normalisation' exercise to ensure that anyone who holds an IT Diploma has a baseline of knowledge. This qualification is worth 5 points but is not anticipated to be available until the end of this year.

It IS possible to mix and match modules from both the lifecycle and capability streams to achieve a total of 22 points which, on completion of the normalisation course, will automatically qualify you for the 'ITIL Diploma'. It wasn't stated what the process would be for actually claiming the ITIL Diploma but I expect this to be announced within a few months. It would be great if this were automated rather than the burden being on us to claim it. It also isn't clear whether there will be a published certification register as there is for Prince 2. If there were then I think they could automate sending diplomas out.

Beyond the ITIL Diploma will be an 'Advanced Service Management Professional Diploma'. It sounds like not much has really been done around this yet but reference was made to "tapping into other professional certifications". As you may have read I recently covered the BCS ISEB qualifications change as well as the new IT Professional Competency model. It sounded rather like this proposed qualification would align nicely with the 'ISEB Professional Level qualification'. Whether it does or not remains to be seen.

All that's very well, but how about those of us who have v2 qualifications. Is all the investment wasted? The answer is a firm "No". Sharon mentioned 2 types of bridging qualification: 1. Foundation 2. Managers. At this stage it seems it is not required for practitioners. This diagram summarises the routes from v2 to v3.

I think it is pretty self-explanatory except... are they really expecting those qualified to Manager's level to pay for a Foundation bridge AND a Manager's bridge? That doesn't make sense. Yet based on the points scheme if you don't then you end up short 1/2 point for the ITIL Diploma. By my calculations the Manager Bridge should be worth 5.5 points; am I correct or is my maths asleep on me?

My final word on qualification issues today is that of syllabi. There is now more guidance in these broken down by categories covering detailed learning objectives, section links to the core books, and even how long should be spent teaching those learning objectives.

No mention was made of if/when prometric exams will be available at all levels (or even just foundation). Sharon did stress that they are keen that a wider range of delivery mechanisms be used but it sounded to me like the burden is on the Exam Institutes and Accredited Training Providers to come up with these.

DISCLAIMER: As Sharon reiterated the above information is subject to change. As soon as I become aware of any such changes, I'll let you know.
Diagrams are (I think) copyright by APMG 2007 so I may get asked to remove them.

Sources:
Sharon Taylor presentation at the ITIL v3 Launch (London)
APMG Press Release

ITIL Refresh v3 - Qualifications Update

I attended a webinar hosted by Axios systems yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to hear some information direct from the horses's mouth (Chief Architect Sharon Taylor) that I had not heard previously. Today I will focus on the key qualification related points.

Existing qualifications will remain valid and recognised by each EI (Examination Institute). You should not end up in a situation where taking the Foundation exam with one EI does not qualify as the pre-requisite for the next stage of examination with another EI. v2 exams will be phased out at some point in 2008.

There will be 'Upgrade / Bridging' qualifications for those that wish to take them. As the v2 qualifications remain valid there is no requirement to upgrade.

Focusing on v3 qualifications Sharon provided an overview of the Global Panel of Examiners who are appointed by AMPG. The panel is responsible for setting competency standards and actively auditing the EIs and TPs (Training Providers). Membership of the panel includes:
Training providers
Trainers
Examiners
Universities
End Users

One of the key points Sharon made was the creation of a single-exam standard. All the EIs (currently ISEB, EXIN, APMG) will draw their questions from a single exam bank. It is hoped that this will help maintain the quality and consistency of the certifications.

Examinations will be available in multiple languages although no date was provided.

This is where it began to differ from what I have heard (and published here) previously. The progression through the exams in no longer the old 3 levels (which we knew already). What I didn't know is that they are changing to a 'career path' oriented system. There is a desire that ITSM be seen as a valid and worthwhile profession within the IT industry and it is hoped this may go some way to achieving this.

There will still be a foundation exam introducing the lifecycle approach. The first ITIL v3 Foundation exam will be available for sitting on 13th June 2007.

Following the foundation it sounds like there may be two streams of 'Intermediate learning'.
1. Service Management (aka Manager)
2. Service Capability (aka Practitioner)

To this end a modular system will be introduced. This will enable us to customise career paths to our own needs. Sharon said that there will be a phased delivery on examinations at these levels, no dates as yet.

The other major change is the approach to training itself. Instead of training being primarily the domain of the classroom there are going to be self-paced online e-learning courses and virtual classrooms. Exams will be available on demand and we are waving goodbye to the long handwritten 3 hour examinations (maybe I don't want to take the ITIL v2 manager's after all!).

Finally, ITIL v3 revision guides will form part of the complementary publications suite.

The title of her presentation was 'ITIL v3, The Future is Now.' I'm certainly encouraged by the changes (implementation of them remains to be seen of course). The future is just 25 days away!

BCS Service Management Specialist Group Event

Apologies for the lack of posts last week. Just when I thought I had the habit as well!

Last Monday I went into London to an event run by the BCS Service Management Specialist Group as the title of the event piqued my interest: 'IT Service Management, ITIL, ISEB and the BCS '. The group does what it says on the tin. It gets together to discuss and share best practice in Service Management which is MORE than ITIL. Events are normally every month or so at the London BCS offices. If you are interested in joining visit the BCS SMSG website and let them know where you came from ;)

There were nine of us in attendance including the presenter Carol Hulm, Special Project Manager at the BCS.

The main topics of her presentation were:
- ISEB qualification framework evolution
- ITIL v3
- Book launch on 11th May of 'World Class IT Service Delivery' by Peter Wheatcroft
- IT Professionalism

Over the next few blog entries I will address coverage of each of these areas in turn. There were some great questions and answers particularly around ITIL examinations going forward and other ITSM offerings that ISEB may include going forward.

Before leaving I felt compelled to point out that the ProfIT website leaves a lot to be desired and that in my view the BCS professionalism pages were better. Hopefully this will be fed back and we may see some improvement (just call me an optimist!).

Service Catalogues - have you got yours?

Those who have already been down the ITIL path recognise the benefits that creating, publishing, maintaining, and promoting a service catalogue can bring. The most cited according to attendees of the 3rd world Service Catalogue conference is that it helps you to manage your user expectations. It's impossible to deliver a service if your user expectations are higher than your caapcity to deliver. The visibility that a catalogue brings to IT services becomes the first line of defense preventing some of those calls to the service desk where the operators have to deliver surprises to users such as 'Sorry, that is outside our remit' or 'that will cost X'.

Increasingly, there is help at hand when it comes to creating these.
New Scale have been in the ITSM press a lot as they spotted the niche and become market leaders in Service Catalogue management software.

The nice thing about them is that they are willing to share their knowledge to further the cause, rather than holding on to it. Although it is still in early days, I think that the Open Source Community for Service Catalogues could become a really useful resource. Do check it out, and if you have experience of creating a service catalogue, share your story!

Another useful resource for those starting out is the SLA Catalog Toolkit by Musab Qureshi.

Finally I wanted to draw your attention to a book: Defining Success through the IT Service Catalog (read sample | Buy now).

Fox IT join the podcast revolution

Awhile ago I commented upon the PinkCast series from Pink Elephant which tend to take an issue and give a mini-training session in ideas as to how to resolve it.

Another training/consultancy provider (and the one I took my foundation certificate with awhile back) Fox IT has also realised the benefit of joining the podcast revolution and already have five in the series (approx 5-7 mins each). Thus far topics are an explanation of current concepts but more of a marketing vehicle to learn about how they can help you rather than providing much real value from the cast itself - but I'm hopeful that this may change. So far topics include:

• The ITIL Refresh, training and qualifications


• Software as a Service (SaaS)


• The ISO/IEC 20000 Standard


• ITIL Refresh with Vernon Lloyd (one of the ITIL v3 authors)


• What is IT Governance?

If any of those appeal, go and have a listen.