ISO 20000 Certification Service Delivery Processes 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which scenario best illustrates a failure in service continuity management under ISO 20000?
- A minor incident resolved within SLA targets
- A disaster recovery plan that has never been tested and fails during an actual outage (Correct answer)
- A capacity report submitted one day late
- An SLA review delayed by two weeks
Correct answer: A disaster recovery plan that has never been tested and fails during an actual outage
An untested recovery plan that fails during a real outage represents a fundamental failure of service continuity management, which requires regular testing.
Question 2: Under ISO 20000, what is the purpose of defining 'service hours' within service level management?
- To specify when IT staff take lunch breaks
- To define the agreed times during which a service is to be available and supported (Correct answer)
- To schedule planned maintenance exclusively
- To limit customer access to reduce costs
Correct answer: To define the agreed times during which a service is to be available and supported
Service hours define the agreed operational windows during which the service is available and supported, forming the basis for availability calculations.
Question 3: In ISO 20000, capacity management must address which three sub-areas?
- Business capacity, service capacity, and component capacity (Correct answer)
- Hardware capacity, software capacity, and network capacity
- Current capacity, future capacity, and emergency capacity
- Peak capacity, average capacity, and minimum capacity
Correct answer: Business capacity, service capacity, and component capacity
ISO 20000 capacity management covers business capacity (future requirements), service capacity (current service performance), and component capacity (individual CI performance).
Question 4: What distinguishes service level management from service reporting in ISO 20000?
- Service level management is only internal; service reporting is only external
- Service level management defines and negotiates targets; service reporting measures and communicates actual achievement against those targets (Correct answer)
- They are the same process with different names
- Service reporting sets targets while service level management tracks them
Correct answer: Service level management defines and negotiates targets; service reporting measures and communicates actual achievement against those targets
Service level management establishes and maintains SLAs with agreed targets, while service reporting measures and communicates actual performance against those agreed targets.
Question 5: In ISO 20000, when should a service provider invoke its service continuity plan?
- Whenever an incident is logged
- Only when directed by the customer
- When a disruption occurs that cannot be resolved through normal incident management within acceptable timeframes (Correct answer)
- At the start of every fiscal quarter as a precaution
Correct answer: When a disruption occurs that cannot be resolved through normal incident management within acceptable timeframes
Continuity plans are invoked when a disruption exceeds what normal incident management can handle within agreed recovery time objectives.
Question 6: Under ISO 20000, which of the following would be considered a 'vital business function' in the context of service continuity management?
- A rarely used reporting tool with no impact on operations
- A payroll processing system that must run weekly to pay all employees (Correct answer)
- An internal newsletter distribution system
- An employee birthday calendar application
Correct answer: A payroll processing system that must run weekly to pay all employees
A vital business function is one whose loss would critically impact the organization; payroll processing is essential and time-sensitive, making it a prime example.
Question 7: In ISO 20000, what is the role of 'trend analysis' within the service delivery processes?
- To assign blame for past failures
- To identify patterns that may predict future service issues and enable proactive action (Correct answer)
- To justify budget increases to management
- To replace incident post-mortems
Correct answer: To identify patterns that may predict future service issues and enable proactive action
Trend analysis examines historical data to identify patterns and potential future problems, enabling proactive management before issues impact service quality.
ISO 20000 Certification Service Delivery Processes 5
Which scenario best illustrates a failure in service continuity management under ISO 20000?