ITIL® 4 Managing
Professional
Direct, Plan & Improve (DPI)
Candidate Syllabus
AXELOS.com

December2019

2ITIL 4 Managing Professional

Contents1Introduction

32

Exam Overview

43Question Types

54

ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve Syllabus

6Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2019.
AXELOS®, the AXELOS logo®, the AXELOS swirl logo® and ITIL® are all registered trade marks of AXELOS Limited.
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31Introduction

The ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve (DPI) qualification is intended to provide the candidate with the practical skills
necessary to create a ‘learning and improving’ IT organization, with a strong and effective strategic direction.
Furthermore, provide practitioners with a practical and strategic method for planning and delivering continual
improvement with the necessary agility.

The ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve examination is intended to assess whether the candidate can demonstratesufficient understanding and application of the concepts covered in the ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve publication toestablish a learning and improving IT organization. The ITIL 4 Direct, Plan and Improve qualification is one of the prerequisites for the designation of ITIL 4 Managing Professional which assesses the candidate’s practical and technicalknowledge about how to run successful IT-enabled services, teams and workflows. It is also a pre-requisite for thedesignation of ITIL 4 Strategic Leader, which assesses the candidate’s ability to build and implement an effective IT
and digital strategy that can tackle digital disruption and drive success.

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AXELOS®, the AXELOS logo®, the AXELOS swirl logo® and ITIL® are all registered trade marks of AXELOS Limited.
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42

Exam Overview
MaterialNone

allowedThis is a ‘closed book’ exam. The ITIL 4: Direct, Plan and Improve
publication and the ITIL Practices Guidance documentation should be used
for study, but is NOT permitted to be used in the exam.

Exam duration

90 minutes

Candidates taking the exam in a language that is not their native or working
language may be awarded 25% extra time, i.e. 113 minutes in total.

Number of40 marks

There are 40 questions, each worth 1 mark. There is no negative marking.

marks
Provisional Pass 28 marks

You will need to get 28 questions correct (70%) to pass the exam.

mark
Level ofBloom’s levels 2“Bloom’s level” describes the type of thinking needed to answer thethinking&3question. For Bloom’s 2 questions, you need to show understanding of theconcepts, methods and principles of DPI. For Bloom’s 3 questions, you needto demonstrate application of these concepts, methods and principles ofDPI, as well as information from the related practices.

Question types

Standard classic, The questions are all ‘multiple choice’.
Negative, & ListFor the ‘standard classic’ questions, you have a question and four answeroptions.
‘Negative’ questions are ‘standard’ question in which the stem is negativelyworded.
For the ‘list’ questions, there is a list of four statements and you have toselect two correct statements from the list.

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AXELOS®, the AXELOS logo®, the AXELOS swirl logo® and ITIL® are all registered trade marks of AXELOS Limited.
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53Question Types

Example ‘standard classic’ OTQ:
Which is a source of best practice?

a) Qb) Pc) Rd) S

Example ‘negative’ standard OTQ:
Which is NOT a defined area of value?

a) Qb) Pc) Rd) S

Example ‘list’ OTQ:
Which statement about service asset andconfiguration management is CORRECT?

NOTE: Negative questions are only used as an
exception, where part of the learning outcome is toknow that something is not done or should notoccur.

1. It does Q
2. It does P
3. It does R

Please see the sample paper for an example of the exam
format and content.

4. It does Sa) 1 and 2b) 2 and 3c) 3 and 4d) 1 and 4

NOTE: Two of the list items are correct. List stylequestions are never negative.

Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2019.
AXELOS®, the AXELOS logo®, the AXELOS swirl logo® and ITIL® are all registered trade marks of AXELOS Limited.
Reproduction of this material requires the permission of AXELOS Limited.
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EN_ITIL4_MP_DPI_2019_CandidateSyll_v1.1

64

ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve Syllabus

The table below specifies the learning outcomes of the ITIL 4 Direct, Plan & Improve qualification, and theassessment criteria used to assess a candidate’s achievement of these learning outcomes, subsequent to acourse of study. Note: Principal book references are in parentheses. These refer to the section, but not thesubsections within it. The verb for each assessment criterion indicates the Bloom’s level (BL): ’Understand’,indicates Level 2 understanding/comprehension, and ‘Know how to’ indicates Level 3 application.

Learning Outcome

Assessment Criteria

BLNo.
marks

1. Understand the key

1.1 Understand the following key terms:

concepts of Direct, Plana) Direction (1.2)& Improveb) Planning (1.3)

BL23BL23

BL22BL36c) Improvement (1.4, 1.5)d) Operating model (1.6.2)e) Methods (1.3.1.4)f) Risks (1.2.1.3)g) Scope of control (1.1.1)
1.2 Understand the differences between the following key concepts:a) Vision and mission (1.2.1.1)b) Strategy, tactics and operations (1.3.1, 1.3.1.1-3)c) Governance, compliance and management (1.6.1.1)d) Policies, controls and guidelines (1.2.1.2, 1.2.1.3)
1.3 Understand the concepts of value, outcomes, costs & risks andtheir relationships to direction, planning and improvement (1.8)
2. Understand the scopeof what is to be directed
and/or planned, andknow how to use key
principles and methods ofdirection and planning inthat context

2.1 Identify the scope of control and within this:a) Know how to cascade objectives and requirements (1.3.1,
1.3.1.1, 2.1.3, 2.1.4)b) Know how to define effective policies, controls and guidelines(2.5.2, 2.5.2.1-3)c) Know how to place decision-making authority at the correct
level (2.2.2)

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7

Learning Outcome

Assessment CriteriaBLNo.
marks

3. Understand the role ofGovernance, Risk andCompliance (GRC) andknow how to integrate
the principles andmethods into the service
value system
4. Understand and know

3.1 Understand the role of risk and risk management in DPI (1.2.1.3,3.2 Understand how governance impacts DPI (2.2, 2.2.1, 2.2.1.1, 2.2.2,

3.3 Know how to ensure that controls are sufficient, but not excessive

1BL31

BL32

BL31BL31

BL31

BL31BL31BL31(2.5.2.1, 2.5.2.2)
4.1 Know how to use the ITIL continual improvement model to improve

principles and methods ofsubsections)improvements

BL22.2.3)

the service value system or any part of the SVS (Chapter 5 including

for all types of12.3, 2.3.1-2)

how to use the key
continual improvement

BL2

4.2 Know how to identify assessment objectives, outputs, requirements
and criteria (3.1.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.3.1, 3.1.4, tab 3.2)
4.3 Know how to select an appropriate assessment method for aparticular situation (3.1.3, 3.1.3.1-7)
4.4 Know how to define and prioritize desired outcomes of animprovement (the continual improvement practice 2.4.2.2, CoreGuidance 5.2, 5.4, 5.4.1-3, 5.4.3.1)
4.5 Know how to build, justify and advocate for a business case (5.4.2,2.4.3, 2.4.3.1-2)
4.6 Know how to conduct:a) improvement reviews (5.4.6, 5.4.6.1)b) analysis of lessons learned (5.4.7 – 5.4.7.2, the continual
improvement practice 2.4.1.4)
4.7 Know how to embed continual improvement at all levels of the SVS(5, 5.1-3, the continual improvement practice 2.4.1.3)

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8Learning Outcome

Assessment Criteria

BLNo.
marks

5. Understand and know

5.1 Understand the nature, scope and potential benefits of

how to use the key

organizational change management (6.3, 6.3.1, 6.3.2, 6.3.2.1-3,

principles and methods oftab 6.4, the organizational change management practice 2communication and(including subsections))

organizational change
management todirection, planning andimprovement

5.2 Know how to use the key principles and methods of Communication

BL2

1BL34BL31BL33BL21

BL35& OCM:a) Identify and manage different types of stakeholders (6.2, 6.2.1,6.2.2)b) Effectively communicate with and influence others (6.1.2 6.1.2.5, 6.1.5, 6.3.2, 6.3.2.1-3, tab 6.2)c) Establish effective feedback channels (6.1.2.1, 6.1.5, 6.1.6)
5.3 Know how to establish effective interfaces across the value chain(6.2, 6.3.3, 7.3.1.6, 7.3.2.5)

6. Understand and know
how to use the key

6.1 Know how to define indicators and metrics to support objectives(4, 4.1, 4.1.1-3, 4.2, 4.2.1-3 (including subsections), tab 4.2)

principles and methods ofmeasurement andreporting in direction,planning andimprovement
7. Understand and know

7.1 Understand the differences between value streams and practices

how to direct, plan andand how those differences impact direction, planning andimprove value streams

improvement (3.3, 3.3.1-2, 7.3.3, 7.3.3.1-3)

and practices

7.2 Know how to select and use the appropriate methods andtechniques to direct, plan and improve value streams andpractices.
a) Addressing the 4 dimensions (4.3.1-4, 4.3.4.1-3, 7.3.2)b) Applying the guiding principles (1.7, 8.2.1-7)c) Value stream mapping (3.3, 3.3.1-5, 3.3.4.1)d) Optimization of workflow (3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.4, 3.3.4.1, 4.3.4,
4.3.4.1-3, 7.3.3.4-7)e) Elimination of waste (3.3.1-4, 7.3.3, 7.3.3.5, 7.3.3.7)f) Ensuring & utilizing feedback (1.7, 2.1.3-4, 6.1.2, 6.1.2.1-5,6.1.6, 6.3.5.1-2)

Copyright © AXELOS Limited 2019.
AXELOS®, the AXELOS logo®, the AXELOS swirl logo® and ITIL® are all registered trade marks of AXELOS Limited.
Reproduction of this material requires the permission of AXELOS Limited.
All rights reserved.
EN_ITIL4_MP_DPI_2019_CandidateSyll_v1.1