What is the best way to become an ITIL® Expert?

Unfortunately there is no model answer but we can offer you some guidance.

To achieve the ITIL Expert in IT Service Management, you must successfully complete a number of Intermediate units in addition to the mandatory Foundation Level and the Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC) course, which brings together the full essence of a Lifecycle approach to Service Management, and consolidates the knowledge gained across the qualification scheme.

You can mix and match courses from both streams to earn enough credits for the ITIL Expert but if you are interested in achieving ITIL Expert, you will need to ensure sufficient broad-based knowledge to succeed in the MALC module.  So, the choice between Lifecycle and Capability courses really depends on where you are in your ITSM journey and what you are trying to achieve in the short term.

If you are familiar with the ITIL v2 certification scheme, you can translate Lifecycle and Capability modules into Service Manager and Practitioner modules.  If you are not familiar with ITIL v2, Lifecycle courses are for those individuals working "on" ITSM implementation and Capability courses are for those individuals working "in" the daily process activities.

The ITIL Qualification Scheme uses a system that enables an individual to gain credits (these are the black numbers on the diagram above) for each exam they take. If you want to become an ITIL Expert you will need to have accumulated 22 credits (17 credits from the Lifecycle or Capability streams) and then 5 from the Managing Across the Lifecycle module. If you have a pivotal role in your organisation responsible for implementing or maintaining effective IT Service Management, the ITIL Expert qualification should be your goal, however not everybody will want or indeed need to become and ITIL Expert it is likely that most people will sit the Foundation examination and a number of the Intermediate modules.

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