theartofservice

This self-study exam preparation guide for the ITIL V3 Foundation certification exam contains everything you need to test yourself and pass the Exam, including all the processes. Exam topics are covered and insider secrets, complete explanations of all ITIL V3 subjects, test tricks and tips, numerous highly realistic sample questions, and exercises designed to strengthen understanding of ITIL V3 concepts and prepare you for exam success on the first attempt are provided.

Can you imagine valuing a book so much that you send the author a “Thank You” letter?

Tens of thousands of people understand why the material by The Art of Service is a worldwide best-seller. Is it their years of ITIL experience? The endless hours of ongoing research? The interviews with those who failed the exam, to identify gaps in their knowledge? Or is it the razor-sharp focus on making sure you don’t waste a single minute of your time studying any more than you absolutely have to? Actually, it’s all of the above.

This book includes new exercises and sample questions never before in print. Offering numerous sample questions, critical time-saving tips plus information available nowhere else, this book will help you pass the ITIL V3 Foundation exam on your FIRST try.

Done the ITIL V3 Foundation course, up to speed with the theory? Buy this. Read it. And Pass the ITIL V3 Foundation Exam.

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EXIN Brasil confirmed that on Friday November 28, the very first public ITIL V3 Intermediate exam for Operational Support & Analysis was held in Sao Paulo.

This course was an amazing experience for both the students and the instructor. The program was delivered in English and simultaneous translation was offered to make sure that every participant had the opportunity to absorb the new ITIL V3 content. The program was fun – there were lots of jokes and laughter – built on the ITIL v3 theory and was laced with practical exercises. It definitely made the participants think about the application of the theory and the five days were challenging and stretched the participants’ implementation skills.

But the week was not just about the ITIL theory; it was about implementation of the processes and functions of the Service Operation Lifecycle phase – it was about interfaces and interactions with the other lifecycle phases and specifically with the processes from Service Design and Service Transition. It was about IT Service Management in the context of business support, it was about Quality Management and compliancy to standards and business expectations.

We created training plans, tool requirement sets, business cases for project implementation and benefit statements for the processes and functions. After 5 days everybody was tired. But it was worth it! The exam was a success – EXIN organised a web-based exam so that the participants would receive their scores immediately. And everybody passed – 100% pass rate!

Individual scores were up to 90% (36 out of 40 points). This experiences strengthens the partnership between The Art of Service and PATH TTS in the South American market. The Art of Service’s course materials and expertise in adult education combined with PATH’s excellence in project management and implementation formed the basis for this perfect score… what a way to start our South American adventures!

Some comments from participants:

“The material developed by TAOS with the experience of Ivanka were the main critical success factors of this class”

“excellent experience, mix theory and exercises”

“a focus on processes that gives and excellent vision of the entire IT Service organisation”

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Validation and testing…USERS!!! (as part of the Anti Service Management Framework)

Validation and testing is a new process to the ITIL framework  - and thank goodness for that.  It’s about time that there was some sort of “separating the sheep from the goats” strategy…  Meaning??? Allow me to explain…

If I had my way, validation and testing would be used to make sure that only intelligent users had access to the service that I designed, built, sweated over and rolled out!.  Ever notice that majority of the complaints come from users who don’t know how to use the service?  V&T would eliminate this: users would be tested on their ability to use the service. If they pass, they have access.  If they fail to read basic instructions, use F1or don’t understand key terms like “start/Run”…. Then– they fail… and can’t use service

Benefits to my way of thinking???? – less incidents due to user stupidity, less complaints, greater satisfaction from Service Desk and better metrics because only smart people use the service…. ( which if you really look at it – that would mean that the only ones who do use the service would be techies like me….) but why do I want to use a customer database?

Hmmm.. I think there’s something in that for all of us, don’t you?

Till next time

Cheers from The Art of Service

Michael

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Save time studying….

So- you’ve participated in an approved ITIL course  and are now preparing for your ITIL exam….

You have taken notes, highlighted and even asked the right questions… now all you have to do is study for that exam!

May I say – I have been there and done that… and I continue to share my wisdom of study and exams through a range of ITIL Exam Prep Guides that I am developing….

I talked previously about the Manager Exam Prep Guide.  Now we have the ITIL v2 Foundation, ITIL v3 Foundation and ITIL v3 Foundation Bridging Exam Prep Guides.

These self-study exam preparation guides for the ITIL certification exams contain everything you need to test yourself and pass the Exam, including all the processes.  Exam topics are covered and insider secrets, complete explanations of all ITIL  V2 or V3 subjects, test tricks and tips, numerous highly realistic sample questions, and exercises designed to strengthen understanding of ITIL concepts and prepare you for exam success on the first attempt are provided.

Save yourself TIME!

Want to know more? go to our website and search “exam prep guide”

Till next time

Cheers form The Art of Service

Michael

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‘Thank you for your time on the phone this morning, your assistance has been wonderful. You have been a pleasure to deal with! It’s nice to see you working as a team. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to speak with you all in the near future.’

~

‘I looked around for a training provider for my ITIL v3 Managers Bridge - it was difficult - especially considering the training and exam have only been live since March 2008.

I called several providers who were claiming to offer training: when i probed on the name of the instructor, references, success rates - there was very little or in several cases, no evidential data the course would deliver. My aims for training seemed quite simple - to learn, to network, to pass the exam.

In the end, I selected The Art of Service - based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Why? Three reasons:

- they proudly show their passrate on the front page (global pass rate: 34%, The Art of Service pass rate: 75%)

- recommendation

- awareness and reputation from The Art of Service ‘Service Management Podcasts’

So how is the course so far? Simply excellent. Ivanka Menken is the trainer - she is a co-owner of the company and has been at the ‘coalface’ of Service Management delivery since ITIL v1 days. Good knowledge, personable, real work experience - and a good mix of training styles.’

~

‘I was in a hurry when i filled out the feedback form for the V3 Foundation Course I recently completed so have supplemented it with this note.

I was very impressed and pleased with the course.

1. The material was very good

2. The constant revision helped me retain the material

3. The presenter (Tim Malone) was outstanding

Whether I passed or not I certainly learnt a lot and look forward to putting it into practice.’

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Ma’am – you don’t have a problem you have an incident….

It’s always an interesting experience explaining to my students the difference between an incident and a problem.  I tend to start  with the concept that users can NEVER have a “Problem” – they can only ever have an “Incident”.  To prove this – I go straight to ITIL theory:

Incident: –“ any event which is not part of standard operation of a service and which causes, or may cause, an interruption to, or reduction in, the quality of that service”. This is exactly what a user “may” experience.

Problem: “Unknown underlying cause of one or more Incidents” (also only caused by errors in the IT infrastructure)

The user is neither concerned with the “unknown underlying cause” or experiences this unknown underlying cause – and therefore can never actually experience a problem…

Once they grasp this concept, I then throw them into another spin by the concept of a “known error”: “Known underlying cause. Successful diagnosis of the root cause of a Problem, and a workaround or permanent solution has been identified”.  They accept this until we get into the “absolute” that unless you have a workaround/permanent solution it cannot be a known error!  Strong heated discussion ensues and they argue that they know the cause – but  there is no solution….. WRONG! – by default – if you know the root cause – YOU MUST know the solution – either temporary, or permanent!  Even if the solution is to “write a whole new application” – it’s still a solution.

Some solutions may not be viable – and as such will not be “fixed”… but it still means that it is no longer a problem… it is now a Known error, but we “choose” not to fix it!

Till next time

Cheers from the team at The Art of Service

Michael

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Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is one of the fastest growing segments of the information technology (IT) industry because it provides a more cost-effective alternative for enterprises to achieve their business objectives than traditional packaged applications.

This book covers just about every aspect of SaaS, from high-level overviews of the different technologies that might be appropriate for upper management, to a very nice series of “hands on” chapters that walk you through experimenting with several of the SaaS options.

Whether you need a quick primer on SaaS so you can talk shop with those with more detailed knowledge, or want to get a sense of the benefits of the different technologies and how they fit into the big picture of the data center, this book is an invaluable resource. It gives you the vocabulary and understanding of how all the pieces fit together than websites and technical manuals often miss.

All of the major SaaS technologies are discussed, along with the various drivers for implementing SaaS, and how to manage migrating to a SaaS environment.

This book delivers precisely what CEOs, CIOs, IT managers, and technologists need to know.

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Complete Handbook of IT service Management and ITIL V3 Roles and Responsibilities. How does your organization match IT roles to ITIL roles?

Many of our clients asked us for help in ITIL v3 role and responsibility descriptions, here is the utterly excellent guide to roles and responsibilities in ITIL v3.

If you have ever worked in, been a partner or managed an IT organization, this book will not only answer a lot of your troubling questions, it will also explain matters that you did not know the questions to - just the obnoxious frustration of something that was not working.

It is with incredible ease, yet depth and understanding that this book ploughs through the important issues that concerns not only HR managers and CIOs, but anyone who wants to climb up the ladder.

It explains how you got to balance your IT staff (process managers and specialists) and why it is so vitally important to mix people on the right combination of processes and projects (brains, grey hair and procedure projects) as this builds up the organization’s human capital, and provides the means and profitability to continue to align with business objectives and grow.

This book is not filled with theoritical babble but practical and useful information, knowledge and experience!

The book is divided into six parts : CSI, Service Design, Service Operation, Service Strategy, Service Transition and ISO/IEC 20000. All in all it comprises of 52 documents.

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Jackie continues to examine our Personal Development workshops, this week looking at our Selling Smarter workshop as part of our sales training series. What she uncovers is that sales today require a whole new set of skills than what may have been used in the past…

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (85)

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I expect to pay more… so please charge me more… (as part of the Anti Service Management Framework)

I overheard a conversation the other day where an employer was leading the employee in a conversation regarding charging extra for using a credit card, even thought this was not policy.  The “unspoken” message was loud and clear – if you can get away with charging them more for using a credit card… DO IT!!! And the customer accepted this….

This got me thinking… again… The charging and IT Accounting models for a service is a complicated process.  However – a contributing factor is perception of value for a service in calculating cost.  So – if the customer sees the service as valuable – you tend to charge more for this service.  Normal practice as it balances out the more costly, but less “valued” services that you provide…

BUT…. What if you start to manage the pricing structure according to how much you can get away with?????  If you can “demonstrate” that this service is valuable, requires a lot of administration, support, and there is a lot of “administration costs” associated with it – then it is reasonable that the customer will pay more for this – because they are use to, and expect, extra charges to be added at end… WIN WIN right????

IT Department budget goes up… customers perception of value goes…….. hmm… hard to say whether it goes up or down… My opinion – if we do this – it might just .. GO… and so might you…

Hmmm… I think there is something in that for all of us, don’t you?????

Till next time

Cheers from the team at The Art of Service

Michael

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