ITIL 4 Foundation Summary. Focuses directly on the test and the information that ends up in the test. BL1 (direct learning) and BL2 (about knowing) also explains how you can prepare perfectly for the multiple choice test. I got a score of 98%.
1) Understand the key concepts of service management
1.1 Recall the definition of (BL1, 2 points)
Services = A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to
achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.
Utility = The functionality offered by a product or service to meet a particular need. Utility can be
summarized as ‘what the service does’ and can be used to determine whether a service is ‘fit for
purpose’. To have utility, a service must either support the performance of the consumer or remove
constraints from the consumer. Many services do both.
Warranty = Assurance that a product or service will meet agreed requirements. Warranty can be
summarized as ‘how the service performs’ and can be used to determine whether a service is ‘fit for
use’. Warranty often relates to service levels aligned with the needs of service consumers. This may
be based on a formal agreement, or it may be a marketing message or brand image. Warranty
typically addresses such areas as the availability of the service, its capacity, levels of security and
continuity. A service may be said to provide acceptable assurance, or ‘warranty’, if all defined and
agreed conditions are met.
Customer = The role that defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the
outcomes of service consumption.
User = The role that uses services.
Sponsor = The role that authorizes budget for service consumption
Service management = A set of specialized organizational capabilities for enabling value for
customers in the form of services.
1.2 Describe the key concepts of creating value with services (BL2, 2 points)
The key concepts of creating value with services:
A) Cost
From the service consumer’s perspective, there are two types of cost involved in service
relationships:
•costs removed from the consumer by the service (a part of the value proposition). This may include
costs of staff, technology, and other resources, which the consumer does not need to provide
•costs imposed on the consumer by the service (the costs of service consumption). The total cost of
consuming a service includes the price charged by the service provider (if applicable), plus other
costs such as staff training, costs of network utilization, procurement, etc. Some consumers describe
this as what they have to ‘invest’ to consume the service.
B) Value
There was a time when organizations self-identifying as ‘service providers’ saw their role as
delivering value to their customers in much the same way that a package is delivered to a building by
a delivery company. This view treated the relationship between the service provider and the service
consumer as mono-directional and distant. The provider delivers the service and the consumer
receives value; the consumer plays no role in the creation of value for themselves. This fails to take
into consideration the highly complex and interdependent service relationships that exist in reality.
,Increasingly, organizations recognize that value is co-created through an active collaboration
between providers and consumers, as well as other organizations that are part of the relevant service
relationships. Providers should no longer attempt to work in isolation to define what will be of value
to their customers and users, but actively seek to establish mutually beneficial, interactive
relationships with their consumers, empowering them to be creative collaborators in the service
value chain. Stakeholders across the service value chain contribute to the definition of requirements,
the design of service solutions and even to the service creation and/or provisioning itself.
C) Organization
Organizations vary in size and complexity, and in their relation to legal entities, from a single person
or a team to a complex network of legal entities united by common objectives, relationships, and
authorities.
As societies and economies evolve, the relationships between and within organizations become
more complex. Each organization depends on others in its operation and development. Organizations
may hold different roles, depending on the perspective under discussion. For example, an
organization that coordinates adventure vacations can fill the role of a service provider to a travel
agent when it sells a vacation, while simultaneously filling the role of service consumer when it
purchases airport transfers to add to their vacation packages.
When provisioning services, an organization takes on the role of the service provider. The provider
can be external to the consumer’s organization, or they can both be part of the same organization.
The key is that the organization in the provider role has a clear understanding of who its consumers
are in a given situation and who the other stakeholders are in the associated service relationships.
D) Outcome
E) Output
It is important to be clear about the difference between outputs and outcomes. For example, one
output of a wedding photography service may be an album in which selected photos are artfully
arranged. The outcome of the service, however, is the preservation of memories and the ability of
the couple and their family and friends to easily recall those memories by looking at the album.
F) Risk
As with costs, there are two types of risk that are of concern to service consumers:
•risks removed from a consumer by the service (part of the value proposition). These may include
failure of the consumer’s server hardware or lack of staff availability. In some cases, a service may
only reduce a consumer’s risks, but the consumer may determine that this reduction is sufficient to
support the value proposition
•risks imposed on a consumer by the service (risks of service consumption). An example of this
would be a service provider ceasing to trade, or experiencing a security breach.
The consumer contributes to the reduction of risk through:
•actively participating in the definition of the requirements of the service and the clarification of its
required outcomes
•clearly communicating the critical success factors (CSFs) and constraints that apply to the service
•ensuring the provider has access to the necessary resources of the consumer throughout the
service relationship.
, G) Utility
H) Warranty
Both utility and warranty are essential for a service to facilitate its desired outcomes and therefore
help create value. For example, a recreational theme park may offer many exciting rides designed to
deliver thrilling experiences for park visitors (utility), but if a significant number of the rides are
frequently unavailable due to mechanical difficulties, the park is not fulfilling the warranty (it is not
fit for use) and the consumers will not receive their expected value. Likewise, if the rides are always
up and running during advertised hours, but they do not have features that provide the levels of
excitement expected by visitors, the utility is not fulfilled, even though the warranty is sufficient.
Again, consumers would not receive the expected value.
1.3 Describe the key concepts of service relationships (BL2, 1 point)
A) Service offering
Service providers present their services to consumers in the form of service offerings, which describe
one or more services based on one or more products. Service offerings may include:
•goods to be supplied to a consumer (for example, a mobile phone). Goods are supposed to be
transferred from the provider to the consumer, with the consumer taking the responsibility for their
future use
•access to resources granted or licensed to a consumer under agreed terms and conditions (for
example, to the mobile network, or to the network storage). The resources remain under the
provider’s control and can be accessed by the consumer only during the agreed service consumption
period
•service actions performed to address a consumer’s needs (for example, user support). These
actions are performed by the service provider according to the agreement with the consumer.
B) Service relationship management
Service relationship management = Joint activities performed by a service provider and a service
consumer to ensure continual value co-creation based on agreed and available service offerings.
Service relationships are established between two or more organizations to co-create value. In a
service relationship, organizations will take on the roles of service providers or service consumers.
The two roles are not mutually exclusive, and organizations typically both provide and consume a
number of services at any given time.
When services are delivered by the provider, they create new resources for service consumers, or
modify their existing ones. For example:
•a training service improves the skills of the consumer’s employees
•a broadband service allows the consumer’s computers to communicate
•a car-hire service enables the consumer’s staff to visit clients
•a software development service creates a new application for the service consumer.
C) Service provision
Service provision = Activities performed by an organization to provide services. Service provision
includes:
•management of the provider’s resources, configured to deliver the service
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