ITIL-4 domain - 15% of the exam

Understand how the ITIL guiding principles help adopt and adapt service management

Understand how the ITIL guiding principles help adopt and adapt service management is 15% of the ITIL 4 Foundation exam. These are the objectives it covers, each with practice questions, with every answer explained.

Objectives in this domain

Sample question from this domain

Free sampleUnderstand how the ITIL guiding principles help adopt and adapt service managementeasy

According to ITIL 4, how should an organisation apply the set of guiding principles when facing a particular situation?

  • AEach principle should be considered to decide how relevant it is, since although every principle should be reviewed, not all will be equally relevant in every situation. Correct
  • BOnly the single principle that appears most relevant should be used, and the remaining principles should be ignored entirely.
  • CThe principles must be applied strictly in the fixed order in which they are published, one after another.
  • DAn organisation should permanently commit to one chosen principle and treat the others as optional extras.
Consider every guiding principle for a situation while recognising that not all principles are equally relevant in all cases. ITIL 4 treats the guiding principles as a set to be reviewed together; the organisation weighs each one's relevance to the situation rather than picking a single principle or following a fixed order.

Why A is correct: Correct: ITIL 4 advises reviewing all of the guiding principles for a given situation and judging their relevance, accepting that some will matter more than others in a specific context.

Why B is wrong: Tempting because focusing on one priority feels efficient, but it is wrong: ITIL 4 says every principle should be considered, even if it ultimately proves less relevant, rather than discarding the rest outright.

Why C is wrong: Tempting because ordered checklists feel rigorous, but it is wrong: the guiding principles are not a sequential procedure and carry no mandated order of application.

Why D is wrong: Tempting because it sounds like a way to keep focus, but it is wrong: the principles are meant to be used together and weighed per situation, not reduced to one permanent choice.

Other domains in this exam

See also the ITIL-4 cert hub, the study guide, and the cheat sheet.

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