Standard changes are pre-authorized, low-risk, and well-understood changes that are implemented without needing additional authorization for each occurrence. The 'service request management' practice is designed to handle pre-defined, user-initiated requests. Because standard changes follow an established and pre-approved procedure, they are often initiated through a service request. This allows them to be fulfilled efficiently, often by the service desk, aligning perfectly with the purpose of service request management. For example, a request to install a pre-approved software application on a user's laptop is a standard change fulfilled via a service request.

A. An emergency change is implemented to resolve an incident or security issue and requires an expedited, urgent authorization process, not a routine service request.

B. A normal change requires scheduling, assessment, and authorization through the formal change enablement process and is not managed as a simple service request.

C. 'Application change' describes the object of the change, not the process type. An application change could be standard, normal, or emergency, making this option too general.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 5.2.4

Change enablement: "Standard changes are pre-authorized changes that are low risk

relatively common and follow a procedure or work instruction... When the procedure for a standard change is created or modified

there should be a full risk assessment and authorization as for any other change. This authorization is only needed once

and not for each occurrence of the standard change. Standard changes are often initiated as service requests..."

Section 5.2.15

Service request management: "The purpose of the service request management practice is to support the agreed quality of a service by handling all pre-defined

user-initiated service requests in an effective and user-friendly manner... Some service requests are in effect pre-authorized changes (for example

a request to install a standard application)."

The primary purpose of the incident management practice is to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible. To achieve this with limited resources, incidents must be prioritized. Prioritization is based on an agreed classification, which almost always includes the business impact of the incident. This ensures that incidents causing the most significant disruption to the business are addressed and resolved before those with a lesser impact, thereby protecting value and supporting business objectives.

A. Automated matching is primarily driven by incident categorization and keyword analysis, not the prioritization level itself.

B. The support team for escalation is determined by the incident's category and the required technical skills, not its priority.

D. While collaboration is essential for resolving major incidents, the act of prioritization is a mechanism for ordering work, not for encouraging collaboration.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 Edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 5.2.5 (Incident management practice): "The purpose of the incident management practice is to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible." and "Incidents are prioritized based on an agreed classification to ensure that incidents with the highest business impact are resolved first." This directly validates option C as the core reason for prioritization.

Section 5.2.5: This section also notes that effective incident management requires collaboration

but this is presented as a necessary component for success

not the reason for the prioritization activity itself

which refutes option D.

The ITIL guiding principles are defined as recommendations that can guide an organization in all circumstances, irrespective of changes in its goals, strategies, type of work, or management structure. They are universal and enduring recommendations that provide a shared understanding and a common approach to service management across the organization. They help guide decisions and actions, ensuring a consistent and effective adoption of a service management approach and the ITIL framework.

A. This describes a 'value stream', which is a series of steps an organization undertakes to create and deliver products and services.

B. This is the definition of a 'service offering', which details services designed to meet the needs of a specific consumer group.

C. This describes an ITIL 'practice', which is a set of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 4.3

"The ITIL guiding principles": "The ITIL guiding principles are recommendations that can guide an organization in all circumstances..." (Supports correct answer D).

Section 4.5

"Value streams and processes": Defines a value stream as "a series of steps an organization undertakes to create and deliver products and services to consumers." (Refutes option A).

Section 2.3.2

"Products and services": Defines a service offering as "a description of one or more services

designed to address the needs of a target consumer group." (Refutes option B).

Glossary

page 196: Defines a practice as "A set of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective." (Refutes option C).

The 'Start where you are' guiding principle advises against starting from scratch without first considering what is already available. It emphasizes the importance of observing and measuring the existing services, processes, people, and tools to understand the current state fully. This direct assessment allows an organization to identify what can be successfully reused or leveraged in any new or improvement initiative. By doing so, organizations can save effort, accelerate progress, and build upon existing strengths rather than discarding potentially valuable resources.

A. Focus on value: This principle ensures that all improvement activities are linked to creating value for stakeholders, not specifically about assessing and reusing existing assets.

C. Collaborate and promote visibility: This principle is about working together and sharing information to achieve better outcomes, rather than the initial assessment of the current state.

D. Progress iteratively with feedback: This principle advocates for breaking work into smaller, manageable components and using feedback loops, which describes how to proceed, not where to begin.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 Edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 4.3.2

'Start where you are': "When engaging in any improvement initiative

do not start over without first considering what is already available to be leveraged... The current state should be investigated and observed directly to make sure it is fully understood." This section explicitly states that "services and methods already in place should be measured and/or observed... to properly understand their current state and what can be reused from them."

The 'Information and technology' dimension of service management explicitly includes the information and knowledge necessary for managing services, along with the technologies required to do so. This encompasses the information assets, knowledge bases, communication systems, and analytical tools that an organization uses. While people possess knowledge (part of the 'Organizations and people' dimension), the knowledge itself, especially when codified and managed as an organizational asset, falls directly under the 'Information and technology' dimension. This dimension focuses on what information is managed, the supporting technologies, and how they contribute to value creation.

A. Organizations and people: This dimension focuses on the human elements, such as culture, roles, responsibilities, and competencies, not the knowledge asset itself.

B. Value streams and processes: This dimension is concerned with the activities, workflows, and controls that are organized to create and deliver services.

D. Partners and suppliers: This dimension addresses the relationships and agreements an organization has with external vendors that contribute to service delivery.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 3.3

Information and technology: "In the context of the SVS

this dimension includes the information and knowledge necessary for the management of services

as well as the technologies required." This statement directly supports the correct answer.

Section 3.2

Organizations and people: This section details the importance of culture

roles

and competencies

confirming that its focus is on the human aspect rather than the knowledge asset.

2. University of Washington

UW-IT. (n.d.). ITIL 4. IT Connect.

In its description of the four dimensions

it defines 'Information and Technology' as encompassing "Information and knowledge

how it’s managed and the technology that supports it

" which aligns with the official ITIL guidance.

Service relationship management involves the joint activities performed by a service provider and a service consumer to ensure continual value co-creation. This is based on agreed and available service offerings. The purpose of this practice is to establish and nurture the links between the organization and its stakeholders at both strategic and tactical levels. It ensures that the relationship remains productive and that both parties continue to benefit, which directly addresses the ongoing co-creation of value mentioned in the question.

A. Service consumption is the activity of using services by the consumer. It is a component of value co-creation but not the management practice that ensures its continuation.

B. Service offerings are descriptions of services designed for a target consumer group. They are the basis for the relationship, not the management activities that sustain it.

C. Service level management is a practice focused on setting, monitoring, and managing performance targets (SLAs). It is a part of, but not the entirety of, managing the overall relationship.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 Edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Glossary

p. 197: Defines "Service relationship management" as "The joint activities performed by a service provider and a service consumer to ensure continual value co-creation based on agreed and available service offerings." This directly supports the correct answer.

Section 2.4.2

p. 20: Explains that "In a service relationship

the provider and the consumer work together to co-create value." The management of this relationship is what ensures this process is continuous and effective.

Glossary

p. 196: Defines "Service consumption" and "Service offering

" clarifying why options A and B are incorrect.

The guiding principle 'keep it simple and practical' focuses on eliminating processes, services, actions, or metrics that do not produce a useful outcome or add value. The goal is to use the minimum number of steps necessary to achieve an objective. When a process or practice is designed to be straightforward and easy to follow, it reduces complexity and the likelihood of errors. This inherent simplicity makes the practice more accessible and less burdensome for people to use, which directly increases the probability of its adoption and consistent application.

A. This is a recommendation for the 'Collaborate and promote visibility' principle, which emphasizes understanding the audience to ensure effective communication.

B. This statement relates to the 'Start where you are' principle, which involves assessing the current state to decide what can be reused.

D. This is a key concept within the 'Progress iteratively with feedback' principle, which cautions against sacrificing quality and completeness for speed.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 4.3.5

"Keep it simple and practical": This section states

"If a process

service

action or metric fails to provide value or produce a useful outcome

then eliminate it... Simpler processes and procedures are easier to follow and more likely to be adopted." This directly supports option C.

Section 4.3.4

"Collaborate and promote visibility": This section discusses the importance of communication and states that "to collaborate

it is important that people understand the workflow... and who the stakeholders are." This aligns with the reasoning for why option A is incorrect.

Section 4.3.2

"Start where you are": This section explains the need to assess the existing state

noting that "services and methods already in place should be measured... before deciding to build something new." This supports the analysis of option B.

Section 4.3.3

"Progress iteratively with feedback": This section advises that "each iteration should be manageable... and should deliver a tangible result." It warns against the temptation to do everything at once

which relates to the concept in option D.

The release and deployment lifecycle involves several key stages. 'Release build and test' is a fundamental phase where the new or changed service components are assembled into a release package and subjected to rigorous testing to ensure they meet requirements and are fit for purpose. Following the deployment, the 'Review and close' phase is crucial for evaluating the success of the release, capturing lessons learned for future improvements, and formally closing the release and associated change records. These two activities represent core parts of the beginning and end of the release and deployment workflow.

'Categorize and record' is an initial activity of the incident management practice, used for logging and classifying new incidents, not for managing releases.

'Change authorization and schedule' is a distinct activity performed within the change enablement practice, which typically occurs before the release and deployment activities begin.

AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 Edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 5.2.14 (Release management): This section describes release management's purpose as making new and changed services available

which involves planning

scheduling

and controlling the build

test

and deployment of releases. This supports the 'Release build and test' phase.

Section 5.2.6 (Deployment management): This section details the practice of moving components to live environments. The activities implicitly include building the deployment package and testing it before and after the move. The post-deployment review is a key part of ensuring a successful deployment

aligning with 'Review and close'.

Section 5.2.8 (Incident management): This section explicitly states that incident management includes the recording and categorization of incidents

making option 3 incorrect in the context of release and deployment.

Section 5.2.4 (Change enablement): This section describes the authorization and scheduling of changes as a core activity of this practice

confirming that option 4 belongs to change enablement

not release and deployment.

The purpose of the 'monitoring and event management' practice is to systematically observe services and their components. This observation is done to detect and record any changes of state, which are defined as 'events'. The practice then analyzes these events to determine the appropriate control action. This is fundamental for managing operations, identifying potential faults or incidents before they impact users, and automating routine operational tasks.

A. This describes the purpose of the 'service configuration management' practice, which focuses on managing information about Configuration Items (CIs).

C. This describes the purpose of the 'information security management' practice, which is concerned with confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.

D. This describes the purpose of the 'incident management' practice, which focuses on restoring service operation after a disruption has occurred.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 5.2.5

"Monitoring and event management": The purpose is explicitly stated as "to systematically observe services and service components

and record and report selected changes of state identified as events." (This directly supports option B).

Section 5.2.15

"Service configuration management": The purpose is stated as "to ensure that accurate and reliable information about the configuration of services

and the CIs that support them

is available when and where it is needed." (This confirms option A is incorrect).

Section 5.1.8

"Information security management": The purpose is stated as "to protect the information needed by the organization to conduct its business." (This confirms option C is incorrect).

Section 5.2.4

"Incident management": The purpose is stated as "to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible." (This confirms option D is incorrect).

The purpose of the service level management practice is to set clear business-based targets for service performance so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed, monitored, and managed against these targets. This involves gathering and analyzing information from various sources, including customer engagement and feedback, to understand and define the metrics that truly reflect the customer's experience and desired outcomes. This practice ensures a shared understanding of service quality and focuses on what value and experience mean from the customer's perspective.

A. Continual improvement: This practice uses metrics as an input to identify and manage improvement opportunities, but it is not the practice responsible for initially identifying them.

C. Service desk: The service desk is a key source of information about the user experience but its primary purpose is to provide support, not to define service metrics.

D. Problem management: This practice focuses on identifying and managing the causes of incidents to prevent their recurrence, not on defining metrics for customer experience.

1. AXELOS. (2019). ITIL® Foundation

ITIL 4 edition. TSO (The Stationery Office).

Section 5.2.15

"Service level management": "The purpose of the service level management practice is to set clear business-based targets for service performance... SLM requires a focus on and a deep understanding of what is important to customers and users... It involves listening to customers and discovering what value really means to them." (p. 123). This directly supports that SLM identifies metrics reflecting customer experience.

Section 5.1.2

"Continual improvement": Describes the practice's purpose as aligning the organization's practices and services with changing business needs through ongoing improvement. It uses metrics but does not define them from the customer's perspective. (p. 82).

Section 5.2.14

"Service desk": States the purpose is to "capture demand for incident resolution and service requests." It is a source of data for other practices. (p. 121).

Section 5.2.8

"Problem management": Defines the purpose as reducing the "likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying actual and potential causes of incidents". (p. 111).