ITIL Service Manager Course

The path to earning certification is an intense 13 day, in course, learning experience – with expected interim self study.  What this course teaches is an intensely practical and pragmatic approach to service improvement within a framework that encompasses every IT activity and the relationship of those activities in support of the customer’s business processes.

All of the processes must be considered for their contribution to a Continuous Service Improvement Program (CSIP). Experience has taught that concentrating on single processes or, for example, on Service Support rather than Service Delivery, does not bring true success as it minimizes the strong interdependencies between all of the processes.

The entire course is based on a comprehensive case study which has been carefully constructed to represent a typical IT services organization and its customers with all the expected strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Throughout the course, including the time that delegates spend on practical group exercises and individual practice exam questions, attendees are encouraged to place themselves inside the case study organization and adopt the managerial role under discussion. In this way, they not only get a strong sense of what it is like to be a process manager but are able to draw on all their previous experience and contribute positively to the discussions and learning.

In preparation for the exam, delegates will answer ten (10) case study-based practice questions during the course. These are marked and commented on to Examination Board standards. Delegates are also supplied with detailed advice on how best to analyze exam questions and structure the answers. The inability to do this well is a major contributor to exam failures. A further twenty (20) questions are supplied and delegates are encouraged to attempt as many of these as possible prior to taking their exam. If requested to do so, the instructors will also mark and comment on these.

This is not a 9 to 5 course. Instructors are available throughout the course duration for questions and discussion.  This is a combo course of MQ462, MQ463, and MQ464; it is recommended that all three classes are taught contiguously. One week on, one week off, one week on, one week off, then the 3 day exam prep is 1 day of review and 2 days of exams. There is a ton of information in these classes and for 12 people it would require 2 instructors for 11 days and then 2 proctors for the two different exams.

Project Management Institute (PMI ®) Professional Development Units:
You will earn 82 contact hours or PDUs upon completion of this course.

This course is designed for those who are pursuing the Service Manager Certification.

This can be divided into pre- and post- course commitment. Before the course, employers will have demonstrated their support for the training, emphasizing its necessity if the organization is to achieve its IT Service Management objectives. In part, employing organizations should look to the training companies to help set their own expectations. Post-course commitment is described below but it is helpful if an indication of this is given before the participant sets of to study for their professional examination.

Understanding
Employers should understand the effort, and therefore the time, required to successfully complete the training courses. Although it will rarely be possible for participants to divorce themselves entirely from day-to-day workplace activities while training and revision is taking place, employers should be prepared to temper their demands for the participant’s involvement in such matters.

Willingness
When a participant returns from training, employers should be prepared to listen to what the participant has learned, to consider ideas for improvement brought back from the training course and allow the participant opportunity to use the newly acquired knowledge and skills.

Attitude
Candidates carry the main responsibility for achieving success in their IT Service Management examination. That may seem an obvious statement to make but, unfortunately, experience shows that some participants make precious little effort to concentrate either on their training or their examination preparation. Pass rates for Foundation exams are high but those for Manager’s exams far less so. However, neither of those situations affects the value to be gained from good education or the need for the wholehearted attendance and involvement of the participant.

Candidates should therefore be willing to learn from the experience of others; to listen as well as to speak. They should have an open mind and be prepared to look beyond their own organization. They will also be greatly helped if they understand, and believe two basic truths:

> The best practices described in ITIL® work
> There is a better way for their organization to manage IT services

The Employer
While it is true candidates carry the main responsibility for achieving success in their IT Service Management examinations, employers can make a considerable difference to examination success rates - by the IT Service Management and personal commitment they demonstrate to participants, by their understanding of the nature of the training courses and by their willingness to allow participants the time needed to absorb the training course material.

Management Certificate courses demand a good deal from the participants, both time and dedication. It is hard work, but candidates who come into the course with a positive attitude, will find this to be an immensely enjoyable educational experience.  Candidates must:

> Be prepared to participate in all aspects of the course, especially in the practical Case Study based exercises
> Read the ITIL® Service Support and Service Delivery books
> Expect to spend at least double the course time in private study and revision

The ITIL® Service Manager Course in a non-traditional format, focusing on the CSIP, which has the learner thinking in terms of a Lifecycle.  This cyclical design helps to prepare learners for the Version 3 approach to ITIL®.
All material taught in preparation for an examination is formally accredited by all three of the Examination Boards and includes:

> A comprehensive, realistic case study
> Tutorials, discussions and practical assignments
> Practice exam questions marked and commented on, during class, to Examination Board standards
> Activities directed at increasing practical knowledge and experience

Generally, the Examination Boards will require at least five (5) years IT experience of which at least two must have been in a management capacity. These are serious considerations and, although there are exceptions, the greatest benefit from training is obtained when there is sufficient relevant experience. IT Service Manager training should achieve a growth in maturity of understanding that can only come from informed discussion with experienced instructors and other participants. The courses do not require a broad experience, but sufficient maturity to understand that what is being taught is not theory but representative of the practical experiences of the very best IT Service Management organizations from around the world over the past fifteen years or so.

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