IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION PRACTICE QUESTIONSFor ITIL® Foundation Exam candidates Second edition

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IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION PRACTICE QUESTIONSFor ITIL® Foundation Exam candidates Second editionSteve Mann (Editor), Tony Gannon, Nigel Mear

© 2012 British Informatics Society LimitedFirst edition published in 2009

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CONTENTS

Authors vii Introduction ix

SECTION 1: EXAMINATION AND QUESTION TYPES 1

1 SERVICE MANAGEMENT EXAMINATION 3 The basics of the examination 3

2 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 4 Anatomy of a multiple-choice question 4 Types of multiple-choice question 5 Answers 10

SECTION 2: FOUNDATION PRACTICE QUESTIONS 11

3 SERVICE MANAGEMENT AS A PRACTICE 13 Answers 16

4 THE SERVICE LIFECYCLE 17 Answers 21

5 SERVICE STRATEGY 23 Answers 29

6 SERVICE DESIGN 32 Answers 42

7 SERVICE TRANSITION 46 Answers 56

8 SERVICE OPERATION 60 Answers 67

9 FUNCTIONS 70 Answers 72

10 CONTINUAL SERVICE IMPROVEMENT 73 Answers 77

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CONTENTS

11 PROCESS 79 Answers 81

12 TECHNOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE 82 Answers 84

13 SAMPLE QUESTIONS FROM ACROSS THE LIFECYCLE 85 Answers 91

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AUTHORS

Steve Mann has spent over 30 years in IT service management roles. His experience includes working for ICL at the EU in Luxembourg and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in the UAE. He first became acquainted with, and introduced, ITIL concepts at the Leeds & Holbeck Building Society. He then moved into training and consultancy roles creating SM2 Ltd to offer training, consultancy, operational and quality (ISO20000) audits in all areas of service man-agement. Steve offers ISEB/BCS accredited ITIL training and service management consultancy helping organisations gain value from their investment in service management. Steve shares his time between Brussels and the UK and is an active member of itSMF Belgium.

Tony Gannon became active in the service management industry in the early 1990s following a career in HM Forces. Tony has previously contributed to several ITSM publications, is a regular at service management events and was previously itSMF Northern Regional Chair. He has helped organisations to implement, bet-ter understand, or improve their service management capability for over 20 years. Tony understands fully, the sometimes painful process of transformational change and how to draw upon best practice to implement a professional service manage-ment practice. He is renowned for adopting a very pragmatic approach to interpret-ing ITIL guidance and transforming this into workable solutions that offer tangible business value.

Nigel Mear has worked in service management for over thirty years, gaining extensive practical experience within a number of major organisations including the BBC, IBM, BT, and C&W. He has always taken a keen interest in performance, learning and development and is an accomplished service improvement consult-ant, ITIL trainer and business coach working with teams and individuals at all levels. Nigel is director of Solid Air Consultancy Ltd, providing specialist training, coaching and consultancy for service management teams and organisations. He is an active member of BCS, European Mentoring & Coaching Council, itSMF and Association for Coaching.

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INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this book is to help students understand how to address multiple-choice examination questions related to IT service management at Foundation level.

The book covers examination question types, hints and tips for success, and examples of typical questions in each of the service management lifecycle phases.

It is assumed that the reader will have either attended a Foundation course, fol-lowed a self-study approach and/or have relevant service management experience. This book is neither a mini-guide to service management nor a ‘short course’.

The book presents service management questions as they would be encountered in an ITIL Service Management Foundation Examination. It is an excellent way of revising before an examination because it covers the learning areas needed to be understood and presents them as they will be seen in an examination.

For ease of use, this book is structured around the service lifecycle.

A companion book, IT Service Management – A Guide for ITIL® Foundation Exam Candidates, which provides students with a study guide covering the key topics relevant to these questions, is available from BCS.

Throughout the book, the portions of text indicated by the use of quotation marks and a † symbol have been taken directly from The Cabinet Office ITIL Framework publications:Service Strategy. ISBN: 9780113313044Service Design. ISBN: 9780113313051Service Transition. ISBN: 9780113313068Service Operation. ISBN: 9780113313075Continual Service Improvement. ISBN: 9780113313082

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SECTION 1: EXAMINATION AND QUESTION TYPES

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1 SERVICE MANAGEMENT EXAMINATION

It is highly recommended that students attend an accredited training course before attempting the ITIL Foundation Examination. Training providers will make arrangements for students to sit the examination, typically at the end of the three-day course. Attending a course is the best way for you to be prepared for your examination, and to gain a fuller comprehension of service management.

The Official Accreditor has the responsibility of setting the syllabus for the ITIL Foundation Examination. The syllabus is liable to updates from time to time, so students should ensure they are aware of the current version. The Official Accreditor is appointed by The Cabinet Office, who is responsible for ITIL. At the time of writing the Official Accreditor is the APMGroup.

Examinations are provided by accredited Examination Institutes (EIs), such as the Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB), which is part of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

THE BASICS OF THE EXAMINATION

•An ITIL service management examination consists of 40 multiple-choice questions.

• English-speaking students have 60 minutes to complete the paper.

•The pass mark is 65% (26/40).

•There are always four ‘response alternatives’: A, B, C, D.

•Only one answer is correct per question.

• No marks are deducted if a wrong answer is given (i.e. there is no ‘negative marking’).

The examination papers are designed to cover the whole topic of service management in proportion to the prescribed weightings in the official syllabus. This ensures there will be a wide spread of questions on each paper and that the papers will be well balanced.

The official ITIL Foundation syllabus can be found on the BCS/ISEB website.

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