ITIL Practitioner FAQs

Earlier this year we informed you of AXELOS's plans for a brand new ITIL qualification. AXELOS, who formed a global team of IT Service Management (ITSM) professionals to develop the new "ITIL Practitioner" qualification, which is an additive to the existing ITIL qualification scheme, and is built on the existing core guidance with additional guidance on good practices added where required. The Practitioner Architects Team lead the development of the syllabus and exam questions for the new qualification, which will be available globally by the end of 2015. ITIL Practitioner will equip ITSM professionals with skills to successfully adopt and adapt ITIL to improve the Service Management capabilities in line with their organizations’ business goals.

1. Why are you introducing this new qualification?

The qualification aims to demonstrate that IT Service Management (ITSM) professionals are equipped with the skills to apply ITIL concepts in their organization, ensuring maximum business value by delivering fit-for-purpose and fit-for -use services. At the same time, it’s designed to give confidence to managers that the members of their team are ready to initiate and successfully carry out required improvement initiatives.

2. What is the ITIL Practitioner exam based on?

The exam is based on various elements of ITIL, with a strong focus on Continual Service Improvement (CSI), a fundamental lifecycle stage in ITIL; as well as additional guidance covering the practical elements in more detail.

3. How did AXELOS come to the decision to launch ITIL Practitioner? And who was consulted?

Since AXELOS’ inception in 2013, we have been meeting with practitioners globally to understand how they use the best practice portfolio, their successes and challenges. We have been analyzing this feedback, to find ways to help improve organizations’ performance. The new ITIL Practitioner qualification and the accompanying guidance is a response to practitioners’ requests for an additional, practical element to complement the existing ITIL guidance. While the ITIL Foundation qualification confirms a good understanding of what service management is, in addition to introducing all the relevant ITIL concepts and the language, the ‘how’ is addressed only very briefly. ITIL Practitioner addresses the question how to start adopting and adapting ITIL within the organization.

4. What is the official launch date for the first exam/qualification?

Delegates will be able to sit their first ITIL Practitioner exams in Q4 2015.

5. Is this the first step towards ITIL v4?

Our goal is to provide practitioners with the best possible guidance to help with their day to day roles and this requires us to evolve ITIL over time. This will not be achieved with big bang updates, but by continually improving the framework.

As an organization we are always on the lookout for new practices (good and emerging), which we will link to the stable core of ITIL’s best practice framework. ITIL Practitioner follows this principle, adding additional practical guidance to the existing qualification scheme. Some materials will be introduced alongside the qualification to help practitioners identify changing approaches to service management.

6. Will self-study be allowed for ITIL practitioner?

The ITIL Practitioner syllabus is currently in development and so the decision on this has not yet been made. We need to make sure the exam does test practical skills and gives confidence to professionals and their managers alike. The exact design of the exam will dictate whether formal training is required to acquire the skills.

7. What guidance is available to support this new exam? For example will there be a manual that represents core guidance?

In addition to the ITIL core library consisting of five books, and especially the CSI book, additional guidance papers covering the practical application of theory will be developed as support for this new qualification.The need for a specific study guide will be assessed as the development progresses.

8. What type of assessment will the exam be?

The exam will be a scenario-based multiple choice exam that tests the candidate’s ability to apply the knowledge and the tools in the best possible way.

9. How long is the course?

AXELOS does not prescribe the length of an accredited training course. The training requirements will be those necessary to ensure the delegates are introduced to all elements that are referenced within the qualification syllabus. Our expectation is that on average a good trainer will be able to cover the material in two days, with an expectation that some additional pre- and post-course reading might be required, depending on the delegate’s level of experience.

10. What is this cognitive complexity of the qualification?

The exam will target Bloom’s taxonomy levels 3 – 5.

11. Who will provide the training?

The training will be provided by AXELOS Accredited Training Organizations (ATOs) globally.

12. What languages will this launch in?

The exam will launch in English, with additional languages added over time based on community feedback. AXELOS is committed to delivering global best practice, and supporting practitioners in a range of different languages.

13. Does this mean that you are rolling back to ITIL v2 which included a Practitioner qualification?

Although there was a qualification in ITIL v2 called “ITIL Service Practitioner”, this is not related to the new ITIL Practitioner. With the new ITIL Practitioner we are providing help with the ‘how’ for all ITSM practitioners regardless of their job role. Advanced ITIL qualifications (such as Intermediate) are aimed at more job role specific knowledge and skills and are more similar to specific v2 Practitioner qualifications.

Qualification Eco-System:

1. How will this impact on the existing ITIL framework?

ITIL Practitioner is additive to the existing ITIL qualification scheme, and is built on the existing core guidance with additional guidance on good practices added where required.

2. Will ITIL Practitioner add points towards ITIL Expert, and if so, how many?

Once the complexity level of the exam has been agreed, we will assign a specific amount of credit points to ITIL Practitioner that count towards ITIL Expert the same way as Foundation, Intermediate and Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC) do today.

3. Are candidates able to substitute ITIL Foundation with ITIL Practitioner?

ITIL Foundation is a prerequisite to take ITIL Practitioner as it supplements, rather than substitutes the Foundation qualification. To that end the ITIL Practitioner syllabus will require delegates to have passed their ITIL Foundation exam and be familiar with the principles of ITSM and the organization-wide common language of ITIL. These learnings will be put in context to answer the ‘how’ of successful improvement initiatives with ITIL Practitioner, which is the next step after Foundation, not a substitution.

4. Will this qualification be positioned between ITIL Foundation and ITIL Intermediate?

Passing ITIL Practitioner is not a prerequisite to sign up for any of the ITIL Intermediate courses, although we do encourage people with advanced ITIL qualifications to familiarize themselves with the scope and approach of ITIL Practitioner, and consider the qualification for additional hands-on guidance.

5. What are the pre-requisites for ITIL Practitioner?

To sign up for ITIL Practitioner, a delegate will need to have passed the ITIL Foundation exam successfully.

6. How does this affect people that are already on the ITIL Expert path?

By being additive to the existing qualification scheme, ITIL Practitioner is another qualification within the scheme providing credits for people on a path to ITIL Expert.

7. Is there a fast track for people that have already invested in the ITIL training roadmap?

ITIL Practitioner, built on the existing ITIL guidance, includes additional guidance and focuses on practical application of the acquired knowledge. There is no comparable qualification in the current ITIL qualification scheme to fast track from.

8. What does this mean to the existing lifecycle/capability courses?

As mentioned above, ITIL Practitioner is additive to the existing ITIL qualification scheme. All current qualifications in the scheme will remain as they are.

Did you know AXELOS selected SureSkills as a global strategic partner earlier this year?

The admission of SureSkills into the AXELOS Strategic Partner Scheme is a significant event which will assist, support and help grow the AXELOS global best practice portfolio for the benefit of the best practice community.

This important announcement strengthens SureSkills’ position as a first-tier training & development organisation, practicing to the highest standards and gives added assurance when investing with SureSkills. The organisation will play an integral part in delivering innovative solutions to its customers and reaffirms its commitment to offering IT and Service Management professionals the best possible training and certification, which will contribute greatly to their performance.

“This is a significant announcement and we are delighted to have been appointed by AXELOS in this important initiative and we look forward to expanding our partnership in other areas,” Ruaidhri McSharry, Chief Operations Officer, Director of Service Management at SureSkills said (pictured top right). Ruaidhri went on to say that "SureSkills and AXELOS recognise the value of learning and accreditation to individuals, teams and businesses. With a focus on ensuring that learning is applied in the work environment, SureSkills’ learning services are designed, developed and delivered in a practical manner and in context – combining to ensure a realising business value and return on investment."