The Difference between ITIL V2 and V3

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is becoming an international standard for describing the best practices for IT Service Management.  Just like with ISO 9000, the standard evolved out of efforts by the UK government during the 1980′s to model successful organizations and their IT service management approach.  Version 3 was released in 2007 and takes a more circular or complete cycle approach than its predecessors, just as ISO 9000 has evolved into a more dynamic, process-based approach.  The two have much in common and can be used side-by-side.

The core disciplines of ITIL V2 used to focus on “what” Service Support and Service Delivery should be done.  Ten processes tightly defined ITIL V2 around some of the main operational elements of running IT services.

 The Ten Original ITIL V2 Processes:

1. Finance Management
2. Availability Management
3. Capacity Management
4. IT Service Continuity Management
5. Service Level Management
6. Change Management
7. Service Asset & Configuration Management
8. Release & Deployment Management
9. Incident Management
10. Problem Management

ITIL V3 Processes expanded the original ten processes into 27 processes organized into five core areas or books: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operations, and Continual Service Improvement Processes.  The intent is to explain “how” more than just the “what” based approach of V2. 

1. Service Strategy
   1. Service Portfolio Management
   2. Demand Management
   3. Finance Management (V2)
2. Service Design
   1. Availability Management (V2)
   2. Capacity Management (V2)
   3. IT Service Continuity Management (V2)
   4. Service Level Management (V2)
   5. Information Security Management
   6. Supplier Management
   7. Service Catalog Management
3. Service Transition
   1. Change Management (V2)
   2. Service Asset & Configuration Management (V2)
   3. Knowledge Management
   4. Release & Deployment Management (V2)
   5. Service Validation & Testing
4. Service Operations
   – Functions
   1. Service Desk Management
   2. Technical Management
   3. IT Operations Management
   4. Applications Management
      – Processes
   5. Event Management
   6. Incident Management (V2)
   7. Problem Management (V2)
   8. Request Fulfillment
   9. Access Management
5. Continual Service Improvement Processes
   1. CSI Service Level Management
   2. Service Measurement & Reporting
   3. CSI Improvement Process

ITIL V3 processes have expanded to cover the complete service management lifecycle and are closely aligned with ISO 20000.  Similar to ITIL but integrating the process-based approach common to ISO standards, ISO 20000 is an international standard that describes best practices for IT service management.  ISO 20000 was published in December, 2005, and replaced ISO 15000.

While ITIL provides guidance to service companies, those companies cannot be ITIL-accredited; individuals may be certified as ITIL practitioners.  Companies may be accredited to ISO 20000, however, and while ISO 20000 does not require companies to use ITIL, company accreditation to the ISO standard is made far easier by implementing ITIL beforehand.

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Originally published in 2009 by Bizmanualz, Inc. under the title The Difference between ITIL V2 and V3. All rights reserved. Reproduction permitted with attribution only. www.bizmanualz.com