Skip to main content

Preparing for Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC) and ITIL Expert Certifications


This blog is in response to those IT Professionals who want to know what to expect for the “Managing Across the Lifecycle” (MALC) class, taking the exam and receiving both the MALC and ITIL Expert certifications upon passing the MALC exam.  If you have talked with others that took this class and the exam a few years ago you will be happy to know that the format of this class has changed from what it used to be.  Classes are filled with interesting dialogue, exercises and even laughter as IT managers and practitioners with varied skill sets work together to validate competencies and knowledge for:
  • Key concepts of the service lifecycle
  • Communication and stakeholder management
  • Integrating service management processes across the service lifecycle
  • Managing services across the service lifecycle
  • Governance and organization
  • Measuring and demonstrating business value
  • Implementing and improving service management capability
Sounds simple right?  It's the level of detail in each of these areas and being able to apply ITSM best practices to them that gets interesting.

Prior to the class, you will receive a "Case Study" and pre-class assignments.  During the week you will analyze this case study along with other IT professionals in the class as you transition from one assignment to another.  Be prepared to take several passes through the case study with your class.  Every single time there will be something new discovered that is relevant to the success of the organization in the case study.  The great news is that when you take the exam you will have the exact same case study that you and your classmates used and analyzed all week long. Therefore, when in class, ensure that you solidify and validate any concepts with others as you work through the assignments and apply the concepts to the case study.  Glean from others and work to pull out different perspectives.  This will help you during class, for the exam and for ongoing activities that you are engaged in throughout your career.  There might be a glaring risk in the case study that is identified by some and might go unnoticed by others.  You might see something that others do not.  It is like peeking through a prism and being able to see all perspectives of a service through the lifecycle.  When you come into this class you already have the ITIL Expert knowledge.  This class is there to validate, solidify and to fill in the gaps for you in order to ensure success. You have a starring role to play in this class as the instructor facilitates activities to draw out required knowledge and ensure that concepts can be applied to the case study and real world scenarios.  Be prepared and come into class ready to engage.

MALC is a very comprehensive course and therefore the recommendation is to spend 15-20 hours of personal study prior to the course.  In addition to the time you spend in class, I would suggest being prepared for 1-3 hours of study each evening after class to synthesize the information acquired during the day and to prepare for the next day.  The time you spend each evening will vary based on your previous study time and knowledge.  This is not the type of class that you can multitask in so be sure that you are able to fully commit during the week that you schedule the course.  Some of the shared practices you gain here will be valued forever. After all, the real value is that you will be able to leverage this knowledge in practice.  You have expert knowledge coming in, but after the class and passing the exam, you will be an official certified "ITIL Expert".

ITSM Academy's MALC dates/times.  








Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Four Ps of Service Design - It’s not all about Technology

People ask me why I think that many designs and projects often fail. The most common answer is from a lack of preparation and management. Many IT organizations just think about the technology (product) implementation and fail to understand the risks of not planning for the effective and efficient use of the four Ps: People, Process, Products (services, technology and tools) and Partners (suppliers, manufacturers and vendors). A holistic approach should be adopted for all Service Design aspects and areas to ensure consistency and integration within all activities and processes across the entire IT environment, providing end to end business-related functionality and quality. (SD 2.4.2) People:   Have to have proper skills and possess the necessary competencies in order to get involved in the provision of IT services. The right skills, the right knowledge, the right level of experience must be kept current and aligned to the business needs. Products:   These are the technology managem

What Is A Service Offering?

The ITIL4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group .   As a service provider, we can’t stop there!   We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer.     Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include:     Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods.   Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service than toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you.   You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you.               Note: Goods may not always be provided for every Service

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

I was recently asked to clarify the roles of the Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner and wanted to share this with you. Roles and Responsibilities: Process Owner – this individual is “Accountable” for the process. They are the goto person and represent this process across the entire organization. They will ensure that the process is clearly defined, designed and documented. They will ensure that the process has a set of Policies for governance. Example: The process owner for Incident management will ensure that all of the activities to Identify, Record, Categorize, Investigate, … all the way to closing the incident are defined and documented with clearly defined roles, responsibilities, handoffs, and deliverables.  An example of a policy in could be… “All Incidents must be logged”. Policies are rules that govern the process. Process Owner ensures that all Process activities, (what to do), Procedures (details on how to perform the activity) and th