London Programme for IT

ITIL Resources

Welcome to ITIL resources. ITIL is the OGC IT Infrastructure Library – a set of guides on the management and provision of operational IT services. For a full list of all ITIL acronyms see the ITIL Glossary.

Advice for trusts when choosing a Training Provider for the IT Infrastructure Library

ITIL V3 has introduced a new series of training courses and qualifications for Service Management. Because of this, all training companies have had to develop new training materials, and get their trainers qualified in the subjects that they deliver. To assist in getting best value for money from ITIL training, you may wish to ask potential training providers the following questions before making your selection.

- Pass rates for ITIL V3 Foundation

- Pass rates for ITIL V3 Foundation bridge

- Pass rates for ITIL Managers Bridge

- Pass rates for other ITIL V3 qualifications (please specify)

- Do they use their own employed trainers, or do they use associates (ie contract trainers)?

- If associates are used, what percentage of ITIL V3 courses are given by associates?

- What ITIL V3 qualifications have their trainers achieved?

- When did the trainers get those qualifications?

- How many of the trainers are also ITIL V2 examiners?

- How many of the trainers are also ITIL V3 examiners?

- What materials (notes, publications, reading lists) do they provide before each course?

- What pre-reading do they advise before each course?

- Is a practice examination taken during the course?

- How many of each of the V3 training courses have they given so far, and when were they run?

- What follow-ups do they offer for candidates who fail the exam?

- Do they offer any additional materials/support to candidates, such as web-based materials, helplines etc.

- Can candidates sit the exam at any time after the course (ie not just at the end of the course) The answers provided to these questions will help in the assessment of the potential suppliers maturity and capability in ITIL V3.

Q. What is an incident?

A. An incident is any event which is not part of the standard operation of a service and which causes, or may cause, an interruption to, or a reduction in, the quality of that service.

Q. What is a problem?

A. A problem is the unknown underlying cause of one or more incidents.

Q. What is a known error?

A. A known error is an incident or problem for which the root cause is known and for which a temporary workaround or a permanent alternative has been identified. If a business case exists, an RFC will be raised but in any event it remains a known error unless it is permanently fixed by a change.

Q. What is a RFC?

A. An RFC is a form or screen, used to record details of a request for a change to any CI (Configuration Item) e.g. RIO Application Configuration within an infrastructure or to procedures and items associated with the infrastructure. Changes, are controlled and managed via standardised processes to ensure the timely and effective handling of all proposed Changes, so as to minimise the potential for negative impact upon supported services.

Q. What is the Relationship between Incidents. Problems, Known Errors and RFC's?

relationship flow

A. A Problem can result in multiple Incidents, and it is possible that the Problem will not be diagnosed until several Incidents have occurred, over a period of time. Handling Problems is quite different from handling Incidents and is therefore covered by the Problem Management process.

During the Incident-resolution process the Incident is matched against the Problem and Known Error database. It should also be matched against the Incident database to see whether there is a similar Incident outstanding, or whether there has been resolution action taken for any previous similar Incident. If a Work-around or resolution is available, the Incident can be resolved immediately. If not, Incident Management is responsible for finding a resolution or Work-around with minimum disruption to the business process.

When Incident Management finds a Work-around it will be analysed by the Problem Management team who will update the associated Problem record. Note that an associated Problem record may not exist at this time - for example, the Work-around may be to send a report by fax due to a communication line failure, but at this point there may not be a Problem record for the communication line failure, which the Problem Management team would have to create. The process is then that the Service Desk will link Incidents that are clearly the result of an existing Problem record.

It is also possible that the Problem Management team, while investigating the Problem associated with the Incident, finds a Work-around or a resolution for a Problem and/or some related Incidents. In this case, the Problem Management team should inform the Incident Management process in order that open Incidents have their status changed to 'Known Error' or 'closed' as appropriate.

Where it is felt at Incident logging that an Incident should be treated as a Problem, then it should be referred immediately to the Problem Management process, where, if appropriate, a new Problem record will be raised. Incident Management will, as always, remain responsible for pursuing a resolution to the Incident with minimal possible disruption to the business processes.

Q. What is a Service Catalogue?

A. The Service Catalogue is a written statement/list of Services that the IT Service Provider can or does deliver to its Customers.

The Service Catalogue is a document that contains all the Services that are provided, a description of the service, service levels, the customer and the person/department responsible for the maintenance of the service.

Example information typically found in a Service Catalogue:-

Service Description
Service availability
Response times
Fix times
Supported by
Hours of support

Q. What is a Service Request?

A. Should be used by Trusts to request any change where the impact of a change to the service is understood and can be repeated at other trusts with a known impact, effort and costs where applicable. An RfC once fully impact assessed and completed should also be added to the Service Request Catalogue as a Service Request Item. We believe continually using the RfC process is not the most efficient way to manage repeatable changes because of the effort required to impact assess the same thing again and again.

The Service Request Process should include all pre-impact assessed and repeatable requests however complex they may be and however long they may take.

For example:

Reference Data Item Change - where the Trust should be able to perform themselves but cannot because of a lack of functionality. Cost = Free to the Trust.
Printer configurations - where a Trust requires a new printer to be added. Cost = £x up to x changes where volumes are high in a given month.
IP Address Addition - where a Trust wishes to access BT Services from a new location. Cost = free up to x number (because of internal invoice cost to BT) the £x after that.
New Modality or additional licenses - where a Trust wishes to purchase a listed item of equipment / licenses defined by BT. Cost = hardware and implementation, at Trust expense.

Q. What is a Service Request Catalogue?

A. A Service Request Catalogue contains full details of Service Request Types/Items, Authorisation Requirements, Implementation Details, Request Route and Information required to complete the Service Request Form.

Q. What is an Additionals Service Catalogue?

A. An Additional Services Catalogue is provided to enable further items to be procured where required. N.B. This currently only exists for the PACS Service.

The Additional Services Catalogue provides a list of items of equipment and services (“PACS Additional Services”) that can be procured by a Trust to supplement its PACS Deployment.

Q. What is a Product Catalogue?

A. A Product Catalogue is a Service Management tool that provides detailed information due to its complexity about a Strategic release e.g. First of Type (FOT) or Major Upgrade.

Key sections are:-

Control Sheet - Key contacts, overall status and tracked changes.
Guidance Notes - Assistance with completion.
Supplier Readiness - Confirmation that each of the Service Management processes is in place, contacts are known and the process documents have been received and approved by NHS CfH and LPfIT.
LSP Service Readiness - Similar to Supplier Readiness but specific to LSP's.
Trust Readiness - Similar to Supplier Readiness but for Trusts.
RFO (Ready for Operation) - Tracks testing deliverables, status and progress.
LPfIT/CfH Readiness - confirmation of sign off from relevant areas of NHS CfH and LPfIT.

Q. What is a Service Brief?

A. A Service Brief is provided by a supplier to provide an overview of a strategic release including:

Release Title
Key Contacts
Service Overview
Architecture Diagram and Narrative
Release / Deployment Plan
Support Model

A Service Brief template can be obtained from Service Management - Service Introduction on request.