My Appeal To ITIL Professionals

There are few training providers, who not only allow candidates to have an open book exam but also give answers to the question paper. I am referring to Service Manager Certification. With ITIL V3, focus on V2 exams got reduced as attention shifted to the new version.

I got a word doc from a candidate who had taken the exam. It contained all questions and answers. He send it to me for comment on his performance. If I try to recollect my exam, I remember that I was not able to confidently recall even a single question word by word. Not only that, the properties of the word doc clearly showed the authors name to be that of a training provider. This type of activities is reducing the overall value and recognition of Managers certification.

I lodged a complaint with APMG, EXIN, ISEB and OGC. APMG identified the Examination Institute which was offering that case study and replaced the case as well as has taken steps to tighten the examination system.

As ITIL professionals it is up to us that how we can maintain the recognition and sanctity of our certification. My appeal to entire ITIL community, please do not turn to be a blank spectator to such incident; be proactive and be assured that APMG & OGC will take necessary action.

ITIL Foundation Certified Professionals: The New Breed

I had been a bit busy for last couple of days with my organizational activities. Also, I had been interviewing potential candidates for openings that we have for various ITIL operational roles. I have come across many ITIL foundation certified professionals, whom I would prefer to call a new breed of ITIL professionals.

One of the candidates I interview had mentioned ‘Foundation Certified in IT Service Management’ and ITIL V3 Foundation certified. I asked him ‘what is the difference between these two certifications’…answer was ‘I don’t know’.

My next question – ‘What are the various lifecycle phases of ITIL V3’…I got another blank face…I went on to next question ‘Name any 5 processes of ITIL V3’…again a blank face and then an answer ‘I don’t know’. I asked ‘you are ITIL V3 Foundation certified and I expect the name of ITIL processes at least’…A great answer I got ‘My company asked us to get certified. I was shocked. I thought that this would be a one of case. But thereafter I have found many guys like him, who do not even recall the process names. Another interesting case was when I asked one candidate, ‘which version of ITIL you are certified in’…he thought for a while and then answered ‘Version 1’. He had completed his engineering in 2006, probably would have been just a couple of years old when ITIL version 1 was introduced.