Hurry for your ITIL V3 Expert certification
If you want an ITIL V3 Expert certification, hurry before the fast-track is gone. Reportedly an ITIL V2 Manager's certificate followed by a Bridge course is the fastest and (relatively) cheapest route to an ITIL V3 Expert certification. The great lumbering beast that is the ITIL V3 certification program just took one more plodding step towards cutting it off.
ITSM View calls it the
"fast-track" way to qualify as an ITIL v3 Expert
Now we hear from itSMFI that
The APM Group, which is responsible for accrediting the ITIL Qualification Scheme, has announced the completion of the ITIL intermediate qualifications. Candidates can now make their way to the ITIL Expert level upon successful completion of the intermediate modules.
Sharon Taylor, Chief Examiner, said: "The release of the ITIL Intermediate qualifications marks the completion of over a year of effort by the V3 Examiners..."
Watch the industry move quickly to try to close the ITIL V2 "fast-track" - or "back door" depending on your perspective. Now that the official path of many profitable V3 Intermediate modules is in place, progress via ITIL V2 will be discouraged.
The most effective ploy would be to shut down ITIL V2 Manager's certification altogether. Given that ITSM View reports in that same link that people are still taking more V2 Foundation than V3 Foundation, one expects some market resistance to withdrawing the V2 Manager's cert. But they could do it, and make everyone go via the V2 to V3 Foundation Bridge.
Another option would be to withdraw the V2 Manager's Bridge course for those who got their V2 Manager's cert after a certain date, but I can't see that getting off the ground either.
Third and most likely option is to beef up the duration and expense of the V2 Manager's Bridge course - in the name of improvement - to make both paths equally expensive.
Thoughts?
Made in New Zealand 
Comments
Withdrawal of V2?
Apparently OGC "are working with itSMFI to create an online survey to poll the International community about the withdrawal of V2 and the timing and scope of its withdrawal in relation to publications and qualifications."
However the statistics for January 2008-January 2009 show that V2 is still popular. No figures as to how the balance is changing as time goes on:
ITIL Version 2 Examinations Taken:
v2 Foundation
107850
v2 Practitioner
10850
v2 Service Managers
12000
ITIL Version 3 Examinations Taken:
v3 Foundation
130850
v3 Foundation Bridge
16600
v3 Managers Bridge
3400
you can't "withdraw" a guidance framework
OGC need to realise you can't "withdraw" a guidance framework.
Dumb vendors will go along with this because they see ITIL as a product, like a piece of software. the "version" numbering is most misleading in this regard.
Smart vendors will understand it is not, and they will continue to offer both flavours of ITIL so long as the market demands. From my new book Owning ITIL:
[The comment was from Michiel Croon]
I wonder if this has little to do with the simplicity of only having one version and a LOT to do with the fact that vested interests have more control over V3...
withdrawl of V2?
Surely the OGC wouldn't be withdrawing "the framework", they would be withdrawing "the certification scheme". You don't have to be certified to follow the framework. Ultimately OGC own the certification scheme and can withdraw it when they like. It doesn't make sense for them to support two accreditations for too long. The longer V2 accreditation survives the longer it will take for V3 to be commercially accepted, adopted and mature.
the framework will live on
Excellent point: they withdraw certification but the framework will live on. Possibly, they won't just be withdrawing the certification: they may also withdraw the books from sale.
I agree that retaining ITIL 2 holds up ITIL3, but WHAT IF THAT IS WHAT THE USERS WANT? Heaven forbid that the end users should get a say in what they are fed. ITIL3 is big and complex. It is a superset of V2. It asks organisations to stepmup to a higher mark. What if they don';t want to/ What oif they are not ready? What if some significant proportion of the market will NEVER be rwady for V3? What if it is so complex and "mature" that it only appeals to a smaller, more advanced, more sophisticated subset of the market than V2 did?
V3 completely lacks any sort of advice whatsoever on how to approach it, how to do it in phases, how to chunk it, how it relates to maturity models. Conventional wisdom is that every site is different and you can't describe an approach only an idealised end state. Until a few months ago the concventional wisdom was that you can't have an ITIL standard for products either. Now suddenly we do. Perhaps soon we will suddenly have an ITIL implementation approach (the meta-lifecycle as I call it) and a maturity model too.
Until we do, V3 is a big ask. If CAstle ITIL want the resistance to go away they should provide some accessibility pathways.
THREE versions, don't forget
When I want a good read, or some detailed advice, I still dip into the v1 books
6 months notice
APMG have promised that they will give 6 months notice before any Version 2 qualification is withdrawn, and so far they have not done that, so there is still time to start on this road. Even if you fil the exam(s), re-sits will be available for some time afterwards. A bigger issue is that hardly any of the large training companies are offering V2 any more, so you have to ask around. Having made the huge investment in developing all the new courses, they are determined to get their money back!
ISEB is planning to move to exams on demand rather than set public exam dates, as the numbers fall
However the take up of courses sees to be very low - the perfect storm of a credit crunch and a confusing, expensive new exam structure has drastically affected demand. Courses are being advertised, then offered at a discount, then often cancelled. The large number of exams available means that companies are getting 2 or 3 bookings per course. And this is BEFORE the word gets out about the exams themselves - subjective, bearing little relation to the syllabus etc. Once people start failing, despite following a course enthusiastically, they will be resistant to keep booking courses. I know many tutors that have studied hard, then failed the exam, re-taken it and passed, with no clue each time whether it has gone well or badly. Most people find that reading the books does not help in the exam (and having a deeper understanding, or any independent thought does not help either!). The mock exams are often quite different from the real thing, and often 2 or 3 of the possible answers are nearly identical, leaving one to cross out all the duplication, then ponder over the 2 or 3 words that are different.
As both a freelance, and a very small Accredited Training Organisation myself, I have seen requests for freelance tutors reduce by at least 90%, and face developing materials, passing the exam myself etc, only to be asked to give each one maybe once or twice a year. Undoubtedly there will be a thinning of the trainer herd this year
Liz Gallacher
Freelance Trainer and Consultant
V2 Service manager
right now we (itsm solutions) offer four options in this area
1. V2 Service Manager Boot Camp with exams combined with a V3 Service Manager Bridge online program with exam - $6995 all inclusive
2. Attend all the V3 Intermediat programs in the classroom with exams
3. Attend all the V3 Intermediate classes online (either in a classroom or remote) with exams
4. Do a mix of classroom and online programs with exams
The all online option is the least expensive not only from a travel point of view but also a program point of view. The next is the boot camp program.
In all cases we can provide exam services to the individual or groups taking this training