Current ITIL® qualifications:

Foundation Certificate

This Certificate is designed to provide a foundation level of knowledge in IT Service Management. It is aimed at all personnel who wish to become familiar with the best practices for IT Service Management, as defined in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) guidelines. In particular, it enables people to understand the terminology used within the ITIL® approach.

Although there is no formal requirement to attend a training course before sitting the exam, candidates are strongly advised to do so. The examination consists of a single, "closed book" multiple-choice 40 question paper for which one hour is allowed.

The Foundation Certificate is a prerequisite for the Manager's and Practitioner's Certificates in IT Service Management.

Practitioner Certificates

Practitioner Certificates are aimed at those who take part within their organisation in managing and optimising specific processes within the IT Service Management discipline, and performing the activities that belong to those processes. While the Manager's Certificate focuses on managing ITIL® based solutions across the breadth of Service management subjects, the Practitioner Certificates focus on the depth of understanding and application of those subjects, treating each subject/area as a specialism.

Concentrating on practical matters, each Practitioner Certificate goes further than theory alone. Training course assignments and the examination are based on the actual performance of tasks and aspects of the activities involved are simulated.

Practitioner Certificates are available for the following ITIL® specialist processes:

• Incident Management
• Problem Management
• Configuration Management
• Availability Management
• Capacity Management
• Change Management
• Service Level Management
• Security Management
• Financial Management

Candidates wishing to sit the exam must hold the Foundation Certificate and attend a formal training course run by an Accredited Course Provider. The mechanism for evaluating candidates' competence and knowledge may take 2 forms: a single examination consisting of a 120 minute "closed book" multiple-choice paper or a written paper, with 60 minutes for answering, plus a 60 minute multiple-choice paper. In the case of multiple-choice papers, a maximum of 10% of questions may offer only two alternatives and the questions will be based on an included 'case study'. Both the written and multiple-choice papers will be marked by the Examination Institute.

The Foundation Certificate is a prerequisite for the Practitioner Certificate. Practitioner Certificates will not provide 'credits' towards the Manager's Certificate.

In addition, Examination Institutes may combine two or more subjects into a single examination. In such cases, the syllabus for a Practitioner Certificate of combined subjects will be drawn directly from the syllabuses of the separate subjects. Currently available or under consideration are: Change, Configuration & Release Management and Service Desk, Incident & Problem Management. Where two or more subjects are combined, the value of the combined certificate will be the same as that of the sum of the separate subject certificates. Documentation for a combined Practitioner examination will be produced as appropriate.

Manager's Certificate

While the Foundation Certificate is primarily focused on understanding the terminology and the Practitioner Certificates on the processes in a specific area, the Manager's Certificate is aimed at those who need to demonstrate a capability of managing ITIL®-based solutions across the breadth of the Service Management subjects.

The training courses are suitable for candidates who meet the minimum criteria:

• Holder of the Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management. (The Training Provider will check to ensure that the candidate holds this certificate when they register to take the training course).
• IT practitioner/supervisor with a least five years' general IT experience and at least two years experience at a management/supervisory level;
• Responsibility for taking substantial technical decisions affecting the support or delivery of IT services;
• The ability to communicate effectively with managers, subordinates, colleagues, users and customers at all levels of seniority.

The written examination will consist of two three-hour papers. Paper 1 will cover the area of Service Support, and Paper 2, Service Delivery. There may be considerable overlap in the subject matter between the two papers.

A case study will be provided to the candidates and the Provider's administrative contact at least two weeks in advance of the examination. Approximately 60% of the questions will be based on this case study. The remaining questions will be of a more general nature. The candidates will not be permitted to use their copy of the case study in the examination. Clean copies will be provided for each examination paper.

Each paper will have five questions totalling 20 marks each. In the examination all major topics of the syllabus will be examined. The 'closed book' examinations will be conducted over two consecutive days, with paper one being held on the afternoon of the first day and paper two being held the next morning.

In order to properly prepare candidates for the examination, all accredited Training Providers will be supplied with a sample examination paper, case study and suggested marking guidelines. The marking guidelines are not for release to candidates as greater benefit will be achieved from explanation by the accredited lecturers.

To obtain a pass in the Manager's Certificate in IT Service Management, the candidate has to achieve 50% or more in both papers. To achieve a Distinction, a candidate must achieve more than 65% in both papers in one sitting.

ITIL® Refresh

In December 2004, Cabinet Office (copyright owners of ITIL®) and itSMF® International launched the effort to update ITIL®. The plan is to "focus on easier implementation and improved business benefits from the use of ITIL®". There will be two phases; a six month consultation and planning stage followed by a two year incremental development stage to update core publications.

As of December 2005, Cabinet Office has developed the scope and plan for the ITIL® Refresh after collating and correlating the findings from the international consultations. The main effort will be the rewriting of five core ITIL® books. Titles include:

• Service Strategies
• Service Design
• Service Introduction
• Service Operation
• Continuous Service Improvement

No existing ITIL® qualifications will be invalidated by the changes to ITIL®, because the core principles are not changing. For more information on the refresh of ITIL®, visit the www.itil-officialsite.com.