ITIL Job Mapping

How do ITIL roles and qualifications map to real world job roles?

ITIL version 3 is based on a lifecycle approach starting with Service Strategy, through Service Design, Transition and into Operation, wrapped with Continual Service Improvement to focus on the quality aspects. Whilst this approach works well for the “cradle to grave” approach for services, it can be confusing to work out into which area a particular job role falls.

ITIL defines four functions, units of the organisation, two of these; Service Desk and IT Operations sit neatly within Service Operations. The other two, Applications Management and Technical Management provide the human resources for all five lifecycle stages. So these are the people who design, build, test, support and improvement the services.

After the foundation, the ITIL v3 qualification structure features two intermediate tracks. One track, the lifecycle features a 3 day course and qualification for each of the five lifecycle stages. These courses plunge deeper into the concepts within the related book but not much deeper than the foundation into the processes and functions themselves. The Capability track is the more practical, hands on 5 day courses going into more detail on the processes and functions.

Surveying any job website will highlight the varying definitions which any job title attracts. To avoid this we have used the job roles defined by eSkills Europe and used by SFIA (Skills for the Information Age) and ICS (Irish Computer Society) Skills.

A number of these roles may also benefit from Global Knowledge’s unique Service Management in Action courses which offer guidance about how to implement ITIL processes and systems.

Course Details

Lifecycle Courses – all 3 days and exams worth 3 credits in the qualification scheme

Service Strategy (LSS)

• The main principles and objectives of Service Strategy
• Core concepts and practices in Strategy and organisations applied to Service Management and IT.
• Defining Services and Market Space
• Conducting Strategic Analysis
• Driving Strategy through the Service Lifecycle stages and interfaces to Strategy
• Challenges, Critical Success Factors and Risks
• Technology considerations related to Service Strategy
• The activities commonly performed in the Service Strategy arena
• Assessing Critical Success Factors and Managing Risk in Service Strategy

Service Design (LSD)

• The main principles and objectives of Service Design
• Challenges, Critical Success Factors and Risks
• Organizational issues concerned with Design
• The five aspects of Service Design – design of the Service Solution, Systems, Technology Architecture, Processes and management systems
• Technology considerations related to Service Design
• The activities commonly performed in the Service Design arena
• Assessing Critical Success Factors and Managing Risk in Service Design

Service Transition (LST)

• Challenges, Critical Success Factors and Risks
• Organisational issues concerned with Transition
• Technology considerations related to Service Transition
• The activities commonly performed in the Service Transition arena
• Assessing Critical Success Factors and Managing Risk in Service Transition

Service Operation (LSO)

• The main principles and objectives of Service Operation
• Challenges, Critical Success Factors and Risks
• Organizational issues concerned with Functions, Groups, Teams, Department & Divisions
• Achieving balance in Service Operations
• Operational Health, Communication and Documentation
• The activities commonly performed in the Service Operation arena
• Improvement of Operational Activities
• Implementation consideration
• Managing Change in Service Operations
• Service Operation and Project Management
• Assessing & Managing Risk in Service Operations
• Operational Staff in Design & Transition
• Planning & Implementing Service Management Technologies

Continual Service Improvement (LCSI)

• The main principles and objectives of CSI
• Challenges, Critical Success Factors and Risks
• The overall process of CSI itself
• The methods and Techniques of CSI such as Benchmarking, Assessment, the Balanced Scorecard and the Deming cycle
• Organizational issues concerned with CSI
• Technology considerations related to CSI
• The activities commonly performed in the CSI arena
• Assessing Critical Success Factors and Managing Risk in CSI

Capability Courses – all 5 day courses worth 4 credits in the qualification scheme

Operational Support and Analysis (IOSA)

• Service Management as a Practice and Service Operation Principals.
• Processes across the Service Lifecycle pertaining to the capability of Operational Support and Analysis.
• Event Management which defines any detectable or discernible occurrence that has significance for the management of the IT Infrastructure or the delivery of an IT service.
• Incident Management which has the capability to bring services back to normal operations as soon as possible, according to agreed service levels.
• Request Fulfilment which fulfils a request providing quick and effective access to standard services which business staff can use to improve their productivity or the quality of business services and products.
• Problem Management which prevents problems and resulting incidents from happening, to eliminate recurring incidents and to minimize the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented.
• Access Management which grants authorized users the right to use a service, while preventing access to non-authorized users.
• Operational activities of processes covered in other lifecycle phases such as Change Management, Configuration Management, Release and Deployment Management, Capacity Management, Availability Management, Knowledge Management,
• Financial Management for IT services, and IT Service Continuity Management.
• Common Service Operation activities related to Service Operation and Support.
• Organizing for Service Operation which describe functions to be performed within the Service Operation and Support such as Service Desk, Technical Management, IT Operations Management, Application Management.
• Service Operations and Support Service Operation roles and responsibilities.
• Technology and Implementation Considerations.
• Challenges, Critical Success Factors and risks

Release, Control and Validation (RCV)

• Service Management as a Practice.
• Processes across the Service Lifecycle pertaining to the capability of Release, Control and Validation management.
• Change management as a capability to realise successful service transition.
• Service validation and testing as a capability to assure the integrity and the quality of service transition.
• Service asset and configuration management as a capability to monitor the state of service transition.
• Knowledge management as part of enhancing the on-going management decision support and service delivery capability.
• Service request fulfilment and evaluation to assure meeting committed service level performance.
• Common Service Operation activities related to Release, Control and Validation processes.
• Organizing for Service Operation which describes functions to be performed within Release, Control and Validation processes.
• Release Control and Validation process roles and responsibilities.
• Technology and Implementation Considerations.
• Challenges, Critical Success Factors and risks.
• CSI as a consequence of effective Release, Control and Validation processes.

Planning, Protection and Optimisation (PPO)

• Service Management as a Practice.
• Processes across the Service Lifecycle pertaining to the practice elements within Planning, Protection & Optimization.
• Capacity management as a capability to realise successful service design.
• Availability management as a capability to realise successful service design.
• IT Service Continuity Management as a capability to support overall Business Continuity Management.
• Information Security Management as part of the overall corporate governance framework.
• Common Service Operation activities related to Planning, Protection & Optimization.
• Planning, Protection & Optimization roles and responsibilities.
• Technology and Implementation Considerations.
• Challenges, Critical Success Factors and risks.
• Continuous Service Improvement as a consequence of effective Planning, Protection & Optimization

Service Offerings and Agreements (SOA)

• Service Management as a Practice.
• Processes across the Service Lifecycle pertaining to the Service Offerings and Agreement curriculum.
• Service Portfolio Management which provides documentation for services and prospective services in business terms.
• Service Catalogue Management which is concerned with the production and documentation of the Service Catalogue from a business and a technical viewpoint.
• Service Level Management which sets up a Service Level Agreement (SLA) structure and ensures that all SLAs have an underpinning support structure in place.
• Demand Management which identifies Patterns of Business Activity to enable the appropriate strategy to be implemented.
• Supplier Management which ensures all partners and suppliers are managed in the appropriate way and includes contract management.
• Financial Management which includes ensuring understanding of the service value and the management of all financial considerations.
• Business Relationship Managers who have responsibility to represent customers and ensure the Service Catalogue and Portfolio have the right needs.

Further Information

Global Knowledge Service Management training: http://www.globalknowledge.ie/courses/itil_training_courses.aspx

eSkills career profiles: http://eskills.eun.org/web/guest/careerprofiles

ITIL Credit Profiler: http://www.itil-officialsite.com/itilservices/v1/map.asp