ITIL

ITIL started in the 1980s, when data centers decentralized and adopted more geographically diverse architectures. This practice caused process and deployment discrepancies and brought inconsistent or suboptimal IT services performance into organizations.

The United Kingdom's Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) recognized the importance of perceiving IT as a service and applying consistent practices across the entire IT service lifecycle and developed Government Information Technology Infrastructure Management (GITIM). The organization released ITIL v1 in 1989.

In 2000, the CCTA folded into the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and released ITIL v2 the following year.

ITIL v3 emerged in 2007 and was updated in 2011 to include feedback from the user and training community, as well as resolve errors and inconsistencies.

ITIL process framework

Each iteration of ITIL delivers updated documentation and certifications to prepare admins for the current infrastructure landscape and the types of services they provide. ITIL's framework is not a rigid checklist to implement best practices -- organizations evaluate and implement the aspects that are most important for their needs.

In 1989, ITIL's goal was to standardize IT service management (ITSM). This iteration gave organizations an overview of how to streamline services and helped admins start thinking about best practices.

ITIL v2 offered admins a more applicable and uniform structure for service support and delivery and included actual processes for organizations to follow.

ITIL v3 gives a broader look at IT services and adds guidelines on service strategy, design, transition and operation. It also outlines ways for businesses to continuously improve services. Its framework of core publications collects best practices for each major phase of the ITSM. These books and their core concepts are:

1. Service Strategy. Describes business goals and customer requirements and how to align objectives of both entities.

2. Service Design. Outlines practices for the production of IT policies, architectures and documentation.

3. Service Transition. Advises on change management and release practices, and also guides admins through environmental interruptions and changes.

4. Service Operation. Offers ways to manage IT services on a daily, monthly and yearly basis.

5. Continual Service Improvement. Covers how to introduce improvements and policy updates within the ITIL process framework.