Definitions and pro-tips for the ITIL4-Foundation certification.
A component of a service offering where ownership is not transferred to the consumer, but access is granted or licensed under agreed terms and conditions.
The use of technology to perform a step or series of steps correctly and consistently with limited or no human intervention.
A security principle that ensures information and services are accessible and usable by authorized entities when required.
The practice of ensuring that risks are properly assessed, authorizing changes to proceed, and managing a change schedule in order to maximize the number of successful service and product changes.
The guiding principle that recommends working together across boundaries and making work, progress, and results transparent.
The act of analyzing a practice, process, or service to identify and eliminate non-value-adding steps or components.
A security principle that ensures information is only disclosed to authorized individuals, entities, or processes.
The practice of aligning an organization's practices and services with changing business needs through the ongoing improvement of products, services, and practices, or any element involved in the management of products and services.
A database or structured document used to track and manage improvement ideas from identification through to final action.
An approach where changes that pass automated tests are deployed to production automatically.
The continuous process of managing contracts from negotiation and execution through to performance monitoring, modification, and eventual termination.
The amount of money spent on a specific activity or resource.
The objective evaluation of existing services, processes, people, and tools to understand their baseline performance before initiating change.
The role that defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption.
The sum of all the interactions a customer has with a service provider and its products across the entire customer journey.
The value chain activity that ensures services are delivered and supported according to agreed specifications and stakeholders' expectations.
The practice of moving new or changed hardware, software, documentation, processes, or any other component to live environments.
The value chain activity that ensures products and services continually meet stakeholder expectations for quality, costs, and time to market.
Going to the source or the workplace to witness activities and processes firsthand rather than relying on second-hand reports or metrics.
A change that must be introduced as soon as possible, for example, to resolve an incident or implement a security patch.
The value chain activity that provides a good understanding of stakeholder needs, transparency, and continual engagement and good relationships with all stakeholders.
Any change of state that has significance for the management of a service or other configuration item (CI).
A technique whereby the outputs of one part of a system are used as inputs to the same part of the system.
The guiding principle that directs the organization to ensure that everything it does links back, directly or indirectly, to value for itself, its customers, and other stakeholders.
The four perspectives that are critical to the effective and efficient facilitation of value for customers and other stakeholders in the form of products and services.
A component of a service offering intended to be transferred from the service provider to the consumer, with ownership and responsibility also transferred.
The involvement of human effort in a process or service, particularly where decision-making, empathy, or complex problem-solving is required.
The value chain activity that ensures continual improvement of products, services, and practices across all value chain activities and the four dimensions of service management.
An unplanned interruption to a service or reduction in the quality of a service.
The practice of minimizing the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible.
One of the four dimensions of service management; it includes the information and knowledge necessary for the management of services, as well as the technologies required.
The practice of protecting an organization by understanding and managing risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.
A security principle that ensures information is accurate, complete, and protected against unauthorized modification.
Any financially valuable component that can contribute to the delivery of an IT product or service.
The practice of planning and managing the full lifecycle of all IT assets, to help the organization maximize value, control costs, manage risks, and support decision-making.
A single development cycle or phase within a larger project, designed to deliver a specific, manageable portion of the overall value.
The guiding principle that recommends eliminating any process, service, action, or metric that does not provide value or produce a useful outcome.
A problem that has been analyzed but has not been resolved.
A product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and to provide feedback for future product development.
The practice of systematically observing services and service components, and recording and reporting selected changes of state identified as events.
A change that needs to be scheduled, assessed, and authorized following a process.
The value chain activity that ensures service components are available when and where they are needed, and meet agreed specifications.
The inputs to the Service Value System; opportunities represent options or possibilities to add value, while demand is the need or desire for products and services among internal and external consumers.
The act of making a system, design, or decision as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible within given constraints.
The guiding principle that recommends maximizing the value of the work carried out by human and technical resources.
A person or a group of people that has its own functions with responsibilities, authorities, and relationships to achieve its objectives.
The shared values and attitudes of an organization, which is a critical element of the Organizations and People dimension.
One of the four dimensions of service management; it ensures that the way an organization is structured and managed, as well as its roles, responsibilities, and systems of authority and communication, is well defined and supports its overall strategy and operating model.
A result for a stakeholder enabled by one or more outputs.
A tangible or intangible deliverable of an activity.
One of the four dimensions of service management; it encompasses the relationships an organization has with other organizations that are involved in the design, development, deployment, delivery, support, and/or continual improvement of services.
External factors that constrain or influence the four dimensions of service management: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental.
The value chain activity that ensures a shared understanding of the vision, current status, and improvement direction for all four dimensions and all products and services.
A cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents.
The practice of reducing the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying actual and potential causes of incidents, and managing workarounds and known errors.
A set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs.
A configuration of an organization's resources designed to offer value for a consumer.
The guiding principle that recommends organizing work into smaller, manageable sections that can be executed and completed in a timely manner.
The practice of establishing and nurturing the links between the organization and its stakeholders at strategic and tactical levels.
A version of a service or other configuration item, or a collection of configuration items, that is made available for use.
The practice of making new and changed services and features available for use.
A possible event that could cause harm or loss, or make it more difficult to achieve objectives. Can also be defined as uncertainty of outcome, and can be used in the context of measuring the probability of positive outcomes as well as negative outcomes.
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.
Any actions performed by the service provider to address a consumer's needs as part of a service offering.
A generic role an organization takes on when it receives services, encompassing the specific roles of customer, user, and sponsor.
Activities performed by an organization to consume services, including the management of the consumer's resources needed to use the service.
The practice of capturing demand for incident resolution and service requests. It should also be the entry point and single point of contact for the service provider with all of its users.
A documented agreement between a service provider and a customer that identifies both services required and the expected level of service.
The practice of setting clear business-based targets for service performance, so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed, monitored, and managed against these targets.
A set of specialized organizational capabilities for enabling value for customers in the form of services.
A formal description of one or more services, designed to address the needs of a target consumer group. A service offering may include goods, access to resources, and service actions.
A role performed by an organization in a service relationship to provide services to consumers.
Activities performed by an organization to provide services, including management of the provider's resources, configured to deliver the service.
Joint activities performed by a service provider and a service consumer to ensure continual value co-creation based on agreed and available service offerings.
An operating model that outlines the key activities required to respond to demand and facilitate value realization through the creation and management of products and services.
A model representing how all the components and activities of an organization work together to facilitate value creation.
A mindset where certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information or knowledge with other individuals in the same company.
A comprehensive plan that determines how an organization will procure the goods and services it needs to operate, balancing internal capabilities with external providers.
The role that authorizes budget for service consumption.
A low-risk, pre-authorized change that is well understood and fully documented, and can be implemented without needing additional authorization.
The guiding principle that advises avoiding starting from scratch and building something new without considering what is already available to be leveraged.
The practice of ensuring that the organization's suppliers and their performances are managed appropriately to support the seamless provision of quality products and services.
The practice of understanding how different parts of a system interact and influence one another as a whole.
The guiding principle that recommends considering all aspects of an organization and treating services as part of a complex, interconnected system.
The role that uses services.
The functionality offered by a product or service to meet a particular need. Utility can be summarized as 'what the service does'.
The perceived benefits, usefulness, and importance of something.
The active collaboration between a service provider and service consumer to ensure the service creates value for both parties.
A series of steps an organization undertakes to create and deliver products and services to consumers.
One of the four dimensions of service management; it defines the activities, workflows, controls, and procedures needed to achieve agreed objectives.
Assurance that a product or service will meet agreed requirements. Warranty can be summarized as 'how the service performs'.
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