Changed ITIL-4-Foundation Exam Questions

An SLA is defined as a documented agreement between a service provider and a customer that identifies both services required and the expected level of service.

SLAs are used to measure the performance of services from the customer’s point of view, and it is important that they are agreed in the wider business context.

Some of the key requirements for successful SLAs include:

They must be related to a defined ‘service’ in the service catalogue. Individual metrics without a specified service context are unhelpful.

They should relate to defined outcomes and not simply operational metrics. This can be achieved with balanced bundles of metrics, such as customer satisfaction and key business outcomes.

They should reflect an ‘agreement’: an engagement and discussion between the service provider and the service consumer. It is important to involve all stakeholders, including partners, sponsors, users, and customers.

They must be simply written and easy to understand and use for all parties.

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No service, practice, process, department, or supplier stands alone. The outputs that the organization delivers to itself, its customers, and other stakeholders will suffer unless it works in an integrated way to handle its activities as a whole, rather than as separate parts.

Taking a holistic approach to service management includes establishing an understanding of how all the parts of an organization work together in an integrated way (remember the four dimensions of service management?), including having an end-to-end visibility of how demand is captured and translated into outcomes. In a complex system, the alteration of one element can impact others and, where possible, these impacts need to be identified, analysed and planned for.

To apply this principle successfully, consider this advice:

Recognize the complexity of the systems

Collaboration is key to thinking and working holistically

Where possible, look for patterns in the needs of and interactions between system elements

Automation can facilitate working holistically

A service request is defined as a request from a user or a user’s authorized representative that initiates a service action which has been agreed as a normal part of service delivery.

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. Service request management is dependent upon well-designed processes and procedures, which are operationalized through tracking and automation tools to maximize the efficiency of the practice. To be handled optimally, service request management should follow these guidelines:

Service requests and their fulfilment should be standardized and automated to the greatest degree possible.

Policies should define which service requests will be fulfilled with limited or even no additional approvals so that fulfilment can be streamlined.

The expectations of users regarding fulfilment times and costs should be clearly set, based on what the organization can realistically deliver.

Opportunities for improvement should be identified and implemented to produce faster fulfilment times and take advantage of automation.

In ITIL 4, the purpose of the relationship management practice is to:

Establish and nurture the links between the organization and its stakeholders

Identify, analyze, monitor, and continually improve relationships with stakeholders at strategic and tactical levels

Option C closely reflects this wording: “Identifying, analyzing, monitoring, and the continual improvement of relationships with stakeholders.” This matches the official purpose description, so C is correct.

The other options actually describe other practices:

A. Creating collaborative relationships with key suppliers… – This aligns with supplier management, which focuses on obtaining value from suppliers and managing supplier relationships.

B. Setting clear business-based targets so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed – This is the purpose of service level management, not relationship management.

D. Handling all pre-defined, user-initiated service requests in an effective and user-friendly manner – This describes service request management.

Therefore, the option that correctly reflects the purpose of the relationship management practice is C.