Customer Reviews

Foundations of IT Service Management: The Unofficial ITIL v3 Foundations Course in a Book

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was one of the three books I used to study for the ITIL Foundation
exam. The author does a nice job of providing a high-level presentation
of the material and then using the following chapters to provide a detailed
breakdown of the various ITIL processes.

This book would be ideally suited for someone who has very limited exposure
to ITIL as it provides a lot of details on the basics. I would recommend
this book as a supplement to the OGC's 2009 version of Passing your ITIL
Foundation Exam.

If you have experience in ITIL, you probably won't need to purchase this
book, but can use the aforementioned OGC text to study for the exam.

The author has an excellent website with sample questions and exams
that I would highly recommend you take advantage of. Also don't
forget to download the errata pages from the website.

This book is a very well-written, concise and instructive guide to ITIL v3. For exam preparation, I would actually give a slight edge to the ITsmf's book, but this book is unequaled if what you need to do is actually develop a real-world understanding of the actual material.

I used the book as one of my study guides for the ITIL Foundation exam. The book is an easy read, has hypothetical examples plus review questions at the end of each chapter. This was my primary guide, but I also used other materials I found on the internet. I woudn't recommend the book as the only source, but combining with other (free)materials is a good way to prepare for the exam. The book has it's own website with additional resources, use them.

BTW, I passed my exam :-)

I have not yet taken the ITIL exam, so I can't speak with authority on the ability of this book to help pass the exam. But I keep finding so many inconsistencies and typos that I can't bring myself to go any further. A few examples:
-p89. The text indicates that Service Design takes the Service Portfolio as input, which was created from Service Strategy. However, Service Portfolio was not mentioned in the chapter on Service Strategy. Instead, it seems to have the same definition for the term "Service Level Package" from p72. On p94, a completely different definition is provided for Service Portfolio.
-despite the fact that "Service Level Package" is defined as a key concept of the Service Strategy chapter, it is not included in the "Definitions" section at the end of that chapter. Nor is "Service Design Package" defined in chapter review of the Service Design chapter.
-I can't say the index is "completely" wrong, but so far, all the page numbers I've checked are incorrect. Shows Service design package on p83 and 101 - should be 89 and 103. Shows Service Portfolio on p92, should be 94.
- This may just be an artistic difference, but the diagram on p77 makes no sense. To show the relationship between Core, enabling and enhancing services, it shows a cutaway of a sphere, with the core in the middle, then the enabling service outside of that, then enhancing outside of that on the very outside. While this is a good view of the planet earth, it doesn't do anything to demonstrate how these services work. It implies that Core services are hidden from the customer (incorrect), or perhaps that core services are "underneath" enabling and enhancing (also incorrect).

I have other beefs with the text, but can't say with any certainty whether they are specific to this text, or simply aspects of ITIL that I don't understand. However, I'm unwilling to spend additional time on this book to find out.

It wasn't clear to me when I purchased this that it was self-published, but I noticed belatedly that the publisher is the same as the author. I might have reconsidered this purchase had I noticed that.

Ok, so I passed the Foundations certification exam, and I won't say it was in spite of this book. I read the entire book cover to cover over a weekend, but boy the grammar and word choice made it a very painful process. I give it three stars because I did pass and felt it mostly prepared me, but if I had it to do over again I would have chosen another tool.

I discovered there were holes in the coverage as I took practice exams from another book; the process model was not covered well, for one thing. On a positive note, I enjoyed the author's use of the restaurant analogy throughout the book as a backdrop for the discussions of each stage and process.

While I passed, your mileage may vary. I've been in IT management for a number of years and have worked with the concepts of ITIL on several large government contracts, so I came in with a base of knowledge that you might not have. What ever study tool you choose, I highly recommend an exam prep book with practice tests.

Read it in preparation for my ITIL foundation course and certification exam. The book provides a good introduction to ITIL and was of good value in preparing for certification; however it is haunted by a bit too many spelling errors and a faulty answer section to one of the chapter quizzes

The index in this book does not match the page numbers where to find the actual information inside the book. I also don't find that this book goes into enough detail. Although entertaining with the Gepetto theme, I found it to be lacking a solid breakdown on the subject.

I took a webinar on ITIL and than I lost confidence in the book as a resource for passing the test.

It provides a great starting point for ITIL. Author explains everything with good examples, it's easy to understand.

The book is well structured and easy to read. I would recommend to anyone taking the ITIL foundations exam.

This author obviously is an expert in his field. I highly recommend this book.