As defined by Wikipedia, ITIL (formally an acronym for Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a set of

detailed practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business.
The IT industry is a dynamic one, with constant changes in the service structure and practices. This makes it difficult
for professionals to deliver good quality service constantly. ITIL helps professionals to overcome these difficulties.
There is a great demand for ITIL certified professionals in the IT industry, with companies looking to improve their
project delivery and service through the use of best practices. It is always good to get ahead of the competition by
taking an ITIL certification course and improve your chances of getting a better job. However, you also need to be
able to crack an interview to make that career route possible.
To help you prepare better for your next ITIL interview, here are some of the carefully picked ITIL interview
questions that are generally asked:

Q1. What is ‘change request’ in ITIL?

Ans. A change request is a formal proposal for an alteration to some product or system.

Q2. What is a ‘service request’?

Ans. A service request is a user request for information or advice, or for a standard change or for access to an IT
service.

Q3. What are the ITIL processes according to V3 edition?

Ans. The processes are – service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation, and continual
service improvement (CSI).

Q4. Who decides the categorization of a proposed change within an ITIL

compliant Change Management process?
Ans. This is the task of the Change Manager. A Change Manager will plays a key role in ensuring that the projects
(change initiatives) meet their objectives within timelines and said budgets by increasing employee adoption and
usage.

Q5. What is SLA?

Ans. A service level agreement (SLA) is a contract between a service provider (either internal or external) and the
end user that defines the level of service expected from the service provider.

Q6. Name the 3 types of SLAs?

 A customer service level agreement is an agreement between the service provider and an external customer.
 An internal service level agreement is an agreement between you and an internal customer (such as another
organization, site, or department).
 A vendor service level agreement is an agreement between you and the vendor.

Q7. What two Service Management processes will most likely use risk
analysis and management methodology?
Ans. The two service management processes are- Availability Management and IT Service Continuity Management.

Q8. What is an OLA?

Ans. An operational-level agreement (OLA) defines the interdependent relationships in support of a service-level
agreement (SLA).
Q9. What are the different Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)?
Ans. They are – CMIS (Capacity Management Information System), AMIS (Availability Management Information
System), KEDB (Known Error Database), CMDB (Configuration Management Database), DML (Definitive Media
Library), and SKMS (Service Knowledge Management System).

Q10. What is the relation between Availability, Availability service time

and downtime?
Ans. Availability % = (Available service time –downtime) / Available service time

Q11. What is Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDSA) cycle?

Ans. The PDSA Cycle is a systematic series of steps for gaining valuable learning and knowledge for the continual
improvement of a product or process. Also known as the Deming Wheel, or Deming Cycle, the concept and
application was first introduced to Dr. Deming by his mentor, Walter Shewhart of the famous Bell Laboratories in New
York.

Q12. Define the four phases in the PDSA cycle?

Ans. Plan: Identifying and analyzing the problem.
Do: Developing and testing a potential solution.
Check: Measuring how effective the test solution was, and analyzing whether it could be improved in any way.
Act: Implementing the improved solution fully.

Q13. What are the 7 R’s of change management?

Ans. The Seven R’s of Change Management are:
Who RAISED the Change?
What is the REASON for the change?
What RETURN will the change deliver?
What RISKS are there is we do or do not carry out the change?
What RESOURCES will be required to perform this change?
Who is RESPONSIBLE for this change being performed?
What RELATIONSHIPS are there between this and other changes?

Q14. What type of information is stored in a CMDB?

Ans. CMDB contains contents that are intended to hold a collection of IT assets commonly referred to as
configuration items (CI) as well as descriptive relationships between such assets.

Q15. What is the difference between end-users and customers?

Ans. An end user or end customer directly receives the service or employs the product.
A customer may or may not have the ability to choose between different products and suppliers.

Q16. What is difference between Expedite / Urgent Change and

Emergency Change?
Ans. An ITIL emergency change is the highest priority change that can be defined in an organization. An expedited
change is a change that meets a critical business requirement without the normal review and approval time.

Q17. What is CAB?

Ans. CAB (Change Advisory Board) is an authoritative and representative group of people who are responsible for
assessing, from both a business and a technical viewpoint, all high impact Requests for Change (RFCs).

Q18. What is a PIR?

Ans. Post Implementation Review (PIR) is that which takes place after a change or a project has been
implemented.

Q19. Explain service portfolio, service catalogue and service pipeline.

Ans. Service portfolio refers to the services provided by service provider across all Market and all customers.
Service Catalogue is the sub set of Service portfolio. Services ready to be offered to customers is listed in service
catalogue.
Service Pipeline consists of services under development.

Q20. What is freeze period?

Ans. Freeze period is a point in time in the development process after which the rules for making changes to the
source code or related resources become stricter, or the period during which those rules are applied.
The above questions and answers will help you to prepare well for your next ITIL interview and you can come out
with flying colours. Always be prepared to answer all types of questions — technical skills, interpersonal, leadership
or methodology. If you are someone who wants to get ahead in the software development field, you can take the help
of an ITIL certification course to understand the techniques and skills required to be an expert in the field.

1. How does ITIL help to reduce costs and minimize total cost of ownership (TCO) for IT
investments?

IT investments and staff always find that they break their work timelines. This happens since the
unscheduled work always takes priority over the work that is planned. ITIL can help an
organization stop this continuous cycle and can therefore, help employees focus on the Total
Cost of Ownership (TCO) and other activities in their department.
2. Who decides the categorization of a proposed change within an ITIL compliant Change
Management process?

It is the task of Change Manager

A Change Manager will plays a key role in ensuring that the projects (change initiatives) meet
their objectives within timelines and said budgets by increasing employee adoption and usage.
This person will focus on the people’s side of change, including changes to business processes,
systems and technology, job roles and organization structures.
3. After a Change has been implemented, an evaluation is performed. What is this
evaluation called?

It is known as Post Implementation Review (PIR)

PIR is an assessment and review of the complete working solution. It will be performed after a
period of live running, sometimes after the project is completed.
The Post Implementation Review is used to evaluate the effectiveness of system development
after the system has been in production for a specific period (usually 6 months). It is a free-form
report, and not all sections are relevant or necessary to the final product. A description of the
Post Implementation Review Report is always attached.

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4. What ITIL process ensures that the organization is aware of new and changing
technology?

Capacity Management is responsible for ensuring that the organization is aware of new and
changing technology. It is the discipline that checks and verifies that IT infrastructure is provided
at the right time in the right volume at a right price with utmost efficiency.
This involves input from many areas of the business to identify what services are (or will be)
required, what IT infrastructure is required to support these services, what level of Contingency
will be needed, and what will be the cost of this infrastructure.
5. Suppose a Service Level Manager requires confirmation wherein the internal Service
Desk can answer a certain percentage of calls within 10 seconds. In what document would
the Service Desk’s agreement to this requirement be recorded?

An operational level agreement (OLA) is a contract that defines how various IT groups within a
company plan to deliver a service or set of services. OLAs are designed to address and solve the
problem of IT silos by setting forth a specific set of criteria and defining a specific set of IT
services to be performed by each department.
It should be noted that the term Service Level Agreement (SLA) is used in many companies
while discussing agreements between two internal groups. However, according to Information
Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework for best practices, this type of internal
contract should is better known as an Operational Level Agreement.

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6. What two Service Management processes will most likely use risk analysis and
management methodology?

The two service management processes are- Availability Management and IT Service Continuity
Management
ITIL Availability Management aims at defining, analyzing, planning, measuring and improving
all aspects of the availability of IT services. Availability Management is responsible for ensuring
that all IT infrastructure, processes, tools, roles, etc are appropriate for the agreed availability
targets.
IT Service Continuity Management (ITSCM) aims at managing risks that could seriously impact
IT services. ITSCM ensures that the IT service provider can always provide minimum agreed
Service Levels, by reducing the risk from disaster events to an acceptable level and planning for
the recovery of IT services. ITSCM should be designed to support Business Continuity
Management.
7. Explain Service portfolio, Service catalogue and service pipeline.

Service portfolio – Defines services provided by service provider across all Market and all
customers. The objective of ITIL Service Portfolio Management is to manage the service
portfolio. Service Portfolio Management ensures that the service provider has the right mix of
services to meet required business outcomes at an appropriate level of investment.
Service Catalogue is the sub set of Service portfolio. Services ready to be offered to customers
is listed in service catalogue. An IT service catalog, sometimes called an IT service portfolio, is a
list of available technology resources and offerings within an organization.
Service Pipeline consists of services under development. It is a great opportunity to view the
direction of a service provider’s growth as it discusses and includes the future services that are
currently under development by the service provider.

8. What is the difference between ITIL v3 and v2?

 The ITIL v2 library was organized in seven core books:

(i) Service Support,
(ii) Service Delivery,
(iii) ICT Infrastructure Management,
(iv) Planning to Implement Service Management,
(v) Application Management,
(vi) The Business Perspective and
(vii) Security Management
On the other hand, ITIL v3 is now organized into just five books:
(i) Service Strategy,
(ii) Service Design,
(iii) Service Transition,
(iv) Service Operation and
(v) Continual Service Improvement
Basically the V2 process areas have been logically grouped into a phased lifecycle
approach
 In contrast to ITIL v2, ITIL v3 clearly defines the roles and responsibilities in each
process and reasons the role of communication in the entire lifecycle.

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9. What are the different knowledge management systems?

Different knowledge management systems are:-

 CMIS (Capacity Management information system) – A Capacity Management

Information System or CMIS is a collection of IT infrastructure usage, capacity and
performance information that is gathered in a consistent manner and stored in one or
more databases. It is a single book of record for all usage, capacity, and performance
data, complete with associated business, application and service statistics. Any IT staffer
who needs access to capacity management data can potentially use a CMIS.
  AMIS (Availability management information system) – A virtual repository of all
Availability Management data, usually stored in multiple physical locations.

 KEDB (Known error database) – A Known Error is a problem that has a documented
root cause and a Work around. Known Errors are managed throughout their lifecycle by
the Problem Management process. The details of each Known Error are recorded in a
Known Error Record stored in the Known Error Database (KEDB).

 CMDB (Configuration management database)– A configuration management

database(CMDB) is a database that contains all relevant information about the
components of the information system used in an organization’s IT services and the
relationships between those components. A CMDB provides an organized view of data
and a means of examining that data from any desired perspective. Within this context,
components of an information system are referred to as configuration items (CI). A CI
can be any conceivable IT component, including software, hardware, documentation,
and personnel as well as any combination of them. The processes of configuration
management specify, control, and track configuration items and any changes made to
them in a comprehensive and systematic fashion.

 DML (Definitive media library)– A Definitive Media Library (DML) is a secure

compound in which the definitive, authorized versions of software package
configuration items (CIs) are stored and protected. A DML consists of one or more
software libraries or file-storage areas referred to as repositories.

 SKMS (Service knowledge management system) – ITIL Knowledge Management

aims at gathering, analyzing, storing and sharing knowledge and information within an
organization. The primary purpose of Knowledge Management is to improve efficiency
by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge

10. What are the ITIL based models adopted by an organization.

 Microsoft MOF: Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) is a series of 23 documents

that guide IT professionals through the processes of creating, implementing and
managing efficient and cost-effective services.
 Hewlett – Packard (HP ITSM Reference Model):– This model is a significant tool
useful in presenting and describing the several IT Management processes, inter-process
relationships, and business linkages that IT needs to put in place for successful
development, deployment and support of services in the e-world.
 IBM (IT Process Model ):– IBM Process and Service Models software is an industry
template that enables you to define common business processes and services across the
enterprise. The software consists of a set of best practice business process models and
service definitions to support core system renewal and integration projects.

11. What is the relation between Availability, Availability service time and downtime?
Availability % = (Available service time –downtime) / Available service time
to ensure that all the IT services are available and are functioning correctly whenever customers
and users want to use them in the framework of the SLAs in force.

12. What is ISO/IEC 27002?

ISO/IEC 27002:2013 gives guidelines for organizational information security standards and
information security management practices including selection, implementation and management
of controls, taking into consideration the organization’s information security risk environment(s).
It is designed to be used by organizations that intend to:

 Select controls within the process of implementing an Information Security Management

System based on ISO/IEC 27001;
 Implement commonly accepted information security controls, and
 Develop their independent information security management guidelines.

13. What is Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDSA) cycle?

The PDSA Cycle is a systematic series of steps for gaining valuable learning and knowledge for
the continual improvement of a product or process. Also known as the Deming Wheel, or
Deming Cycle, the concept and application was first introduced to Dr. Deming by his mentor,
Walter Shewhart of the famous Bell Laboratories in New York.
The four phases in the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle involve:

 Plan: Identifying and analyzing the problem.

 Do: Developing and testing a potential solution.
 Check: Measuring how effective the test solution was, and analyzing whether it
could be improved in any way.
 Act: Implementing the improved solution fully.

14. What type of information is captured in an information security policy?

Information security policies are the documented business and technical rules for protecting an
organization from information security risk faced by its business and technical infrastructure.
These written policy documents provide a high-level description of the various controls, which
the organization will use to manage its information security risks.
The information security policy documents are also considered to be a formal declaration of
management’s intent to protect its information asset from relevant risks. In specific cases, the
policies are supported by information security procedures that identify key activities required to
implement relevant information security policies.

15. What is a balanced scorecard? Balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and

management system that is used extensively in business and industry, government, and
nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of
the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization
performance against strategic goals.
Balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in
business and industry, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business
activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external
communications, and monitor organization performance against strategic goals.

16. What is a Service Request?

Service requests are a formal request submitted by a user for some type of service, software, or
hardware. A Service request generally refers to something the user wants and/or needs but does
not already have, such as a printer or laptop. Service requests often involve items that are already
approved. For instance, if it is a company policy that all employees get access to the cloud-based
CRM system, and someone from the marketing department sends a service request for access to
the CRM, this does not need any additional approval. The IT help desk can simply fulfill this
request.

17. What type of information is stored in a CMDB?

CMDB contains contents that are intended to hold a collection of IT assets commonly referred to
as configuration items (CI) as well as descriptive relationships between such assets. When
populated, the repository becomes a means of understanding how critical assets such as
information systems are composed, what are their upstream sources or dependencies, and what
are their downstream targets.

18. Is there a trade-off between return and risk?

According to modern portfolio theory, there is a trade-off between risk and return. All other
factors being equal, if a particular investment incurs a higher risk of financial loss for prospective
investors, those investors must be able to expect a higher return in order to be attracted to the
higher risk.
In majority of cases, even though there is no promise of higher returns on risky assets, so the
higher risk just tends to scare off potential investors, keeping the returns on a given investment
low. The only investments that can really try to promise higher returns for higher risk are bonds,
and even then the higher returns won’t be generated if the issuing organization goes default.
19. What is the difference between end-users and customers?

End-User – An end user or end customer directly receives the service or employs the product.
End users are not the only customers as there may be intermediate entities like purchasing
departments, whose expectations or needs must be carried forward through a series of service
contracts or requirement definitions.
Customer– A customer may or may not have the ability to choose between different products
and suppliers. For instance- In monopoly situations like local telephone and cable television
services, there are scenarios when end users do not make the purchasing decision. It may include
Clients of social service agencies or court-appointed lawyers or employees of an organization
where the purchasing department makes the choices.
20. How is IT Service Continuity Management (ITSCM) related to Business Continuity
Planning (BCP)?
IT Service Continuity is a subset of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and encompasses IT
disaster recovery planning and wider IT resilience planning. It also incorporates those elements
of IT infrastructure and services that relate to communications such as (voice) telephony and data
communications.
It is a systematic process to prevent, predict and manage Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) disruption and incidents, which have the potential to disrupt ICT services and
should result in a more resilient IT service capability aligned to wider organizational
requirements.