Chartered IT Professional (CITP) Service Management and Operations Syllabus

Service Management and Operations syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Service Management and Operations in Chartered IT Professional (CITP), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   IT Service Management Frameworks

   3 topics

   • ITIL Service Value System
     • Service value chain and guiding principles
     • Continual improvement
     • Practices and value co-creation
   • Service Strategy and Design
     • Service portfolio and catalogue
     • Service-level management and SLAs
     • Capacity and availability management
   • Service Transition
     • Change enablement and release management
     • Configuration management and CMDB
2. 2

   Service Operations

   3 topics

   • Incident and Problem Management
     • Incident lifecycle and prioritisation
     • Root cause analysis and known errors
   • Request Fulfilment and Service Desk
     • Self-service and automation
     • Support tiering and escalation
   • Monitoring and Event Management
     • Observability and telemetry
     • Alerting and proactive operations
3. 3

   Operational Excellence and Automation

   3 topics

   • Site Reliability and DevOps Operations
     • Error budgets and reliability targets
     • Infrastructure as code
   • Performance and Capacity Optimisation
     • Demand and capacity planning
     • Cost and performance tuning
   • Continual Service Improvement
     • Metrics, KPIs and CSI register
     • Feedback loops and maturity

Service Management and Operations flashcards for Chartered IT Professional (CITP)

23 of 50 cards from the Service Management and Operations deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the four dimensions of service management in ITIL 4?

   1) Organizations and people; 2) Information and technology; 3) Partners and suppliers; 4) Value streams and processes. All four must be considered to deliver value holistically.

2. Define the ITIL 4 Service Value System (SVS).

   The SVS describes how all components and activities of an organization work together as a system to enable value creation. Its components are: guiding principles, governance, the service value chain, practices, and continual improvement.

3. What are the six activities of the ITIL 4 Service Value Chain?

   Plan, Improve, Engage, Design & Transition, Obtain/Build, and Deliver & Support. These combine in different sequences to form value streams.

4. List the seven ITIL 4 guiding principles.

   1) Focus on value; 2) Start where you are; 3) Progress iteratively with feedback; 4) Collaborate and promote visibility; 5) Think and work holistically; 6) Keep it simple and practical; 7) Optimize and automate.

5. In ITIL, how is 'value' co-created and what equation expresses its perception?

   Value is co-created by the service provider and consumer through service relationships. It is perceived as a balance of outcomes, costs, and risks: roughly $\text{Value} \approx \frac{\text{Outcomes achieved}}{\text{Costs} + \text{Risks}}$, weighed against utility and warranty.

6. Distinguish utility and warranty in ITIL service value.

   Utility is 'fitness for purpose' (what the service does, the functionality). Warranty is 'fitness for use' (assurance the service meets agreed requirements: availability, capacity, continuity, security). Both are required to create value.

7. What is a 'service' in ITIL 4 terms?

   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.

8. Define an 'outcome' versus an 'output' in ITIL.

   An output is a tangible or intangible deliverable of an activity. An outcome is a result for a stakeholder enabled by one or more outputs — the actual benefit the customer experiences.

9. What are the five aspects of service design (ITIL Service Design)?

   1) Service solutions; 2) Management information systems and tools (the service portfolio); 3) Technology and management architectures; 4) Processes; 5) Measurement methods and metrics.

10. What are the 'Four Ps' of service design?

    People, Processes, Products (technology/tools), and Partners (suppliers). All four must be considered for a holistic design.

11. In Service Strategy, name the 'Four Ps of Strategy' (Mintzberg).

    Perspective (vision/direction), Position (how the provider competes), Plan (how to achieve the vision), and Pattern (consistent way of doing things).

12. What is a Service Level Agreement (SLA) versus an OLA and an Underpinning Contract (UC)?

    SLA: agreement between provider and customer on service targets. OLA: internal agreement between provider and another internal team. UC: contract between the provider and an external third-party supplier supporting the SLA.

13. Define a SLA 'service-based', 'customer-based', and 'multi-level' structure.

    Service-based: one SLA covers one service for all customers. Customer-based: one SLA covers all services for one customer. Multi-level: layered (corporate, customer, service) to reduce duplication.

14. What is the purpose of the Service Transition stage in ITIL?

    To ensure that new, changed, or retired services meet the expectations of the business as documented in service strategy and design — building and deploying services into production safely and on time.

15. Define a Change in ITIL change enablement (change management).

    The addition, modification, or removal of anything that could have a direct or indirect effect on services. The practice's purpose is to maximize successful changes by ensuring risks are assessed and changes authorized.

16. What are the three change types in ITIL change enablement?

    1) Standard change (pre-authorized, low risk, follows a procedure); 2) Normal change (assessed/authorized via a defined process, may need a CAB); 3) Emergency change (must be implemented urgently, e.g. to fix a major incident).

17. What is the CAB and the ECAB in change management?

    CAB (Change Advisory Board) supports authorization and assists in assessment/prioritization of normal changes. ECAB (Emergency CAB) is a smaller subset convened to authorize emergency changes quickly.

18. Define the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and a Configuration Item (CI).

    A CI is any component that needs to be managed to deliver a service. The CMDB stores configuration records for CIs and their relationships; multiple CMDBs may be federated into a Configuration Management System (CMS).

19. What is a Definitive Media Library (DML)?

    A secure store in which the definitive and authorized versions of all software CIs (and associated documentation/licenses) are kept. The DML is the source for releases.

20. Define an Incident in ITIL.

    An unplanned interruption to a service, or reduction in the quality of a service. Incident management aims to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible to minimize business impact.

21. Define a Problem and a Known Error in ITIL.

    A Problem is a cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents. A Known Error is a problem that has been analysed and not resolved — its root cause and (often) a workaround are documented in the Known Error Database (KEDB).

22. Contrast Incident Management and Problem Management goals.

    Incident management restores service quickly (reactive, speed-focused, may use workarounds). Problem management identifies and eliminates root causes to prevent recurrence (reactive and proactive, analysis-focused).

23. How is incident Priority typically derived?

    Priority = function of Impact and Urgency, usually via a matrix. Impact = size of effect on the business; Urgency = how quickly resolution is needed. $\text{Priority} = f(\text{Impact}, \text{Urgency})$.

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