ITIL ITIL Foundation (syllabus 2011) Question and Answers

To set clear business-based targets for service performance, so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed, monitored, and managed against these targets.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-management-practices/

To protect the information needed by the organization to conduct its business. This includes understanding and managing risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information, as well as other aspects of information security such as authentication and non-repudiation.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-management-practices/

A service request is defined as a request from a user or a user’s authorized representative that initiates a service action which has been agreed as a normal part of service delivery.

The purpose of the service request management practice is to support the agreed quality of a service by handling all pre-defined, user-initiated service requests in an effective and user-friendly manner. Service request management is dependent upon well-designed processes and procedures, which are operationalized through tracking and automation tools to maximize the efficiency of the practice. To be handled optimally, service request management should follow these guidelines:

• Service requests and their fulfilment should be standardized and automated to the greatest degree possible.
• Policies should define which service requests will be fulfilled with limited or even no additional approvals so that fulfilment can be streamlined.
• The expectations of users regarding fulfilment times and costs should be clearly set, based on what the organization can realistically deliver.
• Opportunities for improvement should be identified and implemented to produce faster fulfilment times and take advantage of automation.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-service-request-management/

The change schedule is used to help plan changes, assist in communication, avoid conflicts, and assign resources. It can also be used after changes have been deployed to provide information needed for incident management, problem management, and improvement planning

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-change-enablement/#:~:text=The%20change%20schedule%20is%20used,problem%20management%2C%20and%20improvement%20planning .

ITIL® defines a problem as a cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents. A known error is a problem that has been analyzed but not resolved.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-problem-management/

User: A person who uses services; e.g. the company employees.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-key-concepts-service-management/

The second step is to conduct an objective current-state assessment of existing services and service management practices. This should include consideration of the users’ perception of the value being received, along with a review of people’s competencies and skills, the processes and procedures involved, the capabilities of the available technological solutions and the prevailing organizational culture. The success of an improvement initiative depends on a clear and accurate understanding of the starting point and the required impact of the initiative.

For example, an organization can measure the current net promoter score (NPS) from a customer satisfaction survey, conduct a benchmark survey against its competitors or review findings of operational statistics or audit reports to understand its current state. If this step is skipped, the current state will not be understood and there will not be an objective baseline measurement against which improvement can be measured.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-continual-improvement/

Incident management is typically closely aligned with the service desk, which is the single point of contact for all users communicating with IT. When a service is disrupted or fails to deliver the promised performance during normal service hours, it is essential to restore the service to normal operation as quickly as possible.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-v3-incident-management/

The key inputs to the SVS are opportunity and demand. The output of the SVS is value delivered by products and services. Opportunity refers to options or possibilities to add value for stakeholders or otherwise improve the organization

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-service-value-system/#:~:text=The%20key%20inputs%20to%20the,or%20otherwise%20improve%20the%20organization .

The purpose of the release management practice is to make new and changed services and features available for use.

Release: A version of a service or other configuration item, or a collection of configuration items, that is made available for use.

https://wiki.process-symphony.com.au/framework/lifecycle/process/release-management-itil-4/

Service desks provide a variety of channels for access including:

• Phone calls, which can include specialized technology, such as interactive voice response (IVR), conference calls, voice recognition, and others.
• Service portals and mobile applications, supported by service and request catalogues, and knowledge bases.
• Chat, through live chat and chatbots.
• Email for logging and updating, and for follow-up surveys and confirmations.
• Walk-in service desk (which are becoming more prevalent in some sectors, such as higher education, where there are high peaks of activity that demand physical presence).,
• Text and social media messaging, which are useful for notifications in case of major incidents and for contacting specific stakeholder groups, but can also be used to allow users to request support.
• Public and corporate social media and discussion forums for contacting the service provider and for peer-to-peer support.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-service-desk/

The first important step is identifying and managing all the stakeholder groups that an organization deals with. The first and most obvious stakeholder group is the customers, as in service management the organization’s main goal is to facilitate customer outcomes. Other examples of stakeholder collaboration include:

• Developers working with other internal teams
• Suppliers collaborating with the organization
• Relationship managers collaborating with service consumers
• Customers collaborating with each other
• Internal and external suppliers collaborating with each other

The contribution to improvement of each stakeholder group at each level should be understood, as should the most effective methods to engage with them. Depending on the service and the relationship between the service provider and the service consumer, the expectations about the level and type of collaboration can vary significantly. It is important to involve stakeholders, and address their needs at all levels. Determining the type, method, and frequency of such messaging is one of the central activities related to communication.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/

Nonrepudiation provides an assurance that the sender of data is provided with proof of delivery and the recipient is provided with proof of the sender's identity, so neither can later deny having processed the data. Further, this concept can apply to any activity, not just the sending and receiving of data; in a more general sense, it is a mechanism to prove that an activity was performed and by whom. Nonrepudiation is typically comprised of authentication, auditing/logging, and cryptography services.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/nonrepudiation

Don’t start from scratch and build something new without considering what you already have. It’s almost always better to improve what you currently have than to throw it all away and start again, although you must also be able to recognise when a complete replacement is, in fact, needed.

Not only is this approach less wasteful than starting from scratch – because it preserves value that you already have – but it also helps you to keep your people on board. They’re much more likely to support the changes you need if their previous contributions have been appropriately valued.

Don’t rely on metrics and reports to tell you what the current situation is. When you carry out an assessment you should observe what is happening for yourself, and just use the metrics to support your observations.

https://www.sysaid.com/blog/itil/the-7-guiding-principles-of-itil-4-practical-advice-to-help-you-make-decisions

Problem Control. Problem control activities include problem analysis and documenting workarounds and known errors.

Just like incidents, problems will be prioritized based on the risk they pose in terms of probability and impact to services. Focus should be given to problems that have highest risk to services and service management.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-problem-management/#:~:text=2.,probability%20and%20impact%20to%20services .

The organizations and people dimension sets out the people aspects of service management to be considered when designing, operating and changing service offerings. People include employees, managers, executives, customers, supplier employees, or anybody else who is involved in the creation or consumption of services.

https://assyst.ifs.com/blog/itil4-organizations-and-people#:~:text=The%20organizations%20and%20people%20dimension%20sets%20out%20the%20people%20aspects,creation%20or%20consumption%20of%20services .

An asset is defined as anything that is useful or valuable within a product or service. This value is generally determined financially: how much an asset costs versus how much it saves.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/it-asset-management/

• Emergency changes. These are changes that must be implemented as soon as possible; for example, to resolve an incident or implement a security patch. Emergency changes are not typically included in a change schedule, and the process for assessment and authorization is expedited to ensure they can be implemented quickly. As far as possible, emergency changes should be subject to the same testing, assessment, and authorization as normal changes, but it may be acceptable to defer some documentation until after the change has been implemented, and sometimes it will be necessary to implement the change with less testing due to time constraints. There may also be a separate change authority for emergency changes, typically including a small number of senior managers who understand the business risks involved.”

https://itsm.tools/why-what-change-management/#:~:text=Emergency%20changes. &text=Emergency%20changes%20are%20not%20typically,they%20can%20be%20implemented%20quickly.