University ITSM

I have been learning more about the Project Management Institute's Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate. It's interesting to see the overlap between ITIL certification and PMP certification.

In content, the PMP and ITIL foundations are very different. The two have different meanings for change control and configuration control. Perhaps the best tie-in is to think about ITIL's "services" as the products of a project.

In terms of format, the differences: the PMP has very heavy "pre-requisites" to sitting for the exam. In this sense, it's more of a credential certifying existing knowledge than it is a course that teaches you project management. The pre-requisites are 35 hours of project management training, and 4500 hours of project management experience--where you "led or directed" tasks on the project. The PMP also requires that you take on-going professional development units (PDUs) once you have earned your PMP, to keep the credential.

In terms of format, the similarities: the ITIL foundation certificate and the PMP certificate both culminate in a multiple-choice exam that you can take through a Prometric test center. (The ITIL foundation exam is often administered at the end of a three-day training class, but it is possible to take it "cold" at a test center.) The ITIL foundation exam is 40 questions in one hour (40 questions/hour), requiring 65% correct. The PMP is 200 questions in 4 hours (50 questions/hour), requiring ~58% correct (101 questions out of 175, ignoring the 25 "pre-test" questions).

ITIL's post-foundation certificates (e.g. "Service Operations" service lifecycle certificate) do require a bit more than just sitting for the exam; you have to go through in-class exercises and have a certain number of contact hours to take the intermediate certificates.