What is ISO/IEC 20000?
ISO/IEC 20000 is aligned with and complementary to the process approach defined within ITIL from the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).
ISO/IEC 20000 Awareness e-Learning Course
The first interactive course to explain what the ISO 20000 standard is, and what is involved in implementing and supporting it.
The course uses interaction, animation and voice to walk through the certification process and describe ISO 20000.
Students can stop, review and test themselves on their knowledge at any stage. Acronyms and abbreviations become easier to understand, and the delivery via CDROM, Online or Intranet offers cost effective on demand training for any level of student at any time.
More about the ISO 20000 Multimedia course
More about ISO 20000
ISO 20000 consists of two parts:
ISO 20000-1:2005
is the formal Specification and defines the requirements for an organisation to deliver managed services of an acceptable quality for its customers. The scope includes:
- Requirements for a management system
- Planning and implementing service management
- Planning and implementing new or changed services
- Service delivery process
- Relationship processes
- Resolution processes
- Control processes
- Release processes.
ISO 20000-2:2005
is the Code of Practice and describes the best practices for Service Management processes within the scope of ISO 20000-1. The code of Practice will be of particular use to organisations preparing to be audited against ISO 20000 or planning service improvements.
ISO 20000 is increasingly seen as the quality standard for IT Service Management and many companies are striving to adopt ISO 20000, not only for their own benefit but also to help qualify and choose suppliers and partner organisations.
Any organisation is able to claim compliance with an industry standard such as ISO 20000 and may put such claims in their documentation and other collateral.
However, it is clearly more valuable for such claims to be independently verified as part of a formal certification scheme. ISO 9000 and BS 7799/ISO 17799 are examples where such certification schemes have already been established.
itSMF created, and now manages the ISO 20000 IT Service Management Certification Scheme (the scheme) which provides this independent verification against ISO 20000. Operation of the scheme is closely monitored by itSMF to ensure consistency of implementation.
Why would I consider ISO 20000 Certification?
Every organisation should have some form of standard in how they manage and provide a service, but this is rarely the case, until ISO 20000 was launched. Having an organisation compliant with the standard can mean:
- A more competitive business
- Aligned IS/IT strategy with the overall business strategy
- Best Practice IT Service provision
- Managed and reducing risk
- Managed and reducing costs
- Faster time to implement change
- Improved reliability and availability of service, leading to improved customer satisfaction
- Continual Improvement built into the processes
- Suppliers and partners will become more integrated and service focused
- Possibility of benchmarking with other organisations.
ISO and ITIL V3
What is the impact of ITIL V3 on ISO 20000?
In many ways ISO 20000 is ahead of ITIL, particularly in V2, but ITIL has caught up through the release of ITIL V3, by incorporating some of the processes such as Information Security and Supplier Management.
However each has different purposes so they will never be the same or duplicate each other. There is a school of thought that ISO 20000 is a more rounded and valuable 'badge' than the newly released ITIL V3, particularly with the launch of the new ISO 2000 Foundation Qualification by ISEB and EXIN.
The table below summarises the differences between ITIL V3 and ISO 20000.
| ISO 20000 | ITIL V3 |
| Standard and Code of Practice | Best Practice |
| Certification for a service provider organisation | Qualifications for individuals |
| Definitive high-level requirements for processes and management system | Detailed Best Practice guidance, description and implementation aids |
| Organisation structure independant with very few mandatory roles specified | Defines many function and process roles and responsibilities |
| 16 processes areas; no functions, lifecycle not explicitly specified | 26 process areas and four functions documented in five lifecycle stages |
| Definitive set of required documents | Descriptions of key documentation |
ISO 20000 Implementation
Typically accreditation is undertaken by A Registered Certification Body (or RCB) which is an organisation which has been registered by itSMF and granted permission to operate under the itSMF ISO 20000 Certification Scheme.
Before, during or after this process you will then have to communicate to your organisation;
- What ISO 20000 is
- The Relationship with ITIL or other Frameworks
- People and roles that support ISO 20000
- Audits
- Service Delivery and Relationship Processes
- Quality and scoping requirements
Typical users of our elearning course include:
"We are looking to decide if ISO 20000 is for us.."
ISO 20000 is the world's fastest growing ISO standard, specifically aimed at IT service management.
Implementing ISO 20000 is about becoming more competitive, and improving time to market, both internally and externally, for products and services. It will help visibly support your business strategy, improving the efficiency of services and improving costs.
The ISO 20000 Awareness elearning course is designed to walk you through what ISO 20000 is, and the impact on the business, along with examples scenarios. There is no better way to get your team knowledge to a consistent level, from where you can really understand what ISO 20000 means to your business.
"We have decided to implement ISO 20000 and are now starting the roll-out…."
Having decided ISO 20000 is right for your business you will typically have engaged a consultancy to help you with the accreditation process.
The big challenge for you is ensuring everyone understands what ISO 20000 is, and what it means to the organisation. The faster this is done, the quicker and more successful implementation will be.
The ISO 20000 Awareness elearning course will help get the message across the organisation quickly and to a standard level, at a fixed cost. It also makes a great reference tool for review and implementation questions, and is ideal for new starters and temporary staff.
"We already use ISO 20000….."
The chances are that most of your training is complete and that you have the accreditation in place already, which is great news.
However maintaining the standard and ensuring that everyone understands the benefits and structure can be more difficult, particularly with new and temporary staff.
You should consider The ISO 20000 Awareness elearning course as part of the induction process for all new starters, particularly in IT, and indeed any areas related to service provision and support. Also over time staff can forget key areas such as Service Delivery and Relationship processes, and the course is a good reminder of these through its comprehensive keyword and index system.
