What is ITIL?

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a set of best practices standards for information technology (IT) service management. The United Kingdom's Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) created the ITIL in response to the growing dependence on information technology to meet business needs and goals. The ITIL provides businesses with a customizable framework of best practices to achieve quality service and overcome difficulties associated with the growth of IT systems. Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft are two businesses that use ITIL as part of their own best practices frameworks.

The ITIL is organized into "sets" of texts which are defined by related functions: service support, service delivery, managerial, software support, computer operations, security management, and environmental. In addition to texts, which can be purchased online, ITIL services and products include training, qualifications, software tools, and user groups such as the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF).

While owned by the CCTA since the mid-1980s, the ITIL is currently maintained and developed by The National Exam Institute for Informatics (EXIN), a non-proprietary and non-profit organization based in the Netherlands.

Another generic definition is as under -

The ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) consists of 6 sets: Service Support; Service Delivery; Planning to Implement Service Management; ICT Infrastructure Management; Applications Management; The Business Perspective. Within these a variable number of very specific disciplies are described.

Although the UK Government actually created ITIL via the CCTA, it is rapidly being adopted across the world as the standard for best practice in the provision of IT Service. Although ITIL covers a number of areas, its main focus is certainly on IT Service Management (ITSM).

IT Service Management (ITSM) itself is generally divided into two main areas, Service Support and Service Delivery. Together, these two areas consist of 10 disciplines that are responsible for the provision and management of effective IT services.