Itil examination body vows to tackle dodgy trainers

Best practice accreditation body APM Group pledges to improve the quality of training

Fresh from launching its first Itil exam since its appointment as the accreditation body for the popular management best practice guidelines, APM Group has pledged to improve the quality of Itil training and make the next generation of exams more accessible to candidates.

Richard Pharro, managing director of APM Group, which secured the accreditation services contract from the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) last July and launched its first exam for version two of Itil in early January, said that the company was taking a more rigorous approach to assessing training firms offering Itil certified courses.

"Every trainer we accredit, we check on the quality of the course and physically see them train," he said. "Every training company we've spoken to is in favour of this level of assessment as they object to organisations that are offering Itil training that are not accredited. They want a clear mark that shows they offer approved training and the end result will be better and more consistent courses for students."
Ken Turbitt, global best practices director at IT management software vendor BMC, said more robust accreditation would be welcome. ""Since Itil has taken off, everyone's been jumping on the bandwagon and there have been some people offering training who weren't really up to it," he observed.

Pharro said APM Group was on track to launch a new exam to support the upcoming version three of the Itil guidelines as soon as they are released in May. "It is an ambitious target, but we expect a lot of people qualified on version two will want to upgrade, so we want the exams available as soon as possible."

He added that the version three exam would adopt a new format designed to make certification more accessible to an international audience. Currently, applicants can qualify at foundation, practitioner, or manager level, but Pharro said less than 10 percent were upgrading to the highest manager level qualification, at least partly because the exam is based on lengthy essays. " Not many people are used to long essays, so we are looking for a simpler assessment process that still retains its current rigour and quality," he said.

The news was welcomed by John Collins of analyst firm Macehiter Ward-Dutton. "The most important thing is to make it as straightforward as possible for people to adopt Itil best practices," he said. "You don’t want to make the exams easier as the qualification has got to stand for something, but forcing people to undertake long essays is not the answer. There is a need for the exams to be more straightforward, but not easier."

Separately, Pharro extended an olive branch to Exin and ISEB - the incumbent accreditation providers that APM Group will fully replace this summer. He said that under the terms of the OGC contract, APM can sublicense work to other accreditation providers and is currently in negotiation with both bodies to allow them to continue to offer Itil exams.

"There is an opportunity for all of us to co-operate and benefit from Itil," he said. "If we don’t reach an agreement then they are likely to compete outright with a different set of general service management qualifications. An agreement would be beneficial as it would enable continuity and clarity in the market. The last thing the market wants is competing products."

A spokesman for ISEB agreed that an agreement would be beneficial and said that while some "sticking points" remained he hoped the two organisations would be working together in the "not too distant future".

A spokeswoman for Exin confirmed it too was in negotiations and that an announcement was likely before the end of the month. However, she said that there was still disagreement over APM Group's desire to be the sole developer of exam questions. "We develop exams and we don’t want to just distribute them," she said. "Whatever the results of the negotiations we will also continue to develop and support our own [service management] exam, which covers more than just Itil."

Turbitt said that unless the disagreement was resolved there was a danger Itil could "shoot itself in the foot". "Exin and ISEB are well recognised in the market and there is a risk that if they do not sort things out with APM they will go and develop their own industry exam," he explained. "That could weaken the value of Itil."