Itilv3 Csi Sample Paper 1

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ITIL® Intermediate Lifecycle Stream: CONTINUAL SERVICE IMPROVEMENT (CSI) CERTIFICATE Sample Paper 1, version 5.1

Gradient Style, Complex Multiple Choice SCENARIO BOOKLET This booklet contains the scenarios upon which the 8 examination questions will be based. All questions are contained within the Question Booklet and each question will clearly state the scenario to which the question relates. In order to answer each of the 8 questions, you will need to read the related scenario carefully. On the basis of the information provided in the scenario, you will be required to select which of the four answer options provided (A, B, C or D) you believe to be the optimum answer. You may choose ONE answer only, and the Gradient Scoring system works as follows:

• If you select the CORRECT answer, you will be awarded 5 marks for the question • If you select the SECOND BEST answer, you will be awarded 3 marks for the question • If you select the THIRD BEST answer, you will be awarded 1 mark for the question • If you select the DISTRACTER (the incorrect answer), you will receive no marks for the

question In order to pass this examination, you must achieve a total of 28 marks or more out of a maximum of 40 marks (70%).

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Scenario One A medium-sized company specializing in educational products for children aged two to six was started seven years ago and has a great reputation. The company has won numerous awards. There is a growing interest in going international. The company recently showed their products at various trade shows in Europe and the Americas. The head office employs about 75 people, seven of them in IT. There is currently only one manufacturing plant, which employs 200 people and which has experienced difficulty keeping production in line with demand. The company must now expand both locally and abroad, and so has recently announced the following business strategies:

• Streamline business operations to reduce the bottlenecks impeding the launch of new products

• Concentrate on increasing the market share of key products by eliminating the manufacturing of products that are not selling well

• Improve production capacity and capabilities by moving to new production sites in Europe and the Americas

The chief information officer (CIO) wishes to increase the awareness and acceptance of a continual service improvement (CSI) approach amongst IT staff. The CIO believes that the continual service improvement programme will lead to closer integration between IT and the business. You have recently been appointed as the CSI manager. Previously a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis was conducted by a selection of staff from the IT team. This was intended as input to the IT strategy that is about to be developed, part of which included a SWOT analysis of continual service improvement within the company.

The results of the SWOT analysis are shown below.

STRENGTHS • IT management demonstrate their

commitment to CSI • A CSI manager is in place • People in the company have the right

attitude, values and commitment • IT processes are based on ITIL and at

maturity level “3”

WEAKNESSES • The company is predominantly ‘reactive’

in its CSI initiatives • The company has somewhat stagnant

processes which have not been reviewed for improvement for some time

• There is a lack of monitoring and reporting tools

• Existing service management data is insufficient to provide insight into CSI opportunities

OPPORTUNITIES • Invest in an integrated IT service

management tool to remove IT bottlenecks

• Implement a new reporting mechanism and tools for knowledge management to streamline IT operations

• Institute knowledge transfer and coaching for staff to make them more productive

THREATS • Competition is already in existence • New regulatory requirements will require

additional effort • New technology as the result of business

expansion plans is expected to be supported

• Lack of trained staff creates bottlenecks in support activities

• Lack of use of formal knowledge management




Scenario Two

You work for a company that has experienced dramatic growth over the past ten years. Unfortunately, the IT organization has not scaled its growth to meet the needs of the new business circumstances, resulting in a very reactive service management culture. The business does not appear to understand or value IT. In order to show the business the contribution that IT is making to the company, some basic reporting has been developed, mostly around the service desk and key system availability. There is reporting capability in the areas of network and server availability but the concept of end-to-end service reporting is not well-understood. A new chief information officer (CIO) has been employed who is an advocate of process and objectives measurement. As the new continual service improvement (CSI) manager, you are tasked with creating a continual improvement culture in the company with solid monitoring and measuring practices. You plan to introduce the ITIL “seven-step improvement process” to the company. You recognize, however, that previous efforts have stalled shortly after they began, as the IT team has a tendency to see continual improvement as a short-term initiative. The CIO is enthusiastic about implementing a robust process for CSI that will provide ongoing value, but also requires that some immediate benefits be realized.




Scenario Three You have just started a new job as a change manager. You are committed to ensuring that the change management process is aligned to the business needs of your company. Initial investigations show that the only documentation available in the company is a change management process flowchart with no reports on process performance produced. Your initial observation is that there are a high percentage of emergency changes being made within the company (compared to what you have been used to in other companies). Changes are logged into a tool that has been designed and implemented in-house. Although the database structure is sound and the information is useful, you suspect that more changes are made than are actually recorded. You extract some data for analysis that confirms your suspicion about emergency changes. (See Table 1 below)

Table 1 – Extract from the change management database

Change Priority: Low Medium High Emergency Total Emergency %

Period_1 11 25 25 21 82 25.69

Period_2 15 34 24 23 96 23.95

Period_3 9 39 28 18 94 19.14

Period_4 12 33 21 17 83 20.48

Period_5 16 27 19 9 71 12.67




Scenario Four

Your company’s IT organization has a service quality programme that has been fairly successful at achieving quality improvements, although the business seems not to be aware of this. Although service quality reports are regularly generated and presented to the business, the reports don’t seem to be changing the business’ behaviours, nor does the business seem to recognize how much of an effort the IT organization is now making to communicate these real and positive results. Continual service improvement (CSI) has now been initiated as part of a larger service quality programme. A strong education and awareness program has been conducted to make sure stakeholders at all levels in the company are aware of the CSI efforts and their potential value to the company. As the CSI manager, you have indicated to the rest of the service quality programme team that there are three main target audiences that must be reached with seven-step improvement process information: the business, the IT management team, and the remainder of the IT organization engaged in the daily work of running the IT departments. While you feel that good progress has been made in many areas, you are still of the opinion that interactions with the business need to be improved further.




Scenario Five You have recently been appointed as continual service improvement (CSI) manager for your company. You have had many years experience with implementing ITIL best practices across other companies. Within the IT organization, many of the ITIL processes have already been implemented and the company has now decided to mature its practices by adopting the ITIL service lifecycle. CSI has been selected as one of the first stages of their service lifecycle to implement.




Scenario Six

The IT director has recently approved an ITIL implementation programme. Availability management is currently done at the component level (network, and server monitoring), but there is no end-to-end service monitoring. This is seen as a key requirement as there is a customer perception gap between what is published in the monthly availability reports and the end user experiences. A new service management tool has recently been purchased. An incident management process is in place and configuration item data is captured at the incident logging stage within the tool. Use is made of reports from the change management process to identify where there has been an impact on services. There are some alerts being generated to the technical teams through event management, both during and outside of business hours. Even though the budget available is limited, the IT director requires that there be some data analysis done which is capable of capturing the end-to-end service availability. This will enable IT to act upon performance deficiencies and to facilitate a real demonstration of IT service improvement.




Scenario Seven

You are the service manager for your company, and you have led your team throughout the implementation of many of the ITIL processes. You are generally happy with the adoption throughout the IT organization, particularly in the areas of change, incident, and service level management, which have been given positive endorsement from the business. The culture of your team is becoming far more service-oriented and, as your role expands, it is agreed that you will recruit for a continual service improvement (CSI) manager. A strong candidate will facilitate continued momentum with the existing processes, as well as the implementation of new processes. As part of your recruitment planning you are keen that the CSI manager should have the following qualities:

• Strong relationship management • A good understanding of the IT services and the customer’s business • Good communication skills


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Gradient Style, Complex Multiple Choice QUESTION BOOKLET Gradient Style Multiple Choice 90 minute paper 8 questions, Closed Book Instructions

1. All 8 questions should be attempted. 2. You should refer to the accompanying Scenario Booklet to answer each question. 3. All answers are to be marked on the answer grid provided. 4. You have 90 minutes to complete this paper. 5. You must achieve 28 or more out of a possible 40 marks (70%) to pass this

examination.

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Question One Refer to Scenario One Which one of the following statements about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis results BEST reveals the current gaps in the ability of IT to support the corporate objectives? A. The SWOT analysis indicates that IT is committed to better integration with the business by

implementing knowledge management and better monitoring and reporting tools. They are also focused on the training and coaching of staff.

B. The SWOT analysis does not reveal useful information in its current state as it was conducted

before a desired end-state for IT was defined and agreed. Additionally, IT opportunities were confused with IT strategies. The SWOT analysis should be performed again after the IT strategy is set.

C. The SWOT analysis indicates that IT does not currently appear to have the appropriate

capabilities or resources required by the business to achieve its corporate strategies. It is far too reactive, even though the teams are generally committed.

D. The SWOT analysis indicates that with significant investment in an integrated service management and monitoring toolset, IT could address its weaknesses. They are also focused on the training and the coaching of staff.




Question Two Refer to Scenario One Which one of the following set of critical success factors will BEST demonstrate that the company’s management commitment to continual service improvement (CSI) is genuine? A. • Appointment of a CSI manager

• Adoption of the service lifecycle approach throughout the IT department • Visible management participation in CSI launch

B. • Appointment of a CSI manager • Approval of the CSI initiatives as projects • Appropriate resource allocation for CSI projects throughout the service lifecycle

C. • Adapting service management processes to suit the IT vision • Embedding CSI into everyone’s job description • Acquiring the appropriate technology to support the CSI activities

D. • Ongoing, visible management participation • Sufficient ongoing funding for CSI activities • Adoption of the service lifecycle approach throughout IT




Question Three Refer to Scenario Two Which one of the following options is the BEST way to begin introducing the continual service improvement (CSI) process for maximum benefit? A. Work with the chief information officer (CIO) and other management leaders to identify and verify

the vision, along with the strategic, tactical, and operational goals. This will give a focus to the seven-step improvement process, particularly in the area of defining what you should measure. In parallel, begin an audit of your current measurement capabilities and an awareness campaign to communicate the value of CSI. In collaboration with each business unit, identify the top five problematic areas and address any quick wins to gain support. This comprehensive approach will serve to gain adoption.

B. Work with the CIO to ensure an understanding of the culture of the company so that the concept

of CSI can be fully ingrained into daily work. You then need to design the CSI processes, hire staff, and start an awareness campaign to communicate the benefits. You will also need to change the culture within IT to ensure success. The CIO needs to fund full-time staff members to the project. Without all of these elements, any effort will be short-term and will not allow for cultural adoption of CSI.

C. Share the seven-step improvement process with IT managers and advise them that they can

apply the process to their respective areas. Work with each manager to analyse the data currently being collected within their respective area. Prepare a report for each area and, as a group, identify as many improvements as possible that can be made in the short-term. Meet with the CIO to ensure commitment to these improvement efforts and to assist in the prioritization. Ensure that improvements implemented by each manager are publicized to the company to raise visibility and build support for the ongoing effort.

D. Work with the CIO and key stakeholders to identify one problematic area that needs

improvement and use this as a pilot with a small group which you will educate on the CSI processes. Identify the appropriate vision, mission and goals, and work through the seven steps to define what should be measured to meet these goals. Define what can be measured based on an audit of your current capabilities, and then gather, process, analyse, present and use the data and resulting information to implement corrective action. Use this pilot to market the value to the company and gain support going forward.




Question Four Refer to Scenario Three Which one of the following options is the BEST approach for you, as the change manager, to take? A. As you are new in the job, it is not advisable to rush immediately into improvements. The starting

point is to understand the needs of the business and IT in relation to the change management process. While gathering this information, you can also gather stakeholder feedback on the process. You can then carry out an unbiased snapshot of how the process is currently performed and show any non-conformance. It may be revealed that this company can justify a high rate of emergency changes. A gap analysis will identify improvement opportunities and these should be classified and prioritized for implementation.

B. The starting point is to understand the needs of the business and IT in relation to the change

management process. While gathering this information there will be time to gauge the customer’s and IT's perception of the process. This can then be compared to the current process documentation, with any differences found being prioritized. You will need to educate people on the reasons for compliance with the process and to implement some quick wins. Looking at Table 1, you suspect that people do not have the same understanding of the change categorizations so you need to include business impact and urgency to help set priority.

C. You need to apply the continual service improvement model and understand “Where are we

now?” From Table 1, the current position indicates around 20% of changes are prioritized as emergency changes. These changes will increase the risk to the organization and the level needs to be reduced to below 5%. You need to decide how to achieve this. This may include activities such as defining what constitutes an emergency change and the setting up of an emergency change advisory board (ECAB). Once these improvements have been made, you need to measure the level of emergency changes to see if the objectives have been met. Once they have been met then further improvement can be considered.

D. As you are new in the post, it would not be a good idea to rush immediately into improvements. The level of emergency changes will settle, as it has been coming down over the last five periods. However, the tool used to log changes has been built in-house and is probably not sufficient for a change management process that will be aligned to ITIL best practice. You should therefore, look for a replacement so that you are working with quality data. Simply changing the tool will not guarantee its use, so you should talk with everyone to ensure that they will record every change.




Question Five Refer to Scenario Four Which one of the following options BEST describes how to improve the communication and engagement with the business? A. Review the way service quality information is currently being presented, looking specifically for

the relevance of the presentation method to the interests and concerns of the business, and how well that information is eliciting co-operation and desired behaviours. Talk with business leaders about what their biggest concerns are, and look for ways of modifying what is presented and how it is presented in order to align with these concerns. Be sure that the service level manager (SLM) has everything needed to clearly demonstrate to the business the service performance against the service level agreement (SLA) targets and improvement activity.

B. Review the way the information is currently being presented to the business, looking for

opportunities to simplify and streamline the information. Look for reports or sections that no one in the business seems to be interested in and stop providing them; it is unlikely that there will be any impact. Consider whether or not the messages intended from the reports are clear to the business and revise them as necessary. This will improve the relationships with the business immediately.

C. In co-operation with the service level manager, review the way information is currently being

presented. Look specifically for the relevance of the presentation method to the interests of the business, and for how well the information is being used to elicit co-operation and desired behaviours, and to drive improvements needed. Talk with business leaders about what their biggest concerns are and look for ways of modifying what is presented and how it is presented in order to align with these concerns. Be sure that the SLM has appropriate information to demonstrate the performance against the SLA targets and improvement activity.

D. Set up a meeting with the business leaders and ask them to explain their issues regarding the

reports from IT. Review the detail of the reports with them to be sure they understand the meaning of each report. Explain how IT captures and processes the information and how the recommendations will help the business. Then advise the business what action items are expected from them based on this information. Advise the business that SLA commitments are being consistently met now, so IT needs the business to work with them on the next improvement steps.




Question Six Refer to Scenario Five As the CSI manager you first establish a baseline, as this is an important starting point for highlighting improvement and to determine if a process needs to be improved. It is essential to collect this data even if the integrity of the initial baseline data is in question.

Which one of the following options is the BEST next step to help identify which processes to improve first? A. Work with IT and business management to validate the data for completeness and accuracy so

that informed improvement decisions may be made based on the data. Internal benchmarking data, if available, can also demonstrate where improvements have taken place within the organization so far. This will be useful in establishing the relative priorities within each of the processes before the improvement programme commences.

B. Interview business personnel to validate the data for completeness and accuracy so that informed

improvement decisions may be made based on the data. Getting a business perspective from the customers and end-users will give you a much better idea when identifying which processes to improve first, so that the right improvement opportunities are realized.

C. External benchmarking should be used as the management technique to improve performance.

Benchmarking is the only way to open an organization to new methods, ideas and tools in order to improve its effectiveness. Benchmarking will reduce the resistance to change by demonstrating other methods of solving problems than the one currently employed, and demonstrating that these are far better as they are being used successfully by other companies.

D. Interview IT personnel, to validate the data for completeness and accuracy so that informed

improvement decisions may be made based on the data. You will bear this in mind when you establish the relative priorities within each of the processes before the improvement programme commences, and after you have established and confirmed a second baseline.




Question Seven Refer to Scenario Six Which one of the following options is the BEST action to take to identify which technology to implement across your IT organization? A. There is a desire to produce end-to-end service performance data fairly quickly to demonstrate

responsiveness to the business. However, you are concerned about incurring further expenditure on unnecessary tools. As the incident management process is reasonably well established, you feel it is acceptable to instigate a manual calculation based on the high priority incidents logged, as these are the ones that cause the most problems for the business. You will then be able to use this information to calculate the downtime of the service, and hence work out service availability.

B. Effort should be applied to the tool already purchased to assess whether its functionality is

capable of providing the required data to calculate end-to-end service availability. This will minimize the need to apply further additional expenditure on the tool. The tool’s functionality should be based on the operational activities of the seven-step improvement process, and provide monitoring at each level of the service by service, systems and components, as well as support the reporting requirements for service level agreements, operational level agreements and underpinning contracts.

C. It is important that the investments currently made in the software tools, such as the alerting tools and the new service management product, are fully integrated to ensure the organization receives end-to-end information quickly. To achieve this it is also vitally important that the configuration data is kept up-to-date. Understanding what can be measured will give a good starting point from which to progress. Information gained from the event tool and the incident records will allow an end-to-end availability level to be calculated that should satisfy the business need at minimal cost.

D. Many software vendors in the market provide tools that are compatible with the ITIL process framework. As the current tools are not providing the required information, further investment is required to provide a more suitable tool capable of giving the business a true picture of end-to-end service. As selection of the previous tools does not seem to have worked, it is recommended that improvements in tool selection process be made, in order to shortlist tools that would be suitable and therefore reduce the chance of inappropriate purchases in the future.




Question Eight Refer to Scenario Seven You are also looking for a candidate with skills in other continual service improvement (CSI) areas for which they will have primary responsibilities. Which one of the following options BEST represent these additional CSI manager skills? A. • Good technical understanding and the ability to translate it into easily understood business

concepts and vice versa • Knowledge and experience of contract and/or supplier management roles • Good understanding of and experience in statistical and analytical principles and processes

B. • Knowledge and experience of contract and/or supplier management roles

• Good presentation, facilitation and meeting skills to ensure effective, efficient and productive meetings

• Knowledge, experience and good skills for vendor management and negotiations to manage suppliers and vendors

C. • Budgeting and resource knowledge of the organization, to be able to drive appropriate

improvements towards service quality • Good technical understanding and ability to translate into easily understood business concepts

and vice versa • Good understanding of statistical and analytical principles and processes

D. • Good interpersonal, people management and meeting facilitation skills • A good understanding of IT services and qualifying factors in order to understand how

customer requirements will affect delivery • Good understanding of statistical and analytical principles and processes


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Gradient Style, Complex Multiple Choice

ANSWERS AND RATIONALES

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Answer Key:

Scenario Question Correct:

5 Marks 2nd Best:3 Marks

3rd Best: 1 Mark

Distracter: 0 Marks

One 1 B C D A

2 D A B C

Two 3 D A C B

Three 4 A B C D

Four 5 C A B D

Five 6 A B D C

Six 7 B C A D

Seven 8 D C A B




QUESTION One Scenario One

Question Rationale

SWOT analysis is an important tool used in CSI. It is important for someone involved in CSI always to ensure that the corporate goals are kept in mind at all times. This is also a key component of the seven-step improvement process. See section 5.5.9.4 “Common pitfalls of a SWOT analysis”

MOST CORRECT (5) B This is the correct answer. IT’s opportunities are not taking into consideration the corporate strategies that would allow IT to improve its processes and service delivery to be better integrated with the business. The IT strategy needs to be set first.

SECOND BEST (3) C This answer is partially correct. The weaknesses section supports this claim as it identifies the most significant gaps in IT capabilities. IT is not equipped to support the corporate strategies.

THIRD BEST (1) D This is only marginally correct. Investing in IT technology at this time will only be a temporary solution that may address some weaknesses but will certainly not support the corporate objectives in the end.

DISTRACTER (0) A This answer is obviously incorrect. With the exception of the CIO, there are no indications that IT is committed to integrate better with the business. Their opportunities are all IT wishes and reflect the fact that they have a reactive and tool-focused mentality.

Syllabus Unit / Module supported

ITIL SL: CSI04 Continual service improvement methods and techniques

Blooms Taxonomy Testing Level

Level 4 Analysis - The ability to use the practices and concepts in a situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Can apply what is learned in the classroom in workplace situations. Can separate concepts into component parts to understand structure and can distinguish between facts and inferences. Application – This question requires the delegate to compare the results of the SWOT against corporate objectives and come up with a gap analysis.

Subjects covered

• Analyze the measuring and reporting frameworks such as the balanced scorecard and the SWOT analysis.

Book Section Refs CSI 5.5.9 – Continual service improvement methods and techniques – Metrics – SWOT analysis

Difficulty Easy




QUESTION Two Scenario One

Question Rationale

Critical success factors need to be selected for the goal at end. They will change over time. This question tests the understanding of appropriate grouping of CSFs.

MOST CORRECT (5) D This is the most complete list; continual funding, being visible and participating when required as well as ensuring that the organization embraces the service lifecycle approach is the best way to demonstrate ongoing commitment.

SECOND BEST (3) A This answer is partially correct but would only demonstrate an initial commitment to CSI: for sustainability there would need to be an indication of visible management participation.

THIRD BEST (1) B This answer is barely correct as it treats CSI as a project initiative. DISTRACTER (0) C This answer is weak as it is too internally-focused and does not show long-

term commitment. Adapting ITSM processes to suit the IT vision is internally-focused. Making CSI part of everyone’s job description without associated education, supervision and measurement is not likely to be successful and is not really a demonstration of ongoing management support.


ITIL SL: CSI08 Critical success factors and risks


Level 3 Applying – Use ideas, principles and theories in new, particular and concrete situations. Behavioural tasks at this level involve both knowing and comprehension and might include choosing appropriate procedures, applying principles, using an approach or identifying the selection of options. Application – Although the inspiration for this question is the list of CSFs found in section 9.2 in the CSI book, the delegate does not have to remember the list from memory to be able to answer this question. The question can be answered by looking at the facts presented in the scenario and logically selecting the appropriate answer.

Subjects covered

• Critical success factors for continual service improvement

Book Section Refs CSI 9.2 – Challenges, risks and critical success factors – Critical success factors Difficulty Easy




QUESTION Three Scenario Two

Question Rationale

Question is testing whether or not the delegate can recognize the dependencies in the seven-step improvement process and apply the recommendations on analysing the starting point and the effect of organizational change. Question includes both concepts from section 8.2 regarding implementing CSI and principles of the seven-step improvement process in 4.1, but is primarily about analysing the case study situation to apply the implementation advice successfully.

MOST CORRECT (5) D In the provided scenario the culture of the organization is very reactive and it is clear that IT is understaffed. In this environment a well-focused pilot program will allow you to “start somewhere”. In addition, this answer recognizes the need to understand the mission and goals of the area being improved.

SECOND BEST (3) A This answer recognizes the need for understanding the vision, mission and goals and the importance of training and communication in organizational change, but it does not take into consideration the situation at the company in question. Trying to do the “top 5” problematic areas would be too much, too soon.

THIRD BEST (1) C This answer recognizes the need for working gradually but makes decisions in a vacuum, without considering the mission or goals. It assumes that the CSI manager can judge for him/herself what is best for the company. It also expects the IT managers to implement the improvement process with little or no guidance and no common approach. A key first step of defining “what you should measure” has also been omitted.

DISTRACTER (0) B Since we already know that the new CIO is committed to the process and is experienced with IT service management, this approach is likely to be seen as patronizing to the CIO. The CSI manager is likely to be seen as having a negative attitude and will be unlikely to succeed.


ITIL SL: CSI03 Continual service improvement process ITIL SL: CSI07 Implementing continual service improvement


Level 3 Applying – Use ideas, principles and theories in new, particular and concrete situations. Behavioural tasks at this level involve both knowing and comprehension and might include choosing appropriate procedures, applying principles, using an approach or identifying the selection of options. Level 4 Analysis - The ability to use the practices and concepts in a situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Can apply what is learned in the classroom in workplace situations. Can separate concepts into component parts to understand structure and can distinguish between facts and inferences. Application – This question requires the delegate to use their knowledge of the seven-step improvement process and analyse the situation in order to make a recommendation for action based on the details of the case study.

Subjects covered

• The seven-step improvement process • Implementing continual service improvement

Book Section Refs CSI 4.1.5 – The seven-step improvement process, sections beginning with “Step 1” (4.1.5.1) and “Step 2” (4.1.5.2) CSI 8.2.1 – Implementing continual service improvement – Where do I start – The service approach CSI 8.2.3 – Implementing continual service improvement – Where do I start – The functional group approach CSI 8.3.2 – Implementing continual service improvement – Governance – Process changes

Difficulty Moderate




QUESTION Four Scenario Three

Question Rationale

The question is looking for a logical and sensible approach to using the continual service improvement (CSI) approach. Candidates will need to know the order of the model and what each stage is for.

MOST CORRECT (5) A This answer is correct as it follows the principal of the CSI approach. Its advantage is that it is considering the business need and customer perception as the basis for a baseline and then assessing the current process for a true picture of what is happening now.

SECOND BEST (3) B Along the same lines as the answer above but where it falls down is the use of the current documentation – there is evidence that the process is not being used so it may not be a reflection of what is actually happening.

THIRD BEST (1) C While it follows the CSI approach to some degree it does make assumptions which are not based on business evidence, and also the improvements are not correct (setting up an emergency change process and an ECAB does not really help reduce emergency changes).

DISTRACTER (0) D Implementation of technology/tools before a process is not the recommended approach.


ITIL SL: CSI01 Introduction to continual service improvement


Level 3 Applying – Use ideas, principles and theories in new, particular and concrete situations. Behavioural tasks at this level involve both knowing and comprehension and might include choosing appropriate procedures, applying principles, using an approach or identifying the selection of options. Level 4 Analysis - The ability to use the practices and concepts in a situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Can apply what is learned in the classroom in workplace situations. Can separate concepts into component parts to understand structure and can distinguish between facts and inferences. Application –This question requires the delegate to use their knowledge of the CSI approach and analyse the situation in order to make a recommendation for action based on the details of the case study.

Subjects covered • CSI approach Book Section Refs CSI 3.1.1 – Continual service improvement principles – CSI approach Difficulty Moderate




QUESTION Five Scenario Four

Question Rationale

This question is testing if the delegate understands the need to consider the target audience and the uses for the information to drive forward improvement.

MOST CORRECT (5) C This answer is the most comprehensive and collaborative approach, taking into consideration the needs of the business, and ensuring that key people inside the service provider organization (the SLM manager) are included in the work.

SECOND BEST (3) A While this answer is good, it only considers SLM and the SLM manager after the fact. It also lacks the focus on driving improvements that are important to the business.

THIRD BEST (1) B The improvements discussed here are all focused around efficiency without considering whether the method of presentation is meaningful to the business. It also does not include the involvement of key roles in the service provider organization.

DISTRACTER (0) D This answer seems to place the emphasis on the business and making them understand IT. It is not the job of the business to understand IT, but rather for IT to work to understand the business. While clear expectations are important, in a situation where the relationship with the business needs to be improved, IT should seek to improve itself and thereby improve its credibility before emphasizing what the business needs to contribute.


ITIL SL: CSI03 Continual service improvement process


Level 3 Applying – Use ideas, principles and theories in new, particular and concrete situations. Behavioural tasks at this level involve both knowing and comprehension and might include choosing appropriate procedures, applying principles, using an approach or identifying the selection of options. Level 4 Analysis – The ability to use the practices and concepts in a situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Can apply what is learned in the classroom in workplace situations. Can separate concepts into component parts to understand structure and can distinguish between facts and inferences. Application – This question requires the delegate to use their knowledge of the seven-step improvement process and analyse the situation in order to make a recommendation for action based on the details of the case study.

Subjects covered

• The seven-step improvement process step 6 – Present and use the information

Book Section Refs CSI 4.1.5.6 Continual service improvement process – The seven-step improvement process – Step 6 - Present and use the information

Difficulty Moderate




QUESTION Six Scenario Five

Question Rationale

Question is testing whether or not the delegate can understand both baselines and benchmarking within CSI, their use, and their worth for service improvement. Question confirms the candidate has understood both concepts of baselines and benchmarking.

MOST CORRECT (5) A In the provided scenario, utilizing both benchmarking data and baseline data (recognizing that the integrity of the data may be in question) will firmly establish the right processes to address first. In addition, where there have been positive changes in performance over time, they may give the opportunity for weaker processes to be prioritized first. Finally, this answer recognizes the value of qualitative research from both customer and peer feedback.

SECOND BEST (3) B This answer recognizes the need to understand baseline data and has also recognized the strength of qualitative research from customer feedback. However, use of benchmarking data is still important to establish either how far the company has moved on its improvement journey already, or how the company compares with other companies in the sector.

THIRD BEST (1) D This answer recognizes the need to understand baseline data and has also recognized the strength of qualitative research from peer feedback. However, use of benchmarking data is still important to establish either how far the company has moved on its improvement journey already, or how the company compares with other companies in the sector. This answer does not, however, find out what is important to the business, focusing only on IT personnel. Additionally waiting for a second baseline will cause undue delays and may jeopardize the enthusiasm.

DISTRACTER (0) C This answer recognizes the need to understand benchmarking data. However, it fails to recognize that baseline data is equally important in establishing the importance of data trends. Additionally, benchmarking is not the only way to get things done and, contrary to the answer, the staff is not resistant to the change but rather is enthusiastic about it. Finally, this answer does not attempt to perform qualitative research with either the customer or peers.


ITIL SL: CSI02 Continual service improvement principles ITIL SL: CSI04 Continual service improvement methods and techniques


Level 3 Applying – Use ideas, principles and theories in new, particular and concrete situations. Behavioural tasks at this level involve both knowing and comprehension and might include choosing appropriate procedures, applying principles, using an approach or identifying the selection of options. Level 4 Analysis - The ability to use the practices and concepts in a situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Can apply what is learned in the classroom in workplace situations. Can separate concepts into component parts to understand structure and can distinguish between facts and inferences. Application – This question requires the delegate to have understood the use of baselines and benchmarking within CSI and to analyse the situation in order to make a recommendation for action based on the details of the scenario.

Subjects covered

• Baselines • Benchmarking

Book Section Refs CSI 3.9.1 – Continual service improvement principles – Service measurement – Baselines CSI 5.3 – Continual service improvement methods and techniques – Benchmarking

Difficulty Moderate




QUESTION Seven Scenario Six

Question Rationale

Question is testing whether or not the delegate can understand both the use of technology within continual service improvement and the investment decisions appropriate for a business.

MOST CORRECT (5) B There is a specific requirement to add end-to-end service monitoring to the performance data already produced for the business, so the IT area knows the strategy on the missing piece of business data required. There is a good chance that the current tools will give the required information. Through reporting against SLAs, this answer will ensure business requirements are met (through reporting against business agreed targets).

SECOND BEST (3) C This answer recognizes the investment that has already been made in products and, on the surface, it does appear that there could be the required information available, but it would need validation. It also doesn’t take into consideration the “what should be measured”, but appears more focused on that which is internally available now i.e. “What can be measured?”

THIRD BEST (1) A While the sentiment is good in trying to react to the business requirements for end-to-end service monitoring and to not incur further spend, the data produced will be fundamentally inaccurate if the only data that is captured is related to priority 1 incidents. It will substantially inflate the availability figures produced. This approach also assumes that the prioritization of incidents is being done correctly, however there is no information to support this assumption.

DISTRACTER (0) D The answer gives no consideration to the fact that a software tool has already been purchased and that there may be capability within it to capture the data required. It makes too many assumptions and it fails to consider what should be measured, based on the organization’s goals.


ITIL SL: CSI06 Technology for continual service improvement


Level 3 Applying – Use ideas, principles and theories in new, particular and concrete situations. Behavioural tasks at this level involve both knowing and comprehension and might include choosing appropriate procedures, applying principles, using an approach or identifying the selection of options. Level 4 Analysis - The ability to use the practices and concepts in a situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Can apply what is learned in the classroom in workplace situations. Can separate concepts into component parts to understand structure and can distinguish between facts and inferences. Application – This question requires the delegate to have understood the use of technology within CSI and to analyse the situation in order to make a recommendation for action based on the details of the case study. Many of the processes mentioned have been put in as distracters.

Subjects covered • Tools supporting CSI activities Book Section Refs CSI 7.1 – Technology considerations – Tools to support CSI activities Difficulty Hard




QUESTION Eight Scenario Seven

Question Rationale

Question is testing whether or not the delegate can understand primary and secondary skills and then relate them back to the new role of continual service improvement (CSI) manager. Question confirms the candidate has understood the other applicable roles of process owner, service level manager, and service owner, and is able to differentiate their primary skills.

MOST CORRECT (5) D This answer recognizes that the candidate has understood that the primary skill for the CSI manager will be good understanding of the analytical processes, which ties in to the requirements of the seven-step improvement process of capturing the required measurements and then being able to correctly analyse them. It also recognizes the necessary soft skills of people management and being able to facilitate meetings, as it is a role that does need to be influential. The answer also recognizes that the CSI manager must understand IT services, customer requirements and factors affecting the service.

SECOND BEST (3) C This answer recognizes some key primary skills such as budgetary and resource knowledge, and sound understanding of statistical and analytical principle and processes, However the skill of having the technical ability to translate business concepts into IT and vice versa is only secondary to this role, making this answer inferior to answer D.

THIRD BEST (1) A While the skills are appropriate, the only primary responsibility in the answer is to have sound understanding of statistical and analytical principles and processes. The other skills are secondary to the role and therefore this answer is inferior to answer C.

DISTRACTER (0) B The answer gives all the primary skills that would be required for a service level manager, not a continual service improvement manager.


ITIL SL: CSI05 Organizing for continual service improvement


Level 3 Applying – Use ideas, principles and theories in new, particular and concrete situations. Behavioural tasks at this level involve both knowing and comprehension and might include choosing appropriate procedures, applying principles, using an approach or identifying the selection of options. Level 4 Analysis - The ability to use the practices and concepts in a situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Can apply what is learned in the classroom in workplace situations. Can separate concepts into component parts to understand structure and can distinguish between facts and inferences. Application – This question requires the delegate to have understood the various roles within CSI and to differentiate primary and secondary skills to assess the most appropriate skills for recruitment. The primary skills of the service level manager have been put in as the distracter answer.

Subjects covered • Roles within CSI Book Section Refs CSI 6 – Organizing for continual service improvement

CSI table 6.8 – Comparison of CSI manager, service level manager, service owner and business relationship manager roles

Difficulty Moderate

Documents

Itilv3 Csi Sample Paper 1