# IT Service Management Essentials for Government Course (Self-Paced)

Canonical URL: <https://www.graduateschool.edu/courses/it-service-management-for-government-course-self-paced>

## Overview

IT service management is often treated as a synonym for ITIL, but ITIL is only one framework for the practice. This foundational course teaches ITSM as it applies to a government IT organization, with no prior ITSM experience required.

Learners study the service desk, incident management, change and problem management, service catalogs, and service level agreements. The course closes with continual improvement as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time project.

## What you'll learn

- Explain IT service management as a practice distinct from any single framework, including ITIL.
- Describe the role of the service desk as the primary point of contact for IT support.
- Distinguish an incident from a service request and classify each correctly.
- Trace the incident management lifecycle from detection through resolution and closure.
- Prioritize an incident using impact and urgency and decide when to escalate it.
- Classify a change as standard, normal, or emergency and identify the approval it typically requires.
- Explain the relationship between an incident and a problem, and how root cause analysis connects them.
- Use a known error record to help prevent a repeat incident.
- Identify what belongs in a service catalog and why it matters to service users.
- Interpret a service level agreement to determine whether a described response met its terms.
- Explain continual improvement as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time project.
- Apply core ITSM practices to a described government IT scenario.

## Curriculum

#### Module 1: What IT Service Management Is

- Lessons: 
  - IT Service Management as a Practice, Not a Product
  - Where ITIL Fits, and Where It Does Not Define the Field
  - Core ITSM Vocabulary: Services, Requests, and Value
  - ITSM in a Government IT Environment

- Applied activity: Learners review a short scenario in which a government IT office adopts several ITSM practices without formally adopting ITIL and explain why that is a valid, common approach.

#### Module 2: The Service Desk and Incident Management

- Lessons: 
  - The Service Desk as the Front Door
  - What Counts as an Incident
  - The Incident Management Lifecycle
  - Prioritization: Impact, Urgency, and Escalation

- Applied activity: Learners review three short, described incident tickets and assign each a priority based on stated impact and urgency, then decide which one should escalate.

#### Module 3: Change Management and Problem Management

- Lessons: 
  - Why Changes Need a Managed Process
  - Standard, Normal, and Emergency Changes
  - From Incidents to Problems: Root Cause
  - Known Errors and Preventing Repeat Incidents

- Applied activity: Learners review a short scenario describing a recurring incident and determine whether it should be escalated to problem management, then identify the type of change, standard, normal, or emergency, needed to fix the underlying cause.

#### Module 4: Service Catalogs, SLAs, and Continual Improvement

- Lessons: 
  - What Belongs in a Service Catalog
  - Service Level Agreements: What They Actually Promise
  - Continual Improvement: Small, Ongoing Change
  - Putting the Practice Together

- Applied activity: Learners review a short, described SLA and a support ticket's actual response and resolution times, then determine whether the SLA was met and what a continual improvement action might address if it was not.

## Pricing

**Tuition:** $799