The 5 ITIL Processes And Their Definitions

Information Technology Infrastructure Library or ITIL for short has 5 stages in its lifecycle:

• Service Strategy
• Service Design
• Service Transition
• Service Operation
• Continual Service Improvement

These stages are linked with each other and cover the Free ITIL Foundation Overview course. They are necessary to form a perfect ITIL Service Management plan. Every stage covers a different part of the content. Basic ITSM training provides an overview of all these stages to the individual seeking to improve their skill in the following field. For the ITIL processes to work properly, it should have the accompanying content. If this is not done, the whole process and all the other stages will collapse.

IT service managers these days are required to be knowledgeable about all the ITIL processes and the service owner should be able to implement all these stages effectively because the owner will ultimately be taking the helm of the service and its lifecycle. Roles and responsibilities when handling ITIL service management are covered in ITIL foundation certification courses available to all IT service management personnel.

What Does ITIL Do For You?

A lot of organizations these days consider processes, capabilities, people and their technology to be not physical but strategic assets. These assets make the organization and give it the identity it is known by in the world. These capabilities, resources and products can help create an advantage in the market if the effective alignment is done.

This is where ITIL plays a majorly important role. The world has dubbed ITIL as the most widely accepted approach to IT service management. Individuals and organizations can conclude what types of changes are required by the organization to transform and grow into a better version of them.

The main goal that ITIL seeks to achieve is improvement in how IT delivers and supports various valued services from businesses. It’s not just about technology or process management, it also aims on improving people by improving their capabilities, processes and technology. ITIL improves the value of an organization, by improvement in resources, capabilities for employees and customers.

ITIL Process 1: Service Strategy

This is the core stage of the ITIL lifecycle, without the organization having a solid IT strategy to go along with the business strategies that an organization follows, the service is less likely to succeed. This process is the pillar on which the rest of the processes stand as it also provides the other stages with a direction to follow.

The service strategy is the initial link that connects business strategies with IT strategies of an organization. This stage further includes return on investment, financial management, demand management process and service portfolio management.

ITIL Process 2: Service Design

The Service Design stage in the process is the stage where both planning and designing of IT strategies takes place. To introduce new services, they are planned and designed in this stage in order to build a greater vision for the organization. If an IT service is well designed, it should have no trouble transitioning into a love environment.

This stage mainly includes:

• Service level management
• Service Catalog Management
• Capacity Management
• Service continuity management
• Availability management
• Supplier management processes
• Information security management

It service manager of an organization must be familiar with all of these to facilitate the organization in different endeavors.

ITIL Process 3: Service Transition

This is the stage where previously designed strategies are built, tested, verified and implemented after which they are sent to operations. This stage includes:

• Planning and support
• Service assets and configuration management
• Change management
• Service validation
• Release and deployment management
• Testing evaluation
• Knowledge management processes

ITIL Process 4: Service Operation

This is the process where your designed services come to life as they are tested and implemented in live environments. This is the now or never phase for the service as customers start to use and the service and give feedback about it. This stage includes:

• Incident management
• Event management
• Problem management
• Request fulfillment
• Access incident management

ITIL Process 5: Continual Service Improvement

This is where all the previous stages come together. This process in turn acts as a protective layer for the ITIL process as this process is the sole analyzer of improvements that can be made to enhance customer experience and employee understanding of how the customer would prefer the service to work.

With so many things that an organization can take advantage of with ITIL, ITSM training for individuals seeking employment with them has become necessary. There are numerous portals allowing for individuals to learn ITSM and get ahead in the IT world.