Just as new technologies and methods are developed that supplant older ones so too are the training and certification on them, with new classes and testing being created to replace those that covered the previously utilized solutions and techniques.

That goes for ITIL, which enables a more effective process of providing IT support. In 2009 the (U.K.) Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which sponsors ITIL announced that it was supplanting ITIL version 2 (v2) with ITIL version 3 (v3) that the agency had introduced in 2007. In June 2010 the OGC began phasing out v2 publications and qualifications, with v2 Foundation, Manager and Practitioner having all ended Dec.31, 2010.

The OCG is also ending v2-to-v3 transition or bridging qualifications. It ended the Foundation Bridge on Dec.31, 2010 and will cease the Managers Bridge on June 30, 2011.

The RCCSP Professional Education Alliance is following suit. It is offering the last few ITIL v3 Service Manager Bridge Courses for professionals who hold an earlier v2 version of ITIL Service Manager Certification and wish to upgrade their credentials to the ITIL v3 Expert Certification. This bridging opportunity is also available to ITIL v2 practitioners who have already earned 12 credits or more.

Here is the schedule for the remaining RCCSP Professional Education Alliance Service Manager Bridge Training and Examination sessions in 2011:

Feb. 14-18 -- Dallas, Texas
Mar. 7-10 -- Minneapolis, Minn. Also Virtual Classroom
Apr. 11-15 -- Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
May 2-6 -- Ottawa, Ont. Canada

ITIL v3 introduces access management, knowledge management, request fulfillment, service catalog management and service validation and testing as separate processes reports Wikipedia. The Service Support and Service Delivery structure in ITIL v2 has been replaced by a new one consisting of the five ITIL v3 core disciplines: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement.

The v3 Bridge Course for Service Managers covers the subject areas of all five lifecycle stages new to v3 and those existing subject areas of v2 which have undergone significant change in v3. It will bridge the gap between the ITIL v2 Service Manager Certificate in IT Service Management and the ITIL Expert Certification. 

Once the Service Manager Bridge exam is retired on June 30, 2011, people with v2 Service Manager Certification will have to pass many ITIL exams to earn ITIL v3 credentials of equal prominence.

“Everyone in our industry expected the v2-to-v3 Bridge opportunity to evaporate in early 2010,” reports Nina Kawalek, CEO for RCCSP. “Many believe they missed the opportunity altogether. Not so. For those that made an enormous investment in Service Manager, there’s one last opportunity to reap the recognition at the v3 level. It’s the last chance for a cost-effective short-cut.”