The ITIL Maturity Model (ITIL MM), developed by AXELOS/PeopleCert, helps organisations evaluate and improve their IT Service Management (ITSM) practices and the overall Service Value System (SVS). It provides an objective view of current capability, highlights improvement opportunities, and supports continual improvement.
Background: where the ITIL Maturity Model came from
The first models were developed in the 1980s for use in software engineering with the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and other ITSM-specific models have been developed and used since 1999. In ITSM, the ITIL Maturity Model builds on earlier approaches created by organisations responsible for ITIL guidance, including:
- The CCTA Maturity Benchmarking service developed in 1999
- The OGC Self-Assessment Tool release in 2002
- The ITIL Process Maturity Framework introduced in ITIL V3 in 2007
Why use an ITIL maturity assessment?
Assessment models can provide organisations with an objective view of how well their ITSM practices and operating model are performing. They can:
- Identify practices that are working well so that lessons learnt during their establishment can be reused with other practices;
- Identify practices that are not as capable and highlight opportunities to improve them;
- Prove to potential customers that a service provider can provide a reliable service that will meet their requirements;
- Establish a baseline against which future improvement can be compared; and
- Allow organisations to compare their capability to that of other organisations.
Capability vs Maturity: What is the difference?
In the ITIL Maturity Model, capability and maturity are complementary:
· Capability focuses on how well individual ITSM practices achieve their purpose.
· Maturity focuses on the organisation’s Service Value System as a whole, including guiding principles, governance, the service value chain, practices, and continual improvement.
In the ITIL Maturity Model, both practice capability and overall SVS maturity use a 5-level scale.
ITIL Maturity Model levels (1–5)
The ITIL MM uses the same 1–5 scale for practice capability and overall SVS maturity.
|
Level |
Practice capability |
Overall SVS maturity |
|
1 |
The practice is not well organised; performed as initial/intuitive. It may only partially achieve its purpose through an incomplete set of activities. |
Initial: Work is completed but the purpose and objectives of the SVS in scope are not always achieved. |
|
2 |
The practice systematically achieves its purpose through a basic set of activities supported by specialised resources. |
Managed: Planning and performance measurement take place; objectives are repeatedly achieved, although not in a standardised way. |
|
3 |
The practice is well defined and achieves its purpose in an organised way, using dedicated resources and integrated inputs from other practices. |
Defined: Organisation-wide standards provide guidance across the SVS. |
|
4 |
The practice achieves its purpose in a highly organised way; performance is continually measured and assessed in the context of the service management system. |
Quantitative: The SVS is data-driven with quantitative performance evaluation. |
|
5 |
The practice continually improves organisational capabilities associated with its purpose. |
Optimising: The SVS is optimised and focused on continual improvement. |
Types of ITIL MM assessments
There are three (3) forms of assessment that organisations can choose from:
- Capability assessment (one or more practices) - one or more practices that allows a service provider to gain an external objective assessment of chosen ITSM practices to identify what is working well and areas for improvement. The selected practices can vary for organisations and will be agreed during the planning phase of the assessment process.
- Comprehensive maturity assessment (SVS + practices) - An assessment o fthe organisation's overall Service Value System (SVS) together with a capability assessment of at least 7 practices, one of which must be Continual Improvement.
- High-level maturity assessment (SVS) of a service provider’s overall SVS. This form of assessment may also include capability assessment of some practices, but less than 7 in number.
The best option depends on your goals, timelines, and the level of detail you need. In our experience, Practice capability assessments are often the most popular starting point.
How ITIL MM assessments are conducted
There are 4 basic stages in any assessment:
- Planning: Agreeing with our customer the form and scope of the assessment, whether it will be conducted on-premises or virtually, identifying staff who will participate and the timescales for the following stages.
- Documentation review: Examining the practice-related documentation that our customer can provide so that our consultant(s) can start to gain an understanding of the customer organisation and how well the in-scope practices are defined, governed, managed, performed and measured.
- Practice and SVS interviews: Meetings either in-person or online with practice stakeholders to see how each practice or SVS component is actually functioning. These interviews provide stakeholders to demonstrate activity and show records that provide evidence that criteria specified in the ITIL MM are being met. The interviews also allow records or documents to be shown that may be confidential or commercially sensitive without the need to make that information visible for longer periods. Interviews also allow stakeholders to note any pain points that they see as impeding practice efficiency of effectiveness or any risks such as an over-reliance on tacit (undocumented) knowledge.
- Recording, analysis and reporting: This final stage covers the recording of notes from the interviews and documentation review, their analysis and the preparation of an assessment report which is then sent to our customer to review and correct any factual errors. The report is then finalised, and the process is then complete.
Who we are
ITSM Hub is a trusted partner for organisations seeking to elevate their IT Service Management performance. As an accredited consulting partner with PeopleCert, we are authorised to deliver official ITIL® Maturity and Capability Assessments, helping businesses understand their current service management capabilities and identify clear, actionable improvement opportunities.
Our assessments are aligned to globally recognised frameworks and delivered by experienced practitioners, providing you with credible insights and a roadmap to strengthen people, processes, tools, and outcomes. Whether you’re just starting your ITIL journey or aiming to optimise mature practices, ITSM Hub combines deep expertise with practical guidance to support lasting growth and service excellence.
Learn more about our accreditation here: https://www.peoplecert.org/Partners/accredited-consulting-partner-programme
Our experience with ITSM assessments
ITSM Hub’s consultants have been assessing a wide variety of organisations in several countries for many years using a variety of different assessment models.
The ITIL Maturity Model has two distinct advantages:
- It has been developed by Axelos/PeopleCert who are responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of ITIL,
- and it is aligned to the most recent version of the ITIL guidance.
While we have used the model successfully with a number of organisations in the Asia-Pacific area, there has been a recent surge in interest from UK organisations seeking registration under the latest Technical Services 4 (TS4) Framework from Crown Commercial to allow them to provide services to UK Government and other public sector organisations. The TS4 framework requires a supplier to have either ISO/IEC 20000 certification or to have achieved minimum practice capability levels of 2 in an ITIL MM assessment.
What kind of organisation can benefit from an assessment?
In our experience, almost any organisation can benefit from an objective ITSM assessment, including:
- Government: Commonwealth, state, and local authorities
- Health: Health authorities
- Finance: Banks, superannuation funds, insurance companies
- Education: Universities, TAFE institutes, schools
- Engineering and utilities: Engineering firms and utility companies
- IT service providers: Managed service providers and call centre providers
Organisations can range from IT departments with fewer than 40 staff to environments with many thousands. The common goal is the same: gain an accurate picture of current capability and maturity, then improve customer and staff satisfaction, efficiency, effectiveness, and value realisation.
Next steps
If you’re considering an ITIL Capability assessment or SVS Maturity assessment, the best starting point is a short scoping discussion to confirm your goals, the practices to include, and the outcomes you need from the final report.
You can view our ITIL Capability service offering and download our example report here.
Request a quote or send us a message to book a time to discuss your requirements further.
What clients say
“I want to express my appreciation for the quality and speed of your work. The recommendations are very useful, and we recognise the flexibility and quick turnaround you provided under a tight timeline.” Senior Consultant, Managed Services
“Thanks for the update, looking forward to getting the documents tomorrow and appreciate the checklist so we can continue to improve and make considerations on working towards level 3 over the coming year." Head of Technology
