Free Practice Questions for ITIL ITIL-4-Foundation Exam

It is important to understand the difference in these terms not just for clarity, but because outputs are much easier to measure than outcomes.

Outputs are nearly always quantitative, with data available to show whether these have been delivered. Outputs are easy to report on and to validate. There is no grey area.

Outcomes are more challenging to verify because they are both qualitative and quantitative. Whether your outcomes have been achieved will rely, to a great extent, on the perception of the people who receive the service. Perceptions are not easy to measure or report on, but it is essential you find a way to do so.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/outcomes-vs-outputs/

The ‘start where you are’ guiding principle advises organizations to observe and understand the current state of affairs before initiating any improvement or change1. This principle also recommends using source data, involving people who know the service, and applying risk management when considering new processes2. However, this principle does not suggest discarding existing processes before assessing their usefulness, as this would be wasteful and potentially harmful3. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 7; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 26; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Start Where You Are, page 9.

Costs are the amount of money spent on a specific activity or resource. From the service consumer’s perspective, there are two types of cost involved in service relationships:

Costs removed from the consumer by the service (a part of the value proposition). For example, for a car sharing service, the customer does not pay for the actual cost of purchasing the car.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-key-concepts-service-management/

Nonrepudiation provides an assurance that the sender of data is provided with proof of delivery and the recipient is provided with proof of the sender's identity, so neither can later deny having processed the data. Further, this concept can apply to any activity, not just the sending and receiving of data; in a more general sense, it is a mechanism to prove that an activity was performed and by whom. Nonrepudiation is typically comprised of authentication, auditing/logging, and cryptography services.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/nonrepudiation

An outcome is a result for a stakeholder enabled by one or more outputs1. Outputs are tangible or intangible deliverables of an activity1. For example, a service provider may produce a report (output) that helps a customer make a decision (outcome)2. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 3; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 13.

The incident management practice aims to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible1. A complex or major incident is an incident that has a significant impact or urgency for the business and requires a high level of coordination and resources to resolve2. This may require a temporary team to work together, such as a major incident team or a swarming team3. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 14; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 32; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Incident Management, page 8.

The second step is to conduct an objective current-state assessment of existing services and service management practices. This should include consideration of the users’ perception of the value being received, along with a review of people’s competencies and skills, the processes and procedures involved, the capabilities of the available technological solutions and the prevailing organizational culture. The success of an improvement initiative depends on a clear and accurate understanding of the starting point and the required impact of the initiative.

For example, an organization can measure the current net promoter score (NPS) from a customer satisfaction survey, conduct a benchmark survey against its competitors or review findings of operational statistics or audit reports to understand its current state. If this step is skipped, the current state will not be understood and there will not be an objective baseline measurement against which improvement can be measured.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-continual-improvement/

Think and work holistically

No service, practice, process, department, or supplier stands alone. The outputs that the organization delivers to itself, its customers, and other stakeholders will suffer unless it works in an integrated way to handle its activities as a whole, rather than as separate parts.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/#:~:text=5.,rather%20than%20as%20separate%20parts .

A service level agreement (SLA) is a documented agreement between a service provider and a customer that identifies both services required and the expected level of service1. A necessity to a successful SLA is that the language and terms used in the SLA should be commonly understood by all parties, to avoid ambiguity, confusion, and disputes2. The other statements are not true because:

Base the SLA on system-based metrics that are useful to the service provider: The SLA should be based on customer-based metrics that are meaningful to the customer and reflect the value of the service2.

In order to promote consistent service, they should be carried forward, unchanged, from one year to the next: The SLA should be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect changing business needs, customer expectations, and service performance2.

Vague targets, such as those related to user experience should be avoided: The SLA should include both quantitative and qualitative targets, such as those related to user experience, satisfaction, and perception, as well as availability, reliability, and security2. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 16; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 37; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Service Level Management, page 8.

The change enablement practice maximizes the number of successful service and product changes by ensuring that risks have been properly assessed, authorized, and managed within a schedule1. Change authorization is the activity of verifying that a proposed change is desirable, viable, and achievable before committing to its implementation2. The change type (standard, normal, or emergency) and model (a predefined approach for handling a specific type of change) is the basis for assigning the change authority (the role that can authorize a change)2. The other statements are incorrect because:

A standard change is a low-risk, pre-authorized change that follows an agreed procedure and does not require authorization at the point of implementation2.

An emergency change is a high-priority change that must be implemented as soon as possible to resolve an incident or implement a security patch2. An emergency change must be authorized by an emergency change authority (ECA), which is usually a subset of the normal change authority (CAB)2.

Ensuring that changes are authorized before their deployment is done by the change enabler (the role that coordinates all aspects of a change)2. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 16; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 39; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Change Enablement, page 7.

Service desks provide a variety of channels for access including:

Phone calls, which can include specialized technology, such as interactive voice response (IVR), conference calls, voice recognition, and others.

Service portals and mobile applications, supported by service and request catalogues, and knowledge bases.

Chat, through live chat and chatbots.

Email for logging and updating, and for follow-up surveys and confirmations.

Walk-in service desk (which are becoming more prevalent in some sectors, such as higher education, where there are high peaks of activity that demand physical presence).,

Text and social media messaging, which are useful for notifications in case of major incidents and for contacting specific stakeholder groups, but can also be used to allow users to request support.

Public and corporate social media and discussion forums for contacting the service provider and for peer-to-peer support.

https://www.bmc.co m/blogs/itil-service-desk/

The incident management practice aims to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible1. A major incident is an incident that has a significant impact or urgency for the business and requires a high level of coordination and resources to resolve2. The most likely way of resolving major incidents is by forming a temporary team working together to identify a resolution, such as a major incident team or a swarming team3. The other statements are not true because:

Users establishing a resolution using self-help: Self-help is an option for users to resolve their own incidents with minimal or no assistance from the service provider, but it is not suitable for major incidents that require urgent and expert attention3.

The service desk identifying the cause and a resolution: The service desk is responsible for logging, categorizing, prioritizing, and escalating incidents, but it may not have the skills or authority to identify the cause and a resolution for major incidents that involve multiple teams or suppliers3.

A support team following detailed procedures for investigating the incident: A support team may follow detailed procedures for investigating the incident, but it may not be able to resolve major incidents that require cross-functional collaboration or escalation3. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 14; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 32; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Incident Management, page 8.