ITIL 4: Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions

You probably have a few questions about the new ITIL® 4 courses, so we have succinctly tried to cover them all below.

1. What is the difference between ITIL v3 and ITIL 4?

ITIL v3 skills are still extremely valued and included in ITIL 4 as practices.

2. I don’t have any ITIL training. Should I do ITIL v3 or ITIL 4?

See certification scenarios below for recommendations.

3. Will my ITIL v3 certification remain valid/relevant?

Yes. ITIL v3 skills are still highly valuable and included in ITIL 4 as practices. The most popular practices (i.e. Incident Management, Demand Management, Service Desk) may be released as a separate publication. We don’t have details on these publications yet. Axelos will support ITIL v3 until at least 2020. ITIL v3 exams will not be available from mid-2020.

4. Why should I update my certification or get my staff to upgrade their certification?

Cloud adoption is a significant step in the digital transformation journey. Any organisation in the digital transformation journey ‘should’ upgrade their capabilities to ITIL 4 and DevOps (they are complementary and do not compete with one another). These capabilities are essential to support the success of the digital transformation journey. Like in the case of ITIL v3, the upgrade will eventually be an organic progression.

5. Is there a one-day upgrade course?

No. It is a different way of thinking, one day is not enough. See certification scenarios and recommendations below.

6. How important is it to have everyone within the same organisation transition to ITIL 4?

ITIL 4 is more urgent for organisations dealing with digital solutions and adopting Cloud solutions. The upgrade will eventually be an organic progression in all organisations. See certification scenarios below for case-by-case recommendations.

7. Is the new Foundation course suitable for junior staff members?

Yes, just like any foundation training, the ITIL 4 Foundation syllabus is about introducing general concepts, guiding principles and language to anyone, no matter their level of experience. The course helps candidates to gain a better understanding of where they sit in the organisation (and the bigger picture). It introduces the mentality and culture on how to serve the clients, the service economy and understand their role in the Service Value Chain. The ITIL 4 Foundation book is less prescriptive than ITIL v3 Foundation. More details will eventually be documented in the further supplementary publications for related practices.

8. What does this mean from an organisation view with regards to certification for my customers?

ITIL 4 is more urgent for organisations dealing with digital solutions and adopting Cloud solutions.

The upgrade will eventually be an organic progression in all organisations. Adopting common goals and common language is essential to support the success of any organisation. Not all departments of bigger organisations will adopt digital practices sometime soon. In this case, upgrading skills to ITIL 4 is not a priority. But, the upgrade will eventually be an organic progression. In fact, some organisations are already using ITIL 4 practices, but don’t know that. Organisations should not implement ITIL 4 for the implementation itself. They should use the guiding principles and practices to help them to achieve success.

9. What is the ITIL Managing Professional (MP) Transition course about?

This is a course for candidates with at least 17 credits in the ITIL v3 certification scheme, including those with ITIL Expert certification. We expect this course and exam to be released late 2019. This is the only “bridge” offered to ITIL 4 Managing Professional (MP) credential. The exam is expected to be similar to the current ITIL v3 Intermediate exams (Bloom levels 2 and 3), not simple multi-choice questions like foundation level. See certification scenarios and recommendations below.

10. Is this a cloud-aligned certification?

Yes, Cloud adoption is a significant step in the digital transformation journey. Any organisation in the digital transformation journey ‘should’ upgrade their capabilities to ITIL 4 and DevOps (they are complementary and not competing as some may think). These capabilities are essential to support the success of the digital transformation journey. Like in the case of ITIL v3, the upgrade will eventually be an organic progression.

11. Are there any other related changes to ITIL?

Yes. ITIL 4 is aligned with ‘New Ways of Working’. ITIL 4 is well integrated/aligned with other popular practices such as DevOps, Lean, Agile, IT4IT, COBIT, ISO20000 and others. The library itself and the distribution of knowledge has changed. The first book being released is ITIL 4 Foundation. We recommend our customers to consider purchasing the ‘My ITIL’ subscription as some other valuable resources will be available only to subscribers, such as case studies, videos, templates, etc.

Certification scenarios and recommendations

Scenario 1 – Jose
Current situation: New to ITIL (no current ITIL certification).
Recommendation: Do three-day ITIL 4 Foundation.

Scenario 2 – Harriet
Current situation: Currently ITIL v3 Foundation certified.
Recommendation: Do two-day Upgrade to ITIL 4 Foundation.

Scenario 3 – Luis
Current situation: Certified at ITIL v3 Intermediate level, but with less than 17 credits.
Recommendation: Continue working towards at least 17 credits and take the Managing Professional (MP) Transition course and exam when available in late 2019**.

Scenario 4 – Clare
Current situation: Has been working on her ITIL Expert Certification and has more than 17 credits.
Recommendation: Take the Managing Professional (MP) Transition course and exam when available in late 2019**.

Scenario 5 – Rose
Current situation: Certified and an experienced ITIL Expert.
Recommendation: Take the Managing Professional (MP) Transition course and exam when available in late 2019**.

Scenario 6 – Peter
Current situation: Currently not ITIL certified but works in IT Operations in a bank. He is DevOps Foundation certified.
Recommendation: Short way: Do ITIL v3 Foundation as soon as possible to supplement his DevOps knowledge. This will give him valuable operational knowledge in the digital environment he has at the bank. If he wants to keep his ITIL certification updated, then he can do Upgrade to ITIL 4 Foundation later.
OR
Longer way: Do ITIL 4 Foundation followed by the practices that are relevant to his job, i.e. Incident Management. (Note: at this stage we do not have details about the publication on these practices.) At the moment ITIL v3 Foundation is the best-known option.

** Important note: The Managing Professional Transition course and the associated exam were discontinued by PeopleCert on 30 September 2022 and are no longer available. From 1st October 2022 the recommendation is to start with ITIL 4 Foundation.