The ITIL 4 Foundation Course is the latest version of the always popular ITIL Foundation course. It will eventually replace the v3 Foundation Model, which is due to be retired, possibly in the early part of 2020. The ITIL 4 Foundation is supported by the ITIL 4 Foundation Manual, which you can read more about here.If you want to achieve professional certification, you will need to prepare for the exam. You can do this by self-study, using books like this AXELOS licensed product – ITIL Foundation Essentials.The Foundation syllabus includes a broad introduction to service management according to the ITIL Model. Some of the key topics in this course are:

• Value co-creation through products and services
• The guiding principles of ITIL 4
• The four dimensions of service management
• The ITIIL practices (this is the new term for the ITIL processes like change and incident management that you might be familiar with)

The Foundation is an entry level examination so you don’t need to have any prior experience of service management or do any pre-reading before taking a course (unless your provider directs you to). The course or your self-study will prepare you to take the ITIL 4 Foundation exam, which is a 40 question multiple choice paper available via Peoplecert, Pearson Vue, Prometric, or other providers.

We’ve created this information to answer your most common ITIL questions and help with your most frequent search terms – one of which is ITIL 26 processes and 4 functions. This search is referring to the previous version of ITIL, ITIL v3, which was released in 2007 and updated in 2011.One of the elements of ITIL that practitioners value is the operational processes that it describes, you might already be familiar with processes like incident management, change management, problem management and service level management. However, there are some organizations that got confused about how to use ITIL. These organizations tried to implement every single process exactly as described in the ITIL version 3 books, instead of using the ‘adopt and adapt’ approach recommended by the ITIL authors and AXELOS, who own the intellectual property related to ITIL.Processes can be a fantastic tool in an IT environment. When something goes wrong, it’s good to make sure staff know what steps to take to prevent panic and an uncoordinated response. But processes are a means to an end, not the end itself. In the next section of this article, we’ll take a look at how ITIL 4 is different to ITIL v3 and how it resolves some of these issues.

Let’s dig into the details of the Foundation syllabus in a bit more depth now. We know that the Foundation is something valuable to add to your resume for many professional IT roles, but what will you actually learn? Using the official syllabus as our source, let’s consider the learning objectives. One of the key aims is to introduce learners to the “management of modern IT-enabled services, to provide them with an understanding of the common language and key concepts, and to show them how they can improve their work and the work of their business with ITIL 4 guidance.”By studying this course and learning the common language of ITIL, you will be able to more easily integrate into any business that uses ITIL practices. This can be helpful when starting a new role, and also when working with suppliers who are working with ITIL best practice.The main sections of the syllabus are:

• Understanding the key concepts of service management
• Understanding the ITIL 4 guiding principles and how they can a business adopt and adapt service management
• The four dimensions of service management
• The purpose and components of the ITIL service value system
• The activities of the service value chain and how they interconnect
• ITIL practices (common practices are studied in more depth, others at a general level)

If you decide to self-study for the ITIL 4 Foundation exam, you might choose to use a study guide. You should look for an official professional study guide, which has either been published by AXELOS (the owners of ITIL) or licensed by AXELOS, which means it has been reviewed and it fully meets the Foundation syllabus requirements.Some study guides like ITIL 4 Essentials gives you the knowledge you need to pass the ITIL 4 Foundation exam but also include tips and broader service management information.You can also buy the ITIL 4 Foundation Manual but we would recommend you access the official syllabus and sample paper (mock exam) from AXELOS to help guide your studies.Any official study guide should provide you with all the information you need for the exam, as well a description of the exam format itself. Study guides might also include exam tips.