Real ITSM product certification: FavorITSM

Continuing our look at some of the programs operated by RITSI for the benefit of the Real ITSM community (recall that "community" is used here inclusively to cover all vendors, analysts and consultants who share in the Real ITSM industry), today we look at compliance certification.

The following extracts are from the book Introduction to Real ITSM:

1.8.5 FavorITSM

In order to regulate the Real ITSM industry, and thereby protect the integrity of RITSI and public confidence in Real ITSM, RITSI issues compliance certification to users, products, and services under the FavorITSM program.

Other frameworks have sadly neglected the revenue potential of such compliance certification [ITIL's OGC recently woke up to the potential, probably as a result of the good advice in this book] , and have left it open to foraging commercial entities. RITSI has no intention of making the same mistake, although for a suitable consideration from an interested party we could conceivably reconsider this policy.

1.11 Compliance

Unlike some other frameworks, Real ITSM does not overlook the opportunity, and of course the importance, of certifying organisational and product compliance to Real ITSM.

It is frequently stated that loosely worded frameworks such as Real ITSM or ITIL are too vague and too open to interpretation to serve as the basis for compliance certification. Simple consideration of the problem shows the error in this reasoning. Such degrees of freedom make it easier to assess compliance, not harder [as OGC finally realised]. So the RITSI’s FavorITSM program will, for a small fee, issue Real ITSM compliance certification to any product, organisation or individual who
• Has the money
• Assures the Institute that they are compliant

RITSI recognises that in some circumstances these strict criteria might unreasonably restrict an entity’s ability to achieve certification, so Real ITSM certification follows the ISO 20000 model by allowing candidates to define the scope within which their offering is to be considered for compliance. So for example a company could seek compliance within just one country. Or a consultant could seek compliance for just their suit and shoes rather than their whole service.

Certified entities are expected to always specify the scope of certification when referring to their certificate. Actually we expect you never will but “expected” is a nice cop-out word to say it is not our fault when you don’t.
In order to facilitate this process, a compliance spreadsheet is available on the website at www.realitsm.com with the “yes” responses helpfully defaulted. The submission mechanism and payment details can be found there too, as well as a public database of accredited entities. [Actually this scheme is not active yet but we welcome any fee-paying customers]

No organisation may conduct certified compliance assessments, or offer alternate Real ITSM compliance certification schemes without accreditation, for a not so small fee, from RITSI.

Please forward this to a friend or colleague who might enjoy it.

Remember, if you are not a member of realitsm.com then you are not a Real ITSM Practitioner (Official),

Cheers
Rob England, RIP(Off)