ITIL V3 Certification Levels

(Updated on April 1, 2010)

 

 

There is approved and relatively well arranged scheme for ITIL V3. This scheme provides number of credits assigned to every successfully completed training, module or achieved level:

 

 

Source: © OGC’s Official Accreditor – The APM Group Limited 2008

 

 

There are four levels of certification within the V3 scheme: 

• ITIL V3 Foundation in IT Service Management
• ITIL Intermediate Level - Service Lifecycle & Service Capability Streams
• ITIL V3 Expert Certificate
• ITIL V3 Master Qualification

The modular, tiered approach to certification not only offers increased flexibility to candidates relating to the disciplines or areas of ITIL that they are able to study, but generally makes ITIL certification more accessible and achievable.

 

 

Foundation Level V3

 

This level is achievable either by:

• ITIL V3 Foundation - the training is not compulsory and the candidate can gain the necessary knowledge in other ways. Nevertheless the training can shorten the time needed for study and it is strongly recommended.

or

• V3 Foundation Bridge for candidates with Foundation V2 level whereas the exam is integral part of accredited 1.5 day training (valid from 1.5.2009)

 

Syllabuses published for this level specify the scope of required knowledge. Detailed description of these Syllabuses containing recommended timing for every area exceeds the scope of this article but they are available at  http://www.itil-officialsite.com/Qualifications/ITILV3QualificationScheme.asp.

 

Level Foundation V3 is a prerequisite for gaining all of below described higher certification levels.

 

 

Intermediate Level

 

This level has two basic directions – “Service capability” and “Service Lifecycle”.

Service Capability area corresponds to clusters in ITIL V2 Practitioner.

• PPO – Planning, Protection & Optimization, with following processes:
  • Availability management
  • Capacity management
  • IT Service Continuity management
  • Demand Management
  • Risk Management
  • Information Security Management
• RCV – Release, Control & Validation, with following processes:
  • Change Management
  • Release &Deployment Management
  • Service Validation & Testing
  • Service Asset & Configuration Management
  • Knowledge Management
  • Request Fulfillment
  • Service Evaluation
• SOA – Service Offerings & Agreements, with following processes:
  • Service Portfolio Management
  • Service Level Management
  • Service Catalog Management
  • Demand Management
  • Supplier Management
  • Financial Management
• OSA – Operational Support & Analysis, with following processes and functions:
  • Event Management
  • Incident Management
  • Request Fulfillment
  • Problem Management
  • Access Management
  • Service Desk
  • Technical Management
  • IT Operations Management
  • Application Management

Service Lifecycle is concerned with the content of individual phases of development and IT services delivery lifecycle or individual principals, processes, functions and activities related to every lifecycle phase. !! Attention: several processes and functions occur across lifecycle, it means in different areas. Individual courses of this area adhere to the principle core publications ITIL V3:

• Service Strategy (SS)
• Service Design (SD)
• Service Transition (ST)
• Service Operation (SO)
• Continual Service Improvement (CSI)

 

 

Managing Across the Lifecycle

 

This certification focuses on understanding and the ability to implement whole lifecycle of IT service management. It is the logical continuation of the above mentioned directions to achieve Expert level in ITSM area. Its successful completion is a prerequisite for the degree “ITIL Expert” (if we don’t bare in mind the combination of ITIL V2 examination and the “Bridge” courses – description follows)

 

 

ITIL Expert Certificate

 

To achieve ITIL Expert Level candidates must:

• Achieve Foundation Level
• Complete successfully (i.e. gain credits) either Managing across Lifecycle course or V3 Manager Bridge.  The Scheme offers also a combination of credits from both trainings.

Total number of received credits must be 22 or more (see also Scheme and below mentioned examples)

 

Examples of possible ways to ITIL Expert Level: 

• In case the candidate doesn’t have any ITIL V2 certificates
  1. ITIL V3 Foundation – compulsory (2 credits)
  2. Optional combinations of Capability and Lifecycle certificates – minimum 15 credits
  3. Managing Across the Lifecycle – compulsory (5 credits)
• In case the candidate has ITIL V2 Foundation certificate (1,5 credit)
  1. V3 Foundation Bridge examination (0,5 credit)
  2. Optional combinations of Capability and Lifecycle certificates – minimum 15 credits
  3. Managing Across the  Lifecycle – compulsory (5 credits)
• In case the candidate has ITIL V2 Foundation certificate (1,5 credit) and any Practitioner certificates
  1. Optional combination of Practitioner certificates for Processes (2 credits for each) and Practitioner certificates for Clusters (3,5 credits for each) – minimum 10,5  credits
  2. V3 Manager Bridge – compulsory (5 credits)
  3. Managing Across the  Lifecycle – compulsory (5 credits)
• In case candidate has ITIL V2 Manager’s certificate (17 credits)
  1. V3 Manager Bridge – compulsory (5 credits)

 Complementary qualifications enable the achievement of 22 credits through a couple of different ways. Selected way to ITIL Expert Level can be interactively checked at the Credit Profiler System

 

 

ITIL Master Qualification

 

Basic principles of this level were defined in 12/2009. Prerequisites for this level are a ITIL Expert certificate and at least 5 years in the branch of activity. Candidate satisfying these conditions can:

1. arbitrate real case from his work experience where ITIL  principles were used
2. complete the proposal of the solution
3. defend his solution

These conditions are expected to be clarified during the year 2010

 

 

Complementary Qualifications

The ITIL Version 3 (V3) qualifications scheme recognizes supplementary certifications which link and "add value" to ITIL V3 Best Practice and the V3 certification portfolio, under the ITIL Complementary Qualifications Scheme.

 

Under this scheme, any of the licensed Examination Institutes may submit a qualification for assessment and recognition, which meets the following criteria:

• addresses areas within the ITIL V3 Core or Complementary publications or other publicly available ITSM related or relevant publications (books, standards, papers etc)
• is not covered by other ITIL V3 Core qualifications or
• covers existing areas of ITIL V3 Core qualifications with a new focus

Depending on their format and relevance, those qualifications which are endorsed will be awarded a credit value, which recognizes the alignment to V3 and can be used by candidates who successfully achieve the certification towards the ITIL V3 Expert Level of certification. List of currently valid qualifications is:

• ICTM (ICT Service Management) – This BCS-ISEB qualification that covers content of book „ICT Infrastructure Management“ -  holds 3.5 credits
• Service Catalogue – This is APMG International qualification - holds 1 credit
• Foundation IT Service Management according to ISO/IEC 20000 – This is EXIN a TUV SUD qualification - holds 1 credit
• Certified Process Design Engineer (CPDE) -  This is Loyalist Certification Services (LCS) qualification - holds 1,5 credit

For further information on the use of complementary qualifications and credits under the V3 scheme, please see here. When using Complementary Qualifications, a maximum of 6 credits can be used in the V3 scheme.

 

For a full, definitive explanation of the V3 Qualification Scheme and credit system, please download the ITIL Service Management Practices V3 Qualifications Scheme Brochure (pdf).

 

 

The ITIL V3 Credit System and The Relationship Between V3 and V2, courses and exams

• Find out more about the ITIL V3 Credit System.
• Find out more about the ITIL V2 Qualification Scheme.
• Find out more about the ITIL V3 Qualification Scheme