Friday, October 17, 2008

STUDY MATERIAL - ITIL Acronyms

Updated 12/17/08

AST Agreed Service Time (uptime)
BIA Business Impact Analysis
BPO Business Process Outsourcing
BSC Business Service Catalog
CI Configuration Item
CSF Critical Success Factors
CSI Continuous Service Improvement
DIKW Data Information Knowledge Wisdom
DT Downtime
ISEB Information Systems Examination Board
ISMS Information Security Management System
ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library
ITSCM
ITSM IT Service Management
KPI Key Performance Indicators
KPO Knowledge Process Outsourcing
MTBF Mean Time Between Failure
MTBSI Mean Time Between Service Incidents
MTRS Mean Time To Restore Service
OGC Office of Government Commerce
OLA Operational Level Agreements
PBA Patterns of Business Activity
PDCA Plan Do Check Act
RACI Responsible, Accountable, Consulted & Informed
RFC Request For Comments
ROI Return on Investment
SAC Service Acceptance Criteria
SCD Supplier and Contracts Database
SD Service Design
SDP Service Design Package
SIP Service Improvement Plans
SLA Service Level Agreement
SLP Service Level Packages
SLR Service Level Requirement
SMKS Service Management Knowledge System
SO Service Operation
SS Service Strategy
ST Service Transition
TSC Technical Service Catalog
UC Underpinning Contracts
UP User Profiles

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

STUDY MATERIAL - Study Guide

A free 20 page study guide, located on a University of North Carolina site can be found [here]

STUDY MATERIAL - Glossary and Acronyms

From the OGC Best Management Practice, the authority on this stuff.

Glossary

Acronyms

© Crown Copyright Office of Government Commerce. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Office of Government Commerce.

STUDY MATERIAL - Definitions and Acronyms

This site, ITILyaBrady.com offers training and study material for a small fee.

However, access to the online definition and acronym pages is *free*. Some good stuff here.

[ITIL 3.0 Definitions here]


[ITIL 3.0 Abbreviations (acronyms) here]

STUDY SUPPORT - Forums

Here's a forum from Techexams.net

http://www.techexams.net/forums/itil-certifications/

STUDY SUPPORT - Message Groups

Here's some easy stuff ...

There are a few public "message groups" available. You can post your own discussion questions and receive emails for all activity within the group. Or you can just lurk on the site and pick up whatever information you want.

All require that you sign up for *free* membership to access them.

If you have the option of getting the posts consolidated on a weekly basis vs. daily or real-time, I would suggest you take the "weekly" option. These things can fill your emailbox real quick.

Google has the ITIL Community Forum
http://groups.google.com/group/ITIL-Forum?hl=en&lnk=

Yahoo has the IT Service group
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ITIL-Service/?yguid=74713574

The yahoo groups in particular are notorious for sending spam email. You would need to decide if the valuable information outweighs the spam.


STUDY MATERIAL - Intro

The IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) published a document called "An Introductory Overview of ITIL® V3".

It was written by people from some pretty creditable organizations, including Xansa/Steria, HP, itEMS Ltd, IBM, and Sun.

It has some high level terms and concepts and may provide a nice starting point.

The .pdf document can be found [here]

Monday, October 13, 2008

STUDY MATERIAL - Flash Cards

106 "Flash cards" - no charge, print and use.

Check the listing here:

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/itil-foundation-cert.html

ITIL 3.0 FOUNDATION - INTRODUCTION



The link to this video is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1s6kGa97iE

The video says 95% of the people taking the Foundation exam pass the test.
I'm liking that.
I'm liking that a whole lot.
I just need to resist the temptation to take the exam without proper prep work ...

ITIL 3.0 FOUNDATION - INTRODUCTION

From the Office of Government Commerce (OGC)

Here's an introductory handbook.

I would start here.

http://www.best-management-practice.com/gempdf/itSMF_An_Introductory_Overview_of_ITIL_V3.pdf

STUDY MATERIAL - Youtube Videos

Informational videos on youtube.com

ITIL Metrics: Service Delivery Metrics & KPI Best Practices
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRKdBJ2_UJU

Service Delivery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NlEqJ2_xrg

Capacity Management
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCAdfPomSDI

EXAM - Exam Center

The foundation exam costs $150

Here's a few places where you can take the exam:

(1) Prometric testing centers [here].

(2) Loyalist Certification Services
http://www.lcsexams.com/exam_requirements.html

(3) CSME is another source [here]

(4) Hewlett Packard also offers the exam for $225. Additionally, it is included at the end of their training classes. I'll need to see if you can take the exam without the class. I tried calling for information but got a person that didn't speak English very well and directed me to a dead-end link. A good link for general info is [here].

Sunday, October 12, 2008

ITIL - Value

Hewlett Packard provides ITIL training (for a fee) and has published a white paper on the value of ITIL called "ITIL V3: Get ready for the next chapter in service management".

This talks in general terms on (1) the basic philosophy of ITIL (not a standard) (2) differences from V2 (3) some V3 myths and and (4) a bunch of data on why H-P is qualified to consult and train. Yeah, you gotta take the marketing stuff with the rest. There is still some high-level value.

The free paper is accessible [here].

ITIL - Value

TechRepublic.com is a website that posts a lot of IT information on different topics.

They typically don't post many things on ITIL, but in a post titled "10 tech certifications that actually mean something", August 13, 2007, ITIL was listed as the #9 certification.

Debra Littlejohn Shinder, a technology consultant who authored the post states:

"For those who aspire to management positions in IT services, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) certifications provide demonstration of knowledge and skills involved in that discipline. There are three certification levels: Foundation, Practitioner, and Manager.
The Manager level certification requires completion of a rigorous two-week training program, and you must have the Foundation certification and five years of IT management experience. Then, you must pass two three-hour exams consisting of essay questions."

To view the entire article, you would need to sign up for a free membership. The link to the article is [here].

STUDY TACTICS - Free Your Head

Free your head.

Based on previous experience, in order to pass a certification exam we need to think, read, write and talk in the terms of the sponsoring organization.

All our years of practical, hands-on experience provides no value unless it is consistent with ITIL. Don't over-analyze the philosophies or concepts, just accept them for what they are. Just discard what you know and accept the new ideas.

You can drive yourself crazy and waste valuable time agonizing over what seems to be inconsistencies with the new material.


ITIL - Value

One of the more interesting things about ITIL Foundations is that there are no experience requirements to take the exam. This wasn't the case with my other two certs, PMP and ASQ/CSQE.

I have to believe that this would be an excellent exam for people trying to enter the IT field.

Additionally, based on the economy and with many layoffs in the IT industry, certifications can help provide some advantage if you are looking for a new job.

It's not a certain thing, but if it comes down to two candidates with equal experience applying for the same job, I'd rather have a couple certifications "in my back pocket" to differentiate myself.

Introduction

I'm Dan.

Since I'm paying for two kids to go through college, I can't afford to go back myself.

As a lower cost alternative, I've been pursuing certification to continue my education and credentials, and to [hopefully] provide additional value to my career.

In December, 2007 I passed the Project Management Institute's [www.pmi.org] PMP certification, and followed it up in June, 2008 with the American Society for Quality's [www.asq.org] Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE) .

My blog for the CSQE is [right here].

As this appears to be gaining in popularity, ITIL is next on the list.

Currently, I'm an IT manager in the healthcare industry and teach technology classes for three colleges part time.