What is ITIL®? A comprehensive basic article

Imagine you could design IT services in such a way that they are more efficient, customer-oriented and cost-effective. This is exactly what ITIL® enables you to do! In this article, you will learn what ITIL® is, how it came about and why it is the leading framework for IT service management (ITSM) today.

You will learn about the objectives and standards of ITIL® and gain insights into the development up to the current and relevant version ITIL® 4, which focuses on collaboration, flexibility and innovation. You will also learn how the Service Value System and flexible practices can improve your day-to-day work.

After reading this article, you will have a comprehensive overview of ITIL® and will be able to familiarize yourself with further subtopics as required.

Want to learn more about ITIL® and how the framework can deliver real value to your daily work and your company? Then watch our on-demand webinar now, where you'll learn how to achieve greater efficiency, innovation, and customer satisfaction with ITIL®.

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ITIL®: Definition and objectives

[DEFINITION][ITIL®][ITIL® (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a globally recognized framework for ITSM. It provides a structured approach to managing IT services efficiently and ensuring that they are optimally aligned with the needs of the organization and its customers. Through best practices, ITIL® helps organizations standardize processes, make better use of resources and ensure a higher quality of service].

The central aim of ITIL® is to support organizations in continuously improving their IT services and optimally meeting business requirements. The focus is on the following aspects:

• Increase service quality: ITIL® provides best practices to ensure that IT services meet expected standards and deliver consistent, reliable performance.

• Increase efficiency: The introduction of clearly defined and standardized processes optimizes the use of resources. Costs can be reduced and operational efficiency increased.

• Promote customer satisfaction: ITIL® places particular emphasis on ensuring that IT services are tailored to the customer's needs and that these are placed at the center of attention. Fast response times, transparent communication and the provision of added value are essential factors.

Origin, history and versions of ITIL®

Originally developed by the UK government, ITIL® is now managed by Axelos, a joint venture between the UK government and the Capita group of companies. Axelos is now responsible for the further development and dissemination of the framework, including the certification programs that set the global standard for ITSM.

The history of ITIL® begins in the 1980s and shows a continuous development to meet the changing requirements of the IT landscape:

• ITIL® v1 (1989): The first version focused on a collection of best practices for IT services. This served as a basis for the systematic improvement of IT services in public and private organizations.

• ITIL® v2 (2001): With this version, ITIL® became more structured and focused on the core processes of IT service management, including incident management and problem management. It introduced two key publications: Service Support and Service Delivery, which established themselves as essential building blocks of the framework.

• ITIL® v3 (2007): This version brought a significant paradigm shift by looking at the entire lifecycle of IT services. The five phases - Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement - ensured that IT services were not only delivered efficiently but also continuously improved.

• ITIL® 4 (2019): The current version responds to the challenges of the modern IT world, including agility, digitalization and the need to create more value. ITIL® 4 integrates approaches such as DevOps, Agile and Lean and emphasizes the importance of collaboration, flexibility and innovation. The focus is on principles such as the Service Value System and the Guiding Principles. These are intended to support organizations in developing a holistic and agile approach to ITSM.

ITIL® has thus evolved from a process-based approach to a flexible, value-oriented framework that reflects the requirements of modern companies.  

Phases and core topics (according to ITIL® 3)

ITIL® 3 focuses on the lifecycle of IT services (service lifecycle), which is also continued in the current version of ITIL® 4. The service lifecycle consists of five core phases that are intended to enable structured provision and continuous improvement:

1. service strategy:

• Objective: Strategic planning of IT services in line with business objectives

• Core topics: Service portfolios, customer requirements, cost management

2. service design

• Goal: Design IT services that meet requirements

• Core topics: SLAs, availability, service catalog ‍

3. service transition

• Goal: Introduction and changes to services with minimal disruption

• Core topics: Change and release management, knowledge provision

4. service operation

• Goal: Ensuring trouble-free operation and user support

• Core topics: Incident and problem management, user access

5. continual service improvement

• Goal: Continuous analysis and optimization of IT services

• Core topics: Potential for improvement, quality management

While ITIL® 3 still tends to think in terms of fixed processes, the framework of ITIL® 4 shifts towards individual practices that can be linked and combined in an organization according to its own understanding. However, the basic ideas from ITIL® 3 can be found in ITIL® 4 and remain important.

The ITIL® 4 Service Value System (SVS)

In ITIL® 4, the Service Value System (SVS) is one of the central concepts. This forms the framework within which organizations create, provide and continuously improve IT services. It aims to maximize the value of IT services for customers and organizations while responding flexibly to change. The Service Value System is essentially based on the following five core pillars:

The core elements of the SVS:

1. Guiding Principles
   The Guiding Principles are a collection of universal recommendations that support organizations in their decision-making (more on this below).

2. Governance
   Governance describes the structure and guidelines that ensure the organization remains aligned with strategic goals. It includes the monitoring of performance, compliance with regulations and the steering of decisions.

3. Service Value Chain
   The Service Value Chain describes a model consisting of six activities (Plan, Improve, Engage, Design & Transition, Obtain/Build, Deliver & Support):

• Planning: Ensure that the vision, goals and guidelines are clearly defined

• Improve: Continuous optimization of services and processes

• Engagement: Interaction with customers and stakeholders

• Design & Transition: Development of new services or changes

• Obtain/Build: Provision of the required resources

• Delivery & Support: Operation and support of IT services

By interlinking the steps, services and products are developed, provided and continuously optimized within an organization (value stream):

4. Practices
   Practices replace the previous "processes" in ITIL® 4 and provide more comprehensive guidance. These 34 management practices cover areas such as Service Desk, Change Enablement or Continual Improvement and can be used flexibly (more on this below).

5. Continual Improvement
   This approach permeates the entire Service Value System. Organizations are encouraged to continuously look for ways to optimize processes, technologies and services to create value and respond to dynamic market demands.

Goals of the SVS:

The Service Value System is designed to focus on the entire value chain and ensure that every activity and decision is geared towards creating value for customers and the company.  

The basic principles (Guiding Principles) of ITIL® 4 in detail

In order to be more flexible, agile and as independent as possible of the size or details of a project, the seven basic principles of ITIL®4 are deliberately kept general:

1. value orientation: ITIL® 4 focuses on customer value and encourages organizations to offer services that create real added value.

2. start where you are: Instead of reinventing the wheel every time, existing resources and processes should be used and optimized to save time and costs.

3. iterative further development and feedback: Agile methods, such as the use of minimum viable products (MVPs), enable faster solutions and continuous feedback.

4. promote collaboration and transparency: Traditional silo structures should be replaced by collaboration and transparency to achieve more effective results.

5. think and work holistically: A holistic approach that takes into account the interactions within the company improves the overall flow and minimizes dependencies.

6. pay attention to simplicity and practicability: Complexity can be reduced by scrutinizing and simplifying processes in order to focus on the essentials.

7 Optimize and automate: Once ITIL® processes have been implemented and optimized, automation should be taken further to take the pressure off the team.

ITIL® 4 Practices (formerly Processes) in detail

[DEFINITION][ITIL® 4 Practices][In ITIL® 4, practices are seen as an evolution of the earlier concept of processes. Practices include not only the activities and procedures (as in processes), but also the resources, skills and tools needed to manage IT services].

ITIL® 4 distinguishes a total of 34 practices, which are divided into the following three categories:

• General Management Practices,

• Service Management Practices

• and Technical Management Practices (Technical Management Practices)

Below is an overview of the management practices from ITIL® and the processes, listed alphabetically and with a compact summary of their content:

1. general management practices (14 ITIL® practices)

These ITIL® practices originate from the general management disciplines that go beyond IT but are relevant in IT service management:

1. Architecture Management
   Management of the architecture of systems, processes and technologies

2. Continual Improvement
   Ensuring the continuous improvement of services, products and processes

3. Information security management
   Protection of information in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability

4. Knowledge management
   Management of knowledge to improve decision-making

5. Measurement and Reporting
   Provision of data and reports to support decision-making

6. Organizational change management
   Managing the impact of organizational change

7. Portfolio management
   Management of a company's entire service portfolio

8. Project Management
   Planning and management of projects

9. Relationship management
   Building and maintaining relationships with stakeholders

10. Risk management
    Identification, assessment and management of risks

11. Service Financial Management
    Management of costs and investments in services

12. Strategy Management
    Development and management of strategies

13. Supplier Management
    Management of suppliers and their performance

14. Workforce and Talent Management
    Attracting, developing and retaining talent

2. service management practices (17 ITIL® practices)

These ITIL® Practices focus directly on the management of IT services:

1. Availability Management
   Ensuring the availability of services in accordance with requirements

2. Business analysis
   Identification of stakeholder requirements

3. Capacity and performance management
   Ensuring that services and infrastructure are powerful enough

4. Change enablement
   Ensuring a controlled approach to change

5. Incident management
   Processing incidents to restore service as quickly as possible

6. IT Asset Management
   Management of IT resources over their life cycle

7. Monitoring and event management
   Monitoring of services and events for proactive response

8. Problem management
   Identification and elimination of the causes of incidents

9. Release management
   Provision of new or modified services

10. Service Catalog Management
    Management of the service catalog

11. Service Configuration Management
    Management of information on configuration items (CIs)

12. Service continuity management
    Ensuring the recovery of services after interruptions

13. Service design
    Development of services that meet the requirements

14. Service Desk
    Single point of contact for users

15. Service level management
    Ensuring that services meet the agreed levels

16. Service Request Management
    Processing of service requests

17. Service validation and testing
    Checking the functionality of services

3 Technical Management Practices (3 ITIL® Practices)

These ITIL® Practices focus on technical aspects of service management:

1. Deployment management
   Transfer of new or modified software to the environment

2. Infrastructure and Platform Management
   Management of the infrastructure and platforms that support services

3. Software Development and Management
   Software development and management

Other important concepts in ITIL®

Other concepts from ITIL®, which form the core of IT service management (ITSM), help organizations to design their IT services efficiently and deliver clear added value. The following are some of the key ideas:

1. value creation through benefits and guarantee

Value creation is at the heart of ITIL® and describes the benefit that a customer or organization receives from IT services. The two key components of Utility and Warranty must both be fulfilled in order to achieve value creation for the customer:

• Utility: Describes what a service does. A service is useful if it fulfills the customer's requirements or solves problems.

• Warranty: Describes the four requirements of availability, capacity, continuity and security, all of which must be covered. This guarantee gives customers confidence in the reliability of the service.

The aim of ITIL® is to ensure that IT services deliver both utility and warranty to create maximum value. Organizations are encouraged to focus on the benefit to the customer in every decision.

2. stakeholders

ITIL® attaches great importance to the cooperation and influence of stakeholders, both internal and external. These actors play a decisive role as human components in the life cycle of an IT service. The most important stakeholders can be categorized as follows:

• Customers: Organizations or individuals who use the benefits of a service. They define the requirements and expectations of the value that the service should offer.

• users (end users): People who interact directly with the service. Their satisfaction and feedback are essential for the optimization and further development of the services.

• Service providers: Organizations that provide, control and manage IT services. They are responsible for ensuring that the service meets the agreed expectations in terms of utility and warranty.

• Supplier: This includes, for example, partners or suppliers who contribute to the provision of an IT service.

The involvement of all relevant stakeholders ensures that IT services are developed and delivered effectively. ITIL® promotes collaboration between these groups to ensure that all needs are taken into account.

3. key performance indicators (KPIs) and measurability

A key strength of ITIL® is its focus on measurability. Only through the systematic analysis of data can organizations evaluate and continuously improve the effectiveness of their IT services. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are used as ITIL® key figures that are tailored to the respective service objectives.

• Measurement of target achievement: KPIs are used to evaluate the degree of target achievement. Example: The average processing time for an incident ticket.

• Identify potential for improvement: KPIs can be used to identify weak points in processes or services and initiate targeted measures for optimization.

• Create transparency: KPIs provide a clear, objective basis for communicating the value and performance of IT services to stakeholders.

The data-driven approach of ITIL® helps organizations respond proactively to change and future-proof their services.

ITIL® in practice

ITIL® is more than just a theoretical framework. Its strength lies in its practical application. With clearly defined processes and tools, ITIL® supports organizations in the efficient management of IT services. Here are some key approaches that make ITIL® successful in practice:

1. service level agreements (SLAs)

SLAs are contractual agreements between a service provider and the customer. They define the service objectives to be achieved and set out the expectations of both parties. Examples of SLA key figures are

• Availability times of a service (e.g. 99.9% uptime per month)

• Response times for incidents (e.g. initial contact within 30 minutes).
  In practice, it is important to make SLAs realistic and measurable in order to ensure customer satisfaction and avoid overloading the IT teams.

2. operational level agreements (OLAs)

OLAs are internal agreements between different departments or teams within an organization that contribute to the fulfillment of SLAs. While SLAs are customer-oriented, OLAs regulate internal collaboration.
OLAs promote transparency and coordination between internal teams, which is essential for compliance with SLAs.

3. configuration management database (CMDB)

The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is a central tool in IT service management. It contains information about configuration items (CIs) and their relationships with each other, such as hardware (including servers, printers, etc.) and software (applications, operating systems, etc.).

Thanks to the central storage of information, those responsible can better understand the CIs and how they work together.

ITIL® certifications

Being able to understand and apply the complex framework of ITIL® is a sought-after and profitable skill in business life. There are ITIL®-certified courses that include a technical examination to provide recognized proof of these skills. Certificates are issued upon successful completion. These ITIL® certificates are a valuable qualification for professionals who want to deepen and prove their knowledge of IT Service Management (ITSM).

The certification structure is modular and covers various levels of experience and areas of specialization. The basic certification according to the current ITIL® standard is, for example, the ITIL® 4 Foundation course. This provides an introduction to and basic knowledge of the current ITIL® 4 version. ITIL® 4 Foundation is also the entry point and prerequisite for further certifications in the ITIL® 4 world.  

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Further information about ITIL® and ITIL® 4

Do you want to delve deeper into the universe of ITIL® so that you can also benefit from it professionally? In our ITIL® certification guide, we take you through the world of ITIL® certifications in detail. There you will find out what you can expect from the certified courses.

If you are interested in further topics and more in-depth information, the basic article on ITSM could be something for you. Or you can delve deeper into individual practices, e.g. in the article on Incident Management or in the article on ITIL® in Change Management.