Program Overview
ITIL® is a set of best practices guidance that has become a worldwide-adopted framework for Information Technology Services Management (ITSM) by many Public & Private Organizations.  Since early 1990, ITIL® has been evolving from focusing on Functions and Processes under versions 1 and 2 to focusing on the Full Service Lifecycle Management under current version.

In addition to the existing benefits of aligning IT goals and objectives with the business, improving quality and reducing cost of operation; ITSM and ITIL® now emphasizes the following areas:

• Assist in transforming IT Service Management onto a strategic business asset
• Assist in defining and managing the complete lifecycle of IT Service Management Process
• Provide guidance on the development of Services Strategy, the development of Service Design, the Transition of Services from current to desired state, the Implementation and the Continuous improvement of the those Services

Through lectures and practice exam questions participants explore the concepts of good practice in IT Service Management based on the ITIL® Edition 2011Framework.

The ITIL® Intermediate Qualification: Managing Across the Lifecycle Certificate is a free-standing qualification, but is also part of the ITIL® Intermediate Lifecycle stream, and one of the modules that leads to the ITIL® Expert in IT Service Management. The purpose of this training module and the associated exam and certificate is, respectively, to impart, test, and validate the knowledge on industry practices in service management as documented in the ITIL® publication.

Note:
The success in achieving this certification is highly dependent upon participants’ effort in doing their homework, and self-study before and during the program.

Duration
This program is offered over a 5-day period where it combines theoretical and hands-on knowledge transfer, including individual and group practical exercises.  The Minimum number of students per session is 6 where the maximum is 18.

• This five (5) days classroom training course with examination held on the afternoon of the 5th day is accredited by LCS examinations institute.
• The course includes approximately 30 hours of student-instructor interaction, a sample and a formal examination.
• The format of the examination consists of a closed book paper of 8 multiple choice complex questions, to be answered within 90 minutes. (Candidates sitting the examination in English and who do not have English as their first language will be allowed additional 30 minutes to allow use of a dictionary). The pass mark is 70% or more – 28 or more correct answers.

Audience
The main target group for this ITIL® Intermediate Qualification Certificate includes, but is not restricted to:

• Chief information officers
• Senior IT managers
• IT managers
• Supervisors
• IT professionals
• IT operations practitioners
• IT development practitioners
• Individuals who require a business and management level understanding of the ITIL® service lifecycle and how it may be implemented to enhance the quality of IT service provision within an organization
• Individuals seeking the ITIL® Expert in IT Service Management certificate, for which this qualification is the final mandatory module
• Individuals seeking progress towards the ITIL® Master in IT Service Management, for which the ITIL® Expert in IT Service Management certificate is a prerequisite.

Prerequisites
Candidates wishing to be trained and examined for this qualification must already have two (2) credits from the ITIL® Foundation certificate and must, as a minimum, have obtained a further 15 credits from ITIL® Intermediate qualifications, and therefore a total of at least 17 credits. Documentary evidence of this must be presented by candidates for the MALC qualification.

In addition to the prerequisite entry criteria, in order to be eligible for the MALC examination candidates must have fulfilled the following requirements:

• Candidates must have undertaken at least 30 contact hours for this syllabus as part of a formal, approved training course/scheme. Contact hours are hours of instruction, excluding breaks, with an accredited training organization (ATO) or an accredited e-learning solution.

Before attending training for the certification it is also strongly recommended that candidates read the ITIL® Service Lifecycle core publications.

Content and Objectives
Through a series of lectures designed at achieving a clear understanding of the ITIL® Best Practice lifecycle approach and through various exercises, assignments and discussions, participants can expect to gain the competence in the following areas upon successful completion of the education and examination components related to this certification:

• Key concepts of the service lifecycle
• Communication and stakeholder management
• Integrating service management processes across the service lifecycle
• Managing services across the service lifecycle
• Governance and organization
• Measurement
• Implementing and improving service management capability.

The program will cover the following modules:
The candidates will be able to understand, describe, identify, demonstrate, apply, distinguish, produce, decide or analyze:

Key concepts of the service lifecycle

• Managing services and service management
• The service lifecycle:
  The five stages of the service lifecycle and how they interact with each other
  Considering services from end-to-end: justification, design, measuring, testing, deploying, operating and looking for ways to improve
• Service value across the different stages of the service lifecycle:
  How service strategy elements dictate what constitutes value, and how value is defined and measured
  Realizing business value in service operation
  Testing and demonstrating the service value in service transition
  Monitoring service measurements and using them to support all stages of the service lifecycle
• Other key concepts:
  Core, enabling and enhancing services
  Organizing for service management
  Use of the RACI model to define and clarify roles and responsibilities, particularly in interfaces between processes and between service lifecycle stages
  Risk assessment and risk management
  Sharing knowledge across the service lifecycle, and the use of knowledge management

Communication and Stakeholder Management

• Co-ordination of business relationship management across the service lifecycle and the role of business relationship management in communication
• Stakeholder management and communication
• The value of good communication and ensuring its flow across the service lifecycle:
  The use of service models to aid communication on service strategy and value creation
  Communication during service design
  Communication during service transition
  Communication during service operation
  Communication during continual service improvement

Integrating Service Management Processes Across the Service Lifecycle

• The integration of service management through the service lifecycle
• The impact of service strategy on other service lifecycle stages
• The value of a service lifecycle perspective when designing service solutions
• The inputs and outputs of processes and stages in the service lifecycle
• The value to business and the interfaces of all processes in the ITIL® Service Strategy core publication:
  Strategy management for IT services
  Service portfolio management
  Financial management for IT services
  Demand management
  Business relationship management
• The value to business and the interfaces of all processes in the ITIL® Service Design core publication:
  Design co-ordination
  Service catalogue management
  Service level management
  Availability management
  Capacity management
  IT service continuity management
  Information security management
  Supplier management
• The value to business and the interfaces of all processes in the ITIL® Service Transition core publication:
  Transition planning and support
  Change management
  Service asset and configuration management
  Release and deployment management
  Service validation and testing
  Change evaluation
  Knowledge management
• The value to business and the interfaces of all processes in the ITIL® Service Operation core publication:
  Event management
  Incident management
  Request fulfillment
  Problem management
  Access management
• The value to business and the interfaces of the seven-step  improvement process, along with the role other processes play

Managing Services Across the Service Lifecycle

• Identification and assessment of customer and stakeholder needs and requirements across all service lifecycle stages, and ensuring appropriate priority is given to them
• How the service design package (SDP) provides a link between service design, service transition and service operation
• Managing cross-lifecycle processes to ensure appropriate impact and involvement at all required service lifecycle stages:
  Flow of knowledge/experience/skills between lifecycle stages
  Involve service transition in early stages of the service lifecycle
  Involve operations staff, business users and other relevant stakeholders in service rehearsals
• Implementing and improving services, using key sources of information for identifying the need for improvement:
  Service level management (SLM) review meeting – reviewing management information and trends to ensure that services are meeting agreed service levels
  Customer satisfaction surveys
  Reviewing business trends and changed priorities, and keeping ahead of business projections
• The challenges, critical success factors and risks of the service lifecycle stages, and potential conflicts and competing issues across the service lifecycle

Governance, Roles, People, Competence and the Organization
Starting with the need for governance, it covers the people skills and competencies, the types of service providers and organizational structures.

To meet the learning outcomes and examination level of difficulty, the candidate will be able to evaluate, check, co-ordinate, detect, monitor, test, judge, analyze, differentiate, organize, and attribute:

• Governance:
  The importance and impact of good governance on service management
  The use of governance in sourcing
  The role of the IT strategy or steering group in setting direction, policy and strategy for IT services
  The application of governance in change management, through change authorization to ensure the integrity of live services. The role of the change advisory board (CAB)
  The support from management systems to ensure appropriate governance
• Organizational structure, skills and competence:
  The challenge and application of organizational development
  Assessing and applying various organizational structures for service management, and combining several perspectives in matrix organizations
  Skills and competence
• Service provider types and service strategies:
  The different service provider types, and the implication of choosing a specific type
  The selection of appropriate service

Measurement

• Measuring and demonstrating business value
• Determining and using metrics:
  Service measurement
  Service, process and technical metrics
  CSFs and KPIs
  Using measurements and metrics to validate, justify, direct, intervene
• Design and development of measurement frameworks and methods:
  Design and development of a service measurement framework
  Designing measurement methods and metrics
  Monitoring and control systems
  Monitoring, reporting and control
  Monitor control loops
• Use of event management tools to increase visibility of the infrastructure and IT service delivery

Implementing and Improving Service Management Capability

• Implementing service management
  Understanding the high-level goals and objectives of the organization. Identifying the external (legislation, competitors etc.) and internal (organizational structure, culture etc.) drivers
  Service strategy implementation taking a service lifecycle approach
• Assessing service management
  Assessing the current situation regarding service provision:
  Strategic assessment
  SWOT analysis
  Gap analysis and IT service management maturity assessment
  ISO/IEC 20000 certification
  Six Sigma
  COBIT
  CMM
  Assessing current and defining future required maturity levels, quality and cost of provision
  Using benchmarking to identify need for improvement for each service lifecycle stage
• Improving service management
  Planning for improvement with short-, medium- and longer term improvement initiatives
  Using the CSI approach and Deming Cycle to ensure that the organization continues to move forward with continual improvement
  The seven-step improvement process, to measure progress and enable potential improvements to the service lifecycle to be identified
• Key considerations for implementation and improvement of both the practice of service management and the services themselves:
  Having the appropriate business case which shows the return on investment or the return on value
  Stakeholder change management
• Key considerations when planning and implementing service management technologies

Summary, Exam Preparation and Directed Studies

This module summarizes the material covered in the previous modules and prepares candidates for the examination through the review and practice of a mock examination. The Examination is comprised of eight (8) multiple choice, scenario-based, gradient scored questions. The standard duration of the exam is Maximum 90 minutes.

Program Material

This training program includes the following as reference documentation:

• Program slide presentation
• Syllabus Document
• ITIL® acronyms and glossary
• Sample examination questions and answers

Simulation and practical application

We provide the students with real life experiences; for the purpose of discussion and to show the value of using best practice, we can use the client organization as a “case study” example (when a private course is delivered).

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Managing Across the Lifecycle – MALC