In the latest version of ITIL, there are no longer processes and functions. It has been replaced by practices.
The difference between processes and practices is quite subtle. While in ITIL V3, processes provided the workflows and activities, the functions were the various teams that made the process work. So to get the process to work, the functions were deployed to carry out the activities.
In ITIL 4, both the processes and functions are put together in a single bundle called as practices. Practices exist to take in pre-defined inputs and deliver outputs on expected lines. Both the workflow activities and the people to make it happen are a part of the practice – much like how DevOps works. There are no silos. All resources needed to create value are in the same box / silo.
While we had 26 processes and 5 functions in ITIL V3, ITIL 4 has 34 practices. It is categorized broadly into general practices, service management practices and technical management practices.
General Management Practices
There are 14 general management practices in total. These practices are generic in nature and is necessary to all frameworks and methodologies.
- Strategy management
- Portfolio management
- Architecture management
- Service financial management
- Workforce and talent management
- Continual improvement
- Measurement and reporting
- Risk management
- Information security management
- Knowledge management
- Organizational change management
- Project management
- Relationship management
- Supplier management
Service management practices
There are 17 service management practices in total. These practices are find their roots in the previous ITIL versions and pre-dominantly in organizations that practice service management.
- Business analysis
- Service catalogue management
- Service design
- Service level management
- Availability management
- Capacity and performance management
- Service continuity management
- Monitoring and event management
- Service desk
- Incident management
- Service request management
- Problem management
- Release management
- Change enablement
- Service validation and testing
- Service configuration management
- IT asset management
Technical management practices
There are 3 technical management practices in total. These practices are practiced in technology based organizations.
- Deployment management
- Infrastructure and platform management
- Software development and management
