It has now been two years since the launch of ITIL (R) Version 3, the new version of best practice guidance for service management from the OGC (Office of Government Commerce). For these past two years, the administrators of the new qualifications scheme (APMG), together with examination institutes and training providers, have been busy getting the new ITIL Expert qualification off the ground.

But the whole thing could be dead in the water before it has even got going properly according to the most recently published figures for ITIL training. It seems that whilst the foundation course is popular for version 3, the more advanced training courses have been rather slow to take-off.

It is not really that surprising when you come to think about it because to qualify for the new ITIL Expert certificate, candidates now need to complete a very challenging curriculum of modular courses. Whereas the old V2 Service Sanager qualification took only 13 days, the new replacement qualification takes from 22 to 27 days to complete.

The version 3 scheme has 3 levels and an additional 4th level is planned. Is all this training really what people actually want and need or could it be just another money-spinner for the scheme administrators and the training providers? The answer from the market seems to be that the new courses are not wanted -at least for the present.

While the V2 Service Manager qualification scheme remains open, it presents a more direct route to the V3 qualification; and that, I believe, is an important reason the V3 scheme is not yet working properly. Given a straight choice, people would rather pay less, take less examinations and get the qualification quicker after all.

It is, in my opinion, time for APMG to be decisive and act immediately to support the V3 qualifications scheme. It is finally time to axe the old V2 qualifications and really get behind the new scheme.

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