ITIL^® v3 Credit System

• New to ITIL: Start your journey with ITIL 4 Foundation
• ITIL Foundation certified (any version) or ITIL v3 up to 6 credits collected: Keep your skills up-to-date and take ITIL 4 Foundation
• ITIL v3 more than 6 credits collected: Continue your ITIL v3 journey - continue building skills. Collect 17 credits for an easy transition to ITIL 4 Managing Professional
• ITIL Expert/Master: Take ITIL 4 Managing Transition module.

ITIL has evolved from ITIL v3 to ITIL 4.

To obtain the designation ITIL 4 Managing Professional or ITIL 4 Strategic Leader, the candidate must complete all modules in each stream, with ITIL Strategist being a universal module for both streams.

ITIL v3 candidates can transition over to ITIL 4 while still gaining the skills and knowledge needed to understand the core concepts of the updated guidance.

The certification scheme shared below is aligned with ITIL v3 and has been streamlined to provide clear paths for practitioners to continue their ITIL journey.

Within the ITIL credit system, each ITIL certification has been assigned a specific credit value, based upon its level of ITIL content.

Upon successful completion of any ITIL examination recognized under the scheme, you will be awarded both the certification and the credits attached.

The credits earned through this system can then be used towards the ITIL Expert level of certification, for which you must have earned a required number of credits (22) from a selection of certifications, including ITIL Practitioner (3 credits), which cover the full spectrum of ITIL best practice.

The 17 credits required before Managing across the Lifecycle (MALC) to advance to ITIL Expert can be earned in any order once the two credits for ITIL Foundation have been completed. ITIL Practitioner can be taken immediately after Foundation, or after completing any number of Intermediate modules.

ITIL v3 professionals have four routes to transition to ITIL 4.

The recommended approach is to take ITIL 4 Foundation in order to transition to the new certification scheme.

There is a large amount of new material in ITIL 4 Foundation, therefore a new single exam is required to assess end learner’s knowledge of the new ITIL 4 Foundation guidance.

However, professionals may also want to consider continuing their accumulation of ITIL v3 credits to be eligible for the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition module, in line with their career goals.

Candidates who have achieved six to 10 credits would benefit from continuing their ITIL v3 journey, in order to collect 17 credits and be eligible for the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition module.

However, they may also want to consider starting their ITIL 4 journey and working their way through the certification scheme, in line with their career goals.

Candidates with 11+ v3 credits can consider collecting ITIL v3 credits, to reach the required 17 credits to be eligible for the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition module.

This enables them to fast track to the ITIL 4 Managing Professional designation.

ITIL Experts and experienced ITIL v3 candidates with 17+ v3 credits are automatically eligible for the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition module, enabling them to fast track to the ITIL 4 Managing Professional designation.

After achieving the ITIL 4 Managing Professional designation, candidates would only need to complete the ITIL 4 Leader: Digital and Strategy module to achieve the ITIL 4 Strategic Leader designation. Once candidates have obtained both designations, they are eligible to move towards ITIL 4 Master.

For routes two and three, candidates can also take ITIL 4 Foundation as a contribution to the pre-requisite criteria for ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition, while it remains available.

The ITIL 4 scheme itself does not provide any credits but if a candidate has ITIL 4 Foundation then they will only need 15 credits from ITIL v3 to be eligible for the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition module. In this case, the 15 ITIL v3 credits must be comprised of:

• ITIL v3 Foundation (worth 2 credits) and
• A combination of ITIL v3 Intermediate and Practitioner modules (totalling 13 credits)

Modules which fall into this degree of overlap have little or no content overlap, and cover different areas or aspects of the ITIL Best Practice guidance.

Candidates who select modules within this range are permitted to use both certifications and the credits earned together in their Expert application.

It is worth noting that candidates who select modules towards Expert within range will benefit from strengthened ITIL knowledge that will help them to succeed in passing the ITIL Managing Across the Lifecycle Qualification, which is a key requirement for reaching Expert Level.

Modules which fall into this range cover a moderate percentage of similar ITIL content. This degree of overlap is most consistently seen between the Lifecycle and Capability certifications, where the same processes and functions are resident in both, but are covered to different depths of detail.

Candidates should avoid taking Intermediate modules in this range and are strongly encouraged to build a certification portfolio which cover as many ITIL disciplines as possible.

However, those who study for and pass certifications in this range will be permitted to submit both certifications and credits earned together in their Expert application.

The following table illustrates the low and moderate degrees of overlap between ITIL Intermediate Level modules:

This range of content overlap is considered significant enough to compromise a balanced knowledge base of the full ITIL Intermediate module spectrum. It is currently only found between certain combinations of Practitioner (ITIL V2) and Intermediate certifications.

Candidates must not take certifications in this range as only one certification and set of credits from the module combinations in this range can be used in an ITIL Expert level application.

All potential Expert candidates should be aware of this policy when selecting Intermediate modules, particularly those who hold ITIL certifications from earlier versions.

Practitioner and Intermediate module combinations which fall into this range together with their credit values, are outlined in the following table:

IPAD = ITIL Practitioner Agree and Define

IPPI = ITIL Practitioner Plan and Improve

IPRC = ITIL Practitioner Release and Control

CCR = Change Configuration and Release

SOA = Service Offerings and Agreements

PPO = Planning, Protection and Optimization

RCV = Release, Control and Validation

Some earlier ITIL certificates, which were awarded under previous versions of ITIL, can be used to enter the current certifications scheme.

Following the withdrawal of all earlier ITIL and Bridging certifications on 30 June 2011, the following options are available for holders of earlier ITIL certificates wishing to enter the current scheme.

If you hold an earlier version of the ITIL Foundation certificate and did not successfully achieve the Foundation Bridge certificate, you will need to pass the current Foundation examination to gain an understanding of the Service Lifecycle approach to service management and to enter the current certification scheme.

Holders of the ITIL Service Manager Certificate who would like to take any ITIL Intermediate examinations will be required to pass the current ITIL Foundation examination to gain an understanding of the Service Lifecycle approach to service management.

In order to reach ITIL Expert level, holders of the ITIL Service Manager certificate must successfully pass the following examinations:

• Current ITIL Foundation Level, PLUS
• Service Strategy (SS) module OR Continual Service Improvement (CSI) module, PLUS
• Managing Across The Lifecycle (MALC) certification.

This route is only available to holders of the full ITIL Service Manager certificate i.e. those individuals who have passed both the Service Support and Service Delivery examinations.

Please note that the credit system does not apply to this particular route to ITIL Expert level.

Please also note that to be eligible to take the ITIL 4 Managing Professional Transition module, any candidate holding the ITIL Service Manager certificate must first complete this route and achieve the ITIL Expert designation.

Holders of the earlier ITIL practitioner certificates can enter the ITIL certifications scheme to gain Intermediate modules, and can also work towards ITIL Expert level.

In order to enter the scheme, holders of the practitioner certificate must hold an earlier Foundation plus Bridge, or must successfully pass the current ITIL Foundation examination.