Project Management and ITIL – A BoK Comparison

Project Management and ITIL – A BoK Comparison (#4 in the series Implementing ITIL® using the PMBOK® Guide in Four Repeatable Steps)
By Lawrence Cooper, PMP, CPM, ITIL Service Manager

The table below provides a side-by-side comparison of the Project Management and ITIL Bodies of Knowledge (BoK). As can be seen, they are similar in age (20+ years) and rely on the active involvement of practitioners to update them to reflect current best practice. They also share remarkably similar objectives. The key differentiators between them are that project management can be applied to any domain, whereas ITIL has application only within the IT domain. Also, the PMBOK® Guide contains a code of ethics for professional conduct that can result in suspension or loss of accreditation for ethical breeches, whereas ITIL does not.

While the PMBOK® Guide certainly has a wider sphere of influence and the Project Management Professional (PMP®) is a very widely recognized certification in the IT industry and elsewhere, the past several years have witnessed a strong surge in ITIL awareness and interest within the IT community.

Comparative	ITIL	PMBOK® Guide
Publications	Service Support Service Delivery Planning to Implement Service Management Application Management ICT Management Security Management The Business Perspective Software Asset Management	A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge®, PMI, 2004
Emphasis	Body of Knowledge (BoK) for Managing operations; on-going and repetitive	Body of Knowledge (BoK) for managing projects that are a temporary endeavor
Maintenance of BoK	OGC owns; maintenance through ITSMF and practitioners First published in the 1980s	PMI owns; maintenance through PMI and practitioners First published in the 1980s
Objectives	Make field of IT Service Management (ITSM) into a profession Address points of pain in IT operations Establish common language for ITSM Descriptive rather than prescriptive Improve IT process capability maturity	Make field of project management into a profession Address points of pain in delivering projects Establish common language for Project Management Descriptive rather than prescriptive
Certifications	Foundation (entry level) Practitioner (intermediate) Service Manager (expert)	Certified Associate (intermediate) Project Management Professional (expert)
	Individual rather than organizational certification
Ability to Sit Examination	Examination for intermediate level and above requires accredited and approved coursework Accreditation of Foundation Course Providers assures quality of training coursework Must meet in-course assessment requirements Must meet relevant work experience	Examination for all levels requires accredited and approved coursework Must prove relevant work experience Must meet education requirements
Similarities	Both originated from empirical observation, were elevated to the conceptual, and are being re-applied to the practical Both use notion of frameworks to organize and present concepts Both recognize the importance of people and culture Both have achieved global acceptance and have become de facto standards Both are emerging professions Both have been accepted as the embodiment of Best Practice in their respective disciplines Management processes within each are tightly integrated and are their main value proposition
Code of Ethics	No	Yes
Domains	IT only	Any domain

About the Author

Larry Cooper is the CEO of ITSM Canada, an Authorized itSM Solutions® provider and a VAR for Touchpaper’s ITBM Suite of products. Mr. Cooper has spent more than 28 years in IT in the public and private sectors where he has held roles such as a Software Developer/Programmer Analyst, Manager of Operations, Lead for Business Process Re-engineering, various Project Manger roles on projects upwards to $100M, and A/Director, Business Technology. He has written and been published in books and industry articles on a variety of technology, IT Service Management, and Project Management topics. He holds three project management certifications including a PMP, an IT Service Manager certification, and is an EXIN-accredited Master’s level trainer. He resides in Ottawa, Canada with his wife and two children. He can be reached at Larry.Cooper@ITSMCanada.ca.

This article was originally published in Global Knowledge’s Business Brief e-newsletter. Global Knowledge delivers comprehensive hands-on project management, business process, and professional skills training. Visit our online Knowledge Center at www.globalknowledge.com/business for free white papers, webinars, and more.

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