HOW DOES ITIL CERTIFICATION WORK?

1. HOW DOES ITIL CERTIFICATION WORK? Before we take a closer look at the ITIL certification training courses that are available, here are three key facts that you should know about the ITIL personnel certification program: 1. ITIL certification is for individuals. AXELOS and its partners offer ITIL certifications via training courses for individual IT professionals. There are currently no official ITIL certifications for organizations or businesses. ITIL is not meant to be a prescriptive framework, but a guide for structuring IT operations in a way that benefits the business. Instead of certifying businesses for each aspect of the ITIL framework, AXELOS certifies individuals for competence in a specific areas of ITIL best practices implementation so that employers can more easily identify people with the right skills to support their strategic goals. 2. ITIL exams are given by accredited training organizations (ATOs). The ITIL framework is an international framework with thousands of IT professionals around the world seeking certification. AXELOS maintains a three-tier structure for ensuring the validity and integrity of ITIL examinations around the world: Axelos: Axelos owns the ITIL certification program. It provides accreditation to examination institutes (EIs) around the world, permitting them to issue ITIL certificates. Examination institutes: EIs act as intermediaries between AXELOS and the ATOs. They provide accreditation for training organizations that wish to offer ITIL certifications, and they are accredited by AXELOS to provide official ITIL certificates to candidates that are successful on their ITIL exams. Accredited training organizations: ATOs administer ITIL examinations to individual ITIL practitioners. Those who are successful will be recommended to receive ITIL certifications through the accrediting examination institute. 3. The ITIL framework is in a transitional period. AXELOS is in a transitional period between offering exams for ITIL V3 and updating its examinations to reflect the new best practices of ITIL 4. With the recent release of ITIL 4, ITIL practitioners who were in the middle of completing courses in ITIL V3 were left with valid questions about how to proceed: should they complete the rest of the ITIL V3 curriculum or wait for the new ITIL 4 courses to be released? AXELOS has provided some guidance on this, which we'll share toward the end of this article.

2. ITIL V3 Certification The ITIL V3 certification scheme consisted of five levels: 1. ITIL Foundation. The ITIL V3 Foundation course focuses on the basic elements and concepts of the ITIL framework. This course has been replaced with the ITIL 4 foundation course following its release in February 2019. The foundation course is meant for IT practitioners who require a basic understanding of the ITIL framework and how it can be used to improve IT service management. 2. ITIL Practitioner. The ITIL Practitioner course takes a more practical approach to ITIL education with a focus on implementation of ITIL framework best practices to support business objectives. This course covers four key areas that support ITIL success: continual service improvement, organizational change management, communication, and measurement and metrics. 3. ITIL Intermediate. ITIL certificates at the intermediate level are divided into two categories: service lifecycle modules and service capability modules. The intermediate level, therefore, represents the first point where ITIL practitioners can take divergent paths along the road to ITIL mastery. Based on their desired career path and personal growth trajectory, IT professionals can choose to take courses from either set of modules to bolster their ITIL qualifications. The service lifecycle modules are:      Service strategy Service design Service transition Service operation Continual service improvement. The service capability modules are:     Planning, protection, and optimization Operational support and analysis Release, control, and validation Service offerings and agreements. 4. ITIL Expert. The ITIL expert certification is available to IT professionals who have already completed a variety of ITIL certification courses and wish to demonstrate their broad knowledge of the complete ITIL framework. To qualify for the ITIL expert certification, candidates must hold an ITIL foundation certification and collect a minimum of 17 credits by completing the ITIL Foundation and Intermediate modules. The candidate is also required to complete the Managing Across the Lifecycle module.

3. 5. ITIL Master. The ITIL master certification is reserved for ITIL practitioners who can demonstrate their ability to apply ITIL principles in professional and business environments. To obtain an ITIL master certification from AXELOS, an individual must explain and justify how they have selected and applied knowledge from the ITIL framework to achieve demonstrable benefits in a practical assignment or setting. Candidates for the ITIL master certification must have obtained the ITIL expert certification and worked in an ITSM leadership role for at least five years. ITIL 4 Certification The ITIL 4 certification scheme consists of four levels: 1. ITIL 4 Foundation. The ITIL 4 foundation course was launched on February 28, 2019. It replaces the ITIL V3 foundation course in the ITIL certification program. The newly revised course covers concepts from Lean, Agile, and DevOps, along with ITIL-specific information like the seven guiding principles and four dimensions of ITIL-Based Service Management. Candidates also learn how to facilitate the co-creation of value through the development of customer-focused IT products and services. 2. ITIL 4 Managing Professional. The ITIL 4 Managing Professional certification is a new designation offered by AXELOS following the release of ITIL 4. The modules for this certification were released in late 2019. ITIL practitioners who have obtained ITIL expert certification in the past will be able to obtain this designation by completing the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition Module. IT professionals new to ITIL must complete four modules to obtain this designation:     ITIL 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support ITIL 4 Specialist: Drive Stakeholder Value ITIL 4 Specialist: High Velocity IT ITIL 4 Strategist: Direct Plan and Improve 3. ITIL 4 Strategic Leader. The ITIL 4 Strategic Leader designation is due for release in the first half of 2020. An IT professional who completes this certification will have demonstrated their understanding of how IT impacts and influences business strategy. There will be two required modules that candidates must complete to earn this ITIL certification:   ITIL 4 Strategist Direct Plan and Improve ITIL 4 Leader Digital and IT Strategy 4. ITIL 4 Master. The ITIL 4 master requirements have not yet been released. AXELOS plans to release more details on the revised requirements for ITIL 4 Master certification toward the end of 2019.