Let’s clear up five common myths about ITIL certification:

The class is boring. In fact, the discussions, real life examples, and simulation exercise keep students awake and engaged.

The certification exam is tricky and unfair. The Foundation test consists of forty multiple choice questions, 65% of which must be answered correctly in order to pass. Thorough review of the material should guarantee a passing score.

A classroom experience is necessary to pass the exam. Self-paced online training is available. For approximately $300, it is possible to achieve ITIL certification in your spare time. The official ITIL website also provides a sample exam and other study resources.

It's not important to one's career. Although you may not miss out on a promotion for lacking it, ITIL certification is increasingly recognized by and important to management. It can only help to have a tangible record of your service management knowledge.

The old V2 certification is good enough. V3 is a replacement of the previous release, not an add-on. There are thirteen new ITIL processes and it's important to keep up with changes to the framework.

In the area of process consulting for RightStar customers, we focus on ITIL as the industry standard best practice framework for IT service management. This framework is central to our work because it is the standard by which BMC’s products are measured and the guideline that most of our customers trust when developing processes for IT support. There are, of course, a number of other guiding frameworks for IT to consider. Most complement or otherwise support our focus on ITIL and include:

ISO 20000 has been of interest to me lately because it most closely reflects the ITIL framework, but goes beyond guidance and provides specific requirements for a standard of organizational certification.

All of these other considerations and practice areas were set aside, however, when a recent project opportunity required Help Desk Institute certification. Their certification standards cover HDI Support Center Analysts just starting out in the field all the way up to HDI Support Center Director level and HDI Support Center certifications for the entire organization.

For RightStar’s new project, I was tasked to pursue the HDI Support Center Manager certification and therefore to attend a recent certification class in Arlington, Virginia. Although many of the course topics were a review of familiar material, there were still opportunities for me to apply the lessons learned in performing my own role at RightStar.

Many of the units covered related to general management theory and good practices including the definition of a leader, effective communication practices, building a team, and managing stress, time, and organizational change. We also studied team strategy including vision and mission statements and workforce management, which are all applicable to my role at RightStar.

There were many worksheets and methodology concepts that will be useful guides in refining RightStar’s own assessment toolset. Many of these resources are standard and familiar, but it was helpful to review them and to confirm their continued usefulness in directing a course of action for the support center.

It was also interesting for me to analyze and discuss many of these topics from essentially our customers’ position. We reviewed IT service management system selection and, sometimes, frustration from the buyer’s perspective. My classmates often had questions, which the instructor would sometimes direct to me, about how to apply the ITIL process concepts taught in the course to their real life situations.

This story has a happy ending, of course. I passed my HDI Support Center Manager certification, which means I can sign this…

…Nikki Haase, HDI SCM

I recently was working with one of our longtime customers. They wanted to use Service Desk Express for their facilities group. They needed a solution that would allow them to track repairs, work requests, and assets. As I was talking to the manager of the group he said, “We want to treat this project as if we were constructing a new building.” I must admit, at first I was a little puzzled, but I quickly grew fond of the analogy. Many times organizations want to buy a Service Management application and tell the vendor all the things they want over the course of a few conference calls. Then they expect the product to be implemented in a week or two according to how they imagine it should work. If a construction company were to take this approach, I think we would all agree this would be pretty scary; what would the structure look like and how functional would it truly be? How would a “Service Management” project turn out if it were handled like the construction of a new building? The next few paragraphs give an idea of what this might look like.

The Design Process

We would not expect any builder to start construction without a good set of plans, right? A functional and efficient structure starts with a good plan. Likewise, shouldn’t we expect to have a good Service Management implementation only if we have well-defined and documented processes? The only way to get those plans is to meet with an architect so that they understand the purpose, style, and size of the structure. Usually this is obtained through a series of meetings with the customer. This approach should also be applied when implementing Service Management. It is not enough to have an internal meeting to determine these needs. Internal meetings are necessary for everyone to agree on what is needed. The requirements still have to be clearly communicated to the consulting firm that is going to help the organization implement the Service Management application. During these meetings, the customer organization can leverage the experience of the consulting firm. After all, firms like RightStar have implemented Remedy and SDE for hundreds of customers. We can share insights into the things that have worked and, probably more importantly, the things that did not work so well. In short, learn from the success and failure of other customers. This is one of the themes of the final ITIL IT Service Management framework phase, Continual Service Improvement.

Have a Good Set of Plans

The next logical step in the building process is to develop the plans and refine the design. The same would apply to the service management implementation. After gathering the requirements, the consulting firm should be able to develop a Scope of Work to define the breakdown of work that will happen during the implementation. This should also outline the customer organization’s responsibilities as well. Remember that involvement in this process is critical. The customer should be sure to review the Scope of Work, ask questions, and request more detail. These documents, like a blueprint, are in place to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Groundbreaking Ceremony

Now that everyone knows what the building is going to be used for (also referred to as its utility) and how it is going to look, construction can start. At this point the organization needs to make sure all the key players are in place and that the right data is available. This is where project management is critical, typically for both parties involved. Most customers think that because their project is small, project management is not needed. I would argue that some coordination is needed for any size project. This is also a time when someone within the organization should work side-by-side with the consulting firm. This is really where organizations begin to take ownership of not only the product, but the processes that are employed. The organization should now have a vested interest in the project, and committing a resource to receive maximum transfer of knowledge from the working consultant is key.

Grand Opening

The structure is now built and we are ready to hand over the keys. At this point the organization is ready to use the new Service Management system and now needs to manage and maintain it. Unless processes or needs change dramatically, maintenance is usually minimal. We all know that change does happen and improvements should be continual, so you need to be prepared. There is a saying that many vendors have: “A trained customer is a happy customer.” It may be a cliché, but it’s still true. So the organization should ensure that their system administrators and support staff are trained to properly maintain and use the system. It is recommended to employ the “train-the-trainer” concept for some of this training. This will verify depth of understanding on behalf of the internal trainers and will also utilize consultants’ time most effectively.

One of the most important things organizations can do during this transition is to prepare staff for the cultural change. This really should start early. Staff members need to understand the change was made to drive better service to customers and to drive efficiency within the support organization. Upper management needs to be active in this exercise and committed to the plan.

In closing, some might question the aims of a consulting firm advocating for more time to be spent on planning and assessment activities. However, I believe that, “If it is worth doing, do it right!” When organizations spend a little time up front to create and document a plan, the result is a better solution with a solid foundation.

What is your ITIL maturity level? At almost every RightStar monthly webinar, we poll the audience on whether they use ITIL as an organizational framework for service management. We’ve found that an ever increasing majority insist that ITIL is their de facto service management standard.

When we arrive on-site for implementation or upgrade services, however, we discover that there is rarely any thought given to the ITIL framework as it applies to the technology tool set, i.e., BMC Service Desk Express or BMC Remedy ITSM. This shows me that ITIL exists in theory more than in practice for most organizations.

It’s understandable that putting ITIL into practice doesn’t always make the “short list” given the demands IT organizations face. However, if an ITIL rollout can be done without a large outlay of time and money, it will quickly enable the organization to better deliver what the business wants and expects. Here are three steps to help jump start ITIL in your organization:

Invest in ITIL training, but don’t go overboard. We have often seen ITIL Foundation training being promulgated from the top to everyone in the IT organization. While the certification is valuable, that on its own does not guarantee service management success. Certification may be an indication that the holder can use the ITIL terminology and understand the processes, but it doesn’t provide the exact steps necessary for process rollout. A better use of your organization’s training dollars might be to begin with a small subset of ITIL champions, and then roll out training to all as an exact ITIL blueprint is defined.

Begin with Incident Management and build from there. Change and Configuration Management should follow, with Problem Management not far behind. Service Level Management is also essential.

Look at “ITIL in a box” solutions such as the Alignability Process Model (APM) for Service Desk Express and BMC Service Management Process Model (SMPM) for Remedy ITSM. These product toolsets allow organizations to quickly roll out an ITIL-based software solution. The process model is based upon a set of field-proven process flows and procedures that have been successfully deployed within numerous organizations.

Many organizations I work with have one or two ITIL enthusiasts who promote its adoption throughout IT. These champions often face indifference, ignorance, or outright resistance. To help them overcome these internal challenges, I encourage the ITIL promoters to start small and focus on ITIL’s tangible benefits.

Industry trends prove that ITIL works and is now the worldwide standard for how IT does business. As a result, unenlightened IT workers and departments ignore ITIL at considerable career and organizational risk.

At a minimum, IT staff at every level should pursue ITIL Foundation certification. This can be achieved with a three-day class. If the time or budget for this isn’t available, however, there is certainly no shortage of ITIL information on the internet. RightStar and BMC Software offer many ITIL-related articles and materials for educational reference. In fact, with all the information out there, the ITIL body of knowledge can quickly become overwhelming.

To make ITIL seem more manageable, I encourage IT departments to start with Roles and Responsibilities. This applies to IT departments of all sizes and helps groups within IT to narrow their focus. Most companies already have many of the ITIL process owner roles formally defined, such as Service Desk (a.k.a. Help Desk) Manager. Most also already know who would be responsible for many of the other roles (Problem Manager, Change Manager, Configuration Manager, Release and Deployment Manager, etc.) even if those people don’t have the actual ITIL titles.

It's also important to note that there are typically distinct and separate roles for process managers and process owners or sponsors. Many managers, especially within small- to medium-sized organizations, will take on more than one role.

Breaking the ITIL framework down into the individual processes and related roles will help IT departments identify their easiest starting points. Focus on the quick wins, and that will pave the way towards eventually adopting the full ITIL lifecycle.