The new ITIL 4 Certification Scheme
Since beginning of 2019, ITIL 4 is officially available on the ever-changing and highly volatile market of IT Service Management frameworks. There are plenty out there, but without a question, ITIL is one of the most prominent ones (if not THE most prominent).
Over the past decades, ITIL has evolved a lot and adopted to new requirements, technologies and ways of working. Along with this, also the available certifications and credentials have changed.
This article is meant to describe the current status (as of May 2025) of the ITIL 4 Certification Scheme.
Table of Contents
Step 1 – ITIL 4 Foundation
There is no way around it – ITIL 4 Foundation is your entry gate into the magical world of modern Service Management.
You can either go for the exam-only option directly on the PeopleCert homepage, or you can opt for an exam + course offering of an accredited partner. If you would like to have a look at or offering, you can do so HERE.
It is quite important to familiarize yourself with the sctructures, the ideas and the terminology, as this will be (as the name already states) the foundation for your journey into the deeper waters of ITIL.
But what to do after the Foundation?
Well, there you have three options. You can become a Practice Manager, Managing Professional or Strategic Leader. Let’s see what those are.
How to become an ITIL 4 Master
PeopleCert has released the path leading to the ITIL 4 Master designation, which is available on their web page.
To be eligible for the Master Designation, candidates must fulfill the following conditions:
- Achieved ITIL 4 Practice Manager
- Achieved ITIL 4 Managing Professional
- Achieved ITIL 4 Strategic Leader
In order to achieve the Master level, one must be able to demonstrate a deep level of hands-on knowledge about the framework and must be able to apply it in real-life situations allowing organizations to continually improve their services and quality.
There is no need for an application.
The certification will be provided upon completing the above mentioned dedications.
And then the time of bragging begins, as you can count yourself to the very few, who actually achieved the ITIL 4 Master Level.
I Have ITIl V3 foundation done in 2011 .
I have experience in different functions ( Incident , Problem Change management )
whats the way forward in service management
Hi Kailash
That is very good, as a lot of topics in ITIL 4 build on top of ITIL v3.
So I would suggest getting the ITIL 4 Foundation done first.
(in case you are interested, we have an e-learning course including the exam).
After that, it depends on your area of expertise and interest, with which advanced course you should continue.
In the areas of support and service operation, I would recommend the Create, Deliver and Support course first.
Hope this helps, otherwise please let me know. Happy to help.
All the best,
Alex
Thank you for your reply, Alex
After passing the Strategic Leader, I can move on to complete the ITIL Master, is that right?
What courses offer do you have online? I am not based on where you are.
Cheers,
Jerry
Hi Jerry
Sure, no problem.
The ITIL 4 Master dedication not available yet. Axelos offered a newsletter subscription some time ago, where people who are interested, would sign up to receive any updates related to the matter. I did that, however, I have not received any feedback since last year. And in the meantime, the page informing about the ITIL 4 Master program has also been removed.
However, one thing is sure. If you want to become an ITIL 4 Master, you will need both the Managing Professional and the Strategic Leader dedications.
An on top of that, you will probably need to demonstrate your practical ITIL 4 expertise in some sort of project or case study, showing how you apply the teaching in reality. At least this was the case for the ITIL v3 Master.
At this point of time, we offer the Direct, Plan and Improve and Create, Deliver and Support courses online.
However, we could only start one of we had at least 3-4 attendees.
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Alex
Good day. I just passed ITIL 4 Foundation. Took my V3 12 years ago. For future advanced courses, if I want to achieve ITIL 4 Strategic Leader (SL), do I just take 2 courses; DPI and DITS or do I need to take some courses from ITIL 4 Managing Professional (MP) as well?
Thanks, Jerry
Hi Jerry
Thanks for reaching out.
Congratulations on passing the Foundation exam. That is a great first step.
For the Strategic Leader dedication you only need to complete the two courses and related exams “Digital and IT Strategy” and “Direct, Plan and Improve”.
No need to complete anything else from the Managing Professional courses.
All the best,
Alex