Perspectives on the Developments around ITIL-3 and Accreditation

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The ITIL community has been undergoing some radical changes in the past few weeks. On July 20, 2006, the OGC awarded the responsibility for the accreditation and certification schemes for all best practices to the APM Group (APMG) and responsibility for all publishing services to The Stationary Office (TSO).

The APMG will now manage all accreditation for examination institutes, training institutes, and all professional examinations around best practices. While these contracts form a renewal for TSO, they replace the existing contracts with ITIL Certification Management Board (ICMB), which covers Examination Institute for Information Science (EXIN) and Information Systems Exam Board (ISEB).

Does it Matter?
Depending on who you are, the changes may be minimal. For APMG, it means increased responsibility and an extension of their portfolio; APMG currently manages accreditation for examination institutes, training institutes, and all professional examinations around the PRINCE2 domain.

For EXIN and ISEB however, it means the loss of their dominant position in the marketplace. In fact, EXIN’s and ISEB’s contracts with OGC to deliver the ITIL exams run till June 2007 after which they can continue to deliver exams only if they sign an agreement with APMG.

For students, this change probably means very little for the next 6-9 months of transition. Old certificates will remain legitimate and new schemes might come into play. The bigger changes for students however, are possible on account of ITIL version 3.0, rather than the changes resulting from the grant of ITIL education management rights to APMG.

The training providers in the ITIL domain, however, will be directly impacted by the change. Depending on the abilities of ISEB/EXIN and APMG to accommodate each other, training providers may have to switch schemes and enter into new accreditation procedures.

What is ITpreneurs’ Perspective
As one of the major stakeholders in the ITIL market as well as other best practices markets, such as ISO 20000 and COBIT, ITpreneurs has been in continuous contact with the OGC, ICMB, TSO, and APMG. Infact, ITpreneurs has actively organized meetings with and between parties.
Alan Nance, FISM, President, ITpreneurs, stated that ITpreneurs has called on all stakeholders to maintain the historic, delicate coalition necessary to ensure ITILs’ success. He stated that ITpreneurs welcomed APMGs’ entrance to the marketplace while also wanting to continue its relationship with ISEB and EXIN.
ITpreneurs is keen to reach a consensus in this matter as it affects the ITIL community at large and has a direct impact on the future of ITIL. Currently, ITIL provides the knowledge and tools to IT business around the globe and the implications of it existing in multiple forms and versions can be drastic. Having a global framework with defined and definite best practices is crucial to IT and if this change results in APMG and ICMB providing different versions of ITIL, there could be chaos.
For a detailed account on the changes and ITpreneurs perspective on the topic, please click here. (http://www.itpreneurs.com/docs/insight_v1.pdf)