ITIL Training Advice and Certification Level Basics

Submitted By: Adriana Noton
ITIL training is for those who plan to take one of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library certification exams. There are four levels of qualifications in the current v3 scheme. The scheme takes a modular approach so the four levels have to be attempted in serial order.
It starts from the Foundation exam, and moves up through Intermediate and Expert to Master. When a candidate passes one exam, it means the candidate gets the equivalent certification and also a specified number of credits (and a metal pin that can be worn on shirts or jackets). The credits add up as the candidate passes subsequent levels.
Before getting to the individual levels and the way to get certified, let's take a brief look at ITIL and the benefits it can provide to an organization that adopts it. The simplest way to put it is that it provides a framework for IT service management. These best practices can be found in a series of five books which examine the entire service lifecycle.
The books can be considered as guiding principles that will help an organization identify their IT needs, and then design and implement the setup and monitor it. Adopting this framework will improve the quality of IT services. It will reduce costs and improve productivity and customer satisfaction.
It has been adopted by thousands of organizations worldwide. There is a solid network of examination institutes (EI) and accredited training organizations (ATO) to support companies and individuals with their ITIL training and implementation needs. It's important here to make a distinction between the EIs and ATOs, because it will help with the provider choice.
The former are the ones who are actually permitted to operate the examination schemes indirectly through the ATOs. In other words, what an EI does is provide accreditation to an ATO. This accredited ATO will then be authorized to provide ITIL training.
The APM Group, which is officially in charge of all this, lists every EI and ATO on its website. So anyone thinking about becoming a certified IT service management guru needs to cross-check this list of authorized providers and find one that will be convenient. Each ATO will have its own system for delivering the requisite lectures and hands-on exercises needed.
But considering these sessions are meant for groups of employees, many ATOs deliver the ITIL training onsite to minimize disruption to business and the employees' schedules. For example, the v3 foundation certification could be a 3-day classroom course delivered to groups of employees in a company's meeting room. Candidates would have to take the exam at the end of the course, and answer 40 multiple choice questions in 60 minutes.
The other levels (intermediate, expert & master) won't be as easy and will need more course work and preparation. The ITIL training and exams don't come cheap, so a company that wants to get its employees certified for IT service management should choose the candidates carefully. But if done right, the streamlined IT setup will benefit the company in many different ways.

Published At: Isnare.com