Measuring ITIL - A guide for managers

As a manager of IT services, it can be a huge pain to actually take all of the process-driven knowledge you've learned in to practical use. One of the guides we here at SSI Logic find to be invaluable, is the Measuring ITIL handbook, available at Amazon.

One of the greatest things about this guide is that it cuts through the clutter of theory and concepts, and offers the KPIs, CSFs, and other measurements you need to do your job. Use those ITIL calculations to create dashboards, reports, and tracking mechanisms. Its funny that this book is know 10+ years old, but still relevant as ever.

You also might want to check out our own ITIL book on Amazon which as a greater focus on ITIL exam prep- but valuable all the same ;)

The ITIL Foundation Kit is Here!

Over at ITIL Prime, one of the most frequent questions we've received in recent months is: "what exactly do I need to get trained and certified at the ITIL Foundation level?". It seems that all of the different courseware, ITIL classes, and ITIL exam voucher options can really get confusing to the average person. Well have no fear! Because just recently we combined all of the necessary courseware and exam items in to one handy ITIL Certification Kit!

Using this new ITIL certification kit, you'll have access to our best self-paced ITIL course, our industry recognized ITIL practice exam system, and you will have an exam voucher valid to take the ITIL exam online or in-person. The best part? This kit comes with a guarantee that you will pass the exam. And we also discounted the cost of the kit as well, so that you'll save money over buying each ITIL exam prep item separately. So swing on over to ITIL Prime and take a lookL!

Take your ITIL Intermediate Exam Online!

In our last post, we mentioned how ITIL Prime now offers ITIL Intermediate courseware in a self-paced format. Did we also mention that you can now take all 9 ITIL Intermediate exams online? Well you can!

ITIL Prime was the first to offer an easy method for students to take their ITIL Foundation exam through an online proctor, and now, through a partnership with ITIL Exam Institute CSME, we are offering online exam options for all ITIL Intermediate test takers! Woot! We should also mention that this online option applies to the ITIL MALC certification as well.

Please remember that there are pre-requisites to taking each of the ITIL Intermediate level exams, most notable is that you will need to take an accredited ITIL Intermediate course (ahem). So head on over to ITIL Prime and get exam prepping!

Online ITIL Intermediate Courses Added!

Holy cow has it been a long time since we've updated our ITIL exam blog- a shame really! We've been working hard to design, develop, and offer new ITIL classes, specifically for the ITIL Intermediate level, and low and behold they are finally available at ITIL Prime! We're now covering every ITIL Intermediate topic, including:

• ITIL Service Strategy (SS)
• ITIL Service Design (SD)
• ITIL Service Transition (ST)
• ITIL Service Operation (SO)
• ITIL Continual Service Improvement (CSI)
• ITIL Operational Support & Analysis (OSA)
• ITIL Release Control & Validation (RCV)
• ITIL Service Offerings & Agreements (SOA)
• ITIL Planning, Protection & Optimization (PPO)

Also, we've added the capstone ITIL Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC) course as well! The best part of all this is that each course can be taken completely online, at your own pace, and are fully accredited by the APM Group! No need to sit through a live class any more- everything you need is nicely packaged and ready to go.

So head on over to ITIL Prime and get certified :)

Take the ITIL Foundation exam from home

You heard us correctly: you can now take the ITIL Foundation exam directly from your home computer. ITIL Prime has partnered with ITIL Examination Institute CSME to offer the real ITIL Foundation exam; online, from any computer with a webcam. Folks who register through us can also choose to take the exam from a CSME testing center (thousands exist worldwide).

In addition, we've added a new online ITIL Bootcamp course designed to quickly ramp up new students who have zero ITIL knowledge- all available online and on-demand. We include a ton of features with our new Bootcamp, which is designed for self-paced learning.

And for those who are almost ready to take the exam, ITIL Prime will continue to offer the only ITIL practice exam system formally endorsed and licensed by the ITIL accreditation body, APMG.

Visit ITIL Prime for more details.

ITIL V2 Scheduled to Retire (finally!) - ITIL V3 to be Primary Focus for the Foreseeable Future

For those new to ITIL, it may be confusing to understand why both ITIL V3 and ITIL V2 continue to co-exist, especially when deciding on the appropriate exams and certifications.

It should be noted that, while nearly 95% of registrants to ITIL Prime focus on the ITIL V3 Foundation certificate, there are still folks who sit the ITIL V2 Foundation exams.

Well, the "owners" of ITIL, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in the UK, has finally indicated that ITIL V2 will be retired. Following the results of an industry-wide survey, the OGC has announced dates for the retirement of ITIL V2.

• ITIL V2 Foundation to cease 30 June 2010
• ITIL V2 Manager to cease 31 August 2010
• ITIL V2 Practitioner to cease 31 Dec 2010
• Following the above dates, exam takers will be able to re-sit each V2 exam until June 2011

ITIL Prime will continue to support both versions of ITIL practice exams for the foreseeable future.

Many still believe the ITIL V2 Service Support and Service Delivery processes and functions to be more practical and actionable, with a direct applicability to infrastructure support and operations (which is nearly prescriptive in some regard).

And though much of these best practices can be found within the broader "holistic" view of the ITIL V3 Service Lifecycle approach, the ITIL framework should take care to remain useful within industry without becoming overly burdensome to understand and implement.

ITIL V3 Exam Prep - Endorsed by ITIL's Accreditor!

Its official. APMG, the official accreditor of ITIL, has assessed the ITIL Prime exam prep system and issued a formal endorsement of our site! This makes ITIL Prime the only ITIL exam prep site to have been reviewed, assessed, and approved by the official ITIL folks themselves.

To view our formal endorsement among other ITIL-approved software tools, please visit the APMG's official listing of ITIL endorsed products.

ITIL V3 Foundation Exam - it's baaaack!

Just a quick update to confirm that the ITIL v3 Foundation exam is available (again) via Prometric. A quick check on the Prometric web site shows that EXIN currently offers the ITIL v3 test under "EX0-101".

Now there's nothing stopping all of you ITILers from scheduling the exam on your own. And if you do plan on self studying for the exam, be sure to check out our extensive ITIL v3 Foundation exam prep at ITILPrime.com.

ITIL V3 Exam - Where art thou?

So the saga continues on the accessibility of the ITIL v3 exam. As you may recall, the ITIL v3 exam was initially available via both Prometric and Vue testing centers. And then, alas, they were yanked unceremoniously from both services; leaving fine ITILers worldwide with little options on where to get test for their new ITIL v3 foundation certificate.

Fast forward, and we've been receiving word from our loyal ITIL Primers that Vue will be offering the ITIL V3 Foundation exam starting April 3rd. Still no word on when Prometric will be offering the exam, but we expect it to follow shortly.

This means that those self studiers who may not have the access (or funds) to a proctored exam via in-course ITIL Foundation instruction; can now self study and schedule their own exam, once again. And as a gentle reminder, ITIL Prime continues to provide thorough ITIL Foundation preparation for the ITIL v2 and ITIL v3 exam.

Looking to Assess Your Team's ITIL Knowledge? Wellhire.com

We've been working hard to launch a new service, Wellhire.com, which tests team member and job candidate knowledge on a whole host of subjects, including ITIL. For you folks who may be looking to assess new job candidates, or simply want to guage your team's aptitude, Wellhire.com provides standardized ITIL assessments which clearly show your team's performance.

Although its still in Beta, come take a look!

The ITIL Test Lives On

We're hearing rumors that the ITIL V2 Foundation exam may not be dying out as soon as we had anticipated. Initially, it was reported that the ITIL V2 exam was going to be phased out by the end of 2007; but we're starting to hear that the exam may indeed continue to be offered until the end of 2008? Whoa!

Part of this is due in fact that the Service Support and Service Delivery processes (and function) are finally catching on within organizations that the new ITIL V3 Service Lifecycle concepts are a bit too broad. It makes sense; why deprecate an entire set of ITIL processes just as organizations are building tools and governance around them? On the other hand, maybe the iTSMF should have done a bit less to reinvent the wheel. ITIL V2 fits so well within a service oriented organization, that the new ITIL V3 processes look a bit, well, general (trying to kill too many birds with one stone).

As always, visit our site for up to date ITIL test content and practice exams for both the V2 and V3 ITIL certification.

The ITIL V3 Exam and Prometric

It happened again. Today at ITIL Prime we received another email from a user confused about which ITIL exam was being offered by Prometric. We had to politely remind them that, as of right now, Prometric still offers the ITIL V2 exam only. How is it that the ITIL V3 Exam was developed months ago, yet the largest administrator of computer based testing does not yet have it available? Well, its not really Prometric's fault.

Getting the ITIL V3 exam on monitors and in front of test takers really isn't the responsibility of the big P. Rather, organizations like EXIN and ISEB need to get on the ball and offer the ITIL V3 exam for use by the testing centers. The question really becomes: Why is it that the EXIN and ISEB ITIL V3 exams are only available via a course proctor? It seems like its time for these two organizations, along with APMG (a new contributor to the ITIL V3 texts), need to get on the ball. As always, ITIL Prime is there to provide you with the ITIL practice exams necessary to beat the real test.

Reliable ITIL Practice Exams

We can't speak for the handful of other sites that offer ITIL practice exams, but we know that our ITIL content is reliable- all of the ITIL practice questions were written and verified by ITIL Prime authors who hold an ITIL certification. Another reason, is that we can actually point to the reference material where we based ITIL practice questions on. We're starting to see sites pop up which "recycle" questions from one another; this is a bit suspicous, as a lot of the free ITIL question "sources" are not so reliable.

Over at ITIL Prime, we often look at the multitude of "free" test prep content offered on scrupulous sites with a weary eye. Brain dump sites are popping up left and right, and ITIL test takers are starting to take them seriously. Why be careful around these types of ITIL prep sites? Well, as an example, we performed a little experiment where we downloaded a collection of these low cost ITIL practice questions (we won't say from which site), and discovered that almost 1/4th of the answers were blatantly incorrect. Not something the average ITIL test taker should feel confident in relying on, eh? We saw the same results when buying these question off eBay- a large portion of the "correct" responses were downright wrong. Do yourself a favor, pay the modest amount and prepare for your ITIL Foundation exam with the knowledge that you're getting the right material.

Updates to ITIL Practice Test Questions

A quick update regarding feedback we've received over at ITIL Prime. Every now and then we'll receive feedback regarding the ITIL practice questions offered for either the ITIL V2 or ITIL V3 exam. One of our members, in taking the ITIL practice tests, recommended some ways to improve the reasoning for certain ITIL practice questions. As a result, we at ITIL Prime have performed an internal review on most of the ITIL V3 questions, and have done our best ensure the reasoning behind correct responses are as concise as possible. Thanks again for your feedback regarding our ITIL practice exams.

How to Prepare with ITIL Practice Tests

Self studying for the ITIL Foundation exam is a method which is entirely possible- in fact, if the proper techniques are applied, one should have no problem passing the ITIL Foundation. Before diving in to ITIL practice exams, it is extremely important that you have a strong understanding of the content by which you'll be tested- this will differ between ITIL V2 and ITIL V3 exam takers.

For ITIL V2 exam takers, keep in mind that your ITIL Foundation exam will be based almost solely on the processes of the Service Support and Service Delivery ITIL volumes. One of the best texts to acquire which provides a great understanding of these ITIL processes is

"Foundations of IT Service Management: based on ITIL". Following a good read through and mind-mapping of this text, finding some good ITIL practice exam content is your next step.

For ITIL V3 exam takers, summarized content regarding the new ITIL core volumes are still limited, but you may want to check out It Service Management an Introduction Based on ISO 20000 and Itil V3. In addition, there are a number of ITIL V3 online courses which offer content for study. ITIL Prime offers ITIL V3 practice exams which can be used to solidify your studies prior to taking the live ITIL Foundation exam.

How to Take Your ITIL Foundation Exam

We at ITIL Prime received multiple questions this weekend from users who want to know how they can register to take the real ITIL Foundation Exam. Naturally, since we offer ITIL practice exam services for both the ITIL V2 and ITIL V3 Foundation exam, we have a good idea of the best way to sit for these exams in "real life".

For those of you who have been doing self-study and measuring your performance via ITIL practice test runs, Prometric allows you to self register for the ITIL Foundation exam via their website. You will need to determine which organization's ITIL exam you'll want to take (EXIN or ISEB, among others); in addition to where you'll be taking it. You will then visit the testing center and take the ITIL exam via a monitored desktop computer.

Other folks may decide that a multi-day course is the way to go for their ITIL Foundation certificate. Some courses will offer an in-class ITIL exam with a live proctor. Those of you who take an in-person course may also opt to take the Prometric exam as well.

What about for ITIL certifications past that of the ITIL Foundation? ITIL Managers and Masters certificates are only offered by accredited course providers at the current time. Good luck, and please remember to visit us for your ITIL test prep needs!

ITIL Exam Practice Charts

A quick update- we pushed out an updated ITIL Prime member chart to the homepage. With so many ITIL test prep metrics which can be sliced and diced, its difficult to restrain ourselves from creating a dedicated "community reporting" tab. We simply don't want to clutter up the site too much, and want to keep the focus on ITIL practice exams.

At the same time, its very interesting to see the ups and downs of a dynamic ITIL exam community. Also interesting is how those taking the V2 ITIL exam practice tests are just about neck and neck with the ITIL V3 exam takers!

ITIL V3 and the New ITIL Foundation Exam

The majority of questions we at ITIL Prime receive revolve around what version of ITL practice exams new users should sign up for. For the past couple of years, ITIL has been in Version 2 (V2), and there was really no need to denote its version when discussing concepts. But now that ITIL V3 has been released, along with a new ITIL Foundation Exam, it is becoming very confusing as to which ITIL exam one should prepare for.

To start with, the ITIL V3 Foundation exam is fairly new, and has not made the ITIL V2 Foundation exam obsolete (yet). We've read conflicting reports about when exactly the ITIL V2 Foundation exam will be phased out. These dates range from December 2007 to December 2008. We tend to think that the ITIL Foundation exam will be offered in both flavors (V2 and V3) well in to 2008.

In addition, the Foundation certificate earned from either exam holds just as much weight. Both ITIL Foundation certificates remain valid indefinitely, with no plans for either to become invalid. So those of you who sit for the V2 ITIL Foundation exam do not need to worry about holding a certification which is defunct after a year.

The content covered in the V2 ITIL Foundation exam focuses almost entirely on Service Support and Service Delivery, which comprise 11 processes. The ITIL V3 exam only touches on these processes, and tends to focus more on the concept of an ITIL Service Lifecycle, and its new core volumes. Needless to say, the ITIL content which is covered is significantly broader within the ITIL V3 exam, yet it is not as detailed as the processes covered in depth by the ITIL V2 exam.

Because of the differences, we've added a new "Which Exam Version is for Me?" pop-up to our registration page to help new users avoid any confusion regarding which ITIL practice tests to use. If you're still unsure which exam you're registered for (as many times the ITIL version will not be stated), here's a quick tip: If you're exam number is EX0-100 or BH0-001, then it is a safe bet that you are taking the ITIL V2 exam. As reminder, ITIL Prime has created ITIL test prep content for both versions of the exam, and offers them at the same price. Good luck!

AJAX Technology and ITIL Practice Exams

One of the primary features that sets the ITIL Prime exam prep service apart from its competitors is the exam simulator offered on the site. For nearly all of the sites we found which offered ITIL practice exams, there was a general flaw with the way the actual exam simulator operated once the user signed up.

Many of the exam simulators we saw required a software download, which made us suspicious that some type of adware would be unknowingly installed on our computer. Other sites would present the entire ITIL exam in a single browser window, which is not really representative of the true life ITIL Foundation exam experience. And still others would simply offer a massive PDF file with a digital download of ITIL practice questions; which sort of negates the whole ITIL exam preparation experience.

So, being the self-proclaimed (ahem) resourceful techies that we are, we set about to develop a completely new ITIL exam simulator from the ground up. Since everyone on our team had sat for the ITIL Foundation exam at a major testing center, we knew exactly what types of functions the real life ITIL exam provided for its users. Primarily, the

ITIL Foundation exam environment allows for:

• Back and forth navigation between ITIL Foundation exam questions
  
• Marking of ITIL exam questions for further review before grading
  
• A live timer, indicating how long until the ITIL exam would be automatically submitted
  
• The ability to navigate back to any ITIL question (marked or otherwise) prior to completing the exam

Once we began the initial specification for ITIL Prime's exam simulator, we began to hit a wall. How could we reproduce these standardized exam features without forcing a software download by the user? Enter AJAX!

AJAX is a web technology that works with nearly all modern day browsers, and allows web content to load without a browser refresh. What this means, is that we would be able to control on-screen content (in this case, ITIL Foundation exam questions) without the need to reload your browser every time a new question gets pulled from the ITIL Prime database. After a month of prototyping the new ITIL practice exams with our hip new AJAX components, we were very happy with the results. Add some tweaks here, some optimizations there, and what you have now is one of the only exam simulators on the web which work without any plugins or additional software! Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback regarding the ITIL practice exam simulator, as well as the suggestions on new ways we can improve the overall experience; we'll be sure to keep everyone updated as new features are added.

Latest ITIL Exam Practice Updates

Well, it was becoming a bit cumbersome constantly shifting around the ITIL Prime homepage every time we made an update to the site, so we decided to create a dedicated blog to post news and other related information. Below are the updates which have been made in the past couple of weeks (sort of a micro-archive, really).

Check back often to follow the updates we make to our ITIL Foundation exam practice service.


September 5th, 2007
We just implemented a number of code optimizations to ITIL Prime. Most importantly are the reports and charts in the My Performance section. They were starting to slow down a bit during peak hours, but now they should be running very quickly due to some updates we made to the underlying AJAX code. As a reminder, these charts track member performance on ITIL Foundation exams.


August 24th, 2007
We're early! After being a bit ahead of schedule with the new ITIL V3 Foundation pratice exams, we've decided to gradually roll out the new content to ITIL Prime and complete our testing over the next week. It's looking very positive, however, and we expect to have the new ITIL V3 Foundation practice exams available on ITIL Prime for everyone after this weekend.


August 13th, 2007
The team has been working for what seems on eternity on developing ITIL V3 Foundation testing content. Because the focus of ITIL V3 more holistic and centered around a Service Lifecycle approach and the new ITIL core volumes, we've been doing a ton of research and reference checking. We can see the light though, and hope to have the new ITIL practice exams posted by September 1!


August 3rd, 2007
We've added an ITIL Jobs section which includes both syndicated job postings from all over the web, as well as jobs posted directly to ITIL Prime. Feedback to the new ITIL Jobs section has been surprisingly positive, and we're hoping it helps our community of newly certified Foundationers who complete their ITIL practice exams!