What is known about ITIL 4 at the moment, and who is already using the new library
Let's discuss the changes in ITIL, which have become known recently.
/ CC BY / Marco Verch
The authors of ITIL 4 decided to abandon the familiar service life cycle, which was described in five volumes of ITIL v3. It touched on all stages of the evolution of the service: from the initial analysis of the business requirements and design of the service to its improvement during operation.
According to one of Axelos’s specialists responsible for creating the library, the cycle was often interpreted incorrectly and followed literally, which reduced the flexibility of business processes and the efficiency of departments. Therefore, it was decided to move on to the service value chain .
In ITIL 4, the usual stages of developing services have remained the same (from design to support), but now they are a chain. As conceived by the authors of ITIL, the new scheme will eliminate misunderstanding on the part of company executives and simplify IT management.
Additionally, ITIL 4 emphasizes the joint creation of value by the service provider and customer (client). To do this, both parties enter into a service relationship. This means that companies should not focus on their own technologies, but on the values for the client that these technologies can provide. In turn, users provide the supplier with feedback to improve the service. Yes, it will not be possible to realize all the ideas of clients (and maybe not worth it), but not hearing and not realizing their needs at all is considered unacceptable in ITIL 4.
The changes also affected the service management process. The ITIL v3 library described four key aspects (called 4P) of service design: personnel, products, processes, and partners. Nine years ago, Vinod Agrasala, an expert in the field of ITSM and ISO 20000, noted in his blog that among the described components there is not the most important one - the user for whom the services are made.
In ITIL 4, developers corrected the situation. Instead of 4P, the library offers four dimensions of service management : organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, value streams and processes. Users were assigned to the first dimension - customers, suppliers and other interested parties also got there. Axelos experts say that the new model will help companies creating a service (or product) to look at it from several points of view at once.
ITIL v3 used the term “processes” to describe the set of tasks needed to develop a service or application. In the new version of the library, the concept of processes was expanded - actual resources were added to them to achieve a particular goal (for example, suppliers or specific posts) - and then they were renamed into “practices” . This was done in order to avoid confusion. In the past, the tasks that were part of the process were themselves described by another process (or several). As a result, workflow graphs were bulky tree structures.
“Process” is not the only term that has been changed in ITIL 4. Now “change management” is called “ change control”. At the same time, the new library, like ITIL v3, proposes to create a Change Authority working group within organizations to monitor changes. Each participant is responsible for different types of modifications to the product or work processes and, if necessary, delegates decision-making on the changes made. This optimizes the work of the company, reducing the number of approvals.
More and more organizations are offering courses for ITIL professionals. In early August, the launch of the updated program was announced at ITSM Academy. Two weeks earlier, a similar statement was made in Global Knowledge. Courses are also offered by Russian companies, for example Cleverics and IT Expert.
/ Unsplash / Noah Silliman
There are already the first companies that sent their employees to improve their qualifications. For example, employees of Mobile Telecommunications Limited from Namibia completed a certification course in mid-July. The courses offered cover only the basics of the ITIL methodology.
Axelos released only the basic “training manual” - ITIL 4 Foundation, which reveals the key concepts of the library and lays the foundation for the subsequent study of advanced programs. They promised to publish information about them closer to the end of this year. More about this in our last article .
Read on the topic from our corporate blog:
/ CC BY / Marco Verch
What was added in the fourth version
The authors of ITIL 4 decided to abandon the familiar service life cycle, which was described in five volumes of ITIL v3. It touched on all stages of the evolution of the service: from the initial analysis of the business requirements and design of the service to its improvement during operation.
According to one of Axelos’s specialists responsible for creating the library, the cycle was often interpreted incorrectly and followed literally, which reduced the flexibility of business processes and the efficiency of departments. Therefore, it was decided to move on to the service value chain .
In ITIL 4, the usual stages of developing services have remained the same (from design to support), but now they are a chain. As conceived by the authors of ITIL, the new scheme will eliminate misunderstanding on the part of company executives and simplify IT management.
Additionally, ITIL 4 emphasizes the joint creation of value by the service provider and customer (client). To do this, both parties enter into a service relationship. This means that companies should not focus on their own technologies, but on the values for the client that these technologies can provide. In turn, users provide the supplier with feedback to improve the service. Yes, it will not be possible to realize all the ideas of clients (and maybe not worth it), but not hearing and not realizing their needs at all is considered unacceptable in ITIL 4.
The changes also affected the service management process. The ITIL v3 library described four key aspects (called 4P) of service design: personnel, products, processes, and partners. Nine years ago, Vinod Agrasala, an expert in the field of ITSM and ISO 20000, noted in his blog that among the described components there is not the most important one - the user for whom the services are made.
In ITIL 4, developers corrected the situation. Instead of 4P, the library offers four dimensions of service management : organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, value streams and processes. Users were assigned to the first dimension - customers, suppliers and other interested parties also got there. Axelos experts say that the new model will help companies creating a service (or product) to look at it from several points of view at once.
Terminology Changes
ITIL v3 used the term “processes” to describe the set of tasks needed to develop a service or application. In the new version of the library, the concept of processes was expanded - actual resources were added to them to achieve a particular goal (for example, suppliers or specific posts) - and then they were renamed into “practices” . This was done in order to avoid confusion. In the past, the tasks that were part of the process were themselves described by another process (or several). As a result, workflow graphs were bulky tree structures.
According to the developers, the new approach will help make the principles of the methodology more understandable. In total, ITIL 4 provides thirty-four practices. In addition to incident management, added management of suppliers, risk, labor and others.
“Process” is not the only term that has been changed in ITIL 4. Now “change management” is called “ change control”. At the same time, the new library, like ITIL v3, proposes to create a Change Authority working group within organizations to monitor changes. Each participant is responsible for different types of modifications to the product or work processes and, if necessary, delegates decision-making on the changes made. This optimizes the work of the company, reducing the number of approvals.
How is the transition to ITIL 4
More and more organizations are offering courses for ITIL professionals. In early August, the launch of the updated program was announced at ITSM Academy. Two weeks earlier, a similar statement was made in Global Knowledge. Courses are also offered by Russian companies, for example Cleverics and IT Expert.
/ Unsplash / Noah Silliman
There are already the first companies that sent their employees to improve their qualifications. For example, employees of Mobile Telecommunications Limited from Namibia completed a certification course in mid-July. The courses offered cover only the basics of the ITIL methodology.
Axelos released only the basic “training manual” - ITIL 4 Foundation, which reveals the key concepts of the library and lays the foundation for the subsequent study of advanced programs. They promised to publish information about them closer to the end of this year. More about this in our last article .
Read on the topic from our corporate blog:
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