Chapter 1

Service Management as a Practice

THE FOLLOWING ITIL FOUNDATION EXAM TOPICS ARE COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:

• Describe the concept of best practices in the public domain
• Describe and explain why ITIL is successful
• Define and explain the concept of a service
• Define and explain the concept of internal and external customers
• Define and explain the concept of internal and external services
• Define and explain the concept of service management
• Define and explain the concept of IT service management
• Define and explain the concept of stakeholders in service management
• Define processes and functions
• Explain the process model and the characteristics of processes
• Describe the structure of the ITIL service lifecycle
• Generic concepts and definitions:
  • Service provider
  • Supplier
  • Types of services
  • Outcomes
  • Customers and users
• Understand how service automation assists with expediting service management processes

This chapter introduces the concept of service management and explores a number of key areas that enable the management of services in an operational environment. It also introduces the ITIL framework, which is a source of best practices in service management.

The ITIL framework consists of five publications, which detail the content of the service lifecycle. Each publication covers a lifecycle stage, and each lifecycle stage shows how processes are used to improve service management in an organization. In this chapter, you will explore the basic concepts of the ITIL framework and learn about the terminology used throughout the lifecycle.

This chapter contains a number of key terms that will be important for your understanding of the framework and that also frequently occur in examination questions.