V3

Should ITIL certification exam multiple-choice questions test one's knowledge of the holy writ of the ITIL books or one's knowledge of the principles of ITIL or one's skills in mental manipulation and logic? I'm told by someone with photographic memory that one of the ITIL Foundation exam questions looks something like the following, which is quite similar to a sample question we discussed before.

We've raised the issue before of whether ITIL certification offers a return on investment, especially if you pay your own way as compared to scamming the boss into paying for it. For those of you who are self-funded, the total cost may be food for thought. I reckon it is up to $60,000 or even more, depending on your hourly rate, not to mention 4 to 6 weeks out of your life.
[Updated: I was asked about online training so I looked at that too. Courses are much cheaper but if you factor cost of your time it is still a hefty commitment.]

The word on the street is that they are! One training provider's blog suggested that since the latest revision of the syllabus perhaps "the exam was quite different from the course materials and the sample exam".

How many revisions of the ITIL V3 Foundation syllabus have we had since Passing Your ITIL Foundation Exam was published? It must be pretty badly out of date by now. [Update: TSO's ITIL Foundation Handbook was revised in June 2009 to fully comply with the May updates. But Passing Your ITIL Foundation Exam is still dated November 2007.
Update update: A new version of the book is reportedly in review]

In true camels/committees fashion, the ITIL V3 certification scheme is arcanely complex, as it twists itself into knots to please everyone. Then Pink Elephant come along and make it all seem simple.

[A couple of years ago the IT Skeptic wrote of my first impressions of the ITIL V3 five core books. That article is no longer available online, so I have revised it and reprinted it here]

As discussed in my review of the Service Strategy book, it will take considerable time to really digest these books and their implications, and to test the chisel of theory against the cold hard rock of reality (none more so than that Service Strategy book).

But first impressions can be drawn now and they are good ones.

I see the price of TSO's ITIL Live™ has fallen even further, in fact halved AGAIN. Since the £495 per annum fee now includes ITIL V3 Lifecycle Suite content - i.e. you get an online subscription to the books included in the price (normally £265 p.a. ) - some readers may now judge it worth considering, especially if the boss is paying. Quite a cut from the original £2,500!

[Updated now a reader found the syllabus for your simple-minded Skeptic - thanks James]

Since ITIL V3 Foundation certification can legitimately be sat without taking a prior approved training course, you will want to get the ITIL V3 Foundation syllabus before sitting the exam.

Readers may have missed the comment a while ago that the ITIL portal was originally going to be "available to the ITSM community at no cost".