See Which Courses Go With Each Certification

There are 32 ITIL 4 Certifications and 28 Certification Exams. How could this be possible?

The short answer is that students achieve the Practice Manager, Managing Professional, Strategic Leader and ITIL Master designations after they take the certification exams in that category. There is no extra exam to achieve the designation that covers the courses in the respective category.

For example, ITIL 4 Managing Professional consists of 4 courses and 4 exams. When completed students hold the designation for each exam taken PLUS the exam for the category which is ITIL 4 Managing Professional.

• ITIL 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver & Support
• ITIL 4 Specialist: Drive Stakeholder Value
• ITIL 4 Specialist: High Velocity IT
• ITIL 4 Specialist: Direct, Plan & Improve
• Complete all 4 courses & exams and you achieve the ITIL 4 Managing Professional designation.

Same holds true for ITIL 4 Strategic Leader. When students complete the 2 courses in this category, they hold the designation for each certification and automatically hold the ITIL 4 Strategic Leader Title.

• ITIL Strategist: Direct, Plan & Improve
• ITIL 4 Strategist: Digital & IT Strategy
• Complete both of these courses and you achieve the ITIL 4 Strategic Leader designation.

Same for Practice Manager – Only a bit more complicated. With Practice Manager there are 3 categories each with 5 individual courses/certifications and an option to take each course or to take 1 course that is 3-days long and covers the same information.

In terms of differences, the main thing that I see is that the Tesla hit the market fully ready to drive whereas the  AXELOS release of ITIL 4 is taking more than a year.  The Foundation course was released and then Managing Professional Transition for people with a strong ITIL V3 background.  However, for others wanting more information to understand how to adopt and adapt ITIL 4 into their organizations, we are just now getting the details and it will not be fully released until the second half of 2020.

ITIL 4 Tracks

ITIL 4 has two tracks:  Managing Professional and Strategic Leader.  The full four Managing Professional courses are now released, and we expect the standard updates to the syllabuses to take place over the next several months.  This is a common practice.  Can you take the MP courses now?  Sure.  Will there be changes that take place over the next few months?  Almost certainly.  The Managing Professional Transition course has been available for six months and we received several syllabus updates over that time.  The four full Managing Professional courses are new and for sure, will receive syllabus updates over the next several months.  Can you get started now?  Absolutely.  Make sure you stay on top of the syllabus updates.  The other path is Strategic Leader and it is expected to be released second half of 2020.

Where to Begin

Both tracks begin with ITIL 4 Foundation which is designed as an introduction to ITIL 4. If you are new to ITIL or interested in taking your organization from V3 to 4, then ITIL 4 sets a good foundation. The Managing Professional track is designed for IT Practitioner and provides the knowledge needed for individuals running IT projects, teams and workflows.  The Strategic Leader track takes ITIL beyond IT operations into digitally enabled services across the organization.  The class is currently under development.  As soon as we know more, we will let you know.

Why Get Started Now?

All updates have features that are designed to enhance performance so now is a good time to explore how to improve organizational performance.  A good way to do that is the ITIL 4 Foundation course and the Managing Professional Transition course.  Foundation is perfect if you are new to ITIL or just want to get an overview.  Managing Professional Transition is designed for the more experienced ITIL V3 professional. If you have 15 or more ITIL V3 credits, this is the way to go.  If you are somewhere between Foundation and 15 V3 credits, you have several options:

• Achieve 15 ITIL V3 credits, take ITIL 4 Foundation and then become an ITIL 4 Managing Professional by taking 1 course, the Managing Professional Transition course.
• Achieve 17 ITIL V3 credits and jump straight into ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition to become an ITIL 4 Managing Professional.
• Go straight to ITIL 4.  Take Foundation and then the 4 Managing Professional courses.

Which path makes the most sense?

If you work for an organization that has adopted and adapted ITIL V3, then that is the route to go.  If you are new to ITIL and want to get a good foundation in ITIL, then taking both V3 and the ITIL 4 Foundation certifications makes sense.  If you have some V3 credits and want the most cost effective solution, then getting your 15 to 17 V3 credits is most economical.

Would you like some help determining which path is best?

As ITIL 4 comes into full swing you may be asking yourself – it is time to get started and if so, what path should I take?  At GogoTraining we offer a free training plans service for individuals and organizations.  If you are wondering what the best path is for you or how to get your organization up to speed flexibly and cost effectively, Contact Us and Tell Us Where You Are At.  Our experts have over 30 years of experience in all training methodologies (classroom, live online and eLearning) and are here to help you.  EXTRA Bonus:  Everyone who contacts us will receive a $100 off one ITIL Exam.

We are standing by to help.  Contact us by email or call us at, 877.546.4446