ITSM Essentials

This 12-hour certification course provides IT practitioners the essential knowledge required to understand the IT service management system (SMS) and how its core activities support the management of the service lifecycle, including the planning, design, transition, delivery, and improvement of IT services. Based on ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018’s Service Management System (SMS), this course introduces the minimum critical activities of core service management processes such as Incident, Problem, Change Management, etc. No matter the ITSM operating model – ISO/IEC 20000-2018, ITIL, COBIT, etc. this course provides relevant and practical guidance.  

The learning objectives of ITSM Essentials include an understanding of: 

• The role of services and service management
• The impact of digital transformation on service management
• The components of a service management system (SMS)
• How to determine the scope of the SMS
• Leadership’s role and commitment to the SMS
• How to plan for and support the SMS
• Execution of the SMS, with a particular focus on:
  • incident management
  • problem management
  • change management
  • release and deployment management
  • service request management
  • service catalog management
  • asset management
  • configuration management
  • business relationship management
  • service level management

Certification: This course prepares candidates for the ITSM Essentials certification, issued by Professional Designations. Learners earn their ITSM Essentials certificate in IT Service Management by achieving a passing score (65%) on a 60 minute, 40 question examination.  

Professional Education Hours: Individuals attending this class will earn 16 professional education hours (e.g., PDUs, CPEs, CEUs) upon completion of this course. These professional education hours can be submitted to associations such as the Project Management Institute and ISACA, if applicable.

Course Introduction

Introduction to Service Management

• What is a service?
• What is service management?
• Assignment: Let’s explore a service
• The impact of digital transformation
• Related frameworks and standards
• The ISO/IEC 20000 standard

Establishing a Service Management System

• Interest parties
• Understanding needs, expectations, and context
• Exercise: Let’s explore requirements
• Determining scope

The Role of Leadership

• Leadership and commitment
• Establishing and communicating the service management policy
• Assigning roles, responsibilities, and authorities

SMS Planning Activities

• Addressing risks and opportunities
• Establishing objectives
• Exercise: Let’s explore objectives
• Creating, executing, and maintaining a service management plan

SMS Support Activities

• Allocating resources
• Ensuring competencies
• Exercise: Let’s explore competencies
• Awareness and communication activities
• Meeting documentation requirements
• Meeting knowledge requirements

Execution of the SMS

• Process planning and control activities
• Process objectives and minimum critical activities
  • Service catalog management
  • Asset management
  • Configuration management
  • Business relationship management
  • Service level management
  • Change management
  • Release and deployment management
  • Incident management
  • Service request management
  • Problem management
• Exercise: Let’s explore process interfaces and integrations
• Good practices for monitoring, measuring, analyzing, evaluating, and continually improving the SMS
• Summary
• Additional Sources of Information
• Exam Review
• Exam Taking Tips

Prospective learners should have...

• Complete pre-class reading assignment
• Familiarity with IT and IT services is recommended

ITSM Essentials training is for anyone involved in the internal or external delivery of IT services:

• Individuals at the start of their journey in service management
• ITSM managers and aspiring ITSM managers
• Learners who will benefit from learning the essentials of ITSM with a particular focus on the processes in SMS, such as; change, release, deployment, incident, problem and service request management
• Organizations interested in adopting internationally recognized and standardized best practices for ITSM - regardless of the operating model/framework being used (COBIT, ISO, ITIL, etc.)