AXELOS©, the owners of the ITIL® methodology, has announced that on 31 March 2015 the ITIL Complementary Qualification Scheme will be withdrawn. The ITIL complementary qualifications cover many disparate subjects that are linked to ITIL best practice and are recognised as part of the current certification portfolio.
Exam candidates who have already taken or that have registered to take an exam before the end of March 2015 under the ITIL Complementary Qualification Scheme will still be able to use the credits from the complementary qualifications towards their ITIL Expert certification.
But why withdraw these qualifications?
There doesn’t seem to be consensus on why AXELOS has decided to withdraw these qualifications. Some, particularly in the training market, feel the withdrawal is short-sighted. Others feel that Examination Institutes had developed confusing and overlapping qualifications and thus the whole scheme needed simplification.
It has been suggested AXELOS themselves may develop a replacement scheme.
Will the withdrawal of these qualifications have an impact on ITIL students?
The simple answer is no. ITIL Foundation students should concentrate on studying for the ITIL Foundation exam via either a classroom-based course, e-learning or using accredited materials for self-study, such as:
Passing Your ITIL Foundation Exam Edition – 2011 Edition
ITIL Foundation Handbook – 2011 Edition
Service management professionals looking to become ITIL Experts should continue on with their studies using an accredited course, such as our ITIL All Access Online Training (360 Day Online Subscription) and accredited study aids such as Passing your ITIL Managing Across the Lifecycle Exam.
In all, there will be very little impact.
If you want to become ITIL-certified, IT Governance has the right solution for you.
Where was this announced? I cannot locate it on the Axelos site…
Hi,
The announcement hasn’t been made on the AXELOS website as of yet. Though there has been a formal notification to the ATO community of their withdrawal.
I should stress the training community weren’t consulted about this withdrawal.
Regards,
Jamie
No, not surprised. Axelos have promised a healthy financial return to HMG and sales have dropped. If complementaries are cut out only ‘official’ will be acceptable and will halt income loss. One might also suggest that, driven by its contractual obligations (revenue) to HMG, Axelos is primarily interested in selling ITIL not ITSM. Ah, how I miss those ‘common good’ good days of CCTA. C’est la Vie. JG
I spoke to their Accreditations Manager, Ian Lucas. He was frankly surprised when I suggested the ATO community had not been consulted. He said the EI’s were and AXELOS ‘assumed’ that the EIs spoke to the ATO’s. I am sure I don’t need to tell you what my response to that statement was. Long and short the deal is done and they don’t plan to reconsider it. Lessons learned? Who knows. One thing is for sure, AXELOS is now aware that this was all new to the ATO’s and that simply communicating with us through the EIs in not an option if consultation is their goal.
Hi Michelle,
I sometimes get the feeling the EIs function as bit of a Berlin Wall for AXELOS. We just have to keep making our points to AXELOS directly so that they don’t lose any of their resonance.
The ATO Advisory Council is the ideal mechanism to allow us to do this.
Regards,
Jamie
@John….Aaahhh yes….[sighs whistfully]. I still have some little white individual process books you can read if you’d like them :-)?