What is ITIL?

Information Technology Infrastructure LIbrary (ITIL) is a collection of best practises in IT Service Managment (ITSM) providing a framework which can be utilised in any organisation to improve capabilities and service management. Originally released by the UK Office or Government Commerce (OGC) in the late 80s it grew to a collection of 44 books. ITIL V2, a set of 7 books, based around the 2 key books - Service Support and Service Delivery - was released early 2000.

May 2007 saw the release of ITIL V3 launched internationally here in Sydney. V3 is based on the service lifecycle approach. It has increased synergy to other best practise such as COBIT and CMMI, it talks more about business benefits delivered by IT and reflects many new practises in our industry like outsourced service models and cultural change factors.

ITIL does not set in stone every action required on a day-to-day basis because this is something that will vary from organisation to organisation.

Being a framework and not a cook book that requires the exact ingredients, ITIL provides the an outline and models that specify the goals, general activities, inputs and outputs of the processes that can be incorporated and generally used in varying degrees of maturity in most organisations.

ITIL provides a proven method for planning and implementing common processes, roles and activities with appropriate reference to each other that defines the lines of communication between these processes.

More importantly ITIL provides a common language that is an essential ingredient in the successful implementation of any improvement programme.

For more information, please visit the Official ITIL® website http://www.itil-officialsite.com 

The ITIL V3 Publications consist of 5 core books and a number of complimentary publications: Service Strategy Service Design Service Transition Service Operation Continual Service Improvement Referred to as "The Living Library" it also includes "The Official Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle." All 6 publications are available for sale on this website with members receiving a 10% discount and free postage anywhere in Australia.

Geting to know the ITIL family

Core of Practice

This refers to the 6 publications mentioned above and for sale on this site.

Qualifications Scheme

Currently consists of 3 levels - Foundation course, ITIL Diploma in Service Management and Advanced Diploma. Practioners who have already completed the ITIL V2 versions will be eligible to complete bridging courses as they are released. For more information we suggest the ITIL Official Site.

Complimentary Portfolio

Being a living library complimentary publications specific to particular industry sectors, organisation types, operating models and technology architectures are constantly being released. itSMFA contacts members and online subscribers via a free regular email bulleting 4ward Thinking when these are released in Australia.

Courses & Examinations

itSMFA receives support from a selection of high quality trainers in Australia listed below. Clicking on the logo will take you through to thier website to view course details.

ITIL Web Support Services

Coming soon a new website www.itil-live-portal.com which will provide an interactive knowledge centre where users can access time with ITSM experts to discuss questions and issues or seek advice. The site will also include services like Interactive Service Management Model, Online Subscriber Services, Case Studies and the published Glossary of Terms and Definitions.

BS15000 – Code of Practice for IT Service Management

BSI published the Code of Practice for IT Service Management in 1998 (PD0005) and subsequently the British Standard (BS15000) was launched in November 2000. Both publications were based entirely on the refreshed ITIL guidelines, particularly focusing on Service Support and Service Delivery.

The publications from both the BSI and OGC are complementary sets and the two organisations work closely together and with itSMF to ensure harmony and consistency between them.

As a result of feedback from some early adopters, BS15000 was rewritten and relaunched in 2002.

The new version consists of two parts:

• BS 15000-1:2002 is the formal specification and defines the requirements for an organisation to deliver managed services of an acceptable quality for its customers. The scope includes: Requirements for a management system; Planning and implementing Service Management; Planning and implementing new or changed services; Service Delivery processes; Relationship processes; Resolution processes; Control processes; and Release processes.
• BS 15000-2:2003 is the Code of Practice and describes the best practices for Service Management processes within the scope of BS 15000-1. The code of Practice will be of particular use to organisations preparing to be audited against BS 15000-1 or planning service improvements.

The workbook has been updated to mirror this evolution and PD0005 has been republished as ITSM: A Managers Guide (sic).

The intention is that BS15000 will ultimately become an ISO standard. A formal certification scheme, with itSMF as the scheme owner, will be publicly available from July 2003 and there will be a number of supplementary publications for auditors and those preparing for an audit.

The aim of BS15000 is to "provide a common reference standard for any enterprise offering services to internal or external customers". Such a common language permits easy understanding of suppliers and products. More information about ITIL can be found on the OGC and about the BSI web sites.

AS8018 – Australian Standard for ICT Service Management.

On July 26, 2004 Standards Australia released AS8018 – Australian Standard for ICT Service Management which is simply the Australian equivalent of BS15000 (British Standard for IT Service Management.)