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: Planning Protection and Optimization 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 will be 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:

• IT professionals
• Business managers
• Business process owners
• Individuals who require a deep understanding of the ITIL® Certificate in the Operational Support and Analysis processes and how it may be used to enhance the quality of IT service support within an organization
• IT professionals who are working within an organization which has adopted and adapted ITIL® and who need to be informed about, and thereafter contribute to, an ongoing service improvement program
• Operational staff involved in event management process, incident management process, request fulfillment process, problem management process, access management process, service desk, technical management, IT operations management and application management, and who wish to enhance their role-based capabilities
• Individuals who have attained the ITIL® Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management and wish to advance to higher level ITIL® certifications
• Individuals seeking the ITIL® Expert Certificate in IT Service Management for which this qualification can be one of the prerequisite modules
• Individuals seeking progress toward the ITIL® Master Certificate in IT Service Management for which the ITIL Expert is a prerequisite.

Prerequisites
Candidates wishing to be trained and examined for this qualification must already hold the ITIL® Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management (the V3 Foundation or V2 Foundation plus Bridge Certificate) which shall be presented as documentary evidence to gain admission.

• At least 30 contact hours (hours of instruction, excluding breaks, and not including summary review time) with an Accredited Training Organization (ATO) or an accredited e-learning solution) for this syllabus, as part of a formal, approved training course/scheme
• 2 to 4 years’ professional experience working in IT service management is highly desirable
• Hold the ITIL® Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management (or other appropriate earlier ITIL and bridge qualifications)
• It is also recommended that candidates should complete at a minimum of 12 hours of personal study by reviewing the syllabus and the pertinent areas within the ITIL® core guidance in preparation for the examination, specifically Chapter 2: Service management as a practice.

Additionally it is recommended that candidates:

• Can demonstrate familiarity with IT terminology and understand Planning Protection and Optimization within the context of their own business environment.
  Capacity management
  Availability management
  IT service continuity management (ITSCM)
  Information security management
  Demand management

Before attending training for the certification it is also strongly recommended that candidates read the ITIL® Service Lifecycle core publications and, in particular, the ITIL® Service Design publication.

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:

• Service design in PPO and lifecycle context
• Processes across the service lifecycle pertaining to the practice elements within planning, protection and optimization
• Capacity management as a capability to realize successful service design
• Availability management as a capability to realize successful service design
• IT service continuity management as a capability to support overall business continuity management
• Information security management as part of the overall corporate governance framework
• Planning, protection and optimization roles and responsibilities
• Technology and implementation considerations
• Organizational roles relevant to PPO And specifically in the following key ITIL process and role areas:
  Capacity management
  Availability management
  IT service continuity management
  Information security management
  Demand management
  Challenges, critical success factors and risks for planning, protection and optimization

The program will cover the following modules:

The candidates will be able to understand, describe, identify, demonstrate, apply, distinguish, produce, decide or analyze:

Introduction 

• Purpose and objectives and value of service design
• The lifecycle in context
• Service design basics
• The role of design coordination within PPO

Capacity Management

• The purpose and objectives of capacity management
• The scope of capacity management
• The importance of capacity management as a process to generate business value
• Capacity management policies, principles and basic concepts
• The main activities, methods and techniques that enable capacity management, and how they relate to planning, protection and optimization
• The triggers, inputs, outputs and interfaces of capacity management and its interfaces with other processes
• The capacity management information system and its role in information management
• How the critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of successful capacity management
• Challenges and risks of capacity management

Availability Management

• The purpose and objectives of the process
• The scope of the process
• The importance of availability management as a process to generate business value
• Availability management policies, principles and basic concepts
• The main activities, methods and techniques that enable availability management and how they relate to planning, protection and optimization
• The triggers, inputs, outputs and interfaces of availability management, and its interface with other processes
• How availability management relates to information management
• How the critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of successful availability management
• Challenges and risks of availability management

IT service Continuity Management

• The purpose and objectives of the process
• The scope of the process
• The importance of ITSCM as a process to generate business value
• ITSCM policies, principles and basic concepts
• The main activities, methods and techniques that enable ITSCM, and how they relate to planning, protection and optimization, particularly stages 1-4 of the ITSCM lifecycle:
  Initiation
  Requirements and strategy
  Implementation
  Ongoing operation
  Invocation of ITSM
• The triggers, inputs, outputs and interfaces of ITSCM, and its interface with other processes
• Information management for ITSCM
• How the critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used and applied to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of successful IT service continuity management
• Challenges and risks of ITSCM

Information Security Management

• The purpose and objectives of the process
• The scope of the process
• The importance of information security management as a process to generate business value
• Information security management policies, principles and basic concepts
• The main activities, methods and techniques that enable this process and how they relate to planning, protection and optimization
• The triggers, inputs, outputs and interfaces of information security management
• Information security management and the security management information system (SMIS)
• How the critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used and applied to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of successful information security management
• Challenges and risks of ISM

Demand Management

• Purpose and objectives of demand management
• Scope of demand management
• Value to business
• Policies, principles and basic concepts
• Process activities, methods and techniques of demand management
• Triggers, inputs, outputs and interfaces
• Information management and demand management
• Critical success factors and key performance indicators
• Challenges and risks of demand management
• Planning, Protection and Optimization Roles and Responsibilities
• The key roles/functions responsible for executing each process step as related to:
• Process manager
• Process practitioner
• Capacity management process manager
• Availability management process manager
• IT service continuity management process manager
• Information security management process manager
• Demand management roles

Technology and Implementation Considerations

• The generic requirements for technology to assist service design
• The evaluation criteria for technology and tooling for process implementation
• The good practices for practice and process implementation
• The challenges, critical success factors and risks related to implementing practices and processes
• How to plan and implement service management technologies
• The consideration for implementing technologies in supporting the processes within planning, protection and optimization practice, in particular, designing technology architectures

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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Planning Protection Optimization – PPO