What is ISO/IEC 20000?

ISO/IEC 20000 is the global formal standard for Service Management in the IT industry. The ISO/IEC 20000 standard offers the minimum requirements around best practices in IT Service Management. Complying to the ISO/IEC 20000 standard doesn't require the use of any specific technology, framework or methodology. The standard gives a clear and concise series of requirements that must be followed; it's up to the organisation how to get to the results (depending on company size, culture and overall approach to IT service delivery)

The standard was officially approved by the ISO organisation in 2005. Since its inception, the standard has increased in importance across the world and the ISO/IEC 20000 standard is currently used in countries like USA, UK, India and Australia.

ISO/IEC 20000 is split up in a number of parts:

• part 1: the requirements - all the things an IT organisation must follow to comply with the standard
• part 2: guidance - best practices around the implementation of the requirements and additional focus points to help with the compliance to the standard.
• part 3: scope - this part of the standard provides help and support around creating a clear scope. The scope is vital to the successful implementation and certification of the Service Management organisation.
• Further parts are currently in development and will be published in 2011 and 2012.

Would you like to know more about ISO/IEC 20000 and learn the foundations of the standard? Enrol in our ISO/IEC 20000 Foundation eLearning program.