ITIL SOA

ITIL® Intermediate Capability Stream: SERVICE OFFERINGS AND AGREEMENTS (SOA) CERTIFICATE

Sample Paper 1, version 5.0 Gradient Style, Complex Multiple Choice

SCENARIO BOOKLET Instructions This booklet contains the scenarios upon which the eight 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 eight 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 The IT organization of a retail company provides many IT services to the business, some of which are considered to be critical. Currently these services are provided by a combination of internal support teams and external suppliers. The company has enjoyed significant growth in revenue and profit over the past year due to an aggressive marketing campaign. This growth has enabled the company to fund a programme of change to optimize the use of IT in support of the business. The programme consists of two main initiatives to improve the following IT services: • •

Utilize the internet more extensively to market and sell products Enhance the email system in order to improve communication with customers and retail partners across the globe

There are various options for providing these services and the board of directors wish to conduct a financial review to compare the cost of providing each service and the return on investment (ROI) to be gained from each service. The review will provide an input to the IT organization’s service portfolio management process, allowing the various investment options to be considered and an informed decision to be made.

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Scenario Two A commercial IT services company has been successful for many years and prides itself on developing and providing new services to meet customers’ needs in short lead times. Recently, profits have started to decrease with the result that senior management are taking a closer look at the costs of providing the IT services to their external customers. The organization has had a service catalogue for some time. It is considered an essential source of information about the IT services and is used by both the business relationship managers and the IT services teams. Some services are delivered and supported internally; others are provided totally or in part by external suppliers. For each service the service catalogue currently contains: • A description of the service • Summary of the service level targets • The level of support and support details • Details of the supporting services and components • Details of services obtained from suppliers When new leads are obtained from customers, the requirements are compared with services in the service catalogue, and, if no matching service can be found, a project is set up to develop a new service. In the past this has been justified as meeting the needs of the customers, and full business cases were not developed. The service manager wishes to introduce a service portfolio management process but is having trouble convincing the IT management team of its value. The management team wish to know what extra information would be included in a service portfolio over and above what is already in the service catalogue. The company is looking for opportunities to reduce resources, which are already limited due to the decrease in profit. Therefore, only a few projects can be authorized in the next budget cycle.


Scenario Three A large retail company is one of the leading national suppliers of luxury goods within the country. To further their business strategy they plan to develop their product portfolio and expand their retail operations into international territories. This programme will take place over the next year. Whilst the exact details have yet to be established it is clear that the IT organization must increase its portfolio of services in order to support this rapid expansion. You are the head of IT service within the IT organization. You helped the organization adopt the ITIL framework some years ago and now have most processes in place. Service owners are allocated for the main IT services. Two months ago you appointed a service portfolio manager who has already taken the existing service catalogue and started to develop a service portfolio. You have just recruited a business relationship manager (BRM) who joins the IT organization next week. You are creating terms of reference for the role that particularly focus on the needs of the expansion programme.


Scenario Four A high-end clothing retailer has expanded quickly in its home country. There are now plans to expand its market space by opening additional stores in a few strategically chosen major cities in other countries. This expansion will take place over the next two years and once successful in those cities, the organization plans further retail location expansion in other countries. The internal IT organization provides support to many mission-critical business systems for the retail operation and must increase its portfolio of services to meet the planned new expansions. Typically, the business is subject to seasonal patterns of demand, which recently have begun to exceed the capability of some of the IT services. This has led to periods of poor performance of some of the critical systems and therefore to degraded service quality. In periods of minimal demand, there is a surplus of capacity and performance is optimal. There is concern that the additional business demand from the new stores will exacerbate these service performance issues. You are an experienced IT consultant and have been asked by the board of directors, made up of representatives from each business unit, to review the business supply and demand issues currently being faced by the IT organization. Many service management processes have been implemented including service portfolio management and capacity management. However, IT does not have a demand management process.


Scenario Five A financial services organization has developed a comprehensive portfolio of financial products and services. Plans are underway to add new products and to expand operations into additional countries in different continents. This expansion will take place over the next two years. The business senior management has briefed the chief information officer (CIO) on the expansion plans and has stated that the success of expansion is critically tied to improved IT service performance. The management has been complaining for the past few months that the quality of IT service performance has been very poor and the issues must be rectified immediately so IT can assure its service warranty meets business needs as expansion occurs. The CIO is aware that the major cause of this poor service performance is limitations within the international corporate network provided by their network supplier. Many discussions have taken place with the supplier to resolve this situation, but there has been no improvement in the performance of the network. The supplier has not only been slow to react to resolve the issues but they have also expressed concern that they will be unable to provide the required connectivity and functionality for the new offices in the additional countries. The decision to replace the network supplier has been taken by IT and approved by the CIO and the board of directors.


Scenario Six A flower delivery company has recently introduced ITIL after several years of operating with an infrastructure that was inadequate for its purpose and which led to poor customer satisfaction. A project was carried out to implement the ITIL processes, to change organizational responsibilities and to improve the planning and design of the technology. One of the results of this initiative was that the service availability of the flower ordering IT service increased from 90% to 95%. Last month, reports were circulated showing the availability improvement. The service level manager is chairing a service review meeting to review the progress and report upon this achievement. The business managers attending the meeting are not impressed since, despite the reports of improved service availability, a major service outage occurred during the busiest week of the year when over 40% of the annual business revenue is normally earned. The business managers are dismayed at the discrepancy between the reports they received and their actual perception of the service. The business managers are requesting that their concerns with regard to service availability reporting are addressed. Further, it appears that the service targets for availability no longer match the needs of the business.


Scenario Seven A large retailer of food products has an internal IT organization that runs most of its IT operation from the head office. There has been a history of confusion about what is required from the services and what has actually been achieved. This has resulted in a poor relationship between the business units and the IT organization. Some verbal agreements between IT and the business exist, where all levels of response to incidents were set on a best endeavour basis. There have been a number of complaints by key staff claiming that the IT staff have been resolving incidents and implementing change requests based on operational ease rather than business priority. A plan has been put in place to improve the level of the IT service delivered to the head office staff and the retail stores. The first action was to appoint a new IT director from an external organization, who has been using the ITIL framework for many years and who believes that good IT service management practices are essential. The IT director plans to implement many of the service management processes and has already created a service catalogue. The IT director is sure that many of the current issues can be rectified through the implementation of service level management (SLM) and has therefore directed that service level agreements (SLA) are introduced for the services provided before moving onto other areas. You have been asked to lead the project to establish SLAs for the IT services.


Scenario Eight A security services company provides secure data services to many large financial organizations in several countries. The company has an administrative headquarters in its home country and a data centre in each country of operation. Each data centre obtains support for services from third-party contracts provided by a number of suppliers. All supporting services are scoped and documented and are aligned to the corporate strategy and the regulations in force in each country. The security services company maintains and regularly reviews a preferred supplier list from which suppliers are selected as required. A service desk function is provided by one of the suppliers. Over the last 15 years, a strong relationship has been built up with the supplier based on the high-quality service they have provided. The service desk contract contains severe penalty clauses that can be enforced if the agreed service levels are not maintained, although these have never been required. A number of complaints have been received from a large banking customer highlighting that, over the previous three months, the level of service provided by the service desk in the management and handling of incidents has been inconsistent, and many incidents have not been resolved in line with agreed targets. The security services company has a service level manager who has performed the role for many years. Recently, a new supplier management process was implemented and a supplier manager appointed. Some confusion has arisen over how, and by whom, the recent complaint should be dealt with.




QUESTION BOOKLET Gradient Style Multiple Choice 90 minute paper 8 questions, Closed Book Instructions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

All 8 questions should be attempted. You should refer to the accompanying Scenario Booklet to answer each question. All answers are to be marked on the answer grid provided. You have 90 minutes to complete this paper. 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 options would be the BEST approach to providing the information for the financial review of the service options? A.

• • •

B.

• • •

C.

• • •

D.

• • •

Implement budgeting and accounting and assign clearly defined roles and resources. Create an accounting structure that takes into account direct and indirect costs, as well as fixed and variable costs. Use the accounting structure to calculate the cost of providing the IT services and provide the information to service portfolio management (SPM). Review the current total IT expenditure, apportioning each cost directly to the appropriate service. The organization’s network infrastructure and team costs should be shared equally between the two services. This creates a baseline for comparison with the anticipated business revenues and ROI that will enable a business case to be developed for each option. Produce a summary of current costs, recognizing that the resources are shared across services. By using the service catalogue to understand how the services are used, create a model for the services, ensuring the costs are shared appropriately. These costs can then be compared with the cost of outsourcing the service and with the anticipated business revenue. Produce a summary of current costs, recognizing that the resources are shared across services. The various options for providing the service can be costed and the potential benefits calculated in order to establish the ROI for each option. These costs and ROI for each option can then be compared and used as an input to develop a business case for the most advantageous options.

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Question Two Refer to Scenario Two Which one of the following sets of statements BEST describes the elements that a service portfolio will contain in addition to the elements in a service catalogue, and describes the additional value service portfolio management would bring to the IT services company? A.

• • •

B.

• • •

C.

• • •

D.

• • •

The service portfolio will include: resource allocation; support terms and conditions; ordering and request procedures; the value proposition; offerings and packages. The service portfolio will show where additional resources will be required to operate new services. Service portfolio management will enable the organization to rationalize existing services to optimize the use of resources. The service portfolio will include: business cases; risks; business outcomes supported; cost and pricing The service portfolio will show the proportion of resources acquired from suppliers so that the cost of new services can be accurately estimated. Service portfolio management will enable the organization to develop service offerings from existing services, matching with supplier provided services, to make best use of resources. The service portfolio will include: ordering and request procedures; service level targets; support terms and conditions; details of services obtained from suppliers. The service portfolio will show the resources and capabilities that are needed to improve the services in the service catalogue. Service portfolio management will enable the organization to expand the service catalogue to include details of service requests and standard changes, providing a valuable self-help portal to users. The service portfolio will include: business cases; risks; investment priorities; value propositions. The service portfolio will show where resources are used across all stages of the service lifecycle both within the provider and where they have been acquired from suppliers. Service portfolio management will improve the organization’s ability to compare potential investments and make sound decisions.


Question Three Refer to Scenario Three Which one of the following options provides the BEST overview of the business relationship manager’s (BRM) role to be included in the terms of reference? A. The BRM will engage actively with the customers, gain a good insight into their business and plans, and develop a strong working relationship. The BRM will work closely with the customer to understand the value proposition of any new IT services that will be required to support the expansion programme. The BRM will liaise with the service level manager and service owners to develop the designs of any new IT services, thereby creating value for both parties. B. The BRM will engage actively with the customers, gain a good insight into their business and plans, and develop a strong working relationship. The BRM will identify the business requirements associated with the expansion programme especially concentrating on gaining a clear understanding of business outcomes. The BRM will liaise with the service portfolio manager to understand how the business outcomes can be supported by IT services, and, where possible, create new lines of service from services in the service catalogue. C. The BRM will engage actively with the customers, gain their trust and help them develop their business area. This would help both the IT organization and the company become more successful. If the BRM commits time and energy, it should be possible to improve the IT services quickly to meet the needs of the expansion programme and therefore achieve the business objectives. The BRM should take responsibility for the services and their development, while the service level manager will take responsibility for customer liaison. D. The BRM will have primary responsibility for engaging actively with the customers. They should develop a mutual understanding with the customers and have a good working knowledge of their business. The BRM would also work closely with the service owners to understand the profile and usage of the IT services, to help develop the IT services and to create an accurate service catalogue.


Question Four Refer to Scenario Four You believe that the implementation of a demand management process can help the IT organization address the issues. Which one of the following options provides the BEST solution to the problems currently being faced? A.

• • •

B.

• • •

C.

• • •

D.

• • •

The service portfolio should be reviewed and an analysis carried out of each business unit’s requirements in order to understand their patterns of business activity (PBA) and corresponding usage of the IT services. The PBA should be used to help develop differentiated service offerings, which will make better use of available IT resources. Work with capacity management to develop long-term plans to meet the extra demand resulting from the company’s expansion plans. An analysis should be carried out of each business unit’s requirements in order to understand their patterns of business activity (PBA), and appropriate services for each business unit selected from the service catalogue. In conjunction with the finance department, a revised cost model should be introduced to allow for the fluctuation in usage and costs. Differential charging should be introduced to address the issues of service quality. The service portfolio should be reviewed and an analysis carried out of each business unit’s requirements to understand their current usage of the IT services and where seasonal variations lead to fluctuations in usage. Discussions should take place with the business units to agree limits within specific time periods for each business unit’s usage of IT services. Work with capacity management to develop long-term plans to meet the extra demand resulting from the company’s expansion plans. The service portfolio should be reviewed and the business unit’s service usage should be reviewed, monitored and analysed. Work with the business to develop short-term measures to manage demand for the IT services, such as delayed or batch processing of retail transactions. Service levels and processes should be reviewed to take into account any agreed changes and, where applicable, agreements should be updated through change management.


Question Five Refer to Scenario Five You are an external consultant and have been asked by the chief information officer (CIO) to help evaluate possible suppliers that could resolve the network issues and restore the IT organization’s reputation with the business. When considering suppliers, which one of the following options would BEST ensure that network issues are addressed to meet the needs of the financial services organization? A.

• • • • •

B.

• • • • •

C.

• • • • •

D.

• • • • •

Consideration should be given to sourcing the services from a single supplier with a good track record of delivering network services agreed in accordance with contract. The cost of service provision and associated service penalty payments should be negotiated and agreed. Good lines of communication and a means of escalation should be agreed with the supplier. Service reviews should be held on a regular basis to ensure that targets are being met. The supplier should conform to the financial services organization’s processes and procedures and any sub-contracted work must be agreed by the financial services organization. Consideration should be given to engaging two or more competing suppliers to ensure that quality network services can be obtained at a competitive price, and agreed service levels maintained. The network service offerings should be reviewed for completeness, capability, quality and cost against the requirements of the financial services organization. The track record of each supplier should be verified to ensure that they have the ability to deliver the proposed network service. The selected suppliers should conform to the financial services organization’s processes and procedures. Any sub-contracted work must be agreed by the organization, with the responsibility resting with the supplier providing the service. Consideration should be given to entering into a partnership with a supplier where mutual trust and a good relationship can be established. The network service offerings should be reviewed for completeness, capability, quality and cost against the requirements of the financial services organization. There should be a close integration of processes, values and beliefs and the objectives and cultures of the two organizations should be aligned. Communication at all levels should be established with a collective responsibility for service performance and future development. Service performance, costs and risks should be reviewed on a regular basis and agreement reached on how benefits, risks or rewards in terms of material costs will be shared. Consideration should be given to sourcing the services from a single supplier with a good track record of delivering network services agreed in accordance with contract. The contract should state that any increase in service costs will be borne by the supplier to ensure that the financial services organization can continue to meet its obligations to its customers. Service reviews should be held on a regular basis to ensure that targets are being met, and penalties should be applied where necessary to ensure that the supplier delivers on a consistent basis. A credit check should be carried out and references obtained before entering into any formal contract. The supplier should conform to the financial services organization’s processes and procedures and any sub-contracted work must be agreed by the financial services organization.


Question Six Refer to Scenario Six Which one of the following options will BEST ensure that future reports truly reflect the availability of the IT services? A. Determine what information each IT team can provide regarding the collection and reporting of component availability. Implement revised mechanisms for the analysis, calculation and reporting of service availability. Ensure that event management is implemented to trigger alerts in response to availability issues. This will allow for reactive measures to be introduced, so that, if services fail to meet their availability targets, proper actions can be taken to mitigate future failures. B. Meet with the business managers to review and document their service level requirements (SLRs), ensuring that business impact and seasonal variations are taken into account. The SLRs should be transformed into service targets for reporting purposes. Mechanisms should be agreed and implemented to collect, analyze and report against the agreed service availability targets using the change management process. Reports should be circulated to business managers five working days in advance of service review meetings. C. Meet with the business managers to review and document their availability requirements, ensuring that business impact and seasonal variations are taken into account. Review the monitoring and measurement mechanisms and ensure that they can measure both component and end-to-end service availability. Agree the revised service availability reporting requirements with the business. Agree and revise service level agreements and operational level agreements as necessary and implement any changes to the monitoring and reporting mechanisms using the change management process. D. Review the requirements for service availability against the data collection and measurement currently provided by the IT teams. Design availability metrics and controls to report any variances at the monthly service review meetings, as well as how these variances will be addressed in the future. Internal IT staff and a business manager will attend the service review meetings. All changes have to be agreed in the service review meetings before any actions can be performed, thus forcing the business to come to the meetings and reach agreement, before any improvement work or change can occur.


Question Seven Refer to Scenario Seven Which one of the following sequence of activities would be the BEST approach to establishing service levels agreements (SLA) in the organization? A.

• • • • •

B.

• • • • •

C.

• • • • •

D.

• • • • •

Identify all of the services currently delivered using the service catalogue. Meet with the appropriate business representatives to discuss and document their service level requirements (SLR). Arrange meetings with the appropriate IT teams; specifically, those involved in incident, availability and capacity management, to discuss, document and agree the levels of service required. Draft agreements from these discussions are then reviewed by service operations to ensure that no existing agreements will be compromised and once this has been confirmed, the SLA is formally agreed and signed. The service level targets are then formally monitored, reported upon and reviewed at the agreed intervals. Identify all the services currently delivered using the service catalogue. Meet with the appropriate business representatives and after discussions produce formal SLAs that document the levels of service that IT can offer. Arrange meetings with the appropriate IT teams; specifically, those involved in incident, availability and capacity management, to discuss, document and agree the levels of service required. From these discussions operational level agreements (OLAs) are then agreed. The OLAs are signed and then all measurements agreed within the document can be formally monitored, reported upon and reviewed at the agreed intervals. Meet with the IT operations team; specifically, those involved in incident, availability and capacity management, to define what level of service they can offer to the business. Meet with the appropriate business representatives to give them a clear understanding of the levels of service IT can offer. Produce and agree an SLA and ensure it is signed by representatives of both parties. Document and agree OLAs with the service operation teams. Once both agreements have been signed, all service level targets are then formally monitored, reported upon and reviewed at the agreed intervals. Identify all of the services currently delivered using the service catalogue. Meet with the appropriate business representatives and after discussion produce a formal SLA that guarantees the levels of service that the business needs. Arrange meetings with the appropriate IT teams; specifically, those involved in incident, availability and capacity management, to inform them of the service levels you have agreed. Document and agree OLAs with the service operation teams. Once these are agreed and signed the OLAs are passed back to the business to demonstrate that IT will support the SLA and to build upon the trust between the two parties.


Question Eight Refer to Scenario Eight You have been asked to resolve the confusion over the service level manager and supplier manager roles. Which one of the following options BEST represents the correct division of responsibilities and will also address the current complaints regarding the service desk supplier? A.

B.

C.

D.

•

Service level manager: Apologize to the customer and compensate them financially for the poor service levels. Assure them that under the terms and conditions of the contract, a review with the service desk will be carried out and that the supplier will be strictly monitored against agreed targets and penalties imposed, potentially leading to contract termination. Carry out a risk analysis of the supplier and their contract.

•

Supplier manager: Log the complaints. Set up a review of the supplier and the service desk function. Invoke contract penalty clause to recover compensation from the supplier. Increase the supplier’s risk rating. Initiate a service improvement plan in conjunction with continual service improvement.

•

Service level manager: Log the complaints. Inform the customer that the complaints will be reviewed as a matter of urgency. Collect evidence of failures and pass to the supplier manager. Ensure that the complaints are dealt with efficiently and effectively and improvements are initiated where appropriate.

•

Supplier manager: Arrange meeting with service desk supplier to investigate the complaints. Review performance of the supplier for all the services they deliver to the company’s customers. Report findings back to service level manager.

•

Service level manager: Log the complaints. Inform the customer that the complaints will be discussed with the supplier at the next scheduled review meeting. Assure the customer that, if necessary, the contractual disputes process will be invoked to ensure that the complaints are dealt with in an efficient and effective manner. Inform the customer of the actions taken.

•

Supplier manager: Discuss the complaints with the supplier at the next review meeting Initiate the dispute process with the supplier. Carry out a risk analysis of the supplier and their contract.

•

Service level manager: Inform the customer that the complaints will be reviewed as a matter of urgency. Assure the customer that, if necessary, the contractual disputes process will be invoked to ensure that the complaints are dealt with in an efficient and effective manner. Inform the customer that they will be updated on the outcome. Review performance of the supplier for all the services they deliver to the company’s customers.

•

Supplier manager: Log the complaints. Arrange meeting with service desk supplier to investigate the complaints. If necessary, initiate the dispute process.




ANSWERS AND RATIONALES

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Answer Key: Question

Correct: 5 Marks

2nd Best: 3 Marks

3rd Best: 1 Mark

Distracter: 0 Marks

One

1

D

C

B

A

Two

2

D

B

A

C

Three

3

B

A

D

C

Four

4

A

D

C

B

Five

5

C

B

A

D

Six

6

C

B

D

A

Seven

7

A

B

D

C

Eight

8

B

D

C

A

Scenario

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Answer and Question Rationale: QUESTION

One

Question Rationale

The question focuses on the correct activities involved in determining the costs of providing a service and on basic financial management for IT services activities to determine return on investment (ROI). It also requires an understanding of the links between business case, ROI, service portfolio management and financial management for IT services. This answer describes an appropriate approach to suit the situation in D the scenario. Bullet 1 - correct. The organization supports many services so they need to gain an understanding of all costs and where they are used. Bullet 2 - correct. Each option may use different resources so each must be costed separately. Each option will have different benefits; these could be cost savings or opportunities for the business to create increased revenue. It is the comparison of the costs and benefits of each option that will allow ROI to be calculated. Bullet 3 - correct. The cost and ROI information is then used to establish the most advantageous options. A business case contains more than just a description of the costs and benefits, which are just one of the inputs to developing a business case. Bullet 1 - correct. C Bullet 2 - correct. Basically OK, but it assumes that this information is in the service catalogue and is up to date. Bullet 3 - incorrect. Assumes that the only option is to compare the costs with outsourcing the service, which is not stated in the scenario. There are often many options for internal provision of a service. Bullet 1 - incorrect. Assumes all costs can be directly apportioned to B each service; however, some will be indirect. Bullet 2 - incorrect. The network and team costs would only be shared equally between the two services if they were only used on these two services. The scenario states that there are many services; therefore, it is likely that they also use these components. Bullet 3 - correct. This answer is a somewhat theoretical answer and does not address any A of the points described in the scenario. There is no evidence in the scenario whether or not a financial management for IT services process exists. However, it would take some time to create such a process, so this answer would not address the organization’s short-term needs. All the steps described are correct for implementing a financial management for IT services, but this is not what the question asked for. ITIL SC: SOA07 Financial management for IT services

MOST CORRECT (5)

SECOND BEST (3)

THIRD BEST (1)

DISTRACTER (0)

Syllabus Unit / Module supported Blooms Taxonomy Testing Level

SCENARIO

One

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 – The candidate must apply their knowledge of the financial


Subjects covered Book Section Refs

Difficulty

management process and the various methods and models for service valuation. The candidate must analyse and then select the method and activities that will produce the desired result described in the scenario. Concepts of service valuation The main activities, methods and techniques of financial management SS 4.3.5 – Service strategy processes – Financial management for IT service – Process activities, method and techniques: sections relevant to accounting (4.3.5.2 to 4.3.5.9 inclusive) SS 3.6.1 (up to 3.6.1.2) - Service strategy principles - Service economics Return on investment Easy


QUESTION

Two

Question Rationale

This question focuses on the differences between a service catalogue and a full service portfolio containing a service pipeline, retired services, as well as the service catalogue. The question also considers the benefits that a service portfolio management process can bring to an IT service provider.

MOST CORRECT (5)

Each point is correct and appropriate to the situation described in the scenario. Bullet 1 - Correct. These are all elements that will be recorded in the service portfolio and not the service catalogue alone. Bullet 2 - Correct. The service portfolio is an excellent tool for understanding how resources are utilized throughout the service lifecycle. Bullet 3 - Correct. The purpose of service portfolio management is to ensure the organization has the right mix of services by governing investments. Bullet 1 - Correct. B Bullet 2 - Incorrect. The cost of a service cannot be calculated from the cost of resources acquired from suppliers only. Internal provider costs must be included as well. Bullet 3 - Incorrect. The answer states that service offerings are developed from existing services. Existing services can be selected from the service catalogue alone. Creating a service portfolio that includes services in the service pipeline, as well as those in the service catalogue, will enable new services to be included in service offerings. Bullet 1 - Incorrect. Support terms and conditions and ordering and A request procedures are added to the service catalogue once a service is being prepared for operation. The creation of a service portfolio that includes a service pipeline, retired services, as well as a service catalogue is not required to record these. Bullet 2 - Incorrect. Not totally untrue, but not relevant in this case. The service portfolio not only records information about resources required in service operation, but in all stages of the service lifecycle. This is one of the factors that make the portfolio useful over and above the service catalogue. Bullet 3 - Partially correct. This is a true statement. However is will not help address the issues regarding assessing new investments. Bullet 1 - Incorrect. These are either items that are normally found in a C service catalogue, or items that are described in the scenario as already being included in the service catalogue. Bullet 2 - Incorrect. This statement is too vague. The organization is looking to reduce costs and improve their investment decision-making: this is unlikely to help. Bullet 3 - Incorrect. The organization does not need to implement a service portfolio to make these improvements to the service catalogue and introduce self-help. Additionally, this will do nothing to address the issues described in the scenario. ITIL SC: SOA02 Service portfolio management

SECOND BEST (3)

THIRD BEST (1)

DISTRACTER (0)


SCENARIO

Two

D

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.

Subjects covered Book Section Refs Difficulty

Application – The candidate must apply their knowledge of service portfolio management to the scenario and understand how to discern the differences between the service portfolio and the service catalogue. Categories covered: • Service portfolio management process activities, methods and techniques SS 4.2 - Service portfolio management - in general, but especially; SS 4.2.4 - Service portfolio management - Policies, principles and basic concepts Moderate


QUESTION

Three

Question Rationale

This question focuses on the value the business relationship manager (BRM) can bring to the IT organization and their responsibilities in being customerfocused and managing opportunities. The role of the BRM is to build a good relationship with the customer to B help identify new business requirements. In this scenario it is advantageous to have a good understanding of the existing services. The BRM must concentrate on understanding the business outcomes that the customer wishes to achieve and then see if there are any existing services that can be used before chartering new services. The first and second points are correct. A The third point is incorrect. The BRM, service level manager (SLM) and service owners do not design the service. It is too soon to involve the SLM; they will not become involved until after the service has been approved and chartered using the service portfolio management process. The first two points are not totally wrong; however, they fail to state that D the BRM will identify new business requirements. The third point is wrong on two counts; first, the service owners are not best placed to understand profile and usage of the IT services. This is usually done via the demand management process; second, in this scenario the service catalogue already exists. Generally this answer is a little over-effusive suggesting that the BRM C help the customers do their job. The final point is wrong: the BRM will not take responsibility for the services and their development and the SLM will not be the sole source of customer liaison. ITIL SC: SOA08 business relationship management

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SCENARIO

Three

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.

Subjects covered

Book Section Refs

Difficulty

Application – The candidate must apply their knowledge of the role of the BRM and analyze how best to articulate the specifics responsibilities of the BRM in order to achieve the scenario objectives. Categories Covered: • The scope of business relationship management • Processes activities, methods and techniques of business relationship management SS 4.5.2 – Service strategy processes - Business relationship management in general but especially; SS 4.5.2 – Service strategy processes - Business relationship management Scope SS 4.5.5.5 – Service strategy processes - Business relationship management - Processes activities, methods and techniques - The Business relationship management process through the lifecycle Moderate


QUESTION

Four

Question Rationale

This question focuses on how demand management can help resolve the issues of managing the demand for services, patterns of business activity (PBA) and the interface with the service portfolio. This answer would offer the best potential solution as it addresses all the A issues highlighted in the scenario. Bullet 1 - correct. PBAs represent the business needs. This should then be translated into potential usage of the IT services. Bullet 2 - correct. Differentiated service offerings means that service packages and associated service options can be tailored to meet PBA for each business unit. This will help make better use of IT resources and will therefore address the immediate quality issues. Bullet 3 - correct. Working with capacity management and using the PBAs means that longer term plans can be put in place to meet the expansion plans of the business. Bullet 1 - incorrect. Usage of the IT services is not the same as patterns D of business activity and will not provide the whole picture. Bullet 2 - correct. Bullet 3 - not untrue, but not specifically an activity of demand management and does not address the issues in the scenario. Bullet 1 - incorrect. Usage of the IT services is not the same as patterns C of business activity and will not provide the whole picture. Bullet 2 - incorrect. Agreeing limited usage of the IT services could have a negative effect on the business, possibly leading to lost sales. Bullet 3 - correct. Bullet 1 - incorrect. Services are not ‘selected’ from the service B catalogue based only on a PBA. Bullet 2 - incorrect. It is unclear what revising the cost model will achieve, other than possibly changing how the IT budget is accounted for. This does not address any of the issues in the scenario. Bullet 3 - incorrect. Differential charging is unlikely to be appropriate for internal IT provision. It may help to improve resource usage in the short term but it will not provide a solution to supporting the business expansion. ITIL SC: SOA05 Demand management

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SCENARIO

Four


Subjects covered

Book Section Refs

Application – The candidate must apply their knowledge of the demand management process; and, based on an analysis of the issues described in the scenario, select the correct option to apply demand management activities to address them. Categories Covered: • Scope of demand management • Process activities, methods and techniques of demand management SS 4.4 Service strategy processes - Demand management - in general but especially;


Difficulty

SS 4.4.2 Service strategy processes - Demand management - Scope SS 4.4.5.5 Service strategy processes - Demand management - Process activities, methods and techniques SS 4.4.6 Service strategy processes - Demand management - Triggers, inputs, outputs and interfaces Moderate


QUESTION

Five

Question Rationale

This question focuses on the value supplier management can bring to the organization by being customer-focused and managing opportunities. This answer would offer the best potential solution, as both organizations C would benefit. The organization would obtain value from a supplier whose business strategy was closely aligned to the financial services organization. A relationship would be forged on mutual trust. The supplier would benefit because a long-term commitment from the organization would lead to financial stability, enabling it to finance longer-term investments and deliver value to its customers. There is a lot of merit in this answer, as the use of multiple suppliers B would enable the organization to spread the risk of sourcing services, and costs could be reduced through competing suppliers. This would also limit or remove the scope for engaging with other suppliers. Almost as good as B. Sourcing products through one supplier may lead A to higher costs or delay if the supplier cannot obtain the goods or services required. While the organization might possibly achieve its objectives, the contract D would be one-sided and no value would be obtained by the supplier. In the event that a supplier failed to deliver the products in accordance with the terms of the contract, the financial penalties imposed might lead to a reduction in service quality or to reluctance to provide services on a long- term basis, eventually leading to mistrust and possible termination of contracts. ITIL SC: SOA06 Supplier management

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SCENARIO

Five



Difficulty

Application – The candidate must apply their knowledge of supplier management and analyse the stated objectives described in the scenario to select the correct answer option. Categories Covered: • Evaluation of new suppliers and contracts SD 4.8.5 – Service design processes - Supplier management – Process activities, methods and techniques SD 4.8.5.2 – Service design processes - Supplier management – Process activities, methods and techniques - Evaluation of new suppliers and contracts SD 4.8.5.4 – Service design processes - Supplier management – Process activities, methods and techniques - Establishment of new suppliers and contracts SD 4.8.5.5 – Service design processes - Supplier Management – Process activities, methods and techniques - Supplier, contract and performance management SD 4.8.5.6 - Service design processes - Supplier management – Process activities, methods and techniques - Contract renewal or termination Hard


QUESTION

Six

Question Rationale

This questions deal with service level management (SLM) and with understanding of what contributes to meaningful availability reporting that demonstrates performance levels and the actual service availability levels. This answer recognises that the availability service targets may no C longer be adequate and recommends meeting with the business managers to review the situation. The reporting systems must be reviewed to ensure they can provide metrics that can be matched to the service targets. Any changes must be submitted through the change management process. This answer suggests that all service levels are reviewed, not just the B availability targets. This is unnecessary as there is no evidence of issues other than those related to availability. There is no mention of measuring both component and end-to-end service availability. This answer describes a rather heavy-handed approach and is unlikely D to result in any improvement. This answer fails to recognize the need to meet with the business A managers and review their availability requirements. The measures taken are very reactive and are unlikely to resolve the situation. ITIL SC: SOA04 Service level management

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THIRD BEST (1) DISTRACTER (0) Syllabus Unit / Module supported Blooms Taxonomy Testing Level

SCENARIO

Six



Difficulty

Application – The candidate must apply their knowledge of SLM, SLR, service availability and associated metrics. They must analyse the issues described in the scenario and correctly identify the option that will address the issues of service availability reporting. • Reporting on SLA targets SD 4.3.5.4 – Service design processes - Service level management – Process activities, methods and techniques - Monitoring service performance against SLA SD 4.3.5.5 – Service design processes - Service level management – Process activities, methods and techniques - Producing service reports Moderate


QUESTION

Seven

Question Rationale

This question focuses on the correct approach to service level management (SLM) and development of service level agreements (SLAs) and operational level agreements (OLAs). This is the best solution. It follows the process of SLM. All services that A are currently being delivered should be within the service catalogue. However, it is imperative that SLM meet with the business and determine the service level requirements (SLR). Once this requirement has been defined the draft document is produced. During this time existing operational level agreements and contracts should be checked before the signing of the final document. Once committed, the service is actively monitored and measured to ensure that IT is meeting the agreed targets. In this answer the formal SLA is produced before discussing the B requirements with the IT teams. This is not a good idea. The answer mentions measuring the targets that are in the OLAs, but the SLA targets should also be measured. This is not a great way of dealing with the issues: whilst the aim of D maintaining the relationship is present, there may be problems in delivering commitments to the levels of service without prior consultation with IT. This is the wrong answer. This is almost certainly the reason behind the C ill feeling and distrust. IT should not dictate to the business what level of services they can offer. It is about relationship building and this only comes from negotiation, honesty and communication. ITIL SC: SOA04 Service level management

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SCENARIO

Seven


Subjects covered

Book Section Refs Difficulty

Application – The candidate must apply their knowledge of SLM, including the correct process for developing OLAs and SLAs. The candidate must analyse the various options presented and correctly identify the one option which outlines the events in the correct sequence. Categories Covered: • Service level management • Determining SLRs • Agreeing SLAs and OLAs SD 4.3.5 – Service design processes - Service level management – Process activities, methods and techniques Moderate


QUESTION

Eight

Question Rationale

This question focuses on identifying the activities performed by the service level manager and the supplier manager in a given scenario. This answer would offer the best potential solution as steps are being B taken to establish the facts before approaching the supplier to discuss the complaint. The activities are correctly assigned to the appropriate roles. Does not mention collecting evidence before contacting the supplier, and D the complaints may not be related to the supplier. The complaints should be logged by the service level manager, not the supplier manager. The supplier manager, not the service level manager, should review the performance of all services delivered by the supplier. It may be inadequate to wait until the next scheduled meeting to discuss C this with the supplier. A meeting should be arranged sooner. The complaints should be logged by the service level manager, not the supplier manager. The dispute process should be not initiated without further evidence being collected first. This option makes an assumption that the supplier has failed to provide A the level or service required and it may be that the customer is unaware what the agreed service level targets are. Penalties should not be invoked without further investigation and this approach could damage the long-standing relationship held with the supplier for many years. The supplier manager, not the service level manager, should perform the risk analysis. ITIL SC: SOA09 Roles and responsibilities

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SCENARIO

Eight


Subjects covered

Book Section Refs

Difficulty

Application – The candidate must analyse the scenario and select the best answer which follows the ITIL guidance for dealing with supplier agreements and customer complaints. Categories Covered: • Roles and responsibilities of supplier management • Roles and responsibilities of service level management SD 6.3.7.2 – Organizing for service design - Roles and responsibilities – Service level management roles - Service level management process manager SD 6.3.12.2 – Organizing for service design - Roles and responsibilities – Supplier manager roles - Supplier management process manager SD 4.3.5 – Service design processes - Service level management – Process activities, methods and techniques - Handling complaints and compliments Easy


ITIL SOA

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