What is ITIL (In­form­a­tion Tech­no­logy In­fra­struc­ture Library)?

IT service providers such as managed service providers or system houses have been focusing ex­clus­ively on the technical aspect of their services for a long time. While software and hardware were in the fore­ground, customer re­quire­ments only played a sub­or­din­ate role. The best practices guide ITIL has fun­da­ment­ally changed this approach, also due to new versions such as ITIL v3 and ITIL v4. What is ITIL and what does it consist of?

ITIL is defined as a framework with a set of best practices for de­liv­er­ing efficient IT support services. The acronym stands for In­form­a­tion Tech­no­logy In­fra­struc­ture Library. ITIL provides companies with the best ways to offer and provide IT services. The core element of the tried and tested standard pro­ced­ures is striving to work in an eco­nom­ic­al, quality-conscious, and customer-ori­ent­ated way.

From the very beginning, the re­com­mend­a­tions from ITIL were very universal, which is why the col­lec­tion of best practices quickly developed into the defining standard in the IT sector. Over the years, the ‘library’ has been con­stantly expanded and revised to meet the re­quire­ments of the rapidly growing industry. Between 1989 and 1998 alone, 42 different documents were created, which were later combined under the name ITIL v1. This was followed by ITIL v2 (1999-2004), ITIL v3 (2007), and the current version of the guide ITIL v4 (2019-2020).

As mentioned above, the goal of ITIL is to support IT service providers and managers in im­ple­ment­ing and managing quality-based services that meet customer re­quire­ments at all times. To this end, the standard has relied on various ap­proaches over the past decades:

• ITIL v2 ex­clus­ively contains the two dis­cip­lines - service delivery (reg­u­la­tion of the binding framework) and service support (the support processes necessary to ensure service quality). In addition, various process flows are defined.
• ITIL v3 maps the entire service lifecycle - from strategic pre­par­a­tion and the de­vel­op­ment of suitable solutions to the roll-out and operation of services and quality man­age­ment (including con­tinu­ous im­prove­ment of the product). In addition, 26 processes are mentioned that place the customer even more in the fore­ground.
• ITIL v4 follows the approach of granting more freedom in the design of cus­tom­ised IT services. The specific processes of the previous versions were therefore replaced by 34 different practices that can be used more flexibly and adapted more easily.

The fourth version of ITIL describes a total of 34 different practices, most of which are already known as ‘processes’ from the previous versions. The practices, which are also referred to as re­com­mend­a­tion guidelines, are part of the Service Value System (SVS) in­tro­duced with ITIL v4, which consists of the following five core com­pon­ents:

• ITIL Service Value Chain: Op­er­a­tion­al model with six activ­it­ies (plan, improve, engage, design and trans­ition, obtain/build, deliver and support) that builds on the ITIL v3 Service Lifecycle.
• ITIL guiding prin­ciples: Fun­da­ment­al guiding prin­ciples that apply to high-quality IT service man­age­ment, such as value ori­ent­a­tion, trans­par­ent co­oper­a­tion, sim­pli­city, or con­tinu­ous op­tim­isa­tion/further de­vel­op­ment.
• Gov­ernance: Pre­defined dir­ec­tions, policies, and rules that IT service providers should use to deploy and manage their services.
• Continual im­prove­ment: The striving for con­tinu­ous im­prove­ment of the services offered, which also plays a role in other com­pon­ents such as the value chain.
• ITIL practices (also re­com­mend­a­tion guidelines or practices): The diverse set of best practices that provide IT service providers with a set of or­gan­isa­tion­al resources designed to ac­com­plish work or achieve a goal.

As mentioned, ITIL v4 comprises 34 practices, which are sub­divided into the three cat­egor­ies ‘general man­age­ment practices’, ‘service man­age­ment practices’, and ‘technical man­age­ment practices’. Each guideline must always be con­sidered in relation to the six activ­it­ies of the service value chain.

The following table sum­mar­ises all ITIL processes and practices (as of July 2021):

ITIL is one of the most important standards in in­form­a­tion tech­no­logy. Anyone working in IT man­age­ment has an excellent source of in­form­a­tion about qual­it­at­ively appealing, efficient, and customer-ori­ent­ated work at their fin­ger­tips thanks to this best practices guide. Accredited Training Organ­isa­tions (ATOs) offer ITIL training courses, including final exams, to fa­mil­i­ar­ise par­ti­cipants with the contents of the IT framework and their ap­plic­a­tion. Upon suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion, the candidate receives an ITIL cer­ti­fic­ate.

Training for the ITIL cer­ti­fic­ate follows a four-stage model based on a points system:

1. Found­a­tion Level: The first level of ITIL cer­ti­fic­a­tion provides a basic un­der­stand­ing of key elements such as the Service Value System (SVS), the service lifecycle, and the various ITIL processes or practices. Anyone in­ter­ested in IT service man­age­ment can take the exam.
    
2. In­ter­me­di­ate Level: In the second chapter of the training, par­ti­cipants deal more in­tens­ively with IT man­age­ment according to the ITIL standard and im­ple­ment­a­tion of the guidelines. The level comprises two different training branches from five (service lifecycle man­age­ment) or four modules (service cap­ab­il­ity process), which can be combined with each other. The Found­a­tion Level must first be completed.
    
3. Expert Level: Those who have collected enough points in the two previous levels can demon­strate their in-depth knowledge of the ITIL framework with the Expert Level.
    
4. Master Level: There are no of­fi­cially proposed or pre­scribed curricula or training for the Master Level. In order to obtain this cer­ti­fic­a­tion level, IT managers must prove that they have carried out suc­cess­ful ITIL im­ple­ment­a­tions in the workplace. In addition, several years of work in IT service man­age­ment are necessary.