Disclaimers
Opinions expressed in this post do not reflect the views/positions of no affiliated group.
Unto Caesar what is Caesar's: Claude helped beautify all the diagrams used in this article.
Hook
My hierarchy asked me to take the ITIL v4 Foundation certification. I have had a genuinely hard time seeing how this exam would help me do my job better. It has been due for days, and I kept pushing it back; now I am against the wall: tomorrow, July 13th, is the final deadline.
This certification is apparently requested by companies all over the world. Yet nobody around me has ever mentioned ITIL. Maybe I don't have the right friends. Shoutout to "GeekStation... 🍸🍹🍺🧋🧃🥤" lol
From where I stand, I doubt the exam will bring much to me or to the company I work for to be honest. But skepticism is only worth something once it has been put to the test. So I will sit the exam, honestly try to pass it, and find out whether I am wrong.
This will not be an article. This is a constellation of diagrams. The long-form write-up lives in the first article written some weeks ago. This one is the picture book. I hope it helps you memorize as much as it helps me.
Table of contents
- The actors
- Value creation
- Service management
- The 7 guiding principles
- The 4 dimensions
- The service value system
- The service value chain
- Service relationships
- Continual improvement
- The 34 practices
- What kind of ticket is this?
- The toy exam
The actors
Who is in the room? Customer, user, sponsor, provider.
🧱Resource
Raw input to build with
↓ assembles into
📦Product
Configured for value delivery
↓ packaged as
⚡Service
Enables consumer outcomes
↓ described in
📋Service Offering
Formal promise to the consumer
→delivers
Utility × Warranty
= Value
co-created
by both sides
requires←
💰Sponsor
Authorizes the budget
↓ funds
🎯Customer
Defines requirements & owns outcomes
↓ specifies for
🖥User
Uses the service day-to-day
↓ feeds back to
🌐Stakeholder
Any party with an interest
← Click any node to see its definition
Value creation
A service is a trade: it supports outcomes and removes costs and risks, while introducing new ones. Value is what's left when the scale settles.
ITIL 4 — Value Creation
A service is a trade: value is what's left when the scale settles — click any element
+ What the service brings
Supported outcomes
Results the consumer can now achieve
Costs removed
Expenses the consumer no longer carries
Risks removed
Threats the provider now absorbs
⚖️✨Value
the net result,
as perceived
− What the service costs
Affected outcomes
Results negatively impacted
Costs introduced
New expenses the consumer takes on
Risks introduced
New threats the consumer accepts
← Click an element above to see how it weighs on the scale
Service management
The whole discipline in one sentence: "capabilities enabling value, for customers, in the form of services."
ITIL 4 — What is Service Management?
The definition, drawn — click any component to learn more
🧠
Capabilities
Knowledge · people · technology
✨
Value
Perceived usefulness
Utility × Warranty
🧑💼
Customers
Who co-create value with the provider
delivered in the form of↓
🛎
Services
A means of enabling value co-creation
📦
Products
Designed to offer value to a consumer
🧱
Resources
People · infrastructure · capital · information
Service management: a set of specialized organizational capabilities* for enabling value for customers in the form of services — each service built from products, and each product a configuration of resources*.
← Click a component above to see its definition and role
The 7 guiding principles
7 recommendations that apply to every decision, in every circumstance.
ITIL 4 — The 7 Guiding Principles
Universal recommendations that apply to every decision, at every level — click one to learn more
1🎯
Focus on value
Every action should trace back to a benefit for a stakeholder
2📍
Start where you are
Assess what already works before designing something new
3🔁
Progress iteratively with feedback
Small increments, real feedback, adjust
4🤝
Collaborate and promote visibility
Make work visible; involve the right people early
5🌐
Think and work holistically
Services are systems — consider the whole, not just your part
6🪶
Keep it simple and practical
If a step adds no value, eliminate it
7⚙️
Optimize and automate
Fix the process first, then automate what remains
← Click a principle above to see what it means in practice
The 4 dimensions
Neglect any one of them and the project fails.
ITIL 4 — The Four Dimensions Model
Click a dimension, the value hexagon, or a PESTLE factor to learn more
PoliticalEconomicEnvironmentalSocialLegalTechnological👥
Organizations
& People
Structure · culture · roles · skills
🖥
Information
& Technology
Data · knowledge · tools · infrastructure
🤝
Partners
& Suppliers
Vendors · contracts · integrations
🔀
Value Streams
& Processes
Workflows · activities · procedures
Products & Services
Value
Utility × Warranty
← Click a dimension above to see what it covers — and how ignoring it makes projects fail
Organizations & People
Information & Technology
Partners & Suppliers
Value Streams & Processes
PESTLE external factors
The service value system
How an organization turns opportunity and demand into value.
ITIL 4 — Service Value System (SVS)
Opportunity and demand go in, value comes out — click any layer to learn more
⇄
Guiding Principles
Governance
Service Value Chain
Plan · Engage · Design & Transition · Obtain/Build · Deliver & Support · Improve
Practices
Continual Improvement
⇄
← Click a layer, or an endpoint, to see its role in the SVS
Guiding Principles
Governance & Practices
Service Value Chain
Continual Improvement
The service value chain
6 activities that every value stream is assembled from.
ITIL 4 — Service Value Chain (SVC)
How demand becomes value — click any element to learn more
⇄
🤝Engage
Stakeholders & needs
⇄
🗺 Plan— direction & strategy, spanning every activity
📈 Improve— continual, spanning every activity
⇄
⇄
⇄ The chain is non-linear: each value stream combines the six activities differently
← Click an element above to see its role in the chain
Plan — spans the chain
Engage & core activities
Improve — spans the chain
Products & Services
Service relationships
An org is both provider and consumer.
ITIL 4 — Service Relationships
Every organization is both provider and consumer — click an organization, a relationship, or a component
🏭
Organization A
Provider → B
provision →Service
Relationship← consumption
🏢
Organization B
Consumer ← AProvider → C
provision →Service
Relationship← consumption
🏥
Organization C
Consumer ← BProvider → D
provision →Service
Relationship← consumption
🧑🔬
Organization D
Consumer ← C
Inside every service relationship
Service Provision
What the provider does
Service Relationship Management
What both do, together
Service Consumption
What the consumer does
← Click an element above to see its role in the relationship model
Provider side — provision
Joint — relationship management
Consumer side — consumption
Continual improvement
I remember a very old woman who used to say "Moins on en fait, mieux on se porte" lol.
ITIL 4 — Continual Improvement
The 7-step model: each question paired with the action that answers it — click a step to learn more
1What is the vision?
⇄
Business vision, mission, goals and objectives
↓
2Where are we now?
⇄
Perform a baseline assessment
↓
3Where do we want to be?
⇄
Define measurable targets
↓
4How do we get there?
⇄
Define the improvement plan
↓
5Take action
⇄
Execute the improvement actions
↓
6Did we get there?
⇄
Evaluate metrics and KPIs
↓
↻7. How do we keep the momentum going?— loops back to step 1
← Click a step above to see what it involves
The 34 practices
The 34 practices. Adopt the ones that solve your problems and leave the rest on the shelf.
ITIL 4 — The 34 Management Practices
Three categories, adopt what solves your problems — click a category or a practice
14
General
Management
Adapted from general business management
17
Service
Management
The heart of ITSM day-to-day work
3
Technical
Management
Adapted from technology management
The 7 practices the Foundation exam drills into
Continual improvementChange enablementIncident managementProblem managementService request managementService deskService level management
← Click a category or a practice above
What kind of ticket is this?
The question every IT team answers a dozen times a day.
The toy exam
Here are 60 (not so hidden) questions, to help you prepare the exam.
ITIL 4 — The Toy Exam
60 questions, drawn at random from a bank of 200+
More on this topic:
Not much really.