What is ITIL?

Information in organisations is critical and always has been.  However, due to the increase in scale of organisations; managing and organising information has become far more complex.  To handle the increase in volume and complexity of this information and the systems that manage it, standards and frameworks have been developed.  The aim of these frameworks is to provide consistency in an attempt to simplify processes and establish and share methods of ‘best practice’.  This topic will focus on the current dominant framework that exists in the domain of IT service management. 

 

 

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) was developed in the late 1980s by The Office of Government Commerce in conjunction with private sector organisations worldwide.  It provides guidance on the planning, delivery and management of quality IT services to support organisational needs.  ITIL provides a comprehensive, consistent and coherent set of processes for IT management and is underpinned by formal qualifications and an associated training scheme.  ITIL is still owned by the UK government.

ITIL v3 was released in May 2007 and is bases around 5 key areas that translate into 5 five books: 

1. Service Strategy 
2. Service Design 
3. Service Transition 
4. Service Operation 
5. Continual Service Improvement

ITIL v3 is recognised as an international standard ISO/IEC20000.