ITIL Foundation (Version 5) Exam Prep Bootcamp

ITIL Foundation (Version 5)

The current entry-level ITIL certification managed by PeopleCert, based on ITIL 4 guidance but with an updated syllabus, terminology, and examples for modern digital and AI-enabled service management.

Position in Certification Path

Version 5 Foundation is the starting point for the ITIL certification scheme and a prerequisite for higher-level practice-focused and strategic ITIL certifications.

Service Value System (SVS)

The overall model showing how all components and activities of an organization work together to co-create value from services; a core idea carried from ITIL 4 into Version 5.

Guiding Principles

Recommendations that guide an organization in all circumstances, such as 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.

Practices (vs. Processes)

In ITIL 4 and Version 5, practices are broader sets of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective, replacing the older process-only focus.

Version 5 vs ITIL 4 Foundation

Version 5 keeps ITIL 4’s core concepts but updates the syllabus structure, terminology, and examples, especially around digital products, cloud, and AI-enabled services.

Service

A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.

Customer

The person or group that defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption.

User

The person who actually uses a service on a day-to-day basis.

Sponsor

The person or group that authorizes and pays for a service; often approves budgets and business cases.

Stakeholder

Any person or organization that has an interest in, or can affect or be affected by, a service.

Utility

The functionality offered by a service to meet a particular need; often described as 'fit for purpose'.

Service Management System (SMS)

The coordinated set of policies, governance, capabilities, and resources an organization uses to manage services and co-create value.

Organizations and People

Dimension covering structure, culture, roles, skills, leadership, and communication needed to manage and deliver services.

Information and Technology

Dimension covering data, information flows, applications, infrastructure, automation, and other technology used in services.

Partners and Suppliers

Dimension covering external organizations that provide products or services, including contracts, relationships, and shared risks.

Value Streams and Processes

Dimension describing how work flows to deliver value through activities, practices, and processes and their interactions.

Constraint (in four dimensions)

A limitation or bottleneck in one dimension (e.g., missing skills, weak contracts, poor tools) that restricts the performance of the overall SMS.

Guiding principles (ITIL 5)

Seven recommendations that guide an organization's decisions and actions in all circumstances: 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.

Focus on value

Always identify, understand, and maximize value for customers and stakeholders. Ask "Value for whom?" and "How will we know?" before acting.

Start where you are

Assess the current state objectively and use what is already available instead of building everything from scratch.

Progress iteratively with feedback

Organize work into smaller, manageable pieces; use feedback at each step to reduce risk and adapt.

Collaborate and promote visibility

Work together across boundaries and make information, work, and results visible to improve decisions and trust.

Think and work holistically

Consider the whole service management system and value streams, not just individual components or silos.

Governance (in ITIL 5)

The means by which an organization is directed and controlled. At SMS level, it evaluates, directs, and monitors service management to ensure alignment with strategy, risk appetite, and stakeholder expectations.

Management (in ITIL 5)

The coordinated activities to plan, build, operate, and improve services within the boundaries set by governance, focusing on efficiency and effectiveness.

Risk (service management context)

Uncertainty that can positively or negatively affect value from services. Includes threats (outages, attacks) and missed opportunities (failure to adopt beneficial innovations).

Risk appetite

The amount and type of risk that an organization is willing to pursue or retain in pursuit of its objectives. Defined at governance level and used to guide decisions.

Policy

A formal, governance-approved statement of intent and rules that directs decisions and behaviors in the Service Management System (for example, information security policy).

Control

A measure (preventive, detective, or corrective) implemented to ensure that policies are followed and risks are managed within acceptable limits.

Service Management System (SMS)

The overall management framework for how an organization directs, plans, delivers, supports, and improves services, including governance, practices, policies, and continual improvement.

Service value stream

An end‑to‑end sequence of activities an organization performs to respond to a specific type of demand and deliver a specific type of value.

Practice (ITIL 5 sense)

A set of organizational resources and capabilities designed to perform work or accomplish an objective, used flexibly across different value streams.

Workflow

The concrete, often tool-supported sequence of tasks and handoffs that implements a value stream in day‑to‑day operations.

General management practices

Practices that support the overall management of the organization, such as continual improvement, information security management, and risk management.

Service management practices

Practices that directly support services across their lifecycle, such as incident management, service request management, and change enablement.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

An agreement between a service provider and a customer that describes the service, documents service level targets, and specifies responsibilities of both parties.

Operational Level Agreement (OLA)

An internal agreement between parts of the same organization that supports the delivery of services to customers and helps fulfill SLAs.

Underpinning Contract

A contract between a service provider and an external supplier whose performance supports the delivery of a service and achievement of SLA targets.

Customer Experience (CX)

The overall perception and feelings of a stakeholder resulting from interactions with a service across all touchpoints.

Experience Level Agreement (XLA)

A set of agreed experience-focused targets (such as satisfaction or ease-of-use scores) that complement traditional SLAs. Common in practice and aligned with ITIL 5 principles, even if not a formal ITIL term.

Metric vs. KPI

A metric is any measurable value. A KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a metric that is critical to achieving objectives and is actively used to manage performance.

Service desk (purpose)

To capture demand for incident resolution and service requests and to be the single point of contact for users, focusing on effective communication and coordination.

Incident (definition)

An unplanned interruption to a service, a reduction in service quality, or a failure of a configuration item that has not yet affected a service.

Incident management (purpose)

To minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible.

Service request (definition)

A user request for something to be provided, such as access, information, or a standard change from a predefined catalog.

Service request management (purpose)

To support the agreed quality of services by handling all predefined, user-initiated service requests in an effective and user-friendly manner.

Major incident

A high-impact incident affecting many users or critical services, requiring urgent, coordinated response. It is handled as a special case within incident management.

Incident

An unplanned interruption to a service, or reduction in the quality of a service. Focus: restore service quickly.

Problem

A cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents. Focus: understand and reduce root causes, prevent recurrence or reduce impact.

Known error

A problem that has been analyzed and has a documented root cause and/or workaround, even if a permanent fix is not yet implemented.

Problem management

The practice focused on identifying, analyzing, and managing problems and known errors to reduce the likelihood and impact of incidents.

Change enablement

The practice that ensures changes are properly assessed, authorized, and scheduled, balancing risk and value to maximize successful changes.

Standard change

A low-risk, pre-authorized change that follows a documented procedure, such as routine user access requests.

Service design (in ITIL 5)

A set of activities focused on designing services and their supporting practices, processes, and components so they deliver value reliably, including utility, warranty, monitoring, support, and change-readiness.

Configuration Item (CI)

Any component that needs to be managed to deliver a service, such as hardware, software, documentation, SLAs, or supplier contracts.

Service configuration management

The practice of ensuring that accurate and reliable information about CIs and their relationships is available when and where it is needed.

Monitoring

Continuous observation of services and CIs using metrics, logs, and other data to detect conditions that may require attention.

Event

Any detectable occurrence with significance for service or CI management, often classified as informational, warning, or exception.

Event management

The practice of detecting events, making sense of them, and determining the appropriate control actions or workflows.

Service Management System (SMS)

The overall management system used to direct and control service management activities. In ITIL 5 it includes direction and governance, value streams and practices, and enablers (people, information, technology, partners).

6C capability themes (purpose)

A high-level way to group related ITIL practices into six themes, helping organizations (and exam candidates) see how practices work together across customer value, control, change, people, design, and operations.

Customer and Co‑creation (theme focus)

Focuses on stakeholder value, outcomes, and experience. Includes practices like relationship management and service desk.

Control and Compliance (theme focus)

Focuses on governance, risk, and regulatory obligations. Critical for setting boundaries and controls around AI and automation.

Automation principle: simplify before you automate

Processes should be clarified and improved before automation is applied; otherwise, automation only makes flawed processes faster and harder to fix.

Human-in-the-loop

A design choice where humans review, approve, or can override automated or AI‑generated decisions, especially for high‑impact or high‑risk activities.

Value stream

An end-to-end series of activities an organization undertakes to respond to demand and deliver value to stakeholders. In ITIL 5, practices collaborate within value streams rather than operating as isolated processes.

Incident to resolution stream

A value stream focused on restoring normal service as quickly as possible after an unplanned interruption or reduction in quality, typically involving incident management, problem management, change enablement, and monitoring.

Request to fulfillment stream

A value stream that handles predefined, user-initiated requests (such as access or information), often using service request management, access management, catalog management, and automation.

Change to deployment stream

A value stream that takes a change idea from proposal through design, build, risk assessment, and deployment into live use, involving service design, architecture, change enablement, release and deployment management, and configuration management.

Hand-off between practices

The transfer of work, information, or responsibility from one practice or role to another within a value stream, such as from incident management to problem management, or from change enablement to deployment management.

Guiding principles in value streams

High-level recommendations (such as focus on value, collaborate and promote visibility, and optimize and automate) that should shape decisions and behaviors across every step of a value stream.

Service (ITIL 5)

A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes customers want, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.

Utility vs Warranty

Utility is what the service does (fit for purpose). Warranty is how it performs (fit for use). Both together contribute to value.

Service Value System (SVS)

The model that describes how all components and activities of an organization work together as a system to enable value creation.

Service Value Chain

A set of interconnected activities (Plan, Improve, Engage, Design & transition, Obtain/Build, Deliver & support) that convert demand into value.

Guiding Principle: Optimize and automate

Improve work before automating it, then use technology (including AI) to handle repetitive tasks while people focus on complex work.

Incident Management (purpose)

To minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible.