ITIL Operational Support and Analysis (OSA) focuses on the practical application of OSA practices in order to enable event, incident, problem, access, technical, IT Operations and application management, request fulfillment and Service Desk operations.

The Operational Support and Analysis qualification would suit candidates in the following IT professions or areas:

• Configuration Manager
• Availability Manager
• System Software
• Applications Support
• IT Operations Manager
• Network Control and Operation
• Database Administrator
• Problem Manager
• Network Support

This module provides an introduction to the core concepts and terminology of the service life-cycle, and the role that OSA activities play within the life-cycle.

The candidate must be able to understand and describe:

The value to the business of OSA activities
The scope of OSA processes and functions
The lifecycle within the OSA context
How OSA activities support the service lifecycle
Optimizing service operation performance

This module covers how the process of event management contributes to OSA practices.

A complete overview of the objectives, scope and importance of event management as a process to generate business value are explored. Event management policies, principles, concepts, design, activities, methods and techniques are explained in relation to OSA practices as well as to information management.

The candidate must be able to understand and describe:

The purpose and objectives of the event management process
The scope of the event management process
The value to business and to the service lifecycle
The policies, principles and basic concepts of event management
Designing for event management
Use of event rule sets and correlation engines
The process activities, methods and techniques that enable this process and how it relates to the    service lifecycle
The triggers, inputs and outputs, and interfaces
Information management within the event management process
How critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used to check effectiveness and efficiency of the event management process
The challenges and risks associated with the event management process

This module covers how the process of incident management contributes to OSA practices.

A complete overview of the objectives, scope and importance of incident management as a process to generate business value are explored. Incident management policies, principles, concepts, activities, methods and techniques are explained in relationship to OSA practices.

To meet the learning outcomes and examination level of difficulty, the candidates must be able to understand, describe, identify, demonstrate, apply, distinguish, produce, decide or analyze:

The purpose and objectives of the incident management process
The scope of the incident management process
The value to business and to the service lifecycle
The policies, principles and all basic concepts of incident management
The process activities, methods and techniques and how they relate to the service lifecycle
The triggers, inputs and outputs and interfaces
Information management within the incident management process
How critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used to check the effectiveness and efficiency of the incident management process
The challenges and risks associated with the incident management process

This module covers the request fulfillment process and how it contributes to OSA.

A complete overview of the objectives, scope and importance of request fulfillment as a process to generate business value are explored.

Request fulfillment policies, principles, concepts, activities, methods, request models and techniques are explained in relationship to OSA practices as well as to information management.

The candidate must be able to understand and describe:

The purpose and objectives of the request fulfillment process
The scope of the request fulfillment process
The value to business and to the service lifecycle
The policies and principles of request fulfillment and the request model concept
The process activities, methods and techniques and how they relate to the service lifecycle
The triggers, inputs and outputs and interfaces
Information management within the request fulfillment process
How critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used to check effectiveness and efficiency of the request fulfillment process
The challenges and risks associated with the request fulfillment process

This module covers how the problem management process contributes to OSA practices.

A complete overview of the objectives, scope and importance of problem management as a process to generate business value are explored.

Problem management policies, principles, concepts, activities, methods, problem models and techniques are explained in relationship to OSA practices as well as to information management.

The candidate must be able to understand and describe:

The purpose and objectives of the problem management process
The scope of the problem management process
The value to business and service lifecycle
The policies and principles of problem management and the problem model concept
The process activities, methods and techniques and how they relate to the service lifecycle
The triggers, inputs and outputs, and interfaces
Information management within the problem management process
How critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used to check effectiveness and efficiency of the problem management process
The challenges and risks associated with the problem management process

This module covers how the access management process contributes to OSA practices.

A complete overview of the objectives, scope and importance of access management as a process to generate business value are explored. Access management policies, principles, concepts, activities, methods, access models and techniques are explained in relationship to OSA practices as well as to information management.

The candidate must be able to understand and describe:

The purpose and objectives of the access management process
The scope of the access management process
The value to business and service lifecycle
The policies and principles of access management
The process activities, methods and techniques and how they relate to the service lifecycle
The triggers, inputs and outputs, and interfaces
Information management within the access management process
How critical success factors and key performance indicators can be used to check effectiveness and efficiency of the access management process
The challenges and risks associated with the access management process

This module covers the service desk function and how it contributes to OSA.

A complete overview of the objectives, scope and importance of the service desk as a function to generate business value are explored. Service desk policies, principles, concepts, activities, methods and techniques are explained in relationship to OSA.

Also covered is the service desk role, organizational structures, staffing options and outsourcing strategies.

The candidate must be able to understand and describe:

The service desk role
The service desk objectives
Different service desk organizational structures
Different service desk staffing options
Measuring service desk performance
Issues and safeguards to consider when outsourcing the service desk
Performance management
Issues for outsourcing

This module deals with how the service operation functions of technical management, IT operations management, and applications management contribute to OSA practices.

For each function, the roles are defined along with the objectives, scope, importance, policies, principles, concepts, activities, methods and techniques in relationship to OSA.

The candidate must be able to understand and describe:

The roles of each function
Their objectives
The objectives and activities of the OSA functions

This module covers technology implementation as part of implementing service management process capabilities. It also covers the special technology functions and features that are related to OSA practices.

The candidate must be able to understand and describe:

The generic requirements for technology to support process capability
The evaluation criteria for technology and tools for process implementation
Project, risk and staffing practices for process implementation
The challenges, risks and CSFs related to implementing practices and processes
How to plan and implement service management technologies
Evaluating tools, planning and implementing technologies

This module prepares you for the ITIL Operation Support and Analysis examination.