ITIL ® 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support Certification Training

Course Content

Understand the concepts and challenges relating to the following across the service value system

Organisational structure
Integrated/collaborative teams
Team capabilities, roles, competencies
Team culture and differences
Working to a customer-orientated mindset
Employee satisfaction management
The value of positive communications

Understand how to use a ‘shift left’ approach
Understanding the ‘Shift Left’ Approach The 'shift left' approach is a proactive strategy in software development and IT that emphasizes addressing potential issues earlier in the lifecycle of a project. This methodology not only applies to testing but extends to various stages of development, including design, planning, and operations. By shifting responsibilities and tasks to earlier phases, organizations can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the overall quality of their products or services. Key Concepts of the Shift Left Approach Early Testing and Quality Assurance: Traditional models often conduct testing at the end of the development cycle. In contrast, the shift left approach integrates testing from the earliest stages of development. Continuous testing practices, such as automated tests, allow for immediate feedback on code quality and functionality. Collaboration Across Teams: Encouraging collaboration among development, testing, operations, and business teams ensures that all stakeholders have input from the beginning. Cross-functional teams can identify potential issues and requirements sooner, leading to a more aligned and efficient workflow. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Incorporating CI/CD pipelines supports the shift left approach by automating integration and deployment processes. This ensures that code is continuously tested and integrated, allowing for rapid iterations and early detection of issues. Requirement Gathering and User Feedback: Engaging with users early to gather requirements and feedback helps ensure that the product meets their needs and expectations. Techniques such as user stories, prototypes, and minimum viable products (MVPs) allow teams to validate ideas before full-scale development. Risk Management: By identifying potential risks and addressing them earlier, teams can mitigate issues before they escalate into significant problems. Conducting risk assessments and leveraging automated tools for monitoring can enhance this process. Benefits of the Shift Left Approach Reduced Costs: Fixing defects earlier in the development process is generally less costly than addressing them later. A study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) indicates that the cost to fix a defect increases significantly the later it is found in the development lifecycle. Improved Quality: Early testing and continuous feedback lead to higher quality products, as teams can make necessary adjustments before major releases. Fewer defects in production result in increased customer satisfaction and reduced downtime. Faster Time to Market: With continuous integration and testing, teams can release features and updates more rapidly. This agility allows organizations to respond quickly to market changes and customer needs. Enhanced Collaboration: A shift left encourages a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility among teams, breaking down silos. This alignment leads to more effective communication and a better understanding of project goals. Better Resource Allocation: By identifying and resolving issues early, teams can allocate resources more effectively, focusing on high-impact areas rather than firefighting later in the process. Implementing the Shift Left Approach Adopt Agile and DevOps Practices: Embrace Agile methodologies and DevOps practices to facilitate iterative development and continuous improvement. Foster a culture that encourages collaboration, experimentation, and feedback. Integrate Automated Testing: Implement automated testing tools early in the development process to ensure that testing is continuous and comprehensive. Focus on unit testing, integration testing, and performance testing to catch issues early. Involve Stakeholders Early: Engage business stakeholders, end-users, and customers from the beginning to gather insights and validate requirements. Encourage participation in user story workshops, design reviews, and feedback sessions. Establish CI/CD Pipelines: Develop robust CI/CD pipelines that automate code integration, testing, and deployment processes. Use tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, or CircleCI to streamline workflows and enable rapid iterations. Emphasize Training and Education: Provide training for teams on the principles of the shift left approach, Agile methodologies, and automated testing. Encourage a mindset of continuous learning and improvement. Monitor and Measure Outcomes: Implement metrics to assess the effectiveness of the shift left approach, such as defect rates, time to market, and customer satisfaction scores. Use this data to refine processes and drive further improvements. Conclusion The 'shift left' approach is a transformative strategy that emphasizes early engagement, continuous testing, and collaboration across teams. By addressing issues earlier in the development lifecycle, organizations can enhance product quality, reduce costs, and accelerate time to market. Implementing this methodology requires a cultural shift towards collaboration and continuous improvement, supported by Agile and DevOps practices. Ultimately, embracing the shift left approach enables organizations to respond more effectively to customer needs and achieve their business objectives.

Know how to plan and manage resources in the service value system

Understand the use and value of information and technology across the service value system

Know how to use a value stream to design, develop and transition new services
Using a value stream to design, develop, and transition new services is a powerful way to align an organization’s processes with its customer and business value goals. In the context of Service Management (such as ITIL 4) and Agile methodologies, a value stream is the sequence of activities that an organization undertakes to deliver a product or service to a customer, from concept to delivery. A value stream helps in identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and waste in the process, providing insights that allow teams to streamline workflows and enhance value creation. By designing, developing, and transitioning services using a value stream approach, you can ensure that each step in the process is aligned with delivering maximum value to both the customer and the business. Here’s how to use a value stream to design, develop, and transition new services: 1. Understand the Value Stream A value stream represents all the activities, steps, or stages involved in delivering a service. It includes everything from initial idea conception to the final delivery and customer support. To use a value stream to design, develop, and transition new services, the following steps are essential: Map the Value Stream: First, map out the entire value stream, from ideation through to customer delivery. Identify key activities such as design, development, testing, deployment, and post-delivery support. This is often done with tools like value stream mapping, which visually represents the flow of work. Identify Stakeholders: Involve key stakeholders such as business leaders, customers, developers, and support teams in defining the value stream. They help provide insights into what activities deliver value and which ones add friction or waste. Assess Current State: Evaluate the current state of the value stream to understand how services are being delivered. This can include mapping current workflows and identifying inefficiencies, delays, or bottlenecks. 2. Design New Services with Value Stream Thinking When designing new services, the value stream approach helps ensure that the design process aligns with customer and business needs. This involves: Define the Service and Value Proposition: Clearly define what the service will offer, who the target audience is, and what the value proposition will be. This stage involves a deep understanding of customer needs, market analysis, and the business goals the service will support. Establish Service Requirements: Identify functional and non-functional requirements, including performance, security, scalability, and compliance. These requirements will form the basis for design and development. Design with End-to-End in Mind: The design should not only focus on creating a great service but also consider how it will be developed, tested, and transitioned. The aim is to optimize the entire service lifecycle, ensuring that all activities in the value stream are efficient and aligned with customer expectations. Incorporate Agile and Lean Principles: In a service design process, adopting Agile methodologies ensures that iterations are manageable and changes are incremental. Lean principles help to eliminate waste and focus on value-driven activities. 3. Develop New Services Using Value Stream Insights In the development phase, the value stream becomes essential for ensuring efficiency and speed while maintaining quality. Steps to take include: Break Down Silos: Use the value stream to break down silos between development, operations, support, and other teams. In Agile and DevOps, teams often work cross-functionally to design, develop, and deploy services together. Optimize the Development Process: Use the insights from the value stream to improve the flow of work. Eliminate delays and unnecessary steps that don't add value. This might include automating processes, improving collaboration, and removing dependencies. Use CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment): In the development phase, integrating CI/CD pipelines ensures that code changes are frequently tested and deployed with minimal manual intervention. This allows for faster feedback and quicker releases. Test with End Users: Continuously gather feedback from users or stakeholders during the development phase. This ensures the service aligns with user expectations and allows for course corrections before full-scale deployment. 4. Transition the Service Using Value Stream Principles Transitioning the new service into the live environment is a critical phase where the value stream approach can significantly impact service quality and efficiency. Here’s how: Plan the Service Transition: Using the value stream, plan the steps for transitioning the service from development to production. This includes identifying dependencies, preparing environments, and ensuring proper training and documentation are in place. Automate Deployment: Automating deployments and rollbacks ensures that the service can be transitioned smoothly with minimal disruption. Tools like automated deployment pipelines and infrastructure-as-code (IaC) can ensure fast, reliable, and repeatable deployments. Monitor and Support Post-Deployment: Once the service is live, the value stream should include monitoring and proactive support to ensure it meets performance and customer expectations. Use feedback loops (like A/B testing or monitoring dashboards) to identify areas for improvement. Continuous Improvement: After the service is live, continuously monitor its performance and gather feedback to improve the service and the transition process for future services. Use lean or Agile retrospectives to identify lessons learned and optimize the service lifecycle. 5. Continuous Improvement Using the Value Stream A key component of the value stream approach is ongoing optimization. After a service is deployed, continuously evaluate and improve the processes: Review and Analyze Data: Gather data on the service performance, delivery efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Use this data to identify bottlenecks and areas of improvement. Implement Feedback Loops: Continuously incorporate customer and stakeholder feedback into the service, either through Agile sprints or other iterative mechanisms. This helps evolve the service over time. Optimize the Value Stream: Review the entire value stream regularly to identify ways to eliminate waste, reduce cycle time, and enhance service delivery. Use value stream mapping periodically to optimize workflows. Conclusion Using a value stream to design, develop, and transition new services enables organizations to focus on delivering value efficiently and continuously improving service delivery. By understanding the flow of work, eliminating bottlenecks, and maintaining customer-centricity, companies can ensure that their services are designed to meet market needs, delivered quickly, and iteratively improved over time. The value stream approach is key for aligning teams, reducing waste, and enhancing the overall customer experience throughout the service lifecycle.

Know how the following ITIL practices contribute to a value stream for a new service

Know how to use a value stream to provide user support
Using a Value Stream to provide user support involves applying value stream principles to streamline and optimize the flow of support activities and processes within an organization. A value stream is the series of steps an organization takes to deliver a product or service to its customers. In the context of user support, it’s about identifying, mapping, and improving the processes that support users, ensuring that every step adds value to the user and eliminates waste. Here’s how you can use a value stream to improve and provide efficient user support: 1. Define the Value Stream for User Support Identify the End-to-End Process: Start by mapping the entire user support process, from the point a user submits a support request to the resolution of that issue. This includes steps such as issue identification, categorization, prioritization, diagnosis, resolution, and feedback collection. Understand the Flow of Information: Track how the support request moves through the system—who is involved at each stage and what tools or systems are used. Focus on Value: Identify what constitutes "value" for the user at each step (such as resolution speed, ease of communication, effective solutions, etc.) and what doesn't (delays, redundant steps, and bottlenecks). 2. Map the Current State of the Support Value Stream Flow Mapping: Create a value stream map (VSM) to visualize the current support process. This will include: All the activities, systems, and people involved in resolving a user support request. The time each step takes and any delays or inefficiencies. Identify Bottlenecks: Look for places where the process slows down or adds unnecessary complexity, such as excessive waiting times for escalations or slow response times. 3. Optimize the Value Stream Eliminate Waste: Use lean principles to remove inefficiencies in the process. This might include: Reducing redundant approvals or steps in the workflow. Automating repetitive tasks (e.g., auto-categorization of issues or self-service knowledge base). Improving training and resources for support agents to handle common issues more quickly. Improve Flow: Ensure that support requests move smoothly through the system, without unnecessary delays. For example: Clearer escalation paths for issues that require higher-level expertise. Faster communication between teams involved in the process (e.g., IT, customer support, technical teams). Reduce Lead Time: The goal is to reduce the time it takes from the user submitting a support request to the issue being resolved. 4. Enhance User Self-Service Capabilities Knowledge Base: Make information readily available to users through a comprehensive knowledge base or FAQ section. This allows users to solve common problems independently. Automated Support Tools: Implement AI-driven chatbots or virtual assistants that can handle basic queries and troubleshooting steps, helping to reduce the workload of support agents. Interactive Troubleshooting: Provide users with diagnostic tools they can use on their own to check for common issues (e.g., system health check, connectivity tests). 5. Measure Performance and Continuous Improvement Track Key Metrics: Use metrics to assess the performance of the support value stream, such as: Response time: How quickly the first response is provided to the user. Resolution time: How long it takes to resolve an issue after the initial report. Customer satisfaction: How users feel about the support they received. Escalation rate: The percentage of support requests that need to be escalated to higher levels of expertise. Continuous Improvement: Regularly review the value stream map to identify areas for further improvement. This can be done through feedback from users and support agents, data analysis, and ongoing optimization efforts. 6. Collaborate Across Teams Cross-Functional Collaboration: A value stream approach often involves collaboration across different teams, such as IT, product development, and user experience (UX) teams, to ensure that support issues are identified and addressed comprehensively. Align Teams Around Customer-Centric Goals: Ensure that all teams are aligned in their efforts to improve the user support process. This helps in improving both the speed and quality of support. 7. Implement a Feedback Loop User Feedback: Regularly gather feedback from users regarding their support experience. This can be done through surveys, interviews, or post-incident reviews. Agent Feedback: Support agents should also provide feedback on the value stream process, particularly on obstacles they face or improvements they believe could speed up resolution time. Action on Feedback: Use the feedback to refine the value stream and ensure that both user needs and operational efficiency are being met. Example of a Value Stream for User Support Let’s walk through an example of a value stream for user support: Step 1: User Request: The user submits a support ticket via email, phone, or a self-service portal. Step 2: Categorization: The support team automatically categorizes the request (e.g., software issue, hardware issue, billing question) using AI or predefined rules. Step 3: First-Level Support: The ticket is assigned to first-level support, which attempts to resolve the issue by checking predefined knowledge articles or using diagnostic tools. Step 4: Escalation (if needed): If first-level support cannot resolve the issue, the ticket is escalated to a specialist or technical team. Step 5: Resolution: The support team resolves the issue, updates the ticket, and informs the user. Step 6: Closure & Feedback: The issue is marked as resolved, and the user is asked to provide feedback on their support experience. By applying value stream mapping, identifying inefficiencies, and optimizing the flow of work, the user support process can become more efficient and user-friendly. Conclusion: Using a value stream to provide user support involves mapping the entire support process, optimizing workflows to eliminate waste, and continuously improving the process based on feedback and performance metrics. By focusing on value at each step, reducing inefficiencies, and leveraging automation and self-service tools, organizations can improve the speed, quality, and satisfaction of their user support offerings.

Know how the following ITIL practices contribute to a value stream for user support

Know how to co-ordinate, prioritize and structure work and activities to create deliver and support services, including

Understand the use and value of the following across the service value system

About Course

The ITIL® 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support certification focuses on equipping IT professionals with skills to integrate service management practices across the ITIL service value system. It covers service management best practices in creating, delivering, and supporting services, emphasizing collaboration, automation, and continual improvement. This certification is ideal for IT service managers, practitioners, and aspiring professionals involved in service design, deployment, and ongoing support. It validates expertise in optimizing service delivery processes, enhancing customer satisfaction, and ensuring alignment of IT services with business needs, essential for driving organizational efficiency and effectiveness in service management.

Management

Cloud Computing

Networking

Business Analysis

Database

CyberSecurity

Software Development

Human Resource

Sales and Marketing

Art

Culture

Literature

Welcome

Labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam

Find your desired course

Select Your Favourite Category And Start Learning.

Management

Cloud Computing

Networking

Business Analysis

Database

CyberSecurity

Software Development

Human Resource

Sales and Marketing

Art

Culture

Literature

ITIL ® 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support Certification Training

All Levels

40h

36

Course Content

Understand the concepts and challenges relating to the following across the service value system

Organisational structure

Integrated/collaborative teams

Team capabilities, roles, competencies

Team culture and differences

Working to a customer-orientated mindset

Employee satisfaction management

The value of positive communications

Know how to plan and manage resources in the service value system

Team collaboration and integration

Workforce planning

Results based measuring and reporting

The culture of continual improvement

Understand the use and value of information and technology across the service value system

Integrated service management toolsets

Integration and data sharing

Reporting and advanced analytics

Collaboration and workflow

Robotic process automation (RPA)

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

Continuous integration and delivery/deployment (CI/CD)

Information models

Know how the following ITIL practices contribute to a value stream for a new service

Service design

Software development and Management

Deployment management

Release management

Service Validation and testing

Change Enablement

Know how the following ITIL practices contribute to a value stream for user support

Service desk

Incident management

Problem management

Knowledge management

Service level management

Monitoring and event management

Know how to co-ordinate, prioritize and structure work and activities to create deliver and support services, including

Managing queues and backlogs

Prioritizing work

Understand the use and value of the following across the service value system

Buy vs build considerations

Sourcing options

Service integration and management (SIAM)

About Course

What Will You Learn?

Material Includes

Requirements

Select Your Favourite
Category And Start Learning.