ITIL-4-Foundation ITIL 4 Foundation Exam Questions and Answers

The ‘progress iteratively with feedback’ guiding principle encourages organizations to break down complex initiatives into smaller, simpler, and more manageable units of work1. This principle also recommends seeking and acting on feedback from stakeholders, avoiding big-bang approaches, and adapting plans based on new information2. However, this principle does not advise prohibiting changes to plans, analysing the whole situation in detail, or reducing the number of steps that produce tangible results, as these would be contrary to the iterative and adaptive nature of this principle3. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 7; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 27; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Progress Iteratively with Feedback, page 9.

The second step is to conduct an objective current-state assessment of existing services and service management practices. This should include consideration of the users’ perception of the value being received, along with a review of people’s competencies and skills, the processes and procedures involved, the capabilities of the available technological solutions and the prevailing organizational culture. The success of an improvement initiative depends on a clear and accurate understanding of the starting point and the required impact of the initiative.

For example, an organization can measure the current net promoter score (NPS) from a customer satisfaction survey, conduct a benchmark survey against its competitors or review findings of operational statistics or audit reports to understand its current state. If this step is skipped, the current state will not be understood and there will not be an objective baseline measurement against which improvement can be measured.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-continual-improvement/

A guiding principle is a recommendation that provides universal and enduring guidance to an organization, which applies in all circumstances, regardless of changes in its goals, strategies, type of work, or management structure.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/#:~:text=A%20guiding%20principle%20is%20a,of%20work%2C%20or%20management%20structure.

A known error is a problem that has been analysed but not resolved1. This means that the root cause of the problem has been identified, but a permanent solution has not been implemented yet2. A known error can be recorded in a known error database (KEDB) and linked to related incidents and problems3. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 15; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 35; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Problem Management, page 8.

ITIL 4 defines a service as:

A means of enabling value co-creation by facilitating outcomes that customers want to achieve, without the customer having to manage specific costs and risks.

The key phrase in the question is “facilitates outcomes that customers want to achieve”, which is directly part of the definition of a service in ITIL 4.

Therefore, the correct answer is A. Service.

Why the other options are incorrect:

B. WarrantyWarranty is one of the two aspects of value (warranty and utility). It relates to how the service performs (availability, capacity, continuity, security), but warranty alone does not ‘facilitate outcomes’ – it describes assurance about performance.

C. OrganizationAn organization is a person or group of people with functions and responsibilities, authorities and relationships. Organizations provide and consume services, but the concept that “facilitates outcomes” is specifically the service.

D. IT assetIT assets (hardware, software, etc.) are components that support services and are financially valuable, but on their own they do not “facilitate outcomes that customers want to achieve” – that is done through services built from these assets.

References (Aligned with ITIL 4 Foundation concepts)

ITIL 4 Foundation: Definition of service

ITIL 4 Foundation: Key concepts of value, outputs, outcomes, utility, and warranty

In ITIL 4, the purpose of the relationship management practice is to:

Establish and nurture the links between the organization and its stakeholders

Identify, analyze, monitor, and continually improve relationships with stakeholders at strategic and tactical levels

Option C closely reflects this wording: “Identifying, analyzing, monitoring, and the continual improvement of relationships with stakeholders.” This matches the official purpose description, so C is correct.

The other options actually describe other practices:

A. Creating collaborative relationships with key suppliers… – This aligns with supplier management, which focuses on obtaining value from suppliers and managing supplier relationships.

B. Setting clear business-based targets so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed – This is the purpose of service level management, not relationship management.

D. Handling all pre-defined, user-initiated service requests in an effective and user-friendly manner – This describes service request management.

Therefore, the option that correctly reflects the purpose of the relationship management practice is C.

This is one of the most important questions for continual improvement. This question helps to define measurable targets for the IT service provider that will help to reach the vision of the company in the long-term. At this stage, we look at the identified key performance indicators from the previous step and determine what values we want to target for each of these indicators. This decision must be made with the business’s vision in mind, but also with a sense of what is practically possible.

https://blog.masterofproject.com/continual-improvement-model/

The purpose of the service request management practice is to support the agreed quality of a service by handling all pre-defined, user-initiated service requests in an effective and user-friendly manner. Service request management is dependent upon well-designed processes and procedures, which are operationalized through tracking and automation tools to maximize the efficiency of the practice. To be handled optimally, service request management should follow these guidelines:

Service requests and their fulfilment should be standardized and automated to the greatest degree possible.

Policies should define which service requests will be fulfilled with limited or even no additional approvals so that fulfilment can be streamlined.

The expectations of users regarding fulfilment times and costs should be clearly set, based on what the organization can realistically deliver.

Opportunities for improvement should be identified and implemented to produce faster fulfilment times and take advantage of automation.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-service-request-management/

Utility is the term used to describe the functionality of a service, or how well it meets the needs and expectations of the customers and users. Utility can be expressed as ‘what the service does’ or 'the functionality offered by a product or service to meet a particular need’1. Utility is one of the two elements of service value, along with warranty2. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 4; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 14.

Effective incident management often requires a high level of collaboration within and between teams as this can facilitate information-sharing and learning, as well as helping to solve the incident more efficiently and effectively. There may also be a need for good collaboration tools so that people working on an incident can work together effectively. One technique that takes advantage of collaboration is termed swarming. This brings many different stakeholders together to work on the issue. Management of incidents may require frequent interaction with third party suppliers, and routine management of this aspect of supplier contracts is often part of the incident management practice.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-incident-management/

Service management is the term used to describe how organizations manage their services to deliver value to their customers and other stakeholders. Service management requires a set of specialized organizational capabilities, such as processes, roles, tools, and competencies, that enable the effective and efficient delivery of services1. Service management is also a professional practice supported by an extensive body of knowledge, experience, and skills3. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 2; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 11.

The first important step is identifying and managing all the stakeholder groups that an organization deals with. The first and most obvious stakeholder group is the customers, as in service management the organization’s main goal is to facilitate customer outcomes. Other examples of stakeholder collaboration include:

Developers working with other internal teams

Suppliers collaborating with the organization

Relationship managers collaborating with service consumers

Customers collaborating with each other

Internal and external suppliers collaborating with each other

The contribution to improvement of each stakeholder group at each level should be understood, as should the most effective methods to engage with them. Depending on the service and the relationship between the service provider and the service consumer, the expectations about the level and type of collaboration can vary significantly. It is important to involve stakeholders, and address their needs at all levels. Determining the type, method, and frequency of such messaging is one of the central activities related to communication.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/

In ITIL 4, the service level management practice is responsible for setting clear, agreed targets for service performance and ensuring that services are delivered in line with these targets.

A key tool used in this practice is the service level agreement (SLA). An SLA is an agreement between a service provider and a customer that:

Defines the expected level of service

Documents specific, measurable service targets (such as availability, response time, resolution time)

Provides a basis to monitor and measure performance against those targets

Because SLAs describe measurable service targets and are used to assess whether the service provider is meeting those targets, they are explicitly used as a tool to help define and measure performance. This aligns directly with the wording in the question.

A. A continual improvement register (CIR)The CIR is used in the continual improvement practice to record, track, and manage improvement opportunities and activities. It supports managing improvements, not defining and measuring service performance targets.

B. An incident recordThis belongs to the incident management practice. Incident records are used to log, manage, and track incidents (unplanned interruptions or reductions in service). They are not designed as tools to define or measure ongoing service performance.

C. A change schedulePart of the change enablement practice, the change schedule is used to plan and communicate the timing of changes. It coordinates when changes will occur but does not define or measure service performance levels.

Therefore, the correct answer is D. A service level agreement, as it is the formal tool used to define and measure service performance in ITIL 4.

ITIL 4 Foundation: Service level management practice – purpose and key terms (including service level agreements)

ITIL 4 Foundation: Concept of SLAs as documents that define and measure service performance targets

ITIL 4 Foundation: Overviews of Continual Improvement, Incident Management, and Change Enablement practices and their key records (CIR, incident records, change schedules)

Organizations maximize co-creation of value with their customers by facilitating the outcomes they want to achieve. The four dimensions of service management have shown that a holistic approach is the best way for an organization to:

Achieve its goals in delivering quality and cost effective services

Meet the needs of its customers

Satisfy the requirements of its stakeholders

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-service-value-system/

The change enablement practice maximizes the number of successful service and product changes by ensuring that risks have been properly assessed, authorized, and managed within a schedule1. Change authorization is the activity of verifying that a proposed change is desirable, viable, and achievable before committing to its implementation2. The change type (standard, normal, or emergency) and model (a predefined approach for handling a specific type of change) is the basis for assigning the change authority (the role that can authorize a change)2. The other statements are incorrect because:

A standard change is a low-risk, pre-authorized change that follows an agreed procedure and does not require authorization at the point of implementation2.

An emergency change is a high-priority change that must be implemented as soon as possible to resolve an incident or implement a security patch2. An emergency change must be authorized by an emergency change authority (ECA), which is usually a subset of the normal change authority (CAB)2.

Ensuring that changes are authorized before their deployment is done by the change enabler (the role that coordinates all aspects of a change)2. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 16; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 39; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Change Enablement, page 7.

Emergency changes. These are changes that must be implemented as soon as possible; for example, to resolve an incident or implement a security patch. Emergency changes are not typically included in a change schedule, and the process for assessment and authorization is expedited to ensure they can be implemented quickly. As far as possible, emergency changes should be subject to the same testing, assessment, and authorization as normal changes, but it may be acceptable to defer some documentation until after the change has been implemented, and sometimes it will be necessary to implement the change with less testing due to time constraints. There may also be a separate change authority for emergency changes, typically including a small number of senior managers who understand the business risks involved.”

https://itsm.tools/why-what-change-management/#:~:text=Emergency%20changes. &text=Emergency%20changes%20are%20not%20typically,they%20can%20be%20implemented%20quickly.

An outcome is a result for a stakeholder enabled by one or more outputs1. Outputs are tangible or intangible deliverables of an activity1. For example, a service provider may produce a report (output) that helps a customer make a decision (outcome)2. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 3; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 13.

Obtain/build is one of the six activities of the service value chain, which is a set of interconnected activities that an organization performs to deliver a valuable product or service to its consumers and to facilitate value realization1. Obtain/build activity relates with buying new products, as well as designing, developing, and testing new or changed service components2. This activity ensures that service components are available when and where they are needed and meet agreed specifications3. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 10; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 21; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Service Value Chain, page 9.

Service desks provide a variety of channels for access including:

Phone calls, which can include specialized technology, such as interactive voice response (IVR), conference calls, voice recognition, and others.

Service portals and mobile applications, supported by service and request catalogues, and knowledge bases.

Chat, through live chat and chatbots.

Email for logging and updating, and for follow-up surveys and confirmations.

Walk-in service desk (which are becoming more prevalent in some sectors, such as higher education, where there are high peaks of activity that demand physical presence).,

Text and social media messaging, which are useful for notifications in case of major incidents and for contacting specific stakeholder groups, but can also be used to allow users to request support.

Public and corporate social media and discussion forums for contacting the service provider and for peer-to-peer support.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-service-desk/

The purpose of the continual improvement practice is to align the organization’s practices and services with changing business needs through the ongoing identification and improvement of services, service components, practices, or any element involved in the efficient and effective management of products and services1. This practice needs the right culture to be embedded across the entire organization, as it requires a shared vision, commitment, empowerment, collaboration, learning, and measurement2. References: ITIL Foundation - ITIL 4 Edition, page 15; ITIL® 4 – A Pocket Guide, page 34; ITIL® 4 Practice Guide: Continual Improvement, page 7.

In ITIL 4, the service level management practice is responsible for:

Setting clear, business-based targets for service performance

Monitoring and reporting on service delivery

Conducting regular reviews with customers and stakeholders

Ensuring that services and service performance meet agreed needs and expectations

Part of this practice explicitly involves reviewing services with customers to validate that the services are still meeting their needs and agreed service levels. These reviews are used to confirm whether the services remain fit for purpose and to identify improvement opportunities.

The other options have different focuses:

Monitoring and event management focuses on observing services and infrastructure, identifying events, and determining their significance.

Change enablement controls risks related to changes and ensures that changes are properly assessed and authorized.

Service desk is the main point of contact between service provider and users, handling incidents and service requests, but it is not primarily responsible for formal reviews of service coverage against customer needs.

Because the described activity—conducting reviews to ensure services cover customer needs—is a core responsibility of service level management, the correct answer is B.

In ITIL 4, “service consumer” is a generic term that includes three specific roles:

Customer – the person or group that defines the requirements for a service and takes responsibility for the outcomes of service consumption.

User – the person or group that actually uses the service.

Sponsor – the person or group that authorizes the budget for service consumption.

So, specifically:

The customer is responsible for defining the requirements for the service and for the overall outcomes expected from the service.

The sponsor is the one who authorizes the budget (not the customer, unless they are playing both roles in a given context).

The user is the one who uses the service in day-to-day operations.

The service provider (or relevant practices like deployment, request fulfillment, etc.) is responsible for provisioning the service, not the customer.

Now, mapping that to the options:

A. Authorizing the budget for the serviceThis is the responsibility of the sponsor role, not specifically the customer role (though one person may sometimes act as both in practice).

B. Provisioning the serviceThis is the responsibility of the service provider, not the customer.

C. Defining the requirements for the service ✅This matches the ITIL 4 description of the customer role: the customer defines requirements and is accountable for service outcomes. Therefore, this is the correct answer.

D. Using the serviceThis describes the user role, not the customer role (even though a person could be both customer and user in some real-world situations).

ITIL 4 Foundation: Definition of service consumer roles – customer, user, sponsor

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract (Aligned with ITIL 4 Foundation Study Guide)

The correct answer is IT asset management, because its core purpose directly addresses the management of financially valuable assets that support the delivery of IT services.

In ITIL 4, the purpose of the IT asset management practice is to:

ensure that the organization’s IT assets are properly managed throughout their lifecycle

ensure that assets provide value

control the financial, legal, and operational risks associated with IT assets

maximize the value derived from those assets

ITIL defines an IT asset as any financially valuable component that contributes to the delivery of an IT service.

This includes hardware, software, networks, cloud resources, licenses, and other items that have financial value and support service delivery.

This wording directly matches the question, making A. IT asset management the correct choice.

Why the other options are incorrect:

B. Deployment management: Concerned with moving new or changed components into live environments; not focused on financial value or asset lifecycle.

C. Continual improvement: Focuses on ongoing enhancement of products, services, and practices; not about managing financially valuable components.

D. Monitoring and event management: Focuses on identifying events and ensuring services are observed for normal and abnormal conditions; not asset-focused.

References (Aligned with ITIL 4 Foundation Concepts)

ITIL 4 Foundation: Practice purpose of IT Asset Management

Definition of IT asset as a financially valuable component supporting IT service delivery

ITIL 4 Foundation: Practice summaries for the 15 ITIL practices

Think and work holistically

No service, practice, process, department, or supplier stands alone. The outputs that the organization delivers to itself, its customers, and other stakeholders will suffer unless it works in an integrated way to handle its activities as a whole, rather than as separate parts.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/#:~:text=5.,rather%20than%20as%20separate%20parts.

In ITIL 4, service relationships involve shared risks between service provider and service consumer. Both parties contribute to risk management.

Service consumers help mitigate risk by:

Clearly understanding and communicating their requirements

Being explicit about constraints, acceptable levels of performance, and critical outcomes

Ensuring that the provider knows what is truly needed, so services can be designed and delivered appropriately

Option C: “By being fully aware of their own requirements for the service” aligns with this: when consumers understand and clearly state their requirements, ambiguity and misalignment are reduced, which directly reduces risk in the service relationship.

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Through the provision of services according to predefined needsProvision of services is the role of the service provider, not the consumer.

B. By ensuring that the service provider has configured correctly its resourcesResource configuration is the provider’s responsibility. The consumer may give feedback, but they don’t “ensure” correct configuration.

D. By controlling the specific level of risk on the service provider’s behalfThe provider manages its own risks. Risks are shared, but the consumer does not control the provider’s internal risk levels. The consumer contributes by clarifying requirements and using services as agreed.

References (Aligned with ITIL 4 Foundation concepts)

ITIL 4 Foundation: Service relationships – shared responsibility and shared risks between provider and consumer

ITIL 4 Foundation: Importance of clear requirements and expectations in reducing risks and enabling value co-creation

To set clear business-based targets for service performance, so that the delivery of a service can be properly assessed, monitored, and managed against these targets.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-management-practices/

The purpose of the service configuration management practice is to ensure that accurate and reliable information about the configuration of services, and the CIs that support them, is available when and where it is needed. This includes information on how CIs are configured and the relationships between them.

https://wiki.process-symphony.com.au/framework/lifecycle/process/service-configuration-management-itil-4/

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract (Aligned with ITIL 4 Foundation Study Guide)

In ITIL 4, improvement work is performed using iterative cycles, supported by continuous feedback. This idea comes from the ITIL Guiding Principle: “Progress iteratively with feedback.”

A feedback loop ensures that each iteration remains aligned with stakeholder needs, performance data, and contextual changes.

Why Feedback Loop is Correct:

Feedback loops provide information about:

the performance of activities

the needs and expectations of stakeholders

whether the current approach is still suitable

issues or improvements identified during the iteration

This continuous flow of information allows the team to adjust the iteration early, ensuring improvement activities remain relevant even when circumstances change.

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Analysis paralysis: ITIL specifically warns against over-analysis that prevents progress.

B. Direct observation: Helpful for understanding work but does not keep iteration aligned with changing circumstances.

C. Minimum viable product: Useful for early delivery but not for continuous alignment during iterations.

Therefore, the concept that keeps improvement iteration activities appropriate under changing conditions is the feedback loop.

References (Aligned With ITIL 4 Foundation Publications — No URLs)

ITIL 4 Foundation: Guiding Principle “Progress iteratively with feedback”

ITIL 4 Foundation: Continual Improvement concepts

ITIL 4 Foundation: Service Value System emphasis on feedback mechanisms for adaptation

When focusing on value, the first step is to know who are the customers and key stakeholders being served. Next, it is important to have an understanding of what consitutes value from the consumer’s perspective.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-guiding-principles/#:~:text=When%20focusing%20on%20value%2C%20the,value%20from%20the%20consumer 's%20perspective.

An output is a tangible or intangible deliverable of an activity, while an outcome is a result for a stakeholder enabled by one or more outputs1. A service provider produces outputs that allow customers to achieve outcomes2. A service consumer utilizes the outputs and benefits from the outcomes2.

A service relationship is defined as the cooperation between a service provider and service consumer. Service relationships are established between two or more organizations to co-create value. An organization can play the role of provider or consumer interchangeably, depending on the situation.

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/itil-key-concepts-service-management/#:~:text=and%20stakeholder%20management.-,Service%20Relationships,interchangeably%2C%20depending%20on%20the%20situation.

This question is testing your understanding of the ITIL 4 guiding principle “Start where you are.”

The essence of this principle is that an organization should not start from scratch when making improvements. Instead, it should first look at and assess what already exists — current services, processes, tools, and methods — before deciding what to keep, change, or replace.

The ITIL 4 Foundation guidance explains that organizations should carefully consider the existing state before designing the future state. It stresses that existing practices, services, and tools may already contain value, and that blindly discarding them can lead to waste, increased risk, or loss of useful knowledge.

In that context, the most accurate word to complete the sentence is:

An organization which is undertaking an improvement initiative should consider the existing methods and services when building for the future.

“Consider” reflects the idea of evaluating and understanding what already exists before making decisions.

The principle does not state that everything must be re-used or improved; some things may be retained, some modified, and some removed. But the key is that they must be considered first.

B. DiscardThis directly contradicts the principle “Start where you are.” ITIL explicitly warns against discarding existing methods and services without first understanding and assessing them.

C. Re-useWhile re-use is often a possible outcome of applying this principle, it is not mandatory that all existing methods and services be re-used. The principle is about assessing and considering them first, then deciding what to keep, change, or retire. Therefore, “re-use” is too narrow for the sentence.

D. ImproveImprovement may be needed, but you cannot decide how to improve something until you have considered and understood its current state. The guiding principle’s wording focuses first on consideration/evaluation of what already exists.

Therefore, the correct choice that best matches the intent and wording of the ITIL 4 guiding principle “Start where you are” is:

A. Consider

References (Aligned with ITIL 4 Foundation Concepts)

ITIL 4 Foundation: Guiding principles – Start where you are (discussion on assessing and considering existing services, processes, and methods before designing the future state)

ITIL 4 Foundation: Emphasis on avoiding starting from scratch and avoiding unnecessary waste by considering the current situation before making changes.