IT Service Management Frameworks and Standards
What this domain tests
This domain tests whether you know the major frameworks well enough to choose, combine and tailor them: ITIL 4, ISO/IEC 20000-1, COBIT 2019 and the Chinese ITSS series (GB/T 28827.1). Items typically give a business goal - certification, cost reduction, board oversight - and ask which framework element delivers it.
Core rules
- ITIL 4 replaces the v3 service lifecycle with the Service Value System: seven guiding principles, governance, the service value chain (plan, improve, engage, design and transition, obtain/build, deliver and support), 34 management practices and continual improvement. Its four dimensions are organisations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and processes.
- ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 specifies requirements for a service management system in clauses 4–10: context of the organisation, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation, improvement. It is certifiable and states what must be achieved, never how.
- COBIT 2019 is a governance framework: 40 governance and management objectives built from seven components (processes; organisational structures; policies and procedures; information; culture and ethics; people and skills; services, infrastructure and applications). It sits above operational ITSM.
- ITSS GB/T 28827.1 defines four elements - people, process, technology, resources - across planning and design, deployment and implementation, service operations, continual improvement and supervision.
Worked example
An organisation wants external proof of service quality within nine months and also wants day-to-day operating guidance. The answer: adopt ITIL 4 practices as the operating model, use ISO/IEC 20000-1 as the requirement set and audit trail (clause 8 for operation, clause 9 for performance evaluation, clause 10 for improvement), and reserve COBIT for board-level objectives and assurance. The certification audit examines the management system and its evidence, not the tooling or the org chart.
Traps that cost marks
- Saying ITIL 4 has 26 processes; it has 34 practices.
- Mixing the seven ITIL guiding principles with COBIT's governance principles.
- Claiming ISO/IEC 20000 mandates ITIL - it mandates outcomes, and any conforming method is acceptable.
- Assuming COBIT adoption means incident management is in place.
- Treating a framework as a standard you can be certified against when it is only guidance.