Press Release: The APM Group Limited.

The ITIL Qualification Board is pleased to make the following announcements regarding ITIL V3 qualifications.

Official Qualification Titles:

The Qualification Board involved the ITSM community by surveying itSMF members and Accredited Training Organisations (ATOs) on their preference for the formal titles of ITIL Qualifications. The results of the survey were reviewed and endorsed by the Board and are as follows:

Service Lifecycle and Service Capability Modules and Managing Across the Lifecycle will be known officially as ITIL Intermediate Certificates.

A candidate who has achieved the minimum accumulation of 22 credits across a selection of balanced V2 and V3 modules will be awarded the ITIL Expert Certificate.

Candidates who satisfy the requirement of the currently titled Advanced level will be awarded the ITIL Master Certificate.

For full details of this statement from APM Group, please download the attached Adobe PDF file.

V3 Japanese Pilot Examination starts in April 2008
On February 15 2008 EXIN, the worldwide Examination Institute for Information Science, and APM Group (APMG) signed an agreement stating EXIN will be translating examinations and sample examinations for ITIL® version 3 into the Japanese language. Initially EXIN Japan will start with the development of translations for the ITIL® Foundation examination, followed by translated examinations for the ITIL® Foundation Bridge examination, the Managers Bridge examination and later on the Capability examination. As a result of this agreement training providers are able to offer courses in Japanese and candidates can attend examinations for ITIL® version 3 in their own language.

Pilot testing
In partnership with APMG, EXIN Japan has recently started with the production of the translations for the ITIL version 3 Foundation examination questions, based on the Japanese version 3 glossary. After completion of the development phase, the newly translated Japanese examination versions are subject to a pilot, in the form of a realistic examination simulation with an actual group of examination candidates and training providers. The results of all exams are analyzed and evaluated by external experts who are members of the Japanese EXIN QA panel. After reviewing the new exams, the QA panel can recommend improvements to be made. APMG as the official owner of the new exams, will officially approve the exam material after this pilot. It is expected that the Japanese translation of the ITIL® version 3 Foundation examinations becomes available at the end of April or early May 2008 at the latest.

Localization expertise
Since the opening of EXIN Japan in 2005, the demand for Japanese ITIL® version 2 examinations on the existing levels: Foundation, Practitioner and Manager, has been growing steadily. EXIN Japan, with the help of its valuable external experts in the IT Service Management field, was able to customize the current V2 exams in IT Service Management to the requirements imposed by the Japanese market on IT professionals, regarding both content and language. Localizing the new ITIL® version 3 examinations into the Japanese language is a logical next step.

The APM Group is delighted to announce a new partnership with DANSK IT (The Danish IT Society). DANSK IT has signed a contract to become an APMG accredited examination institute, offering ITIL exams. DANSK IT is an independent, highly regarded and well established body within Denmark's IT society. Founded in 1958, DANSK IT is among the first IT interest groups in the world. CIOs, IT-architects, IT-engineers, IT-lawyers and IT-consultants are among DANSK IT's 6,000 plus members, making it the largest association for IT professionals in Denmark.

"Since 2003 DANSK IT has worked with the British Computer Society to promote the entire ISEB portfolio into the Danish market, among these qualifications ITIL® (Version 2). With APMG becoming the OGC's Official Accreditor for ITIL® in 2006, DANSK IT is happy to have reached an Examination Institute Agreement with APMG, enabling us to continue the delivery of our ITIL® services into the market in Denmark," says Anders Linde, Senior Consultant, DANSK IT.

The purpose of DANSK IT is to promote the knowledge and utilisation of IT to the benefit of both IT-users and the Danish society. These intentions are reflected within the area of certification, where DANSK IT has worked as a certifying body at professional and user-level for more than a decade. Since 1996 DANSK IT has accredited roughly 400 test centres/ATOs and administered the testing and certification of roughly 300,000 candidates within areas ranging from basis IT-level, e.g., ICDL to IT-professional levels such as Software Testing or IT Service Management.

Richard Pharro, Managing Director, APMG says, "We are thrilled to have DANSK IT on board as an examination institute. Denmark is a very important geographical region and DANSK IT's members are very influential. We look forward to a long and rewarding relationship helping organisations implement ITIL V3."

The APM Group (APMG) has announced the public launch of the ITIL V3 Manager Bridge Qualification. The course and qualification are only intended for those holding a valid ITIL Manager’s Certificate in IT Service Management based ITIL Versions 1 and 2.

The course and qualification have undergone a pilot testing phase.

Consistent with all ITIL V3 Certifications, the new qualification will continue to be subject to moderation with candidates and trainers over the coming weeks, to gather additional feedback on the questions and to ensure the quality and integrity of the examination questions.

In some cases pilots will be conducted by the accredited training providers under standard course and examination conditions. In addition some sessions may be organized and run directly by the Licensed Examination Institutes. Detailed reviews by the examination panel will continue during this time.

The feedback and results from these examinations will be reviewed periodically as part of the continual improvement process.

To find out further details review the ITIL V3 Managers Bridge Syllabus

On November 13 2007 the APM Group (APMG), which is responsible for the ITIL qualifications scheme, handed over a cheque for £100,000 to Sharon Taylor, the itSMF International Chair designate.