Top 25 ITIL® Interview Questions You Need To Prepare For in 2018

Introduction of course

ITIL® is the primary framework containing a set of IT service management practices. It aims to bring IT services closer to the needs of the customer and meeting an organization’s business needs.

Why is it important?

If you’re an IT professional, taking up the ITIL® certification course will contribute to the growth of your career in several ways. The latest model of the course is divided into five parts; each of which focuses on different stages of the ITSM (Information Technology Service Management) cycle.

Phases of the interview:

Here are the three major phases of an interview,

Phase 1: Invitation

When you apply for jobs at the organizations you aspire to work with, the first step from the employer’s side is ‘reviewal’. After reviewing your resume, if you are believed to be a good fit for the position, you receive an invitation for the interview. The invitation can be sent in various forms like e-mail, phone call, message or even a letter. However, each of them is kept professional and the same is expected from the candidate. Be sure to revert to the invitation professionally and promptly.

Phase 2: Meeting

The next phase is the face-to-face interview on the decided schedule. The main aim of this is to estimate the capabilities of the candidate and understand their personality. It is essential to make a good first impression on the employer by being punctual and professional. Highlight your strengths and very politely, accept your weaknesses. Be confident and positive but don’t over-do it.

Phase 3: Follow-up

The last and certainly not the least important phase is "Follow-up". This phase can either make or break the opportunity. It is essential to adopt a professional way of communication for a follow-up. You can either drop a mail appreciating the time provided for interviewing you, expressing gratitude for the opportunity or simply give a phone call thanking and enquiring about the job.

Interview Questions:

1. What is a back-out plan?

Ans:

There are instances where after the release you encounter some crisis and the release fails. In such cases, withdrawal of release has to be done for which a plan is laid in advance. This is called a back-out plan.

2. What is the first line of support?

Ans:

The service desk is the first line of support.

3. What does ITIL® stand for?

Ans:

ITIL® stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library®.

4. Name a few ITIL® based models adopted by an organization

Ans:

Microsoft MOF, Hewlett – Packard (HP ITSM Reference Model and IBM (IT Process Model).

5. State the relation between Availability, Availability service time and downtime

Ans:

Availability % = (Available service time –downtime) / Available service time

6. What are the types of SLA?

Ans:

There are three types of SLA,

• Service-based SLA
• Customer-based SLA
• Multi-level SLA

7. SACM stands for?

Ans:

Service Asset and Configuration Management.

8. What are the phases of a PDSA cycle?

Ans:

The four phases in the PDSA Cycle are,

• Plan: Involves the identification and analysis of the problem.
• Do Development and testing of a solution.
• Check: Checking how effective the solution is and looking for areas of improvement.
• Act: Implementation of the improved solution

9. What do you know about change request and service request?

Ans:

The change request is a formal way of requesting a change or alteration in a processor system. And, the service request is a request made by the user for access to a system, queries, and information related to the service.

10. When is an issue escalated?

Ans:

Usually, when a user finds some difficulty using the system or has some queries to make regarding it, they approach the service desk via chat, email or phone call. The service desk helps them resolve the issue by using the tracking tools. However, there are cases where issues cannot be resolved by the service desk. It is when the issue is escalated for further help.

11. What is Configuration Management?

Ans:

Configuration Management involves maintaining a list of inventory. Information related to the hardware and software of the organization is kept in one place for reference.

hOW ITIL CERTIFICATION HELPS YOU TO GROW IN YOUR ORGANIZATION FOR IT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

12. What are the roles in the RACI model?

Ans:

Responsible: Individual responsible for getting the job done

Accountable: Individual accountable for the tasks

Consulted: Individual who are to be consulted

Informed: Individual who is informs about the progress

13. Name a few knowledge management systems

Ans:

• CMIS (Capacity Management information system)
• DML (Definitive media library)
• CMDB (Configuration management database)
• KEDB (Known error database)

14. What type of information is stored in CMDB?

Ans:

CMDB contains information that is responsible to hold a collection of IT assets known as configuration items (CI). Alongside this, it also holds the information related to the relationship between these assets.

15. On what standard is the ITIL® Security Management based on?

Ans:

ITIL® Security Management is based on the ISO 27001 standard.

16. What does the incident management do?

Ans:

The incident management controls the flow of incident information.

17. Give some examples where incident management process can be used

Ans:

Bug in an application, System down, Printer issues and storage space alerts.

18. What information is needed to identify a known error?

Ans:

The information related to the cause of the problem is required to identify the known error.

19. What are the metrics for performance measurement in service management?

Ans:

There are four metrics for measuring the performance,

• Effectiveness
• Progress
• Compliance
• Efficiency

20. What are the prerequisites to begin the testing process?

Ans:

Below is the list of information required to begin a testing procedure,

• Acceptance criteria
• SLP
• Release plans

21. Name a few components of SKMS

Ans:

• Availability management system.
• Configuration management system.
• Service portfolio

22. What are the types of testing?

Ans:

• Security testing
• Usability testing
• Process testing
• Regression testing
• Compatibility testing

23. What is the difference between incident management and problem management?

Ans:

While incident management focuses on resolving the issue then and there while attempting to get the user back on track, problem management takes a closer look at the issue and strives to find its root cause.

24. What is the role of availability management?

Ans:

The role of availability management is to ensure that the services are available to the user during the hours mentioned in the agreement.

25. Define OLA

Ans:

OLA (Operational Level Agreement) is an agreement made between the service provider and a part of the same organization.

Interview tips:

Having discussed the phases of an interview and questionnaires, here we have listed some quick interview tips to help you ace the interview,

• Be punctual and show up on time.
• Be ready to talk about your achievements — both personal and professional.
• Keep a check on your language and avoid using fillers.
• Go through the job description and find key requirements you can talk about.
• Listen carefully and take time to gather your thoughts before answering.
• Dress and behave professionally.
• Avoid interrupting the interviewer.
• Carry all the essential documents.
• Do a brief research on the company and understand their needs.
• Thank the interviewer for his/her time and be polite with criticism too.

Conclusion:

We have tried to gather all the essential information required for the interview but know that ITIL® is a vast topic and several other questions can be asked too. Prepare for the interview based on the type of industry you are applying for and some of the sample answers provided here vary with the type of industry. All in all, be honest and positive as it outshines all other qualities.

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