I was speaking with some ITIL Experts last week and they asked me if there is any value in someone getting V3 certified since ITIL 4 releases in 2019. Here is my answer. Take a look and let me know your thoughts.

First off, great question. There is a lot of confusion over the ITIL 4 release as many of the details are still under wraps. From a 10,000 foot look we all know that we live in a world of updates and change does not happen overnight. Companies have infrastructures and processes and systems in place and they don’t throw them away when a new version is released. And most new versions include key elements of the current version, so the baby is not being thrown out with the bath water.

ITIL V3 Is Alive & Well

Right now, ITIL is V3.  V3 is alive and well and will be maintained until at least June 2020.  The ITIL 4 Foundation is being released Q1 2019 – or sometime in the next 4 months. The remainder of the ITIL 4 courses are scheduled to be released sometime June 2019 to December 2019.

Migration Game Plan

If I were new to ITIL and had funds for exams, I would get V3 Foundation and ITIL 4 Foundation Certified.  ITIL V3 Foundation is required for many positions and I don’t see that requirement going away for the next 12 months minimum. ITIL 4 Foundation is new and takes ITIL to the next level and if I wanted to be fully prepared to help my company transition from ITIL V3 to ITIL 4 or have certifications that helped me stand out, get promoted or get a new job, then I would get ITIL 4 Foundation Certified too. If I was already ITIL V3 Foundation Certified, I would get ITIL 4 Foundation Certified for the same reasons.

For the more advanced V3 certificate holders I would come up to speed on ITIL 4 by reading the book when it is released or taking a class. In my opinion there is no need for advanced certificate holders to get the ITIL 4 Foundation certificate. Advanced ITIL 3 Certificate holders (17 V3 credits or more) will be able to take the ITIL 4 Managing Professional transition course when it is released second half of 2019 and achieve the new ITIL 4 Managing Professional Certification.  This enables individuals with 17 or more ITIL V3 credits to take 1 course instead of 4 to become ITIL 4 Managing Professional Certified. If you are on your way to 17 credits in ITIL V3, keep going as it will allow you accelerated access to the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Certification.

I hope this article has been informative. If you have any questions, we are here to help.

Is ITIL Online Training For You?

It used to be that when you were ready to get your ITIL Certifications you signed up for a live instructor-ed, classroom-delivered course.  When you did that, you had to get approval to take off from work and the budget to take the class.  Live ITIL classroom courses can cost anywhere from $1,200 to $3,500 depending on the course, the length of the course and whether or not the certification exam was included in the cost of the training.  With training budgets being the first to be hit when budgets are tightened, many individuals and organizations are turning to online self-paced ITIL courses.

Online self-paced ITIL training has many benefits:

• You can train on your timeframe
• You can train from any location
• Courses are available 24/7
• You can repeat and rewind in order to master the materials
• Pricing is at 50 to 75% lower than classroom training
  • Contact Us for course and exam pricing

The Downside to Online Self-Paced ITIL Training

The biggest downside is time.  Whenever you are assigned or decide to take a class you MUST allocate the time to take the class.  We have found that the most successful students setup a schedule and, if assigned by their company, get approval to take the time to take the class from their manager.  This ensures that there is a timetable and approval to take the class.  Almost like getting approval to take a live class.   When you treat an online class like a live class you will have a much better chance of completing the class and sitting for the certification exam.

 Goal Setting and Time Allocation

If you are good at managing your time and setting goals, then online self-paced training will be a good vehicle for you to achieve your goals in a timely and cost-effective manner.  The most important thing to do is to set your goals and to allocate the time to achieve them.  The next most important thing is to find a course that is engaging.  There are courses taught by computers and animation and there are courses taught by real instructors.  Everyone has different interests and most companies allow you to sample their courses before you buy them.  Take the time to sample and find the type of course that you find most engaging.

How to Pick A Great Online Self-Paced ITIL Training Class

The most important feature of any online self-paced class is that it is created by an expert instructor and designed and proven to be a successful knowledge transfer course.  For example, there are organizations today that allow anyone to put up a course without checking the author’s credentials.  To be successful you want to make sure that the organization you choose is working with expert instructors.  You want to make sure that the classes are accredited.  In the case of ITIL you want to make sure that the courses are taught by ITIL Experts and that they include sample exams, exercises designed to help you master the materials and you want to be able to ask the instructor questions.  Do not accept a substitute.

Check Box for Success

 Here are a list of questions you will want to ask to help ensure your success:

• Is the class accredited?
• Is it taught by an ITIL Expert?
• Does the course come with exercises?
• Does the course come with sample exams?
• What kind of support comes with the class?
• Do I have access to the instructor to ask questions?
• How long do I have access to the class?
• Can I take the course as many times as I need to in order to master the content?
• Does the course come with exam tips?

 Have Questions?  Need a Price Quote?

The team at GogoTraining is here to help.  Have a question about a certification?  Need help planning your training roadmap?  Looking for a course and exam package?  Call us at 877.546.4446 or email us at customerservice@gogotraining.com

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The best performing professionals in the IT industry are passionate about learning. Technology is changing rapidly and it is difficult to keep up with the pace of that change. Also, the rapid changes in environment necessitate change in people. Continuous education is imperative to bring the necessary change.  Top performers understand the need for consistent learning and this is what enables them to have a successful career in IT industry.

Satya Nadella, in his first email to employees after becoming the CEO at Microsoft, wrote,“Many who know me say I am also defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning. I buy more books than I can finish. I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things. So family, curiosity and hunger for knowledge all define me.” This powerful statement summarizes the usefulness of acquiring new skills and certifications.

ITIL certification is one such certification.  IT professionals who want to advance their career must pursue ITIL certification.  Being ITIL certified results inhigher salaries and career advancement.   In this article we will take you through various aspects of ITIL certifications to help you better understand the opportunities that lie ahead once you get ITIL certified.

What is ITIL?

A few decades ago, Information Technology was complex and expensive and only skilled professionals understood it. People with great technical expertise used to be part of IT departments and they were the ones who consulted businesses on the IT system and components. Unfortunately, very few of them had a sound understanding of what businesses really needed. This wasn’t the only problem. Large IT organizations were merely managing technology rather than providing services.

The development of the ITIL framework led to the standardization of IT processes. This was the time when IT companies shifted their focus on providing services to their customers rather than just managing technology. ITIL laid a strong emphasis on standardization of processes which helped IT companies in two ways:

1. Improving the quality of services
2. Reducing the cost of service delivery

It also reduced the dependencies of the advice of the IT professionals in the business and commercial matters and it bridged the gap between technology and business considerably. IT companies became more efficient and effective whenever they adopted ITIL processes. For example

• Implementing incident management helped in resolving incidents quickly at low costs (they needed fewer resources to resolve incidents)
• Introducing capacity management that meant that the IT infrastructure was less expensive and more responsive to business demand

A brief History of ITIL

Before explaining details of ITIL certifications, let us have a look at a brief history of ITIL:

ITIL Certifications Overview and Credit System

ITIL credit system follows a modular system where you receive credits on completion of each module. The credits earned become qualifying criteria for next module.

ITIL Foundation – ITIL foundation deals with key concepts, elements and terminology of ITIL services lifecycle management. The first level of ITIL certification with 40 multiple choice question. There is no prerequisite to undertake this certification. It awards 2 credits to successful candidates. No prerequisites are required to take this examination.

ITIL Practitioner – ITIL Practitioner comes after Foundation and is designed to help people implement what they learned in Foundation.  ITIL Practitioner training classes are full on workshops that help students implement what they learned in Foundation. It awards 3 credits to successful candidates however it is not a prerequisite to take ITIL Intermediate or other advance level exams.

ITIL Intermediate – The eligibility criteriafor ITILintermediate level requires candidates to have passed ITIL Foundation and complete an accredited training course.Candidates are awarded 15 or 16 credits upon successful completion of ITIL Intermediate exams. There are two elements in intermediate level, Service Lifecycle examinations and Service Capability examinations.

Service Lifecycle examinations includes

• Service Strategy
• Service Design
• Service Transition
• Service Operations
• Continual Service Improvement

Service capability examinations include

• Planning Protection & Optimization
• Release Control & Validation
• Operational Support & Analysis and
• Service Offerings and Agreements

ITIL Managing Across the Lifecycle – You must pass ITIL Foundation and ITIL intermediate level exam and earn a total of 17 credits to be eligible for ITIL Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC) exam. You will earn5 credits on successful completion of MALC exam.

ITIL Expert Level – You should have earned 22 credits from ITIL Foundation exam, ITIL intermediate level exam and MALC exam to be eligible for ITIL expert level exam.

ITIL Master Qualification – You must be ITIL expert level qualified to appear for ITIL master qualification. To achieve this qualification, you must “explain and justify how you selected and individually applied a range of knowledge, principles, methods and techniques from ITIL and supporting management techniques, to achieve desired business outcomes in one or more practical assignments. (Source: www.exin.com)”

Benefits of ITIL certifications for Individuals

ITIL certifications will definitely boost your career and salary prospects. According to various surveys, ITIL certification is one of the top 20 most sought after certifications (in IT industry) in the world. According to an “Indeed” survey, professionals with ITIL certifications earn 38% higher salary as compared to their non-certified peers. Here is a trend of salaries of ITIL certified individuals over past few years:

(Source: Indeed.com)

Job Titles For ITIL Professionals

The job titles or designations entirely depend on level of ITIL certifications as well as years of experience in IT industry. After completing ITIL Foundation exam successfully you may enter industry as a Business Analyst or Solution Engineer. At middle and senior level you may become Change Management Manager, Service Delivery Manager, Program Manager – IT, Director – Information Technology, etc.

Advantages of ITIL implementation for Organizations

Most of the major IT companies have implemented ITIL. An ITIL implementation report from Gartner says, “clients have identified improved customer satisfaction with IT services, better communications and information flows between IT staff and customers, and reduced costs in developing procedures and practices within an enterprise”. According to a Forrester survey, more than 80% of businesses thought that “ITIL had improved their organizational productivity and service quality significantly”.

If implemented correctly, organizations can derive the following benefits in the medium to long term

• Improved quality of the services
• Reduction in cost of delivery IT services
• Creating values for their customers and meeting business requirements
• Achieving excellence in whatever they do – Continuously improving the processes
• Improved coordination with clients and partners
• Easy to scale the business
• Focus on SLAs (Service Level Agreements)

Cost of ITIL Certification

Here is a list of pricing for EXIN ITIL Exam cost and passing criteria

You can save some bucks on your ITIL examination fee. Contact us on customerservice@gogotraining.com and we will arrange a coupon code for you.

Cost of ITIL Training Program

The cost of ITIL certification courses differs from institute to institute. It depends on the experience of the instructors, their competencies and track record. While selecting a training institute, you mustn’t focus entirely on the cost. It is necessary that you strike the right balance between the cost and other above mentioned factors. GogoTraining offers an excellent combination when it comes to cost and the experiences and skills of the trainers.

You can check out the cost of training program here: https://gogotraining.com/training/libraries/17/itil/

If you want to know more details or have any queries, just send an email at customerservice@gogotraining.com for current discount and offers on ITIL training programs.

Advantages of our Online ITIL Training Courses

• Instructor Led Training Program
• Experienced Instructors with 20+ years industry experience
• Access to Instructors for support and queries
• Self-paced learning – You can learn at any time as per your convenience
• Cost effective as compared to classroom programs.

You can take advantage of these benefits and much more from the online courses at GogoTraining. We ensure that our students get the necessary support and incubation that will allow them to not just complete the certification courses in a convenient manner but groom them as efficient ITIL professionals with the required competencies and skills.

How to choose right training provider for ITIL Certification?

The first thing is to ensure that you enroll only to an Accredited Training Service Provider and Examination Institute.

There are a number of Accredited Training Organizations (ATOs)those that have been fully accredited by an approved Examination Institute and provide ITIL certification courses, both online and in person.

• Check their track record
• Instructor’s experience
• Course Details
• Pass Percentage

GogoTraining is an Accredited ITIL Training Organization. Accredited by Axelos and EXIN in ITIL Foundation through MALC and will be releasing the ITIL Practitioner course Summer 2016.  Course authors have been working in teaching in the field for over 20 years and are considered top in their field.  GogoTraining has the necessary accreditation and we have helped numerous ITIL aspirants to realize their potential of becoming successful ITIL professionals.

Still have a query? We are here to help.  If you want to know more details,  have any questions, or would like to find out about current discount offers on ITIL Training Programs contact customerservice@gogotraining.com.

Introduction

Software is everywhere. A lot of it works well all day long. Some of it is terrible. Some of it can kill you.

This article is about critical software, the stuff that really needs to work, and that can have significant consequences if it doesn’t.

There are three trends I have noticed in software organizations:

1. The desire to get software into more critical systems (e.g., medical, automotive, transportation, finance and aviation).
2. Software organizations are either serious about quality or hopeful. There isn’t much in between.
3. For the latter, there is only a vague consideration that current engineering practices should improve when risk increases. It is almost assumed that if software is called “critical,” then it will work, and if it doesn’t, a few more weeks of testing will fix it.

The “just test more” approach works fine until someone is hurt, a contract is lost, or there is serious legal action.

Doing it

Writing software is hard, and writing critical software is harder because there are numerous scenarios that the software has to react to. The increase in risk should cause an increase in better development practices to mitigate the new risk.

The typical (and not so great) approach to improve quality is to:

• Test more and longer.
• Assume that if the system passes the tests then it must work.
• Downplay upfront practices such as requirements, design, good coding practices and peer reviews since they are not coding.

The trouble with the “test more and longer” approach is that if some of the upfront practices were not done, then testing is just a poke in the dark. That is, the testers have no clear picture of what conditions to test for, or when they should be done.

But the tests pass, so it must be OK?

It is wonderful that the (limited) test cases passed (in the limited schedule-crunched time you had for testing). However, let us dig deeper:

• Do the test cases cover all of the likely functions, system scenarios and user scenarios?
• Do the test cases cover every line of code so that you know for sure that some untested conditional loop doesn’t cause a system failure.
• Did anyone look at the code to see that, although it passed the (limited) test cases, the call to “calculate-stuff(input)” will crash the system if the input is zero (when the year is an even number).
• Is the code a huge spaghetti mess that no one actually understands what it does? If a large plate of critical spaghetti code doesn’t make you or your management nervous, you might be dead!

A slightly different approach

In a previous blog I listed some standard quality activities for any type of organization that can be applied selectively to high-risk areas. Those were:

• Peer reviews of requirements, design information and interfaces
• Peer reviews of code and interface definitions
• Peer reviews of test cases and test procedures
• Prototypes and simulation
• Component testing
• Code coverage checks to determine the code has been tested
• Process audits to maintain the adoption of the organization’s best practices
• Integration testing
• Analysis of defect statistics to determine product state and areas for further investigation
• System and acceptance testing using the intended environment, user-oriented requirements and exception conditions

Here are some additional ones if you are in the “This-critical-system-really-must-work” business.

• Definition of requirement quality attributes to define hard quality expectations (e.g., reliability, performance, accuracy, fault tolerance).
• Tracing requirements to test cases to know for sure that the system actually does what it is defined to do.
• Peer review and test of new code, reused code, and “cool code we found on the internet.” Do you really know what you have? If no one has looked, then you don’t know.
• Design for reliability to add characteristics ensuring that defined run periods are met (e.g., a fail-safe recovery vs. a blue screen after 1,000 hours).
• Test coverage analysis to know what has been tested.
• Defect density analysis to understand quality trends and hot spots.
• Hazard and risk analysis of critical functions.

For software organizations that have no design, few requirements, no peer reviews, no traceability and no code coverage analysis, all bets are off.

What you can do

Writing reliable critical code is not easy, and applying the quality practices listed above can be overwhelming. To start, identify between 5 percent and 20 percent of the system to investigate. Here are some example criteria to identify initial system areas to focus on:

• The most critical to the program’s operation
• The most used (and therefore visible) section in the product
• The most costly if defects were to exist
• The most error-prone section based on current defect data
• The least well-known section
• The most frequently changed (and therefore high-risk) section

Not moved yet? Keep reading

Here are two short articles that provide some examples to ponder:

• Appendix F of http://www.system-safety.org/Documents/Software_System_Safety_Handbook.pdf
• http://www.safetyresearch.net/blog/articles/toyota-unintended-acceleration-and-big-bowl-“spaghetti”-code

This article by Neil Potter is on Developing Critical Systems.

Planning to get Oracle® certified? Well done! You have made the right decision – it will make you stand out in the highly competitive market. Apart from getting broader access to the industry’s most challenging opportunities, certifications provided by Oracle® Corporation demonstrates your knowledge and skills required to support core products available in Oracle®. With the increasing competition, employers are practicing the cherry picking policy where they are selecting the best cherry from the lot.

When you become a Certified Professional recognized by Oracle®, you demonstrate understanding of the skills that are required by professionals to get fit in the chosen role. IT professionals who are accredited with OCA have a competitive and distinct advantage over other IT aspirants.

With each and every step that you make towards gaining knowledge and a set of skills, you are entitled to a certification that:

• Accelerates your professional development
• Improvises your level of productivity
• Enhances your credibility

In addition, certification enables the companies to hire proven performers that justify the company’s investment in the Oracle® technology. Scenario-based tests included in certification of Oracle® give an effective assessment analysis of problem-solving ability and hands-on expertise. The certification will enable the employers to recognize your skills, knowledge to install & configure, and maintain the database; thereby, adding value to your career growth.

Oracle offers different certification tracks including Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) and Oracle Certified Associate (OCA). Each of these certifications hold a distinct advantage, highlights your achievements and identifies you as a valuable asset to the company. Survey reviews and statistical analysis conducted by WordPress and Payscale for professionals certified by Oracle® shows that:

• 82% of OCP’s realized a major acceleration in their earning capability.
• 42% of OCP’s elaborated that if their employer would pay for their accreditation, they would get it.
• 90% of OCP’s agreed that they have been able to improve their job prospects.
• 89% of OCP’s gave a consent that they consider themselves better qualified in managing and tend to stay with that company executing complex issues and projects.

Below are some of the major benefits credited with the OCA DBA 11g/12c certification provided by Oracle®:

• Proven skills and expertise of an IT Professional
• Ability to handle massive and continually expanding necessities of modern organizations
• Complete knowledge of database backup & recovery, creating & maintaining data and preparing the database environment

Data Center Cooling is the practice of maintaining ideal operating temperature at the data center facility by using collective equipments, tools, techniques and processes. Temperature alarms are set at Data Center facilities which can alert the concerned people about abrupt rise in temperature. For proper functioning of the data center facility, certain practices are recommended for cooling maintenance and dealing with changes in temperature.

Data Center Cooling System

The system for Data Center Cooling basically consists of three components namely Infrastructure such as air conditioners, air ducts, cooling towers etc, Cooling Management Software and temperature monitoring equipments and processes.

Best Practices

Detection

Detect the IT load in Kilowatts and measure the intake temperature across the center. Detect the hot spots which show a considerable temperature increase. After detection, measure the airflow volume for each cooling unit and record the supply and return temperatures for each unit for determining the sensible cooling load.

Comparison

Compare the cooling load with the IT load detected in the previous step. By using the airflow return and air temperature measured, determine the sensible capacity of each unit in Kilowatts. Determine the maximum allowable intake temperature for the operating environment after the through comparison.

Actions to be taken

Cable management

Seal the vertical fronts, cable holes and air leakage to manage airflow in the operating center. Also ensure that the cable holes in the raised floors are sealed so that airflow leakage is minimized.

Aisle Management

Hot and cold aisle management is to be ensured to manage airflow. Relocate all perforated floor tiles to the cold aisle. Also ensure the alignment in the placement of ceiling return grilles with the hot aisles.

Reduce number of cooling units

Estimate the number of required cooling units. This can be done by dividing the IT load with the smallest sensible cooling unit capacity. After estimation, reduce the number of cooling units by turning off the not required ones. The cooling units with the lowest sensible load should be identified and turned off.

This process is done to ensure that cooling standards are maintained along with optimum power efficiency.

Maintain the desired temperature

The best practice is to keep the temperature in the data center regulated so that too high or low temperatures don’t prevail. By comparing and monitoring the temperature, the desired level temperature can be ensured. Also temperature alarms prove to be a very useful tool in alerting and ensuring temperature maintenance.

Energy efficiency is the basic requirement to ensure optimum functionality of a Data Center. Certain practices to monitor energy consumption and avoiding energy wastage are the secrets of running a successful data center facility. The top ten have been discussed as follows.

• Supplemental Load Reduction

The secondary load contributors in a data center are supplemental load resources. The supplemental load can be reduced by following methods like reducing the energy use of equipments and upgrading the building’s roofing and insulation.

• Lighting

Maintain the lighting to the level required in the center. Upgrade the center’s system with energy efficient light sources which consume less power.

• Industrial Refrigeration

The industrial refrigeration system if used in data centers can be beneficial as it won’t allow the systems to overheat. Along with ensuring data safety, this system reduces energy and operation costs.

• Restructure the Air Distribution System

It has been found that oversized fans consume a least 10 percent more power. The center’s air distribution system should be equipped the right sized fans that consume lesser power.

• Supply Air Control

The supply air control system requires additional supply air temperature sensors as the air conditioners don’t come equipped with these. This system thus regulates and monitors the temperature of the air being supplied. This implementation is much faster and efficient than other traditional systems. 

• Variable Speed Fan Drives

Power consumption by a fan is high and is a function of a cube of the fan’s speed. Retrofitting any constant speed cooling fan to variable speeds or by replacing legacy units with new units with built in variable speed capability can reduce power consumption and increase efficiency.

• Retro Commissioning

Commissioning ensures that computer systems are designed, installed and their functionalities and capabilities are tested in accordance to the data center’s operational needs. Retro commissioning is a similar process of system reviewing alignment and optimization but this process takes place at a later point of the center’s life cycle. It ensures recalibrating the systems to perform more efficiently, thus saving power.

• Heating and Cooling Equipment Upgrades

Certain heating and cooling systems consume more power than required. It is always wise to choose the right kind of equipments which are not oversized, are energy efficient and do not consume more power than required.

• Increase Chilled Water Temperature

One of the largest power consumers in a data center is a chilled water system. Increasing the temperature of the chilled water system by raising the air handler temperature set point can help to reduce energy consumption.

• Pumping Systems

Pumping actions like replacing throttling valves with speed controls, reducing speed for fixed load, installing a parallel system for high variable loads and replacing motor or a pump with a more efficient model all come with energy savings from 10 to 60 percent.