The ITIL® V3 qualification scheme – what does it mean for you?

ITIL® Foundation Bridge Course One day for £240 FREE Foundation Handbook

ITIL® Manager Bridge Course 27 Sept – 01 Oct DOWN to £1199 at Lensbury Conference Centre

ITIL® Intermediate Service Strategy Course 27 – 30 September DOWN to £890 with FREE Lifecycle publication

1. Introduction

ITIL® Service Management has continued to evolve over the last year, to address the broader issues associated with the development and delivery of end-to-end business services. The ITIL lifecycle books emphasise both the operational aspects of IT and the importance of setting your overall strategy, design, transition and continuous service improvement.
Adopting ITIL is enabling effective and efficient IT transformation for many organizations. The ITIL guidance helps people to focus on the ITIL processes and lifecycle stages that add most value. Organizations realise significant benefits as they improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their IT. Adopting a true service-centric approach, improves transparency between IT and the business, which is ultimately the goal for IT service management.

2. ConnectSphere Course Update

During 2009, ConnectSphere delivered the core ITIL® V3 Foundation courses, ITIL® V2 to V3 Foundation Bridge and Manager courses, as well as the new Lifecycle and Capability intermediate modules. Members of ConnectSphere's team are examiners of the intermediate courses and authors of exam study aids. Our knowledge of the education process means that our delegates benefit from a valuable insight in to the accreditation scheme. This is reflected in our delegate’s pass rate in the examinations.
Our client feedback on the course content has continued to be very positive and we have incorporated improvements from candidate feedback.

Some of the comments we have received:

“I have really enjoyed this course and feel more prepared for this exam than any I have sat in years”
“Excellent bringing academic understanding coupled with business experience at the right level”
“I found the course very interesting. The knowledge of the speaker was excellent & taught me exactly what I needed to know.”
“The trainer was clear, accommodating to questions & enthusiastic - Her enthusiasm was contagious”

We provide the relevant ITIL book, a pre course session for all our intermediate courses and reading guidance to help students prepare for their training course and exam. This has been successful and demonstrated in our examination pass rates: e.g. the Foundation Bridge and Manager Bridge produced a 100% pass rate in 2009, along with Release Control and Validation and Service Transition. This was aided with our trainers being authors and contributors of ITIL publications.
The course schedules and appropriate ITIL publications can be found on this web site.

3. ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme

The ITIL® V3 qualification scheme, developed by the APMG Group, the OGC’s official accreditor is shown in the diagram, together with the credit system.
itil qualification scheme

The qualification scheme offers a range of modules across three levels of learning: foundation, intermediate and expert/advanced. Candidates wishing to achieve the ITIL Expert or advanced level certifications need to possess a well balanced ITIL V3 subject matter knowledge.

ITIL V3 Service Capability Modules

There are four modules in the V3 Capability stream:

Planning protection and optimization
Service offerings and agreement
Release, control, and validation
Operational support and analysis

The courses are 4.5 days with the 90 minute exam arranged for the final morning. The pass mark for the exam is 70% and consists of 8 multiple choice scenario-based questions, with a gradient marking approach.

ITIL V3 Service Lifecycle Modules

There are five modules in the V3 lifecycle stream:

Service Strategy
Service Design
Service Transition
Service Operation
Continual Service Improvement

The courses are 3 days with the 90 minute exam on the final day. Note: for on site courses there is the flexibility of the examination on the fourth morning to give extra time for revision. The exam consists of 8 multiple choice scenario-based questions with a gradient marking approach. The pass mark for the exam is 70%.

ITIL V3 Managing through the Lifecycle

Candidates will take sufficient intermediate modules in the service lifecycle or capability streams followed by ‘Managing through the Lifecycle’ to gain their Expert certification.
In order to qualify for this course candidates have to select an appropriate range of lifecycle modules (3 credits each) or capability modules (4 credits each) to secure 17 credits. Candidates that pass the ‘Managing through the Lifecycle’ course gain a further 5 credits. These credits enable them to be awarded the ITIL® Expert in IT Service Management.

ITIL V3 Managers Bridge

The V3 Managers Bridge qualification provides 5 credits which leads to an award of the ITIL® Expert in IT Service Management.

ITIL V2 – V3 Bridge Course

Individuals must hold the V1 or V2 Foundation certificates in order to take this one day V2 – V3 Bridge Course with a 30-minute exam at the end of the day (the pass mark is 65%: 13 out of 20 questions correct).
ConnectSphere are offering this course at a very competitive price of £240 (including exam), and if booking before 1 April 2010 you will receive a further 20% discount.

ITIL V2 – V3 Bridge Course and Adoption Workshop

Following feedback from our customers, we have had success in providing an on-site option for bridging to ITIL V3 that consists of:

Day 1: ITIL V2 – V3 Bridge course
Day 2: ITIL V2 – V3 Bridge exam and ITILV3 adoption workshop

This offering provides two advantages:

Extra time to prepare for the examination
An immediate opportunity to discuss how ITIL V3 practices could be adopted for your organisation, whilst the information is fresh.

4. OGC announcement on ITIL v2 withdrawal

In 2009, the OGC announced the results of an itSMF International survey that asked the community for their views on the uptake of ITIL v3 and the need to retain ITIL v2. Key messages were:

English versions of products need to be in the market to the end of life.
Overall, less than 8% of respondents suggested v2 qualifications need to be available for more than 2 years (from the date of the survey).

The OGC considered the survey findings with its own requirements for the maintenance of the ITIL product set, and has announced that:

Withdrawal will be product based. All language variants for individual qualifications and publications will be retired at the same time.
Removal of v2 will complete by 30 June 2011.

The product withdrawal times are:

V2 Foundation to cease 30 June 2010
V2 Manager to cease 31 August 2010
V2 Practitioner to cease 31 Dec 2010
Foundation Bridge to cease 31 Dec 2010
Manager Bridge to cease 30 June 2011

All of these qualifications will be available for re-sits until 30 June 2011
OGC recognises intermediate exams may not be required in all language variants. The decisions on the need for language variants will be taken locally.

5. What’s new from ConnectSphere for 2010

During 2009 we have been developing an on line video for general ITIL awareness. Viewing this video is an efficient way for people to understand the basic concepts of ITIL and the benefits that can be achieved by applying a service lifecycle approach to project and service delivery. It provides students with an opportunity to prepare for a formal training course or refresh their knowledge on the Service Lifecycle. Look out for further details on this launch.
Feedback from our customers shows that there is a need to have a Training Passport for use by members of an organisation to drive cost efficiency. Please contact ConnectSphere on +44(0)845 838 2345 or email enquiries@connectsphere.com for the options available to you.
We will hold seminars on new topics for our client community – look out for the events on this web site.

Michelle Hales: Training Director for ConnectSphere