ITIL Newbie!

[portwolf]

Hi,

I am a complete newbie to ITIL. I need to know a few quick answers for the questions that i have in my mind:

- How many papers does ITIL Foundation have?
- Is ITIL any different than ITSM?
- Do you need to have a strong Technical background in a fixed Technical domain before doing the ITIL Certification?
- Are there any nuggets or videos in which any professor explains the concepts of ITIL? This is 'coz i will be doing the course on a self-study basis.
- Highly recommended books / .pdf files for attaining a clear & simplistic view of the ITIL Concepts.

Thanx
Amey
_________________
Ability is what you are capable of doing.. Motivation determines what you do.. Attitude determines how you do IT!!

[itilimp]

Hi there,

- How many papers does ITIL Foundation have?
Just one incorporating 40 multiple choice questions.
The ISEB takes 'read and understand the question' to a new level! Ensure you read every single word of a question and the potential answers because misinterpretation could lead to an incorrect mark instead of a correct one.
It's important to know the core of each service management process as chances are they are included.

- Is ITIL any different than ITSM?
Yes. ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) is the best practice framework FOR ITSM (IT Service Management). Subsequently it has formed the basis of the standards BS15000 and now ISO20000.

- Do you need to have a strong Technical background in a fixed Technical domain before doing the ITIL Certification?
No, a technical background is not required. An understanding of IT as a business (or within a business) is crucial, as is common sense. If you have a good memory it will certainly help, but there are no technical questions on the foundation paper. It is all about the ITIL processes.

- Are there any nuggets or videos in which any professor explains the concepts of ITIL? This is 'coz i will be doing the course on a self-study basis.
I personally went on a 3 day course with the exam at the end of it but I know a lot of people go the self-study route and are successful in doing so.

To be honest I think as a minimum you will need to purchase the ITIL service support & service delivery books (or a Computer based learning course covering them) as there is no free resource (to my knowledge) that will prepare you fully for the foundation exam (and certainly not the practionar or management ones).

- Highly recommended books / .pdf files for attaining a clear & simplistic view of the ITIL Concepts.

[Edited: No links please - the forum would become a spam fest if we allowed this]


No doubt a lot of us have our own study notes - but I would say it is better to revise from the pocket book rather than other people's notes as we inherently only note down the things that appear pertinent to us given our prior body of knowledge.

Good luck!

[itilimp]

Forgot to add that the ITIL Open Guide may be useful to you.

[portwolf]

Hi Guys!

Thanx for all your assistance... i have cleared the ITIL Foundation Certification with a score of 75! Looking forward for ITIL Practitioners! Any inputs on this one?
_________________
Ability is what you are capable of doing.. Motivation determines what you do.. Attitude determines how you do IT!!

[itilimp]

Cripes, I'd forgotten all about my post! Congratulations, I take it that was the EXIN board not ISEB?

In terms of practitionar exams, the questiona are really which process are you most interested in and which are most relevant to your position at work?

Rather than taking a single process practitionar exam I've heard people recommend the multi-process ones due to the increased understanding of interdependency between the processes.

There is a Change/Config/and Release exam as well as one in Service Desk/Incident/Problem.