Over the last day I’ve been doing an intensive, very focused deep-dive into ITIL 4 Foundation, building my own exam-ready study system rather than relying on generic courses. I’ve distilled the syllabus into clean BL1 and BL2 references, and then designed a custom mastery-based mock exam engine that cycles questions until concepts are truly locked in. The emphasis has been on understanding how PeopleCert actually tests (BL1 recall vs BL2 understanding), eliminating ambiguity, and optimising learning for speed, confidence, and exam success rather than passive revision.
I have created two iterative quizzes to assist me in the way I learn
- Definitions Quiz
- Mock Exam heavily sourced from an excellent resource https://d12.github.io/itil-quiz/
Summary
BL1 = Bloom’s Level 1 (Remember)
BL2 = Bloom’s Level 2 (Understand)
1. Key Concepts of Service Management
1.1 (BL1) Definitions
- Service – A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.
- Utility – The functionality offered by a product or service to meet a particular need (fit for purpose).
- Warranty – Assurance that a product or service will meet agreed requirements (fit for use).
- Customer – A person or group that defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption.
- User – A person who uses services.
- Service management – A set of specialized organizational capabilities for enabling value for customers in the form of services.
- Sponsor – A person who authorizes budget for service consumption.
1.2 (BL2) Creating Value with Services
- Value – The perceived benefits, usefulness, and importance of something
- Cost – The amount of money spent on a specific activity or resource
- Organization – A person or group with responsibilities, authorities, and relationships to achieve objectives
- Outcome – A result for a stakeholder enabled by one or more outputs
- Output – A tangible or intangible deliverable of an activity
- Risk – A possible event that could cause harm or loss
- Utility – What the service does
- Warranty – How the service is delivered
1.3 (BL2) Service Relationships
- Service offering – A description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target consumer group.
- Service relationship management – Joint activities performed by a service provider and a service consumer to ensure continual value co-creation.
- Service provision – Activities performed by an organization to provide services.
- Service consumption – Activities performed by an organization to consume services.
2. ITIL Guiding Principles
2.1 (BL2) Nature and Use
Guiding principles are recommendations that guide organizations in all circumstances, regardless of changes in goals, strategies, or work practices.
2.2 (BL2) The Seven Guiding Principles
- Focus on value
- Start where you are
- Progress iteratively with feedback
- Collaborate and promote visibility
- Think and work holistically
- Keep it simple and practical
- Optimize and automate
3. Four Dimensions of Service Management
3.1 (BL2) Dimensions
- Organizations and people
- Information and technology
- Partners and suppliers
- Value streams and processes
4. Service Value System (SVS)
4.1 (BL2) SVS Definition
The service value system describes how all components and activities of an organization work together to facilitate value creation.
SVS components:
- Guiding principles
- Governance
- Service value chain
- Practices
- Continual improvement
5. Service Value Chain
5.1 (BL2) Interconnection
The service value chain provides a flexible operating model that supports multiple value streams.
5.2 (BL2) Activities
- Plan – Ensure a shared understanding of vision, status, and improvement direction
- Improve – Ensure continual improvement of services, products, and practices
- Engage – Provide understanding of stakeholder needs and transparency
- Design and transition – Ensure products and services meet expectations
- Obtain/build – Ensure service components are available when needed
- Deliver and support – Ensure services are delivered and supported effectively
6. ITIL Management Practices
6.1 (BL1) Practice Purposes
- Information security management – Protect information needed by the organization
- Relationship management – Establish and nurture links between the organization and stakeholders
- Supplier management – Ensure suppliers and contracts support service delivery
- IT asset management – Plan and manage the full lifecycle of IT assets
- Monitoring and event management – Systematically observe services and components
- Release management – Make new and changed services available for use
- Service configuration management – Ensure accurate configuration information is available
- Deployment management – Move new or changed components into live environments
- Continual improvement – Align services and practices with changing needs
- Change enablement – Maximize successful changes by assessing risk
- Incident management – Restore normal service operation as quickly as possible
- Problem management – Identify and manage root causes of incidents
- Service request management – Handle predefined user requests
- Service desk – Single point of contact between users and service provider
- Service level management – Set and manage service performance expectations
6.2 (BL1) Definitions
- IT asset – Any valuable component that contributes to service delivery.
- Event – Any change of state that has significance for the management of a service.
- Configuration item (CI) – Any component that must be managed in order to deliver a service.
- Change – The addition, modification, or removal of anything that could affect services.
- Incident – An unplanned interruption to a service or reduction in service quality.
- Problem – A cause or potential cause of one or more incidents.
- Known error – A problem that has been analyzed but not resolved.
7. Selected ITIL Practices (Exam-Weighted)
7.1 (BL2) Practice Explanations
- Continual improvement – Uses a structured approach to improve services and practices
- Change enablement – Balances the need for change with risk control
- Incident management – Focuses on restoring service quickly
- Problem management – Focuses on root cause and prevention
- Service request management – Handles standard, pre-approved requests
- Service desk – Central point of contact for users
- Service level management – Ensures services meet agreed expectations