IT Service Management Basics Flashcards

Question 1

What is an IT service, in simple terms?

Accepted Answer

An IT service is a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating the outcomes they want to achieve, without them having to manage the costs and risks involved. Customers judge a service by what it helps them do, such as placing orders, rather than by the servers or software behind it.

Question 2

What does the term service management actually mean in practice?

Accepted Answer

Service management is the set of organizational capabilities used to plan, deliver, operate, and continually improve services for customers. It combines processes, roles, tools, and people so that services are reliable and valuable. Good service management aligns IT work with business needs and makes outcomes predictable, measurable, and repeatable over time.

Question 3

What is the difference between an output and an outcome?

Accepted Answer

An output is a product or result that a service team delivers, such as a configured laptop or a new database. An outcome is the change in customer behavior or business result that the output makes possible, such as faster reporting. Service management focuses on outcomes, because outputs matter only when they create value.

Question 4

What is a configuration item in IT service management?

Accepted Answer

A configuration item, or CI, is any component that needs to be managed to deliver an IT service. Examples include servers, applications, and network devices. Each CI is recorded in a configuration management database, which stores its attributes and its relationships with other items, helping teams understand how a change or failure will affect services.

Question 5

What is a service level agreement, and why is it useful?

Accepted Answer

A service level agreement, or SLA, is a written agreement between a service provider and a customer that defines the service, its expected performance, and responsibilities. It is useful because it sets clear expectations, giving both sides a basis for measuring performance and resolving disputes when results fall short of what was promised.

Question 6

What is a service owner and what does that person do?

Accepted Answer

A service owner is the person accountable for a specific service throughout its lifecycle. This person ensures the service meets customer needs, tracks its performance, coordinates improvements, and speaks for it to stakeholders. The service owner does not perform every task, but is responsible for making sure the service works well and delivers value.

Question 7

What is ITIL, and how does it relate to IT service management?

Accepted Answer

ITIL is a widely used framework of best practice guidance for IT service management. It describes practices, terms, and a service value system that organizations can adapt to their own needs. ITIL is not a software product or a rigid rulebook. It provides shared vocabulary and common principles that many organizations use as a starting point.

Question 8

What is a service catalog and why do organizations maintain one?

Accepted Answer

A service catalog is a structured list of the IT services a provider offers, with descriptions and request methods. Organizations maintain one so customers know what they can ask for, how to request it, and what to expect. A clear catalog reduces confusion and repeated questions, and helps the service desk route work quickly.

Question 9

What are the six activities of the ITIL service value chain?

Accepted Answer

The ITIL service value chain has six activities: plan, improve, engage, design and transition, obtain or build, and deliver and support. These activities can be combined in different sequences to respond to a particular situation. Together they turn demand from customers into value, and each activity draws on the same practices, governance, and information.

Question 10

Why is continual improvement important in service management?

Accepted Answer

Continual improvement is important because customer needs, technology, and business conditions keep changing, so a service that is acceptable today may fall behind tomorrow. Regular review of performance data lets teams find gaps, test changes, and keep services aligned with objectives. Improvement is treated as an ongoing responsibility of everyone, not a separate project.

Question 11

What is the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle and how does it support improvement?

Accepted Answer

The Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle, also called the Deming cycle, is an iterative method for testing and improving processes. Teams plan a change, carry it out on a small scale, check the results against expectations, and act on what they learned.

Question 12

What does it mean for a customer to co-create value?

Accepted Answer

To co-create value means that customers and service providers work together to produce results, rather than the provider delivering value alone. Customers contribute information, feedback, and effort, while the provider supplies skills and resources. Value emerges through this collaboration, so a service succeeds only when the people using it can apply it effectively.

Question 13

What are the four dimensions of service management?

Accepted Answer

The four dimensions of service management are organizations and people, information and technology, partners and suppliers, and value streams and processes. Each dimension should be considered to deliver a service effectively. Neglecting one can weaken the others, because they all depend on each other.

Question 14

What is a value stream and how is it used in service design?

Accepted Answer

A value stream is a sequence of activities an organization uses to create and deliver value to a customer. Mapping a value stream shows where work waits, where handoffs fail, and where steps add little value. Teams use this map to redesign the flow so services arrive faster and with fewer errors.

Question 15

What does the ITIL guiding principle focus on value mean in practice?

Accepted Answer

Focus on value means every activity should be tied to a clear benefit for customers, users, or the organization. Before starting work, teams ask who benefits and how, and they set aside tasks that do not contribute to desired outcomes. It keeps effort aligned with what truly matters, not with habit.

Question 16

Why should teams start where they are instead of replacing everything?

Accepted Answer

Teams should start where they are because existing services, tools, and practices already contain useful knowledge and working parts. Measuring current performance first shows what is working and what is not, so changes can be targeted. Replacing everything at once is costly, risky, and often disrupts the people who depend on services today.

Question 17

What is an incident in IT service management?

Accepted Answer

An incident is an unplanned interruption to an IT service or a reduction in the quality of that service. Examples include a website that will not load or a printer that stops working. Incident management aims to restore normal service quickly, sometimes through a workaround rather than a permanent fix.

Question 18

What is a service request, and how does it differ from an incident?

Accepted Answer

A service request is a formal ask from a user for something standard and routine, such as a password reset, new software access, or new equipment. Unlike an incident, a request does not indicate that anything is broken. It is handled through a predefined fulfillment process, often with pre-approved steps and clear expected timeframes.

Question 19

What is the purpose of incident categorization and prioritization?

Accepted Answer

Categorization and prioritization help the service desk route incidents to the right teams in the right order. Categorization groups incidents by type, such as network, application, or hardware. Prioritization ranks each incident by urgency and impact, which determines how quickly it should be addressed.

Question 20

What makes an incident a major incident, and how is it handled?

Accepted Answer

A major incident is an incident with very high impact on the business, such as a widespread outage affecting many customers or critical systems. It usually receives a separate, faster response process with a dedicated coordinator, clear communication to stakeholders, and frequent updates until service is restored.

Question 21

In ITIL terms, what is a problem and how does it differ from an incident?

Accepted Answer

In ITIL terms, a problem is the unknown underlying cause of one or more incidents. An incident is the visible disruption, while a problem is the reason behind it. Problem management investigates root causes, documents known errors with workarounds, and pursues permanent fixes so that the same incidents do not keep recurring.

Question 22

What is a known error record and why is it valuable to support staff?

Accepted Answer

A known error record documents a problem whose root cause has been identified and for which a workaround or fix is known. It includes symptoms, the cause, and the steps to resolve or avoid the issue. It is valuable because support staff can resolve matching incidents faster, and the service desk gives consistent advice.

Question 23

What is the difference between a workaround and a permanent fix?

Accepted Answer

A workaround is a temporary method of reducing or removing the impact of an incident without eliminating its underlying cause. A permanent fix removes the root cause so the problem does not return. Workarounds are valuable for restoring service quickly, but they should be recorded and tracked until a permanent fix is implemented.

Question 24

How does the incident management process typically flow from detection to closure?

Accepted Answer

Incident management typically starts with detection, when a user, monitoring tool, or staff member reports a disruption. The incident is logged, categorized, prioritized, and diagnosed, then resolved and restored. Before closure, the service desk confirms with the user that service is working and records the resolution so the information is available for future reference.

Question 25

What is change management and what is its main goal?

Accepted Answer

Change management is the practice of controlling the lifecycle of changes so that beneficial changes are made with minimal disruption to services. Its main goal is to maximize successful changes while reducing the risk of failed changes. It does this through assessment, authorization, scheduling, and review, which reveal impact before work begins.

Question 26

What is a standard change, and why can it skip full authorization?

Accepted Answer

A standard change is a pre-authorized, low-risk, and well-understood change that follows an established procedure. Because the risk is already known and accepted, it does not need a full review each time it is performed. Examples include routine account updates or standard software patches that the organization has approved in advance as repeatable steps.

Question 27

How does an emergency change differ from a normal change?

Accepted Answer

An emergency change is one that must be implemented urgently to resolve a major incident or prevent severe impact. It follows an expedited approval path, often with an authorized emergency group making decisions quickly. Normal changes go through the full assessment and scheduling steps. Emergency changes still require documentation and review afterward.

Question 28

What is a change advisory board and what does it do?

Accepted Answer

A change advisory board, or CAB, is a group of stakeholders who review proposed changes and advise on their risk, impact, and timing. Members often include technical, business, and service management representatives. The board does not perform the change itself. It supports informed decisions about whether, when, and how changes should proceed.

Question 29

What is a release and how does release management relate to change management?

Accepted Answer

A release is a collection of one or more approved changes, such as new features or fixes, deployed into a live environment together. Release management plans, schedules, builds, tests, and deploys these releases, while change management governs the authorization of each change. The two work together, so releases can be delivered without bypassing controls.

Question 30

Why is a rollback plan important before implementing a change?

Accepted Answer

A rollback plan describes how to return a system to its previous working state if a change fails or causes unexpected problems. It is important because even well-tested changes can behave differently in production. Having the steps, timing, and responsibilities defined in advance limits downtime and protects data and users during an unsuccessful change.

Question 31

What is a change schedule, and what is it used for?

Accepted Answer

A change schedule is a calendar that shows approved changes and their planned implementation dates. It helps teams avoid conflicts, such as two changes affecting the same system at the same time. It also lets business units plan around expected downtime and gives support staff advance notice of what may affect users.

Question 32

Why should every change have a clear success criterion?

Accepted Answer

Every change should have a clear success criterion so that the team can decide whether the change achieved its purpose. Without one, a change may appear finished while problems remain hidden, or teams may argue about the result afterward. Defining success before implementation also guides testing, post-implementation review, and any decision to roll back.

Question 33

What is the service desk and what is its role?

Accepted Answer

The service desk is the single point of contact where users report incidents, submit service requests, and ask questions about IT services. Its staff log and categorize requests, resolve simple issues, and route complex work to specialist teams. A well-run service desk gives users a clear, consistent experience and keeps them informed about progress.

Question 34

What is availability, and how is it typically measured?

Accepted Answer

Availability is the proportion of time a service is operating and usable when users need it. It is commonly calculated as the agreed service time minus downtime, divided by the agreed service time, then expressed as a percentage. Measuring availability helps teams see whether they are meeting commitments and where reliability needs attention.

Question 35

What is a key performance indicator in service management?

Accepted Answer

A key performance indicator, or KPI, is a measurable value that shows how well a service or process is meeting its objectives. Good KPIs are tied to outcomes that matter, such as the percentage of incidents resolved within agreed targets. A metric becomes a KPI only when it is linked to a goal.

Question 36

What is the main purpose of capacity management in IT services?

Accepted Answer

Capacity management ensures that IT resources such as servers, storage, and network bandwidth are sufficient to meet current and future demand at an agreed cost. It involves monitoring usage trends, forecasting growth, and planning upgrades before performance suffers. Good capacity management avoids both shortages that slow services and wasteful overprovisioning.

Question 37

What is IT service continuity management and how does it differ from availability?

Accepted Answer

IT service continuity management prepares an organization to keep essential services running, or recover them quickly, after a serious disruption such as a major outage or disaster. Availability focuses on keeping services working during normal operation, while continuity planning addresses rare, severe events that exceed everyday controls.

Question 38

What is a business impact analysis and why is it done before recovery planning?

Accepted Answer

A business impact analysis, or BIA, identifies the services and processes that matter most to an organization and estimates how disruption would affect them. It is done first because recovery priorities should reflect business need, not guesswork. The analysis helps set maximum tolerable downtime and recovery targets, which guide the design of continuity plans.

Question 39

What is a recovery time objective and how is it used in planning?

Accepted Answer

A recovery time objective, or RTO, is the maximum acceptable length of time a service can be unavailable after a disruption before serious harm occurs. Planners use it to decide how quickly systems must be restored and which recovery methods are affordable. A shorter RTO requires more investment in backup systems and automated failover.

Question 40

How does a post-implementation review help improve future services?

Accepted Answer

A post-implementation review examines a completed change or release to judge whether it achieved its objectives and what should be learned. The review compares actual results with success criteria, notes unexpected effects, and records feedback from users and support staff. Lessons feed into planning, testing, and continual improvement, so later changes become safer.

IT Service Management Basics Flashcards

1Core concepts and terminology

2Service value and lifecycle thinking

3Incident and problem management

4Change and release management

5Service desk, measurement and continuity

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