ITIL®4 Specialist: Collaborate, Assure and Improve

Participants must hold either the ITIL® 4 Foundation or ITIL® v3 Foundation certification. Familiarity with the concept of value streams is expected, as it will be referenced throughout the course.

Target audience

This course is ideal for professionals looking to embed collaboration, assurance, and continual improvement in their IT service management roles, including:

• IT service managers, service operation managers, and team leaders responsible for delivering and improving services
• Supplier managers and process owners seeking to enhance cross-team collaboration
• Governance, compliance, and service quality assurance professionals
• Consultants or practitioners aiming to deepen their understanding of ITIL® 4 practices
• Project and programme managers aligning IT services with strategic goals
• Relationship managers striving to create consistent engagement approaches across their organisations

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

• Define the purpose, scope, and key concepts of each of the five ITIL practices
• Understand the strategic and operational value of integrating these practices into value streams
• Identify and apply success factors and metrics relevant to each practice
• Use the ITIL Maturity Model to assess and develop practice capability within their organisation
• Recognise synergies and interfaces between practices to enhance collaboration and performance
• Apply best practices to drive continual improvement and assure service quality across the service lifecycle

Understanding value streams and maturity models

• Recap of value stream principles from ITIL Foundation
• Introduction to the ITIL capability model and its role in practice maturity assessment

Relationship Management

• Objectives and scope of the practice
• Roles and responsibilities in nurturing strategic and operational relationships
• Tools and techniques for building stakeholder trust
• Metrics for relationship success
• Collaboration with other practices to enhance value delivery

Service Level Management

• Establishing, negotiating, and monitoring service level agreements
• Translating business needs into measurable service targets
• Using service metrics to drive improvements
• Enabling value co-creation with service consumers

Supplier Management

• Managing supplier performance across the supply chain
• Ensuring alignment of contracts with organisational needs
• Governance, risk, and compliance considerations
• Enabling collaboration with partners and vendors

Continual Improvement

• Frameworks and methods for identifying and prioritising improvement opportunities
• Creating improvement registers and action plans
• Establishing a culture of continuous service excellence
• Using data and feedback loops to measure success

Information Security Management

• Securing information assets through risk-aware practices
• Ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of services
• Embedding security into service design and operations
• Aligning with governance and compliance frameworks

Integration and application

• Embedding these five practices into service value streams
• Case-based discussions on cross-practice collaboration
• Roadmap development for improving practice maturity within learners' organisations

Exams and assessments

This course includes a formal certification exam:

• 60 multiple-choice questions
• 90 minutes duration
• Closed book format
• Pass mark: 39/60 (65%)
• The exam is taken online and virtually proctored by PeopleCert at a time of the learner’s choosing
• From 2023 onwards, PeopleCert certifications must be renewed every three years.

Hands-on learning

• The course uses a blend of instructor-led activities and peer collaboration to support knowledge application. Learners will:
• Participate in real-world scenarios and case studies
• Work on practice integration challenges
• Use guided tools to assess their organisational practice maturity
• Engage in interactive exercises to build strategic and operational capabilities