Book Review: ITIL Lifecycle Publication Suite

Authors: OGC
Publisher: The Stationery Office Books

[For your convenience, you can find links to the product at Amazon.co.uk (UK residents) and Amazon.com (US residents) at the end of this article.]


We've previously seen the changes made from v2 to v3, in terms of the core library. Now, here are the books themselves, available from Amazon. If you are looking for the main manuals on ITIL and the different stages of the ITIL Service Lifecycle, this package already includes all five of them for your convenience.

Namely, the suite includes:

- Service Strategy
- Service Design
- Service Transition
- Service Operation
- Continual Service Improvement

I have had the chance to read both the main books and the pocket guides. While you may find many of the original graphics and diagrams in the pocketbooks, only in the five core manuals will you have access to all the full information and detailed explanations. And detailed they are, since each manual is composed of hundreds of pages, complete with diagrams that make each stage and its processes clear. Each book is well organized, handling one process at a time, making it rather easy to find what you are looking for.

For in-depth knowledge. What more could an ITIL enthusiasts or scholar ask for?


Order it today from Amazon.co.uk:
ITIL Lifecycle Publication Suite: 5 vols: Service Strategy WITH Service Design AND Service Transition AND Service Operation AND Continual Service Improvement

Or, if you live in the USA, you can order from Amazon.com:
Itil Lifecycle Publication Suite, Version 3: Continual Service Improvement, Service Operation, Service Strategy, Service Transition, Service Design

Highly recommended.

Core Publications

ITIL v2 was composed of several publications, better known for their colors. There were eight books to read from (the first two were the IT Service Management sets and the remaining six were dedicated to operational guidance):

- Service Delivery
- Service Support

- ICT Infrastructure Management
- Security Management
- The Business Perspective
- Application Management
- Software Asset Management

As of May 2007, the IT Infrastructure Library was re-designed... thus came to be ITIL v3, with a more coherent and integrated format. An updated and improved body of knowledge was published. V3 is currently composed of five core publications, namely:

- Service Strategy
- Service Design
- Service Transition
- Service Operation
- Continual Service Improvement

Each of these refers to a stage of the Service Lifecycle, all of them explored in detail, along with the processes that compose them. A must for everyone considering the study of these best practices.