ITIL Frequently Asked Questions -

Where did it come from- ITIL?

A brief history: In 1989, the Central Computer and Telecommunication Agency (a division of the UK government) published the first elements of what would later become known as the IT infrastructure Library, or ITIL. A series of best practice books, ITIL gained more widespread acceptance in the mid-1990's, and has come to be adopted as the standard by many of today's top IT businesses (an example: Microsoft chose ITIL as the basis for its Microsoft Operations Framework and they do have a seperate framework deifned).

What does ITIL do?

ITIL is a series of best practice books that provide recommendations to IT organizations on ways to best optimize their delivery or management of IT services. ITIL provides a great foundation to systematically improve the delivery of IT services.

How can ITIL be useful to an IT organization?

"ITIL is intended to assist organizations to develop a framework for IT Service Management." The key drivers of that sentence are "assist" and "framework." ITIL's biggest strength is that it provides an internally consistent framework around which IT organizations can structure their service management. The problem that many organizations run into is that they approach ITIL as a complete solution rather than as an aid to an end objective.

How do you use ITIL?

ITIL currently consists of set process which can be customized as per the project or company requirements as it provide a baseline / guidelines to customize the process.
IT organizations can use recommendations to optimize and/or simplify their IT service management infrastructure from:
IT Service Support, IT Service Delivery, Planning to Implement Service Management, Application Management, Infrastructure Management, Security Management, Software Asset Management, and the Business Perspective.

What kind of issues is addressed by ITIL?

Issues pertaining to Operations / Management / Services which can be mapped to ITIL process shall be addressed.
Some of the Process which can be mapped to our services / operations are:

Change Management
Change Management provides a consistent approach to evaluating and implementing any change to the IT infrastructure. It details processes that allow users to assess the impact, risk and resource requirements associated with proposed changes.

Problem/Incident Management
Problem management occurs in the form of the identification, investigation and classification of problems. It is a key role in IT Service Management. Problem management pro-actively reduces incident volumes and continually improves the underlying IT infrastructure.

Incident Management records, classifies, tracks and closes all incidents in a controlled and consistent manner. This allows operational service levels to be restored as quickly as possible and helps reduce the number of new incidents.

Service-Level Management
This aims to ensure a satisfactory quality of IT service provision by setting realistic and agreed targets between provider and customer. A process of monitoring, reporting and reviewing of actual service levels highlights any problem areas and facilitates continuous service improvement.

Continuity Management
This process ensures that major failures of technical equipment or facilities associated with IT Service provision are managed efficiently and service levels are restored back to an acceptable level within agreed timescales.

Configuration Management
This provides the crucial foundation for Incident, Problem and Change Management. It records, audits and tracks all configuration items in the IT infrastructure and their relationships from purchase to obsolescence.

Release Management
Release Management offers a systematic framework for large or critical hardware roll-outs, major software roll-outs or bundled sets of changes. It takes into account all technical and non-technical aspects of a release from initial release policy and planning through to development, testing and controlled implementation.

Capacity Management
This process aims at aligning IT service level provision to the current and future business needs. It is concerned with optimizing the usage of existing IT resources as well as ensuring new resources are made available in a timely and efficient manner.

Financial Management
Also known as Cost Management, this process provides essential management information on IT asset and service costs. Through a process of budgeting and accounting true costs are revealed and the value of IT to the business can be demonstrated.

Availability Management
Availability Management ensures that all IT systems and services are functioning as required and that availability is sustained in a reliable and cost-effective way. With the supply and provision of information companies need to consider security management as well to prevent unauthorized use of information.

Security Management
Based on ISO 17799 (a code of practice defined by the International Organization for Standardization), the ITIL security management process is split into two segments: a realization of a basic level of security, and a realization of the security requirements defined in existing service level agreements. The processes defined in the ITIL security segment are centered around achieving those two goals.

Help Desk Management
The Service Desk function is the face of IT to its users and therefore of vital importance in any organization. Service Desk staff log, resolve or escalate and close all incidents. They also increasingly provide more high-level first line support as well as initiatives for service improvement and cost reduction.

What is Prometric and what is its role?
Thomson Prometric is a worldwide provider of computer based examinations. The - ITIL Foundation examination is one of the examinations available in the Prometric Authorized Testing Centers.

What is the difference between EXIN and ISEB?
It is of same value; ISEB and EXIN are accredited as Examination Institutes by the Office of Government and Commerce (OGC) and meet regularly to ensure that the ITIL Foundation qualifications are broadly in line with each other.

What is ISEB?
The Information Systems Examinations Board (ISEB) is a division of the British Computer Society. ISEB was created in 1990 from the Systems Analysis Examinations Board (which was set up in 1967). ISEB administrates examinations and issues certificates in a variety of subjects in the field of information systems engineering. A list of qualifications can be obtained from ISEB.

How can ITIL be useful to an IT organization?
Quoting the ITIL website, “ITIL is intended to assist organizations to develop a framework for IT Service Management.” The key parts of that sentence are “assist” and “framework.” ITIL’s biggest strength is that it provides an internally consistent framework around which IT organizations can structure their service management. The problem that many organizations run into is that they approach ITIL as a complete solution rather than as an aid to an end objective.

Are there support groups for ITIL?
Yes. The official group is the IT service management forum (ITSMF). There are also a myriad number of groups that use and/or comment on ITIL.