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The Art of Service are proud to have Claire back following her participation in the ITIL Foundation and Foundation Bridge syllabus review. She shares with us some of her experiences and keeps us up to date on the progress of the review proposal.

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Inverse Demand Management….. (as part of the “”Anti” – Service Management Framework)

Demand Management – aim is to influence user behavior by physical or financial means….

In our IT Service environment, we work hard to manage capacity through Demand Management.  But what about the concept of “inverse demand Management”? ie – encouraging the use of “more” than required service?  Why would we want to do that??? You might be thinking???  Wouldn’t that create a greater workload for us? Cost more… and so on??? Maybe….

Demand Mgt is about influencing user behavior… so – why not influence them to use more when it suits us to do so??? Eg – encouraging users to call the service desk, or promoting the use of 1 particular service over another similar, yet more expensive service.

We are influenced in real life everyday to use something “more”  than we are currently using… It’s classic marketing… sometimes overt, sometimes not…

An example of this -  for a while now, I have been using the same washing powder.  I know that you are suppose to “use 1 cap per load”.  My last container suddenly has a cap with twice the capacity (ie longer lip thing).  It still says use 1 cap per load….. hmmm.. suddenly i am needing to buy more.. and them hoping that I didn’t realize why…..

The benefits… all in favour of the product owner…  more income, more usage, more dependence on the product or service….

There’s something in that for all of us, don’t you think????

Till next time

Cheers from The Art of Service

Michael

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More reviews for our ITIL Foundation Complete Certification Kit (taken from Amazon.com)

Excellent Certification Kit!!, September 9, 2008

By	Peter L. Filicetti II - See all my reviews

The ITIL v3 Foundation Complete Certification kit from The Art of Service was incredibly thorough and provides me with the knowledge to pass my exam on the first try!! Between the printed material, online course and practice exam/questions, you won’t need anything else to pass the ITIL v3 Foundation exam! I highly recommend this if you are looking to pass your cert exam.

ITIL Foundation Prep - Must have for self study and those on a budget, September 15, 2008

By	P. Burke (VA, United States) - See all my reviews

The book and corresponding online course were all I needed to study and pass the ITIL Foundation test. However, this is not a simple test-prep book. The kit takes you through all the concepts with decent detail and passes on a good understanding of the principals, processes, and interconnectivities (lifecycle) of Service Management.

This is a must read if you are self studying and is by far the best “bang for the buck” for those of you with a limited training budget or are self-financing your professional growth!

Simply a great value., September 10, 2008

By	Catherine Goron “FG” (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

I passed the ITIL V3 Foundation exam with a fairly high score using this book, the online courses that come with it, along with additional online practice exams I purchased separately. All this cost a fraction of the price of a formal ITIL class.

The book and online courses cover the basis and in a format that makes it easy to access. I actually still refer to the material every now and then - especially the color PDF charts and diagrams downloadable from the online course.

Overall, there is nothing thrilling or incredibly exciting about this kit other that it works, and it is an incredible value compared to other options.

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As the industry standard in terms of Process, Service and Lifecycle Management for IT, the ITIL® Foundation exam is the most popular entry-level certification, particularly for individuals switching from another career to IT. This kit prepares you for the certification exam by offering valuable information on the ITIL Framework, ITIL Certification and IT Service Management.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Outstanding Tool, September 9, 2008

The tool combined with the online course and quizzes completely prepared me to take and pass the certification exam. If you haven’t worked with ITIL before it can be a challenge to wrap your mind around it, particularly the terminology. The book and online course complemented each other remarkably and I felt that I really grasped the subject matter thoroughly and quickly. Lastly, the sample test was also really valuable.

This Kit contains the book and online course access that provides everything you need to prepare for the ITIL V3 Foundation Certification Exam, including in-depth coverage of all exam objectives, scenarios to easily demonstrate the processes in action, and practice exam questions for that last minute test preparation.

This Study Guide and Online Course access provides complete, in-depth coverage of all exam objectives for the ITIL V3 Foundation exam in a systematic approach, so you can be confident you’re getting the instruction you need.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

The Art of Service’s ITIL v3.0 Certification Kits, September 10, 2008

The combination of The Art of Service’s certification kit and included online training not only taught me the concepts of ITIL v3.0, but also enabled me to pass the ITIL v3.0 certification exam in a short period of time. I highly recommend The Art of Service’s training to anyone pursuing training and knowledge of the ITIL v3.0 framework.ITIL V3 Foundation Complete Certification Kit - Study Guide Book and Online Course

• Real-world scenarios put what you’ve learned in the context of service solutions

• Thought provoking questions to challenge your thinking and understanding

• Exam Essentials in each chapter helps you zero in on what you need to know

• Includes practice exam questions

A Real World Guide to ITIL V3 Skills.

Key information and real world examples organized around the actual day-to-day tasks and challenges you’ll face in the field of IT Service Management.

• Practise what you’ve learned with challenging ITIL Foundation exam style questions

• Based on specific exam objectives - use this as a lab manual for certification preparation.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Read the book, took the online course and test, PASSED and here’s my review, June 26, 2008

This ITIL exam prep book and course are an invaluable study aid for passing the ITIL Foundation exam. Highly recommended.

I’ve been an IS project manager for over 10 years. I’ve studied ITIL materials in preparation, but took no courses or workshops. I studied this book and its accompanying course for 10 days immediately preceeding my exam. Read the book about 3 times.

I took the ITIL Foundation exam and got 98% of the question correct. I think that the study tips in the book and course helped me get about 15-20 questions right that I might have otherwise missed. (your mileage may vary). About half of the questions I missed were due to the test’s wording which is tricky.

The book and course made me confident in sitting the exam, and is the best such book that I’ve come across.

Expensive, but worth it especially since your have access to the online learning component and exam prep as well.

Good focus on ITIL’s processes (things important to ITIL Foundation and passing the test that your experience in IT may not help you)

Highly recommended, I passed in one go!

Good luck!

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This morning, The Art of Service officially released their new ITIL v3 Intermediate Programs.

The intimate launch with our highly respected and experienced ITSM colleagues generated some interesting and thought provoking discussion.  Key points included:

• Economic influences – with the current global economic issues, organizations are faced with increasing pressure to provide value for money, identify ways to promote and market their services which acknowledged this “economic spiral”.  Central – was an agreement that training is vita to the success of service delivery… good news for us!
• Uptake – an increasing number of organizations are starting to “dabble” in v3 – some full blown implementation, some just as a “poly filler” approach  - taking key v3 processes which specifically add immediate value to organizations eg Request Fulfilment, Event Management
• Management buy in – same old story – but still relevant – how do you convince the upper echelons that training and certification is necessary – not only for improved service delivery, but also as retention incentives….

Positive outcomes from this launch:

• Feedback on Intermediate programs – and all was positive
• Clarity re program offerings
• Incentives to pursue Intermediate/Expert Pathway
• Praise for the development and creation of a textbook for each of the Intermediate Capability Programs.  Appreciation was there for cost savings of not having to buy 1+ OGC ITIL Books.

Yes – we are EXCITED! – and have very good reason to be!

Till next time

Cheers from The Art of Service

Michael

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Today I thought I would briefly share with you the content of the ITIL v3 Lifecycle Programs.  These 4 day courses are each worth 3 points toward the Expert Status.

Service Strategy

• Service Portfolio Management
• Demand Management
• Financial Management

Service Design

• Service Level Management
• Service Catalog Management
• Supplier Management
• Availability Management
• Capacity Management
• IT Service Continuity Management
• Information Security Management

Service Transition

• Service Validation and Testing
• Knowledge Management
• Evaluation
• Change Management
• Release and Deployment Management
• Service Asset and Configuration Management

Service Operation

• Incident Management
• Problem Management
• Event Management
• Request Fulfilment
• Access Management
• Technical Management Function
• IT Operations Management Function
• Application Management Function
• Service Desk Function

Continual Service Improvement

• Service Measurement and Reporting
• 7 Step Improvement Process
• Service Level Management

The Generic Program Content for each program is:

• [Lifecycle Phase] Principles
• [Lifecycle Phase] Processes/Functions
• [Lifecycle Phase] Technology Related Activities
• Organizing for [Lifecycle Phase]
• Considerations of Technology
• Implementation and improvement of [Lifecycle Phase]
• Exam Preparation

You are required to purchase the relevant OGC Lifecycle Book for these programs.

I hope that this has helped to clarify the different Lifecycle Modules. A very exciting time for the ITSM industry.

Till Next Time

Cheers from The Art of Service

Michael

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We are still EXCITED!!!!

Yesterday, I announced that we are launching our ITIL v3 Intermediate programs this coming Thursday.

Today I thought I would talk more in detail about the Capability Modules:

Release, Control and Validation (RCV) [Available NOW] Processes:

• Service Validation and Testing
• Knowledge Management
• Request Fulfilment
• Evaluation
• Change Management
• Release and Deployment Management
• Service Asset and Configuration Management

Operational Support and Analysis (OSA) [Available NOW] Processes:

• Event Management
• Request Fulfilment
• Access Management
• Technical Management Function
• IT Operations Management Function
• Application Management Function
• Service Desk Function
• Incident Management
• Problem Management

Service Offerings and Agreements [Available NOW] Processes:

• Service Portfolio Management
• Service Catalogue Management
• Demand Management
• Supplier Management
• Service Level Management
• Financial Management

Planning, Protection and Optimization [Available January 2009] Processes:

• Information Security Management
• Risk Management
• Demand Management
• Availability Management
• Capacity Management
• IT Service Continuity Management

The great part about the titles of these programs is you can easily tell by the name if it is relevant to you… otherwise the processes definitely help to clarify the relevance of the program.

We have developed individual textbooks for each of these programs which cover all the processes and content required for this course.  The benefit here is you do not have to buy the OGC books, which are more expensive and, apart from the OSA Program, will require you to buy at least 2 OGC Lifecycle books for the remaining courses…. YOU SAVE by only buying our textbook!

Remember – the Capability Programs are 5 days each and are worth 4 points each toward attaining your Expert Status..

Tomorrow – the Lifecylce Modules…

Till Next Time

Cheers from The Art of Service

Michael

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We are EXCITED!!!

This coming Thursday 23 October is the official launch of our new ITIL v3 Intermediate Programs.

It has been a long time coming since the Intermediate Pathways was announced by APMG in 2007.

We are excited as the programs are an extension to the ITIL v2 Programs (which by the way will still be offered).

Briefly today – but more over the next few days, a refresher on the Intermediate streams:

Lifecycle Stream -5 programs tailored around the 5 ITIL v3 Lifecycle Books.  These 4 day programs delve into the specific lifecycles of Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement.   I’ll talk more about these later.

Capability Streams – these 4 programs are the new “V3 equivalent” to the old v2 Practitioner programs.  These are: Release, Control and Validation(RCV); Operational Support and Analysis (OSA); Service Offerings and Agreements (SOA); and finally Planning, Protection and Optimization (PPO).   Each program is 5 days, and cover the relevant processes associated with each Module.

What is most exciting for us is the release of 4 new textbooks which will be used for the Capability Programs, so participants wont have to fork out for the complete Lifecycle suite… major cost savings there!

Our Research and Development team have been working overtime to ensure these programs and text books are ready for our upcoming courses.

To see when click here…

Tomorrow – the Capability modules in detail….

Till next time

Cheers from The Art of Service

Michael

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The Art of Service continues to build up the library of educational MP3s. This week, an introduction to Cloud Computing and the benefits on offer. Education doesn’t get easier than a click on the button below…

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Preparing for you Managers exam is a process in itself…

You can try and memorize EVERYTHING in the 2 books, or you can develop your own study aids…

Study Aid Recommendations:

o    Create detailed factsheets for all processes

o    Create mindmaps/table of interprocess relationship for all processes

o    Know your case study inside and out

o    Practise answering Manager style questions tying answer to case study

This is what I had to do to prepare myself for my exams….

Now – based on a combination of my study, and all those in my office who have gone through this, we have created a v2 Manager’s Exam Preparation Study Guide!!!! - so you don’t have to!

In it – you will find factsheets, interprocesses relationships, exam answering tips, as well as a complete practice Manager Exam for Service Delivery and Service Support, and answering guide.

So – you reap from our hard work! – how effective and efficient is that?????

Look for it on our website  – priced at only $USD89…

Till next time

Cheers from The Art of Service

Michael

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