A Brief Overview of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library

A Brief Overview of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library

Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL, was created by the British government in the 1980's in an attempt to create a standard for the efficient and effective utilization of its several IT resources. The British government, with the help of IT professionals who applied their experience and expertise, developed and published a series of best-practice books. Each one of these books targeted a different IT process. ITIL is now an industry of organizations, consulting services and publications. ITIL is still evolving, and its 44-volume set has now been combined into eight books.

As dependency on IT services grew in the 1980's, the British government established a set of propositions. It acknowledged that, in the absence of standard procedures, government and private agencies were developing their own IT management policies. Originally, the IT Infrastructure Library was a collection of books, and each one covered a specific process. Later on, the number of books in the ITIL grew.

ITIL, which consists of concepts and methodologies for Information Technology (IT), places a great deal of stress and importance on quality. The main focus of ITIL is the efficiency and effectiveness of IT services, and how they can be supported. Within the ITIL structure, the business divisions of the organization that commission and pay for services, are considered as the customers, or consumers, of IT services. These IT services could be Accounting or Human Resources. The organization which provides these services is known as the service provider.

The first publication of ITIL was in 1989 - 1996. After this, more books were added to the ITIL. In 2000 and 2001, ITIL v2 was released to make ITIL more accessible and inexpensive. The books were grouped into 8 sets, and each set had process guidelines which matched the specific components of IT management. The main focus, however, of ITIL v2 was on Service Support and Delivery, which were known as the Service Management sets. In May 2007, version 3 of ITIL was launched. ITIL v3, also called the ITIL Refresh Project, had 26 processes and functions. It was built on the concept of the Service lifecycle.

The certification scheme is different for ITIL v2 and ITIL v3. While ITIL v2 offers three stages of certification, ITIL v3 has three. These levels are Foundation, Intermediate, Expert and Master. Bridge examinations allow ITIL v2 owners to transfer to the ITIL v3. ITIL v2 should be gradually discontinued to make way for ITIL v3. The ITIL certification is handled by the ITIL Certification Management Board. This board consists of representatives of several members in the community, all over the world.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library has had its fair share of criticism, though. For one, many non-commercial users find the books expensive. Proponents of ITIL have often been accused of promoting ITIL as an ideal framework for IT governance. Another concern is the specific training that needs to be imparted to individuals for implementation. There is also a debate over which network the ITIL falls under.

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_(By Eli Shemluck).