ITIL Foundation V5 key terms

A recommendation that guides an organization's decisions and actions at every level, whatever its objectives, resources or industry. ITIL defines several that apply across the whole service value system rather than to a single activity.

The guiding principle that every action should trace back to the value it creates for the organization, its customers and other stakeholders, including who receives that value and how it is measured.

The guiding principle that advises reusing and improving what already exists instead of building everything anew, so that effort is not wasted discarding capabilities that still work.

The guiding principle of organizing work into small, manageable increments and using feedback from each increment to adjust the next, rather than attempting one large deliverable at the end.

The guiding principle that work succeeds through involvement of the right stakeholders, with information shared openly enough that decisions are based on evidence rather than assumption or siloed knowledge.

The guiding principle of treating services, practices and technology as interconnected parts of a whole, so that optimizing one component does not degrade the outcomes of the wider system.

The guiding principle of using the fewest steps and simplest controls that still achieve the objective, eliminating work that adds no value and avoiding over-engineered processes.

The guiding principle that resources should first be used as effectively as possible, with manual effort removed where sensible, and automation applied only after the underlying work has been simplified.

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

The perceived benefits, usefulness and importance of something, judged by the stakeholder receiving it. Value is subjective and can differ between customer, user, provider and wider society.

The idea that value is not delivered unilaterally by a provider but emerges from interaction between provider and consumer, each contributing resources, knowledge and actions to the result.

A result for a stakeholder that is enabled by one or more outputs. Outcomes describe what the customer is able to achieve, whereas outputs are the tangible deliverables produced along the way.

A tangible or intangible artefact produced by an activity that has no value on its own until it contributes to an outcome the consumer actually wants to reach.

The two components of a service's fitness for purpose and fitness for use: utility is what the service does to support outcomes, warranty is the assurance it performs reliably, securely and at acceptable capacity.

The two burdens a service removes or shifts from the consumer to the provider, forming the basis for how value is judged alongside the outcomes the service enables.

The joint arrangement between a service provider and a service consumer, covering service provision, service consumption and the interactions that allow value to be co-created over time.

The three roles a consumer may occupy: customer, who defines requirements and approves spend; user, who consumes the service; and sponsor, who authorizes the budget for service consumption.

A configuration of resources, including services, designed to offer value to a consumer. Products may bundle several services and are owned by the provider organization.

Any person, technology, information or other asset that contributes to the delivery of a service. Resources are exchanged between provider and consumer to co-create value.

The four perspectives that must be considered together for any service to work: organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and processes.

The dimension covering structure, culture, roles, responsibilities, staffing and competence, ensuring the people side of service management is designed deliberately rather than left to chance.

The dimension covering the data, knowledge, applications, infrastructure and security controls needed for services, including how information flows and is protected across the value chain.

The dimension addressing external organizations that design, build, deliver or support services, including contracts, dependency management and the risk of relying on third parties.

The dimension describing how activities are organized into a sequence that creates value, and how processes and controls turn inputs into outputs efficiently and consistently.

A technique for scanning external factors affecting a service: political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental. It supports the four-dimensions analysis by exposing outside influences.

The overarching model showing how the components of ITIL work together to create value: guiding principles, governance, the service value chain, practices and continual improvement, all fed by opportunity and demand.

Six interconnected activities - plan, improve, engage, design and transition, obtain or build, and deliver and support - that convert demand into value through products and services.

A specific combination of value chain activities and practices used by an organization to respond to a particular demand or trigger, such as onboarding a new user or resolving an outage.

The means by which an organization is directed and controlled, covering accountability, oversight, risk appetite and compliance with policy, distinct from day-to-day management of services.

A set of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective, combining people, processes, information and technology, and tools in a repeatable way.

A set of interrelated or interacting activities that transforms inputs into outputs, with defined triggers, sequence and results, distinct from the broader practice that contains it.

The practice of minimizing the negative impact of an incident by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible, usually through workarounds rather than root-cause elimination.

The practice of reducing the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying actual and potential causes of incidents and managing workarounds and known errors.

A problem that has been analysed and has a documented root cause and workaround, allowing support staff to resolve matching incidents quickly while a permanent fix is planned.

A temporary means of restoring service for a user when the underlying cause is not yet removed, reducing impact while problem management continues its investigation.

The practice of supporting the normal, pre-approved requests users make, such as access, information or standard changes, through a defined and often automated fulfilment path.

The practice of maximizing the number of successful service and product changes by assessing risk, authorizing changes appropriately and scheduling them to avoid disruption.

The practice and point of contact where users report issues, request services and receive communication, capturing demand and acting as the entry point to many value streams.

The practice of aligning services with changing business needs through ongoing identification and improvement of services, components and practices, supported by measurement and a repeatable method.

A structured sequence of questions guiding improvement: what is the vision, where are we now, where do we want to be, how do we get there, take action, and did we get there.

A mechanism by which information about the results of an action returns to influence the next action, enabling adjustment, learning and evidence-based decisions at each increment of work.

The practice of managing the people side of change so that improvements are adopted, addressing stakeholder concerns, communication, training and resistance rather than only technical implementation.

An early, limited version of a service released to real users to generate feedback quickly, allowing the provider to learn and improve before investing in full capability.