ITIL v3: Utility and Warranty – two sides of the same coin

Utility and Warranty come handy when characterizing and checking the value of a IT Service as it progresses throughout its lifecycle.

Utility – Functionality offered by a Product or a Service to meet a particular need. Utility is often summarized as “what it does”.

Warranty - A promise or guarantee that a Product or a Service will meet its agreed requirements (”how it is done”).

These two concepts help in the definition of the Service Level Package (the closest concept to this with ITIL v2 would be the obscure Service Specification Sheets), a new ITIL v3 concept used in the Service Design phase in order to specify both Utility and Warranty for a particular Service Package being designed.

This in turn will feed the most important deliverable from Service Design: the Service Design Package, the IT Service’s blueprint during the next two phases (Service Transition and Service Operation), as the new or changed Service is developed, tested, transitioned into live environment, and then maintained day-by-day until it becomes obsolete.

The Customer will most certainly focus more on the Warranty aspects of a IT service after starting using it.

For example, if I go to a hairdresser to get a haircut (the Utility being the haircut service; it could also include shaving or hair dying) I’ll certainly will be expecting that:

1. It won’t take too long to get my hair cut
2. My head suffers no harm
3. I have a comfortable chair
4. and so on…

All these build up my perception of “how the service is being delivered” – the Warranty.

We may say that (depending on your local habits), the hair washing may serve an Utility purpose (extra functionality besides the haircut) that can have a positive impact in the Warranty of the haircut service (if properly done…).

Likewise, when using a IT Service, the Customer is quite influenced by how well the Service Provider performs regarding, for instance, the agreed Availability, Capacity, Security and Continuity service levels (the Warranty).

And that level of Warranty may just be the distinctive advantage one Service Provider has against the competition (which quite probably is able to provide the very same functionalities… the Utility of a IT Service).

ITIL v3 exam available on Prometric (and Pearson)

At last we have the option of taking the ITIL v3 Foundation exam through Prometric (only in English).

You can either book it online (Go to http://www.2test.com/, choose EXIN as exam provider and then EX0-101 ITIL Foundation v.3) or contact a local Authorized Prometric Training Center. It costs 140€ (when booked online).

This exam is also available on Pearson VUE.

I couldn’t confirm it but it looks like the ITIL v3 Bridging Foundation is available too.

You may find the free Overview of ITIL useful for reviewing (take care – it’s not enough for exam preparation…).

EXIN’s information on this here.

New 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.

What’s an ITIL, and Where Do I Get One?

Very nice article by Shawn Conaway, VCP, MCSE, CCA, is a director of NaSPA and editor of Virtualize! and Tech Toys magazines.

“This week, I was fortunate enough to be sent to an in-house Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) training session. However, when I told friends and colleagues where I was going, I got a lot of blank stares. It’s amazing to me that so few people know what ITIL is.

There are a few reasons why there is confusion about it:

• Training to learn ITIL framework is embraced by companies that are committed to realigning their IT processes to best practices. Many companies engrained with existing IT processes might subscribe to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality.
• ITIL may embraced by decision makers in the organization, but not by those who don’t have a hand in the strategic direction of the company.
• The IT organization at some companies might be immature with respect to processes. An IT organization that is small — say, five or 10 people — may not benefit from standardizing processes and procedures as much as a larger, more unwieldy function would.
• ITIL is not a tangible product. Version 3 of ITIL was just released, but there is no upgrade to perform or hardware to replace. ITIL is a framework for defining how processes should be performed both in IT specifically and in the business as a whole.

ITIL was created in the 1980s by an engineer in the U.K.’s Office of Government Commerce. His mission was to create an IT service management framework with service delivery and support. IT organizations throughout Europe adopted ITIL quickly, and the framework spread throughout North America and Asia. In the U.S., ITIL is most widely accepted on either coast, but it is gaining popularity in the Midwest.

ITIL version 3 has a few certification levels. The first is the ITIL v3 Foundation for Service Management. Stepping up a certification level requires studying the life-cycle and/or capability modules. These modules are the basis for the higher tiers of certification, the ITIL Expert and ITIL Master.

There are many vendors that offer ITIL training. One of the most well-known in North America is Pink Elephant. Other major training vendors include Paragon Development Systems (PDS), Global Knowledge and Learning Tree.

ITIL Practice Tests

Question 1: Which of the following is the correct definition of a customer-based SLA?
A An SLA with a customer covering all of the services they use
B An SLA covering all customer groups and all the services they use
C SLAs for each service that are customer-focused and written in
business language
D An SLA for each service, covering all those customer groups that use
that service

ANSWER
A

Question 2: Which of the following data is LEAST likely to be used in the Incident process?
A Incident category
B Cost of faulty item
C Make/model of faulty item
D Impact code
ANSWER
B

Question 3: An IT department wants to set its prices to match those of external suppliers selling comparable services. This approach is known as:
A Market rate
B The going rate that is agreed with customers
C Cost-plus
D Profitable
ANSWER
A

Question 4: Which of the following is NOT an element of Availability Management?
A Verification
B Security
C Reliability
D Maintainability
ANSWER
A

Question 5: The extent of CI information held in the CMDB should:
A Be as detailed as possible so that frequent reports can be produced to
avoid spending a lot of money
B Be as high level as possible
C Match the organisation’s requirement for information to be held
D Vary according to cost
ANSWER
C

Question 6: To enable a new Service Desk management tool to be implemented, the capacity of the Service Desk servers has to be extended. Who is responsible for managing the request for additional capacity?
A Service Level Manager
B Change Manager
C Capacity Manager
D Financial Manager
ANSWER
B

Question 7 Configuration Management plans should be integrated with those of:
A Service Level Management
B IT Service Continuity Management and Financial Management for IT Services
C Change and Capacity Management
D Change and Release Management
ANSWER
D

Question 8 Which of the following is a potential problem when implementing
Change Management?
A Lack of ownership of impacted services
B Increased visibility and communication of Changes
C Better alignment of IT services to business needs
D The ability to absorb a larger volume of change
ANSWER
A

Question 9 Which of the following would normally be included in a Capacity Plan?
1 Recommendations
2 Management summary
3 Business workload forecasts
4 Back-out plans
A 2, 3 and 4
B All of them
C 2 and 3 only
D 1, 2 and 3
ANSWER
D

Question 10: Which of the following activities is NOT included in the Operational
Management stage of the IT Service Continuity Management life-cycle?
A Develop procedures and initial testing
B Education and awareness
C Review, audit and assurance
D Ongoing training and testing
ANSWER
A

Question 11: Intermediate Recovery is concerned with which of the following time periods?
A 4 to 24 hours
B More than 72 hours
C 24 to 72 hours
D 4 to 8 hours
ANSWER
C

Question 12: Which of the following could be members of the Change Advisory Board?
1 Problem Manager
2 Customer representatives
3 Change Manager
4 IT technical managers
A All of them
B 2 and 3 only
C 1, 2 and 4
D 1, 3 and 4
Page 4 of 12

ANSWER
A

Question 13: Which of the following should be easier after the implementation of a good IT
Service Management software tool?
1 The analysis of raw data
2 The identification of trends
3 The definition of Service Management processes
4 Implementation of preventative measures
A 1, 2 and 4
B 2 and 3
C All of them
D 1 and 4
ANSWER
A

Question 14: Identifying the potential damage or loss to an organization resulting from disruption
to critical business processes is:
A Root Cause Analysis
B CRAMM
C Business Impact Analysis
D Component Failure Impact Analysis
ANSWER
C

Question 15: In Availability Management, what is SOA?
A System Optimization Approach
B Systematic Operational Adjustment
C Serviceability of Applications
D Service Outage Analysis
ANSWER
D

Question 16: Serviceability is an element of Availability Management. How is it best defined?
A The prevention of failure, and the ability to keep services and
components operable
B The ability to restore services or components back to normal operation
C The percentage of the agreed service hours for which the service is
available
D The support which external suppliers can be contracted to provide for parts

ANSWER
D

Question 17: Which one of the following statements is true?
A Direct costs can be allocated to a single customer, service or activity
B Depreciation is used to calculate how maintenance can be offset against
tax
C Staff costs are capital costs because of their high value
D Cost centres are used to measure ROCE (Return on Capital Employed)
ANSWER
A

Question 18: What is the difference between a Problem and a Known Error?
A A Known Error is always the result of an Incident, a Problem is not
B There is no real difference between a Problem and a Known Error
C In the case of a Known Error the underlying cause is known
D In the case of a Known Error there is a fault in the IT infrastructure,
with a Problem there is not
ANSWER
C

Question 19: Where would the information relating to software release components be stored?
A DSL
B AMDB
C CMDB
D CDB
ANSWER
A

Question 20: A remote site has recently had its Local Area Network upgraded. The users are
now complaining of slow responses and have heard that this is due to problems
with the network capacity. Who should they contact for assistance?
A Network Management
B The Service Desk
C Capacity Management
D Problem Management

ANSWER
B

Question 21: What is the correct sequence of activities involved in implementing a
Service Management tool:
1 Tool selection
2 Tool specification
3 Process design
4 Analysis of requirements
A 4 – 2 – 1 – 3
B 4 – 3 – 2 – 1
C
2 – 1 – 4 – 3
D
2 – 1 – 3 – 4
ANSWER
B

Question 22: The process to implement SLAs comprises the following activities in
which sequence?
A Draft SLAs, catalogue services, review Underpinning Contracts and
OLAs, draft SLRs, negotiate, agree SLAs
B Draft SLAs, review Underpinning Contracts and OLAs, negotiate,
catalogue services, agree SLAs
C Review Underpinning Contracts and OLAs, draft SLAs, catalogue
services, negotiate, agree SLAs
D Catalogue services, establish SLRs, review Underpinning Contracts
and OLAs, negotiate service levels, agree SLAs
ANSWER
D

Question 23: Which of the following statements is true?
A An urgent Release is always a Delta Release
B A Full Release may contain Package and Delta Releases
C A Full Release may contain several Delta Releases
D A Package Release may contain Full and Delta Releases
ANSWER
D
Question 24: Which of these best describes the purpose of Capacity Management?

A To reduce costs and performance levels to a minimum
B To ensure that there is always sufficient capacity available to meet all
customer demands
C To ensure that business demands are affordable and achievable
D To provide cost-effective IT capacity to meet agreed service levels
ANSWER
D

Question 25: Which of the following should be available to the Service Desk?
1 Incident diagnostic scripts
2 A knowledge base of previously recorded incidents
3 A Configuration Management Database covering the
infrastructure supported
4 A Forward Schedule of Change
A 1 and 2
B All of them
C 3 and 4
D 1, 2 and 3
ANSWER
B

Question 26: The Service Desk can act as the focal point for:
1 Receiving Incidents & Service Requests from users
2 Recording Change requests from users
3 Handling complaints and queries
A 1 Only
B 2 Only
C 1 and 3
D All of them
ANSWER
D

Question 27: Which of these is NOT a recognised Service Desk?
A Remedial Service Desk
B Virtual Service Desk
C Local Service Desk
D Central Service Desk
ANSWER
A

Question 28: The wording of SLAs and OLAs should be:
A Technically focused, so that they may be understood by IT professionals
B A mixture of business, technical and legal language, so that they can be
understood by everyone
C Clear and concise, leaving no room for ambiguity
D Legally worded as they must be contractually binding
ANSWER
C

Question 29: Which of the following are amongst the main responsibilities of Capacity
Management?
1 Modelling
2 Risk Analysis
3 Application Sizing
4 DSL maintenance
A 1 and 2
B 3 and 4
C 2 and 4
D 1 and 3
ANSWER
D

Question 30: When does an Incident turn into a Problem?
A When it is urgent
B When it is a Major Incident
C If the person reporting the Incident is very senior
D Never
ANSWER
D

Question 31: Does Problem Management depend entirely on having a mature
Incident Management process in place?
A Yes, because without a mature Incident Management process in place
there is no reliable information available
B No, because the quality of Incident Management information is of
little importance to proactive Problem Management
C No, because progress can still be made on solving long-standing Problems
D Yes, because trend analysis cannot be undertaken without a lot of
accurate Incident Management information

ANSWER
C

Question 32: For which of these activities is the Change Manager responsible?
A Establishing the root cause of a capacity Incident which has led to an
RFC being raised
B Devising the back-out plan for a significant Change
C Chairing the CAB
D Ensuring a Release has reached the target CIs
ANSWER
C

Question 33: Problem Management includes several core activities. Which one of the
following most accurately summaries them?
A Planning, Control, Identification, Status Accounting, Verification
B Problem Control, Error Control, Management reporting
C Incident Control, severity analysis, support allocation, reporting
D Identification, Problem Control, support allocation, investigation
ANSWER
B

Question 34: Which of the following will NOT have a direct impact on IT capacity?
A An increase in network bandwidth available
B A reduction in transactions processed
C A reduction in the number of files to be stored
D An increase in the cost per transaction
ANSWER
D

Question 35: Which relationships are most likely to exist between Incidents and Problems?
1 One Incident to one Problem
2 One Incident to many Problems
3 Many Incidents to one Problem
A 1 and 2 only
B 2 and 3 only
C 1 and 3 only
D All of them
ANSWER
C

Question 36: Which of the following metrics is most relevant in determining the value added
by Problem Management to the Service Desk?
A The number of Problems raised
B The number of Known Errors identified
C The number of Problems correctly categorised
D The number of RFCs raised
ANSWER
B

Question 37: Which of the following best describes the goal of Service Level Management?
A To maintain and improve IT service quality in line with business
requirements
B To provide IT services at the lowest possible cost by agreeing with
Customers their minimum requirements for service availability and ensuring
performance does not exceed these targets
C To provide the highest possible level of service to Customers and
continuously improve on this through ensuring all services operate
at maximum availability
D To ensure that IT delivers the same standard of service at the least cost
ANSWER
A

Question 38: Which of these is a direct benefit of having a Service Desk?
A Service Level Requirements are established
B Technical support staff are less likely to be interrupted by users’
telephone calls
C Changes taking place are properly coordinated
D All the information in the CMDB is kept up to date
ANSWER
B

Question 39: The scope of a Release can best be defined by:
A The RFCs that it includes
B The number of updates to the DHS
C Service Level metrics
D The DSL configuration
ANSWER
A

Question 40: An ‘unabsorbed’ overhead would typically be:
A A capital cost
B A type of charging policy
C A cost which cannot be attributed to a specific customer
D A revenue stream
ANSWER
C

ITIL Exam Questions

ITIL Foundation Exam - Sample Paper


1. A customer-based Service Level Agreement structure includes:
A An SLA covering all Customer groups and all the services they use
B SLAs for each service that are Customer-focused and written in business language
C An SLA for each service type, covering all those Customer groups that use that
Service
D An SLA with each individual Customer group, covering all of the services they use

2. Which of the following would normally be included in a Capacity Plan?
1 Options
2 Management summary
3 Business workload forecasts
4 Backout plans
A 2, 3 and 4
B All of them
C 2 and 3 only
D 1, 2 and3

3. An IT department is seeking to set its prices to match those of external suppliers
selling the same services. Which one of the following is the best description of this
approach?
A The going rate that is agreed with Customers
B Market rate
C Cost-plus
D Profitable

4. Which of the following is not an element of Availability Management?
A. Verification
B. Security
C. Reliability
D. Maintainability

5. The extent of CI information held in the CMDB should:
A Be as detailed as possible so that frequent reports can be produced to avoid spending a
lot of money
B Be as high level as possible
C Match the organisation’s requirement for information to be held
D Vary according to cost

6. To enable a new Service Desk management tool to be implemented, the capacity of the
servers has to be extended. Who is responsible for managing the request for additional
capacity?
A Service Level Manager
B Capacity Manager
C Change Manager
D Financial Manager

7. Which one of the following is NOT necessarily a direct benefit of implementing a formal Incident Management process?
A Improved user satisfaction
B Incident volume reduction
C Elimination of lost incidents
D Less disruption to both IT support staff and users

8. Configuration Management plans should be integrated with those of:
A Change & Release Management
B Service Level Management
C IT Service Financial & Continuity Management.
D Change & Capacity Management

9. Possible problems with Change Management include:
A Lack of ownership of impacted services
B Increased visibility and communication of changes
C Better alignment of IT services to actual business needs
D The ability to absorb a larger volume of change

10. Which of the following activities is NOT included in the Operational Management
stage of the Continuity Management Life-cycle?
A Develop Procedures and Initial Testing
B Education and Awareness
C Review, Audit and Assurance
D Ongoing Training and Testing

11. Which of the following are likely to be members of the CAB?
1 Problem Manager
2 Customer representatives
3 Change Manager
4 Senior IT technical managers
A 2 and 3 only
B All of them
C 1, 2 &4
D 1, 3 &4

12. Consider the following activities:
1 The analysis of raw data
2 The identification of trends
3 The definition of Service Management processes
4 The implementation of preventive measures
Which of the above should be easier after implementing a good IT Service Management
software tool?
A 1, 2 & 4
B 2 & 3
C All of them
D None of them

13. The activity that aims to identify the potential damage or loss to an organization resulting from disruption to critical business processes is:
A Root Cause Analysis
B Business Impact Analysis
C Service Outage Analysis
D Component Failure Impact Analysis

14. Intermediate Recovery is initially concerned with which of the following time
periods?
A 4 to 24 hours
B More than 72 hours
C 24 to 72 hours
D 4 to 8 hours

15. What is SOA within Availability Management?
A System Optimisation Approach
B Systematic Operational Adjustment
C Serviceability of Applications
D Service Outage Analysis

16. Serviceability is an element of Availability Management. How is it best defined?
A The prevention of failure, and the ability to keep services and components operable
B The ability to restore services or components back to normal operation
C The percentage of the agreed service hours for which the service is available
D The support which external suppliers can be contracted to provide for parts of the IT
infrastructure
Answer: D

17. Which one of the following statements is NOT FALSE?
A Depreciation is used to calculate how maintenance can be offset against tax
B Staff costs are capital costs because of their high value
C Cost centres are used to measure ROCE (Return on Capital Employed)
D Direct costs can be allocated to a single customer, service or activity

18. Which one of the following is NOT a major CI type?
A Documentation
B Software
C Purchase order
D Accommodation

19. Where would the information relating to software release components be stored?
A DSL
B CMDB
C AMDB
D CDB

20. The following activities are involved in implementing a Service Management
function:
1 Tool selection
2 Tool specification
3 Process design
4 Functional requirements analysis
In which order should the above activities be taken?
A 4 2 1 3
B 4 3 2 1
C 2 1 4 3
D 2 1 3 4

21. Which of the following best describes the goal of Service Level Management?
A To maintain and improve IT service quality in line with business requirements
B To provide IT services at the lowest possible cost by agreeing with Customers their
minimum requirements for service availability and ensuring performance does not exceed
these targets.
C To provide the highest possible level of service to Customers and continuously
improve on this through ensuring all services operate at maximum availability.
D To ensure that IT delivers the same standard of service at the least cost

22. The process to implement SLAs comprises of the following activities in sequence:
A Draft SLAs, catalogue services, review underpinning contracts and OLAs, draft SLRs,
negotiate, agree SLAs
B Draft SLAs, review underpinning contracts and OLAs, negotiate, catalogue services,
C Review underpinning contracts and OLAs, draft SLAs, catalogue services, negotiate,
agree SLAs
D Catalogue services, establish SLRs, review underpinning contracts and OLAs,
negotiate service levels, agree SLAs

23. Which of the following statements is true?
A An urgent release is always a delta release
B A full release may contain package and delta releases
C package release may contain full and delta releases
D A full release may contain several delta releases

24. Which of these best describes the purpose of Capacity Management?
A To reduce costs and performance levels to a minimum
B To ensure that there is always sufficient capacity available to meet all customer
demands
C To ensure that business demands are affordable and achievable
D To provide cost-effective IT capacity to meet agreed service levels

25. A remote site has recently had its network upgraded. The users are now complaining of slow responses and have heard that this is due to problems with capacity. Who should they contact for assistance?
A Network Management
B The Service Desk
C Capacity Management
D Problem Management

26. Consider the following:
1 Incident diagnostic scripts
2 A knowledge base of previously recorded incidents
3 A Configuration Management Database covering the infrastructure supported
4 A Forward Schedule of Change
Which of the above should be available to the Service Desk?
A All four
B 1&2
C 3&4
D 1, 2 &3

27. Which of these is NOT a recognised Service Desk structure?
A Remedial Service Desk
B Virtual Service Desk
C Local Service Desk
D Central Service Desk

28. The wording of SLAs and OLAs should be:
A Technically focused, so that they may be understood by IT professionals
B A mixture of business, technical and legal language, so that they can be understood by
everyone
C Clear and concise, leaving no room for ambiguity.
D Legally worded as they must be contractually binding

29. Consider the following list:
1 Modelling
2 Risk Analysis
3 Application Sizing
4 DSL maintenance
Which two from the above list are among the main responsibilities of Capacity
Management?
A 1 & 2
B 1 & 3
C 3 & 4
D 2 & 4

30. At what point does an Incident turn into a Problem?
A When it is urgent
B When it is a Major Incident
C If the person reporting the incident is very senior
D Never

31. There are strong links between Service Level Management and:
1 Incident Management
2 Availability Management
3 Configuration Management
4 IT Service Continuity Management
5 Change Management
A 1, 3 & 5
B 2 & 4
C 2, 3 & 5
D All of them

32. Does Problem Management depend entirely on having a mature Incident
Management process in place?
A Yes, because without a mature Incident Management process in place there is no
reliable information available
B No, because the quality of Incident Management information is of little importance to
proactive Problem Management
C No, because progress can still be made on solving long-standing Problems
D Yes, because trend analysis cannot be undertaken without a lot of accurate Incident
Management information

33. The scope of a Release can best be defined by:
A The RFCs that it satisfies
B The number of updates to the OHS
C Service Level metrics
D The DSL configuration

34. For which of these activities is the Change Manager responsible?
A Chairing the CAB
B Establishing the root cause of a Capacity Incident which has led to an RFC being
raised
C Devising the backout plan for a significant Change
D Ensuring a Release has reached the target CIs

35. The Service Desk can act as the focal point for:
1 Receiving Incidents & Service Requests from users
2 Recording Change Requests from users
3 Handling complaints and queries
A 1 Only
B 2 Only
C 1 & 3
D 1, 2 & 3

36. Which of these statements is true when deciding on the initial scope and depth of the information to be held in a CMDB?
A You should try to capture as much information as possible about all types of CIs
B You shouldn’t collect detailed information about CIs that are not under Change Control
C You shouldn’t worry too much about Change Control; the main objective is to get the
database loaded
D You should try to satisfy all the wishes of the IT staff

37. Within a CMDB, which relationships are most likely to exist between Incidents and Problems?
1 One Incident to one Problem
2 One Incident to many Problems
3 Many Incidents to one Problem
A 1 & 2only
B 2 & 3 only
C 1 & 3 only
D All of them

38. Which of the following metrics is most relevant in determining the value added by Problem Management to the Service Desk?
A The number of Problems raised
B The number of Known Errors identified
C The number of Problems correctly categorised
D The number of RFCs raised

39. Which of these is a DIRECT benefit of having a Service Desk?
A Customer Service Level Requirements are established
B Changes taking place are properly coordinated
C All the information in the CMDB is kept up to date.
D Technical support staff are less likely to be interrupted to deal with user’s calls

40. An ‘unabsorbed’ cost is best described as:
A A capital cost
B A type of charging policy
C An uplift to allocated costs
D A revenue stream

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.

ITIL Exam Questions

ITIL Exam Questions Follow:

1) Which of the following would NOT normally be regarded as one of the major input cost elements of an IT cost model?

i)Accommodation

ii)Software

iii)Managed Service

iv)Transfer

2) Company 's ' recently had its UPS upgraded. The users are now complaining of slow responses and have heard that this is due to problems with the network capacity. Who should they contact for assistance?

a. Network Management

b. Service Desk

c. Capacity Management

d. Problem Management

3) A good IT Continuity Plan should cover

I. Alternative premises

II. Staff accommodation

III.Transport options

IV. User communications

a. I

b. I, II

c. I and IV

d. All the above

4) The following activities are involved in implementing a Service Management function:

I. Tool selection

II. Tool specification

III. Process design

IV. Functional requirements analysis

In which order should the above activities by taken?

a. IV

b. IV, III, II, I

c. II, I, IV, III

d. II, I, III, IV

5) The process to implement SLAs comprises the following activities in sequence:

a. Draft SLAs, catalog services, review underpinning contracts and OLAs, draft SLRs, negotiate, agree SLAs

b. Draft SLAs, review underpinning contracts and OLAs, negotiate, catalog services, agree SLAs

c. Review underpinning contracts and OLAs, draft SLAs, catalog services, negotiate, agree SLAs

d. Catalog services, establish SLRs, review underpinning contracts and OLAs, negotiate service levels, agree SLAs

6) Which of the following statements is FALSE?

a. Package releases may contain full and delta release.

b. A full release may contain package and delta releases.

c. A full release may contain packagea and delta release.

d. A package release may contain full and delta releases.

7) Which of these best describes the purpose of Capacity Management?

a. To reduce costs and performance levels to a minimum.

b. To ensure that there is always sufficient capacity available to meet all customer demands.

c. To ensure that business demands are affordable and achievable.

d. To provide cost-effective IT capacity to meet agreed service levels.

8) Consider the following:

I. Incident diagnostic scripts

II. A knowledgebase of previously recorded incidents

III. A CMDB covering the infrastructure supported

IV. A Forward Schedule of Change

Which of the above should be available to the Steering Committee?

a. I & II

b. All

c. III & IV

d. I, II, & III

9) The Front Desk can act as the focal point for:

I. Receiving Incidents & Service Requests from users

II. Recording Change Requests from users

III. Handling complaints and queries

a. I

b. II

c. I & III

d. All

10) Which of these is NOT a recognized Service Desk structure?

a. Remedial Service Desk

b. Virtual Service Desk

c. Local Service Desk

d. Central Service Desk

11) The wording of SLAs and OLAs should be:

a. Technically focused so that they may be understood by IT professionals

b. A mixture of business, technical, and legal language, so that they can be understood by everyone

c. Clear and concise, leaving no room for ambiguity

d. Legally worded as they must be contractually binding

12) Consider the following list:

I. Modeling II. Risk Analysis III. Application Sizing IV. DSL Maintenance

Which two from the above list are among the main responsibilities of Capacity Management?

a. I & II

b. III & IV

c. II & IV

d. I & III

13) At what point does an Incident turn into a Problem?

a. When it is urgent

b. When it is a Major Incident

c. If the person reporting the Incident is very senior

d. Never

14) Does Management depend entirely on having a mature Incident Management process in place?

a. Yes. Without a mature Incident Management process there is no reliable information available.

b. No. The quality of Incident Management information is of little importance to proactive Problem Management.

c. No. Progress can still be made on solving long-standing Problems.

d. Yes. Trend analysis cannot be undertaken without a lot of accurate Incident Management information.

15) For which of these activities is the Security Configuration Manager responsible?

a. Establishing the root cause of a Capacity Incident that has lead to an RFC being raised.

b. Devising the back-out plan for a significant change.

c. Chairing the CAB.

d. Ensuring a release has reached the target CIs.

e. Who gves a F^&*

16) Which of these statements is true when deciding on the initial scope and depth of the information to be held in the CMDB?

a. You should try to capture as much information as possible about all types of CIs.

b. You should not collect detailed information about CIs that are not under Change Control.

c. You shouldn't worry too much about Change Control. The main objective is to get the database loaded.

d. You should try to satisfy all the wishes of the IT staff.

17) There are strong links between Service Level Management and:

I. Incident Management II. Availability Management III. Configuration Management IV. IT Service Continuity Management

a. I, III, & IV

b. II & IV

c. II, III, & IV

d. None

18) Within a Circuit Board, which relationships are most likely to exist between Incidents and Problems?

I. One Problem to one Problem

II. One Event to many Problems

III. Many Log to one Problem

a. I & II

b. II & III

c. I & III

d. All

19) Which of the following metrics is most relevant in determining the value added by Problem Management to the Service Desk?

a. The number of Queries raised

b. The number of Known Incidents identified

c. The number of Files correctly categorized

d. The number of RFPs raised

20) Which of the following best describes the goal of Service Level Management?

a. To maintain and improve IT service quality in line with business requirements.

b. To provide IT services at the lowest possible cost by forging agreements with Customers establishing minimum requirements for service availability and ensuring performance does not exceed those targets.

c. To provide the highest possible level of service to Customers and continuously improve on this by ensuring all services operate at maximum availability.

d. To ensure that IT delivers the same standard of service at the least cost.

21) Which of the following is a DIRECT benefit of having a Service Desk?

a. Customer Service Level Requirements are established

b. Technical support staff are less likely to be interrupted to deal with user calls

c. Changes taking place are properly coordinated

d. All the information in the CMDB is kept up-to-date

22) The scope of a release can best be described by:

a. The RFCs that it satisfies.

b. The number of updates to the DHS.

c. Service Level metrics.

d. The DSL configuration.

23) An "unabsorbed" cost is best described as:

a. A capital cost.

b. A type of charging policy.

c. An uplift to allocated costs.

d. A revenue stream.

24) Which one of the following statements is TRUE?

a. Direct costs can be allocated to a single customer, service, or activity.

b. Depreciation is used to calculate how maintenance can be offset against tax.

c. Staff costs are capital costs because of their high value.

d. Cost centers are used to measure ROCE (Return on Capital Employed)

25) Which of the following is NOT a major cause of failure when trying to implement a CMDB:

a. lack of management commitment

b. cost of implementation

c. data collection

d. selection of a suitable CM tool

26) Availability management covers:

I. reliability

II. mean time between failures

III. maintaining data integrity

IV. vendor commitments

a. I

b. I and II

c. I and IV

d. All

27) Which of the following represents the four stages of the Demming cycle in the correct order.

a. Check, Plan, Do, Act

b. Act, Plan, Do, Check

c. Plan, Do, Check, Act

d. Act, Check, Do, Plan

What are the differences between ITIL V2 and ITIL V3? What has changed?

ILX Group have put together a set of ITIL V3 information resources to guide you through the differences between ITIL V2 and ITIL V3 and the new ITIL qualification path.

Watch a short video presentation to guide you through the improvements made for ITIL V3 and the new ITIL qualification path.

Amongst the key changes you’ll see in ITIL V3 is a wholesale shift towards a service-driven lifecycle approach and guidance which aims to be more prescriptive.

Where ITIL V2 outlined what should be done to improve processes, ITIL V3 explains clearly how you should go about doing it.

Another key ITIL V3 addition is demonstrating return on investment to the business. This was one of the most frequent requests from the industry consultations, carried out as part of the version three project.

Structural Changes

ITIL V3 includes some significant structural changes.

The library now consists of five volumes, these are:

• Service Strategy
• Service Design
• Service Transition
• Service Operation
• And Continual Service Improvement

The foundation level exam syllabus has been expanded to include content from all five volumes.

The new library also includes greater detail on the key roles, and outlines the responsibilities attached to each, along with clear focus on the importance of communication throughout the lifecycle.

Greater focus on the use of process models and the identification of the constituent parts is all new to version three.

Finally Continual Service Improvement or CSI, explains the use of process improvement models and identifies metrics to support improvements.

Credits for ITIL V2 Certifications

ITIL v3 qualifications are available at four levels with each certificate carrying a number of credits towards the advanced level qualifications.

A minimum of twenty-two credits are required to achieve the ITIL Expert level qualification and credits are also awarded for qualifications held from previous versions of ITIL. The Four levels of qualification are as follows:

The four levels of qualification are as follows:

ITIL V3 Foundation

The target audience for the ITIL Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management is drawn from:

• Individuals who require a basic understanding of the ITIL framework and how it may be used to enhance the quality of IT service management within an organization.
• IT professionals who are working within an organization that has adopted and adapted ITIL who need to be informed about and thereafter contribute to an ongoing service improvement programme.

Read more about the ITIL V3 Foundation Qualification.

ITIL V3 Intermediate

The target audience for the ITIL Intermediate Certificate in IT Service Management is drawn from:

• Individuals who require a deeper understanding of the ITIL Service Management Practice elements of the ITIL Service Lifecycle and how they may be implemented to enhance the quality of IT service management within an organization.
• IT professionals working in roles associated with strategic planning, execution and control within a service-based business model, seeking a deeper understanding of the functions and processes of the ITIL Service Lifecycle.
• Individuals seeking the ITIL Expert level certification in ITIL Service Management for which these are prerequisite modules.
• Individuals seeking progress towards the ITIL Advanced Service Management Professional standing in IT Service Management for which the ITIL Expert certification is a prerequisite.
• Individuals who wish to specialize in any of the Service Lifecycle and Capability Areas.

Two ITIL V3 Intermediate tracks are available:

• Firstly the ITIL V3 Intermediate Lifecycle track which comprises a 3 day module and Certificate for each of the five core books. This route broadly matches the Version 2 Managers Training. Includes 5 individual certificates built around the five core OGC titles, as follows:
  • Service Strategy
  • Service Design
  • Service Transition
  • Service Operation
  • Continual Service Improvement
• Secondly, the ITIL V3 Intermediate Capability track which comprises of four role specific 4 day modules and certificates as follows. This route broadly reflects the Version 2 Practitioners qualifications.
  • Operational Support and Analysis (OS&A). Subjects covered inc. Event, Incident, Request, Problem, Access, Service Desk, Technical, IT Ops and Application Management
  • Service Offerings and Agreements (SO&A). Subjects covered inc. Portfolio, Service Level, Service Catalogue, Demand, Supplier and Financial Management
  • Release, Control and Validation (RC&V). Subjects covered inc. Change, Release & Deployment, Validation & Testing, Service Asset & Configuration, Knowledge, Request Management and Service Evaluation
  • Planning, Protection and Optimization (PP&O). Subjects covered inc. Capacity, Availability, Continuity, Security, Demand and Risk Management.

ITIL Expert

This certification is achieved by accumulating credits through the first two levels of the Scheme.

There is no examination required for this level; however individuals must achieve credits through a selection of balanced subject areas which represent and are examined across the full spectrum of the ITIL Service Management Practice areas.

To achieve the certification, individuals must obtain a minimum of twenty two (22) credits, two of which must be from the Foundation module which is a mandatory first step, and five of which must be from the 'Managing Across the Lifecycle' module which is a mandatory final step.

Individuals can choose modules from the Capability (4 credits per module) or Lifecycle (3 credits per module) Streams to gain the other 15 credits, but are expected to choose a balanced programme overall.

Individuals who hold a V1 or V2 Managers Certificate (17 credits) and attend the mandatory V3 Managers Bridge course and pass the examination (5 credits) will also obtain the ITIL® Expert certification.

More information about the ITIL V3 Expert Qualification.

ITIL Master

The Advanced Level of study leads to an ITSM professional Certification.

Individuals for the Advanced Level are required to have achieved the ITIL Service Management Expert certification and be able to demonstrate practical application experience through a peer evaluation scheme.

Individuals will be assessed on the broader issues of ITSM Implementations, including, but not limited to:

• Managing cultural and organizational change
  
• Responding to industry change
  
• Continual improvement of ITSM capability
  
• Preparing organization for audit and certification
  
• Preparing to become and ITSM consultant and/or an ITIL trainer

Individuals wishing to achieve Advanced Level standing are required to have a minimum of eight years of ITSM experience and to have achieved the ITIL Expert certification.

Individuals with existing ITIL V2 qualifications can use those qualifications as credits towards the Expert or may find that the credits or qualifications they hold will make them eligible for the current V3 Bridging routes.

ITIL V3 Bridging Courses

Candidates who hold earlier ITIL qualifications can update their knowledge and certification via a series of "bridging" courses, such as the Foundation Bridging Course. These courses will also earn a candidate credits towards the Expert Level.

ITIL V3 Foundation Certification (useful links)

Welcome. The new version of ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) was launched in June 2007. ITIL V3 primarily describes the Service Lifecycle of IT Service Management.

The latest version (ITIL V3) is compassed of the five core volumes:
1. Service Strategy
2. Service Design
3. Service Transition
4. Service Operation
5. Continual Service Improvement

This site was set up to help you friends who are going to give their ITIL Exams and need practice papers to test their competence. Hope these ITIL V3 Exam Papers help in obtaining your ITIL Certification!

Click here for ITIL Certification Paper 1
Click here for ITIL Certification Paper 2
Click here for ITIL Certification Paper 3

ITIL Examination Institutes

Professional qualifications based on ITIL are offered by Examination Institutes. An Examination Institute (EI) is an organisation accredited by the APM Group through the ITIL Qualifications Board. EIs are permitted to operate an ITIL examination scheme through a network of Accredited Training Organisations, and Accredited Trainers with Accredited materials.

The Examination Institutes are:

APMG-International

APMG-International specialise in the accreditation and certification of organisations, processes and people. APMG are an ITIL Examination Institute, who offer global accreditation and examination services for training providers.

BCS-ISEB

The Information Systems Examination Board (BCS-ISEB) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Computer Society. BCS-ISEB provides industry recognised qualifications that measure competence, ability and performance in many areas of IT, including ITIL.

CSME

CSME has been working to promote IT Professionalism in the US and the Americas for over half a decade. While we have been focused on ITIL to date, CSME is positioned to support all IT Certification schemes that promote IT Professionalism. CSME is committed to maintaining and advancing the integrity of the examination processes for all IT Professional Certifications. We do this while always putting customer service first.

DANSK IT

With more than 6,000 members DANSK IT is a leading interest organization for IT-professionals in Denmark. The core activities evolve around member networks, conferences, courses, certification programmes and IT political advice to the DK Government and its agencies. Founded in 1958 DANSK IT is among the first IT societies in the world.

DF Certifiering AB

DF Certifiering AB (DFC), is a wholly owned subsidiary to Dataföreningen i Sverige, the Swedish Computer Society with 26 000 IT-professionals as members in Sweden. DFC's role is to give accreditation to training providers and certify IT. DFC also provide products in the field of Information Security and self assessing tests for e-Citizens.

EXIN

The Examination Institute for Information Science in the Netherlands (EXIN) is a global, independent IT examination provider. EXIN establishes educational requirements and develops and organises examinations and learning tracks in the field of IT.

LCS

Loyalist Certification Services (LCS) is a premier deliverer of ITIL certification exams in North America.

TÜV SÜD Akademie

The TÜV SÜD Group is well known for consulting, testing, certification and training on behalf of industry, trade and commerce, public institutions and private individuals. TÜV SÜD creates increased safety and added economic value by supporting the competitive strength of our customers through the world - TÜV SÜD Mission: Choose certainty. Add value.

ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme

The ITIL Version 3 (V3) Qualifications scheme provides a modular approach to ITIL certification, and is comprised of a series of certifications focused on different aspects of ITIL Best Practice, to various degrees of depth and detail.

There are four levels of certification within the V3 scheme:

• ITIL Foundation Level
• ITIL Intermediate Level- Service Lifecycle & Service Capability Streams
• ITIL Expert Level
• ITIL Master

The modular, tiered approach to certification not only offers increased flexibility to candidates relating to the disciplines or areas of ITIL that they are able to study, but generally makes ITIL certification more accessible and achievable.

The entry level for the scheme is the ITIL Foundation Level, and upon successful completion of the ITIL Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management, a candidate becomes eligible to take further V3 certifications within the scheme.

The ITIL Intermediate Level provides two specific streams of education – the Service Lifecycle "Management" focused stream, and the Service Capability "Process" focused stream. A series of modules are available within both steams and each module focuses on a different area or stage of the ITIL V3 Spectrum.

The Intermediate level is the core of the qualifications scheme, and the modular construct allows candidates to select specific Intermediate certifications which are of interest to them, based on their own individual educational or career-driven requirements.

Candidates can choose to take as few or as many ITIL Intermediate modules they require; building a portfolio of certifications tailored to their own requirements, which can be achieved over time, at their own preferred pace.

The next level of the scheme, ITIL Expert Level, is awarded to candidates in recognition of their achievement of a number of certifications within the V3 and earlier ITIL schemes, and even through endorsed Complementary Qualifications which support ITIL and the core certification program.

The Expert level is closely linked to the ITIL V3 Credit System, which supports the scheme and rewards candidates with credits for successfully completing modules of ITIL study.

The final level of the scheme, the ITIL Master level, is the highest qualification available within the V3 program. this particular level is reserved for those individuals who can demonstrate and provide evidence of their ability to implement defined ITIL disciplines and IT Service Management Best Practices within the real world, working environment. This level of the scheme is currently in the final stages of development, however more information will be available soon.

For a full, definitive explanation of the V3 Qualification Scheme and credit system, please download the ITIL Service Management Practices V3 Qualifications Scheme Brochure (pdf).

The ITIL V3 Credit System and The Relationship Between V3 and V2

Find out more about the ITIL V3 Credit System and The Relationship Between V3 & V2.

Find out more about the ITIL V2 Qualification Scheme.

Overview of the ITIL v3 library

Five key volumes comprise the ITIL v3:

1. Service Strategy
2. Service Design
3. Service Transition
4. Service Operation
5. Continual Service Improvement

Service Strategy

As the center and origin point of the ITIL Service Lifecycle, the Service Strategy volume provides guidance on clarification and prioritization of service provider investments in services. More generally, Service Strategy focuses on helping IT organizations improve and develop over the long term. In both cases, Service Strategy relies largely upon a market-driven approach. Key topics covered include service value definition, business case development, service assets, market analysis, and service provider types. Processes covered include service portfolio management, demand management, and IT financial management.

Service Design

The ITIL Service Design volume provides good practice guidance on the design of IT services, processes, and other aspects of the service management effort. Significantly, design within ITIL is understood to encompass all elements relevant to technology service delivery, rather than focusing solely on design of the technology itself. As such, Service Design addresses how a planned service solution interacts with the larger business and technical environments, service management systems required to support the service, processes which interacts with the service, technology, and architecture required to support the service, and the supply chain required to support the planned service. Within ITIL, design work for an IT service is aggregated into a single Service Design Package (SDP). Service Design Packages, along with other information about services, are managed within the service catalog. Processes covered in this volume include service level management, availability management, capacity management, IT service continuity management, information security management, supplier management, and service catalog management. test sherif khalifa

Transition

Service transition relates to the delivery of services required by the business into live/operational use, and often encompasses the "project" side of IT rather than "BAU" (Business As Usual). This area also covers topics such as managing changes to the "BAU" environment. Topics include Service Asset and Configuration Management, Transition Planning and Support, Release and deployment management, Change Management, Knowledge Management, as well as the key roles of staff engaging in Service Transition.

Service Operation

Best practice for achieving the delivery of agreed levels of services both to end-users and the customers (where "customers" refer to those individuals who pay for the service and negotiate the SLAs). Service Operations is the part of the lifecycle where the services and value is actually directly delivered. Also the monitoring of problems and balance between service reliability and cost etc are considered. Topics include balancing conflicting goals (e.g. reliability vs cost etc), Event management, incident management, problem management, request fulfillment, access management, service desk. The functions include technical management,application management , operations management and Service Desk as well as, responsibilities for staff engaging in Service Operation.

Continual Service Improvement (CSI)

Aligning and realigning IT services to changing business needs (because standstill implies decline).

The goal of Continual Service Improvement is to align and realign IT Services to changing business needs by identifying and implementing improvements to the IT services that support the Business Processes. The perspective of CSI on improvement is the business perspective of service quality, even though CSI aims to improve process effectiveness, efficiency and cost effectiveness of the IT processes through the whole lifecycle. To manage improvement, CSI should clearly define what should be controlled and measured.

CSI needs to be treated just like any other service practice. There needs to be upfront planning, training and awareness, ongoing scheduling, roles created, ownership assigned,and activities identified to be successful. CSI must be planned and scheduled as process with defined activities, inputs, outputs, roles and reporting.