subject: 6 Tips Before You Choose An Itil Institutes For Yourself? [print this page] ITIL Certification is a specialized course that should bring value for money invested. There are many institutions offering these courses and at a price that one is tempted to enroll. There are loads of websites that talk about ITIL and the associated benefits. However very few gives pointers in selecting good institutes. What are these pointers and how does it help in selecting the right institute is very simple. Check if the institutes are
1. Accredited Training Organization (ATO) :
2. If so, which Examination Institute(s) (EI) are they associated with?
3. Are the trainers approved by the Examination Institute(s)?
4. Are the trainers ITIL experts?
5. Is the course content approved and accredited by the Examination Institute(s)?
6. Is the Institute also an REP to conduct PMP training?
If the answer to all the questions are affirmative, then it is an excellent idea to register with any of these institutes, even if the fees charged by them are on a higher side. Being an ATO, the training institutes need to follow a quality management system that is audited by these EI. The Examination Institutes will only approve and accredit trainers if they are found to posses sound knowledge on the concepts and have excellent communication skills. This is ascertained through a telephonic discussion and it can last for over an hour. It is important, though not mandatory, that the faculty is an ITIL Expert and has vast experience in delivering IT services. This helps as the examples shared in the class room would be from their experience and will help participants connect and understand the concepts easily. The course content is another important factor that a participant should consider. As an ATO, it is essential that the course content is aligned to the syllabus set by APMG group. This is another process wherein if the ATO has to forward the course content to the Examination Institutes for their approval. ATOs can only deliver training provided their course content are approved and accredited. There are several institutes delivering PMP trainings and they should be a Registered Educational Practioner (REP). Participants already a PMP certified has immense benefit because training in ITIL will give them PDUs. A typical 3 day program on ITIL will fetch 24 PDUs and if the Institute has a eLearning course approved and accredited by the Examination Institutes can fetch 45PDUs for the same duration.
To conclude, the benefits are immense going through a training with an ATO. The difference in amount saved by getting trained with a non ATO is negligible. The risk high and quality substantially low. By the way APMG chairperson during one of the questionnaire sessions in Bangalore made it very clear that non ATO institutes conducting training on ITIL is illegal!
