Pleasant Ranch

In the summer of 2007, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) launched the new version of its best practice framework for Service Management – known as ITIL (R) V3 – and since then, has been busy putting its new qualifications scheme into place. The new top-level certification for the latest version is known as the ITIL Expert qualification.

It appears from figures recently published regarding the take-up of ITIL training however, that the new scheme may be already scuppered before it starts. The figures show a high demand for the V3 Foundation course, but almost no demand for the newer capabilities and lifecycle courses.

Perhaps the reason for this situation is the sheer number of courses needed to be taken to qualify as an ITIL Expert. Delegates now need to complete six or seven separate courses to qualify; which translates into between twenty-two to twenty-seven days of training. By contrast, the older V2 scheme leading to the Service Manager certificate only took thirteen days to complete.

The new scheme, with its existing three levels of training – and a future fourth level planned – may be good for examination institutes and training providers, but is it really what the market wants? Well, at present, people seem to be voting with their feet, so to speak, by simply not attending the intermediate courses.

While the V2 Service Manager qualification scheme remains open, it presents a more direct route to the V3 qualification; and that, I believe, is an important reason the V3 scheme is not yet working properly. Given a straight choice, people would rather pay less, take less examinations and get the qualification quicker after all.

So APMG really need to get their thinking-caps on to determine what can be done to rectify the situation. One thing that really needs to be considered soon is the shutting-down of the version 2 scheme. Thats what needs to happen as a matter of some urgency if the new scheme is to be taken more seriously by delegates and training providers alike.