Last updated 12th June 2008

Administration

Accreditation, certification and course design has been outsourced by OGC to AMPG, a private for-profit company. APMG accredit the Examination institiutes, whio in turn accredit trainers and conduct exams.

Examination Institutes (from APMG)
There are six examination institutes:
• British Computer Society (BCS)
• EXIN
• Loyalist College
• DANSK IT
• DF Certifiering
• APMG themselves

Levels

The levels of certification have changed somewhat for ITIL Version 3. There is still a Foundation level.

The next two levels in ITIL v2, which we called Practitioner and Master or Manager in ITIL2, are now compressed into one in ITIL v3, known as Intermediate. Once you pass enough Intermediate exams and one overall exam, you get to be an ITIL Expert (originally known as ITIL Diploma).

There is a new Advanced level, which remains unfinalised, now also renamed, to ITIL Master.

Supposedly the new structure is based around Bloom's taxonomy, but the IT Skeptic suspects Bloom's model has been applied by someone who didn't know a bucket-load about it (see my article on ITSMWatch).

V2 to V3 upgrade

All agencies involved have bent over backwards to get the word out that ITIL2 certifications will continue to be "recognised". What is less emphasised is that they aren't recognised as prerequisites for further ITIL V3 qualifications without an "upgrade" course first.

You won't need to re-certify everyone, but once you get around to upgrading to ITIL3, everyone is going to need some upgrade training obviously. This is especially so for those who want to go on to further qualifications but everyone who needed training when you adopted ITIL2 will likely need upgrade training when you adopt ITIL3. I'm not complaining: this isn't a scam - it is just common sense.

So upgrading nearly everyone is a high probability if you adopt ITIL version 3. Foundation upgrade training is one day. Practitioner or manager upgrade is three(?) days.

For those of you with ITIL2 Managers/Masters who want to know how to get to what is now called ITIL Expert, there is The ITIL Manager’s Bridge Certification In It Service Management (ITIL V1/V2 Manager to ITIL V3 Diploma), explained here.

Qualification scheme

The ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme has been released. Gossip is that the vendors fought for a pretty simple exam, validating the name we have for it already down under: "sheep dipping". There is much vocal criticism of the syllabus and the exams.

Sounds like the Manager's exams have been dumbed down. Of course the modern new-age teaching profession don't call it that. They have all sorts of academic b.s. for why multi-choice is as rigorous an assessment as an essay, but if you ask me it is all about the US being the huge growth market and Yanks can't write to save themselves.

There is a team still looking at the Advanced/Master level so it is well away from fruition. There is some indication of what it will be about here
I predict the Advanced training, yet to be specified, might be designed for delivery by “real” training institutions: universities and colleges, if APMG can clamber over the prone bodies of the existing training organisations, who will of course fight that tooth and claw.

The "Official ITIL Website" has the points system, and it is explained here.

According to APMG we will finally be seeing the Intermediate exams in late 2008 and early 2009.

The same document sets student-teacher ratio for Intermediate courses at 12:1 which is better than the sheep-dipping ratio allowed for Foundation.

Exam preparation

Here are six links to free ITIL Version 3 practice exams to help you on your quest for ITIL V3 Foundation certification. The IT Skeptic has not worked through them so we make no comment on the quality of the questions, but evaluating that for yourself is a useful exercise.

Please leave a comment or contact me if you want to discuss any question you are not sure of. Unlike some of the forums, this site tends to attract some pretty experienced ITIL people who can hopefully help you out.

1. ITIL Dumps
   Also freely accessible. 3 papers of 40 questions each! He had a few errors early on but might be better now
2. Datajar
   Registration required. Only "a small timed service level management quiz with 10 questions to check your understanding" but I also like the look of their other online courses
3. ILX Group
   Only 10 questions. registration required.
4. ILX Group also have a larger download with an "ITIL V3 exam simulator" (not tested)
5. ITSM Online
   A free demo: 5 questions.
6. Another one here

and when you are done with them, buy the official ITIL Version 3 Foundation study book
Passing Your ITIL Foundation Exam - The Official Study Aid It's cheap. The first edition has a couple of errors that luckily the IT Skeptic has tabulated for you on BOKKED - the Body of Knowledge Known Error Database.

There are many more free ITIL exams online for ITIL Version 2 such as

1. http://www.itsm-portal.com/
   registration required
2. http://www.berbee.com/public/learning/webseminar/WS_ITILExam/player.html
   Listen along with the web seminar. Picks up where you left off which is nice.
3. http://www.myitiltemplates.com/results.php?c=14
   Registration required. I'm curious as to whether all of these were posted by the copyright holder.
4. http://itservicetoday.blogs.com/itil_foundation_exam/files/free_itil_fou...
   They want to sell you their book, so these might be hard questions :-D

These are probably good preparation for ITIL V3 Foundations certification as well - ITIL V2 is still in there somewhere.

There are also hordes of ITIL V3 sample exams for sale, from eBay piracy dirt to some startlingly expensive options. Caveat emptor.

You can buy on eBay if you don't mind receiving stolen goods. After you've been ripped off there, buy Passing Your ITIL Foundation Exam - The Official Study Aid which is good and remarkably cheap.