Passed ITIL OSA - here are my study notes

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roryhilton said:
11-28-201410:02 PM

Passed ITIL OSA - here are my study notes

Before I sat my exam I came to this forum to look for something - anything - that might give
me an edge. There wasn't much beyond sage advice - study, do practise exams, etc.
I said to myself - if I pass I will upload my study notes - those taken during my 5 days
course. Not exhaustive by any stretch - but some of the tips *may* just help one of you and,
if so, my job here is done.
PLease - I haven't really spell checked this, or polished in any way. Take it as it is or move
on. I'm just trying to help.
Yeah, I passed.
--ITIL OSA - Exam tips:
best answer will show value to customer and you liaised with business
You are a manager - not details, choose the higher level answer - avoid weekends, hard
dates requirements if asked in question.
Mary? Joe? Peter? - who is suited to which role
Numbers are not important - what is the data telling us about which itil process
Core concept for the question - what process before delving too deep into question
Keep answer within context of service operation. value to business
Identify what the question is after
May have RACI model.
Must have 1xA for each row and no more than 1
Must have at least 1xR for each row
Not too many R's (inefficient)
Review critical success factor -see handout. Don't mixup service desk KPI's with other
- request, incident.
If asking about function, answer in function. If asking about sla's for request don't get
involved in OLA's with SDESK
Look for VALUE
IGNORE technology
REVIEW KPI's for

incident
Request
Problem
Service desk
High level thinking - mgt not tech
Tech mgt and app mgt - involved in design and kedb
Tech and app mgt - KEDB and training assisting SDESK. Means more incidents are
solved at 1st level
Tech and app - capacity and availability mgt
Warning - don't conduct skills inventory or training needs analysis
Good - relationship between data
Review existing process is good - look out for procedures
Buy in for data team important for monitoring
Pin-point what the key issue is in the question - pick the answer that best addresses
that issue
GOOD WORDS:
Value
Customer
Agree
Scope
Magnitude
Process better than procedures
Relationship
Communication
Capability
BAD WORDS:
Some, all, none, every
Best, main
Padding
Numbers and stats
Costs
Case-by-case
Too tech specific
REVIEW FOUNDATIONS
Notes:
- a service is a self-contained bubble
Understand core concepts of each process
Incident (restore) vs problem (fix root cause)
Incident (unplanned outage) vs request (planned fulfillment)
Request (std change) vs change (normal change)
Event (detect, make sense, action) vs incident (restore asap)
RACI responsible, accountable, consulted, informed
Personality types suit some roles

inc: quick, resolve fast

prob: detailed, thorough
chg: resilient, water off a duck back, not afraid to disappoint people
SDesk: quick learning, customer focused
RE-familiarise where other process are in itil - DESIGN: avail, capacity. STRATEGY: SLA, etc,
etc
SWOT Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
CUSTOMER
|. SLA (SLA) - MTTR Important
|
PROVIDER
SLM / \ supplier mgt
(OLA) | \ Underpinning CONTRACT
INTERNAL EXTERNAL
- incident KPI's. - 3rd level support
- Service Desk KPI's
- Level 2 support KPI's
Strategy Creates Value (outcomes, preferences, perception)
|
| (Output / Requirements [utility/warranty]
|
Design Defines (resources and capability)
|
| Service Design Package
| PPPP People, Process, Product, Partners
| Information, Metrics, Architecture, Process, Solution (IMAPS)
|
Transition - Deliver
|
| Service (Puts Service into Operation)
|
Operation Runs the Service. Value Perceived/realised
Measure, Manage & Control
Business
Service
Process
Component / Technology
Incident Symptom
Problem Cause
SERVICE DESK
Local is expensive, can have communication issues. Each site has local service desk
Central - Service desk in one location. ie. 24x7 shifts if required.
Virtual - Series of connected service desks in disparate locations

Follow the Sun - Geographically dispersed, staff work normal day shifts for their timezone,
need standard processes, tasks, handover
Service Desk can contain specialised groups (ie. custom apps, Video Conferencing SME's)
Super Users - not in service desk but in business. Can help speed up incidents. Issues are
loss of visibility of incidents can occur if incidents raised direct to Super Users are not
raised in ITSM tool - no stats captured for reporting, true situation not exposed. Measuring
Service Desk - Surveys (exam) Pro's and Con's.
REQUEST MANAGEMENT
To provide the channel for customers to request and receive standard services
Provide information about Services - and how to obtain them
Deliver Standard Service Components (licences, s/w media, etc)
General Information , Complains or comments
Are PLANNED. (incidents are unplanned)
Tightly aligned to Incident process
Benefits:
Reduces bureaucracy,
reduces cost of providing services
Policy:
Predefined workflowSingle point of contact
All requests need to be authorised before Actioning (some may be pre-approved, other the
Sdesk will need to chase)
Prioritised in alignment to business functions
Types - users can request:
Info or advice
A standard change
Access to an IT Service
Uses pre-defined steps or workflow
Tool.
Can use a menu selection (tool, self-help, shopping cart).
In the tool, expectations can be set by automatically providing delivery/implementation
SLA's to the customer
Users can view their request status (tracking)
Some requests handled by Service DEsk, others by specialist groups
Request Management Process steps
1..Receive Request
2.Logging and Validation (timestamp, etc)
3.Categorisation
4.Prioritization
5.Authorization
6.Review
7.Execution
8.Closure (Service desk confirm with customer)
9.Re-open request
(Exam - slide 61 & 62)

ACCESS MANAGMENT
Strong Links to Availability Mgt and Security Mgt and HR
Process granting authorised users the right to use a Service and preventing unauthorised
users
Manage and Protect assets/data/information/services - C.I.A.
C - Confidentiality
I - Integrity
A - Availability
All requests should be authorised before actioning (ie. Service desk review authorisation
has been done, but do not chase it up themselves)
Access Mgt
should log and track access to ensure rights are being appropriately used.
Align to a change of status of personnel
Track history of who accessed or tried to access
Key Concepts:
Access - Level/extent of functionality/data user entitled to use
Identity - users must be unique
Rights - Privileges / Access granted to access the services
Service Groups - Access to Several Services granted at same time
Directory Services - Tools used to manage (AD)
Role Conflict - Risk increases in conflict with # of roles and groups defined.
Refer appendix 15 - figure 4.9 and slide 70
Access MGT steps
1..Request
2.Verification (they are who they say they are)
3.Provide rights
4.monitor identity status
5.logging and tracking
6.remove / restrict rights
Access MGT has interface with HR - very important to get rights correct
Access MGT has interface with Change Management
Information Mgt - Identity, Roles and Groups for easier management. User profile, user
template, role.
Security and HR very close to Access mgt.
Access mgt only executes security policy - does not define.
Security defines who gets access to what.
HR provides list of roles and rights to access mgt.
Access mgt puts group and access together and maintains it.

EVENT MANAGEMENT
Multiple functions and processes connect to Event Mgt
Change of state of a CI that has significance to someone
Detect events
make sense of the events (through filtering and correlation)
Determine appropriate control action
Correlation = rules, if...then
early warning for incident detection, therefore minimise potential business impact
Password lockout after 4 attempts = event mgt
Cleaning log files / detecting low disk space
Event Mgt - Focus on generating and detecting meaningful notification about status of IT
infrastructure and services
Monitoring - Key requirement for event mgt, also seeks other conditions that do not generate
events
Scope:
Configuration items,
Environmental factors (heat, door, etc),
S/w Licensing,
security (intrusion detection),
Server or Application utilisation, etc.
Value:
24x7 (save $'s and need for real tie people monitoring)
Feed Availability / Capacity processes
Efficiency - staff for other activities
greater customer satisfaction
Policy
Notification -> responsibility for handling
centralise where possible
common messaging
Event: A change of State
ALert: A warning that a threshold has been reached
Auto-Response: automated recovery (restart service, auto reboot, etc)
Status change with significance
THRESHOLD - required for correlation.
Information (no threshold)
Warning - not yet reached threshold. <threshold
Exception - passed threshold => threshold
Into: correlation which is fed by rules
Warning - can trigger automatic response that can prevent an incident.
Key concepts - slide 87
Design
1..Instrumentation
2.Error messaging
3.Event detection and alert mechanism

4.Identification or thresholds
Event Mgt implements thresholds - but does not SET them. Inc, Prob, etc do.
Activities - pg 93 and figure 4.2
Event Management creates the Policy but up to each function (Service desk, IT Ops Mgt,
App Mgt, etc) to maintain.
Activities:
Event occurs
Event notification
Event detection
Event logged
First level correlation
Significance. informational, warning, exception
second level correlation
Further action
Response selection - incident problem change
Review
Close

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT
An unplanned interruption to an IT service or Reduction Or Quality of a service
Failure of a CI that has not yet interrupted service is also a incident
Business Value:
Reduce unplanned labour and cost
Alignment - IT aligned to business priorities
Improvements - helps identify potential Service Improvements
Service Desk - additional training or service required
Incident Model
predefined steps for Standard Incident
Contains
Step to handle incident
Dependencies and co-processing requirement
roles and responsibilities
Timescale, threshold, and escalation procedures
Any necessary evidence preservation activities
Activity
Identification - call to SDESK
Logging - capture incident (summary, date, unique ID, where)
Categorisation - useful for trending, Network/telephony/handset. May help with in
articles and sending job to right resolver.
Prioritisation - impact and urgency = priority. Dictates response and resolution time, if
major incident execute Major incident procedure
Diagnosis - gather full symptoms, try to resolve, advise user if clarification or
escalation required

Escalation - functional escalation (sdesk to 2nd level to Vendor), Hierarchical (for

Comms, approval)
Investigation and diagnosis. - further detailed analysis and determination of cause.
Search for answers.
Resolution and recovery - apply and test potential solution. User, SDESK, specialist,
third party all could be involved. Pass back to SDESK for closure
Closure - check the customer is happy

PROBLEM MANAGEMENT
The unknown cause of one or more incidents
Objectives
: to prevent problems and resulting incidents from occurring
To eliminate recurring incident
To minimise the impact of incidents that can't be prevented
activities:
Reactive - respond to incidents
Proactive - Trend analysis
Aligned to incident and change processes
Value: lower expenditure or workarounds
Lower cost/effort in fire fighting or resolving repeat incidents
workaround - no resolution yet but do A,B,C in the meantime
Known error - may come from release notes or transition
Pain value analysis - #incidents x duration x severity x cost x weighting factor
Techniques - Ishikawa, Pareto, kroner Trevor
Activities
Detect
Log
Categorise
Prioritise
Investigate and diagnose
Workaround - known error (change)
Problem resolution
Closure
Major problem?
Incident matching is a part of Incident process - not problem - but feeds into problem
Interfaces with : incidents, service desk, release, change, config, service continuity,
availability, capacity, sla, finance

Problem mgt does not close incident.

IT OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
PERFORM DAY TO DAY FUNCTIONS - maintain status quo
Baby sitting the hardware
ops control
Console mgt (central observation & monitoring
Job scheduling (mgt of routine batch jobs)
Backup and restore
Print and output
Maint activities
Facilities mgt
Manage data centres
Power cooling
Large scale consolidation
Mgt of outsourcing contracts
How to run backup, restore, label tape, tape mgt - but don't need to know about oracle
TECHNICAL MGT
Custodian of all technical knowledge and expertise - IT INFRASTRUCTURE
PROVIDES TECH SUPPORT FOR SERVICE LIFECYCLE
Obj: help plan implement and maintain technical infrastructure not support in
Well designed technical topology
Better skills
Diagnose and resolve technical failures
APPLICATION MANAGEMENT
custodian of all technical knowledge and expertise - IT APPLICATION
TECHNOLOGY AND IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATION
REQUIREMENTS GATHERING
1. MoSCoW a
1. Must have
2. should have
3. Could have
4. Won't have
1. Requirements
2. Identify products
3. Selection criteria
4. Evaluate
5. Short list
6. Scoping

7. Rank
8. Select products

Claire Agutter said:

11-30-201410:05 AM

Congratulations Rory! And thanks for sharing your notes, there is some great information
there.
Claire

krasal said:
12-13-201404:44 AM

Congrats Rory. Did you use any particular practice exams. I'm planning to give my exam in a
10 days time. But can't find any practice exams for OSA.
Regards,
Rasal.

roryhilton said:
12-15-201407:03 PM

Yes, I did my course through a training company and they provided two practice exams.
Try these two: ITIL 2011 Operational Support & Analysis (OSA)
good luck,
Rory

mahrob said:
12-20-201407:20 PM

Many Thanks!
I consulted your noted just before the exam, and it helped me a lot in a swift revision. I
passed my OSA exam today. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
If you have something similar for SOA or PPO, that would be awesome!

Regards,
Mahrob

roryhilton said:
12-21-201411:54 AM

Congrats on passing, Mahrob.

no, sorry, I don't have any notes - I've only done fundamentals and OSA so far.
You should be duty bound to write up your study notes and share them here once you're
done. Agreed?

mahrob said:
01-12-201506:41 AM

Apologies for the really late reply, got caught up in holidays and post holidays work!
For the sake of sharing, I passed my PPO exam, but I am not too ecstatic about it as my
passing score was 29. I think I could have covered more ground before taking the exam,
which I didn't. I was under prepared, period.
Regarding the notes, I wish I was as organized as you to write down notes! It has been a
long habit (and a bad one, I know) to not scribe any notes, I just study in bulk and try to
retain stuff in my memory. I am working on rectifying this process!
My only advise in case of PPO exam is a bit generic one, read as much as possible and
solve sample exams. But I would also advise not to take this as your 1st intermediate exam
as it could be very intimidating and challenging for first timers. Areas to focus will be
ITSCM, Capacity, Security and roles and responsibilities. Availability do make up most of the
scenarios, so that should be concentrated on as well.
My last intermediate exam will be SOA and after that the big one, MALC!
Wishing good luck to all fellows!
Mahrob

impelse said:
01-12-201505:51 PM

Congrats
Blog: www.learn-security.net

flipflop4567 said:
02-04-201507:34 AM

I am in ITIL OSA class now, I kept my notes from Foundation but it's more for
review/refresher. I review my notes every night and the sample scenarios to get a grip on
what the test will be like. Any buzz words or traps that the test tries to get you on? Your
notes are helpful but each instructor presents material different. All in all, thanks for your
contributions period! Not sure my future with ITIL but I may stick it out.

ccnpninja said:
02-04-201505:14 PM

Congrats and thanks for posting your notes.

-
www.keyboardbanger.com

noman007 said:
03-05-201510:10 AM

Originally Posted by ccnpninja

Congrats and thanks for posting your notes.
Please give me advice and share note for ITIL OSA exam.. i am planning to give exam soon..
Share notes, question answer, test sites etc...
RORY - could you please share practice test for exam.
Last edited by noman007; 03-05-2015 at 10:17 AM.

jensmith592 said:
03-06-201503:44 AM

Thanks for the write up

Liz Gallacher said:

03-06-201507:24 AM

Originally Posted by noman007

Please give me advice and share note for ITIL OSA exam.. i am planning to give exam
soon..
Share notes, question answer, test sites etc...
RORY - could you please share practice test for exam.
You have to attend an accredited cours - classroom or distance learning. Your training
company will provide you with the only official mock exams

roryhilton said:
03-25-201504:28 AM

looks like the link to the exams (further up) is now 404. So, as Liz suggests, attend a course
and you'll be cherry ripe. Good luck,
Cheers,

akapowa said:
03-28-201501:19 PM

Hi,
Could you please give an example of questions & answers in the exam ?
Thank you !

Liz Gallacher said:

03-29-201508:41 AM

As stated above, you need o attend a course - elearning or classroom, and explaining the
exam is part of that course. Each question and possible answers takes up about 2 sides of
A4, so unless people have memorised it, it would be imposible

JohnRutan said:
10-06-201512:51 PM

In addition to the training from Gogotraining, reading the ITIL Service Operation 2011 book
and your notes, I passed my exam on Friday -- thank-you very much!

Claire Agutter said:

10-06-201501:20 PM

Congratulations John!

csaha said:
02-29-201612:14 PM

Definitely helpful ... I passed OSA today and this was really helpful. Thanks

Claire Agutter said:

03-01-201608:11 AM

Congratulations csaha! Are you going for ITIL Expert?

Cerebro 2.0 said:

03-10-201608:54 AM

Thanks for the notes

DAVIS NGUYEN said:

03-11-201602:39 AM

Congrats!

csaha said:
03-13-201611:37 AM

Originally Posted by Claire Agutter

Congratulations csaha! Are you going for ITIL Expert?
Yes. Thats what the plan is ... I am planning PPO next week and then I am elligible for the
Expert Training & Exam.
Thanks for the support.

Claire Agutter said:

03-13-201604:02 PM

Good luck with your PPO test

sajusajid said:
04-17-201611:27 AM

Hey mahrob,
Me too going for PPO, i have done my OSA exam and passed with 30 grade ..thanks to rory
hilton... Do you have any notes or ebooks of PPO.. ?

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