10 Jun 2019

New ISO/IEC 20001-1: 2018 will replace its previous edition, which will cease to be valid on 09/30/2021. Transition period started on 09/30/2018

Main changes and improvements

The standard has been rewritten to guarantee service management integrated and aligned with different corporate strategies, making services management system performance more effective for organisations, customers and suppliers. The standard adopts the HLS (High Level Structure) structure common to all the new ISOs (e.g.: ISO 9001: 2015, ISO/IEC 27001: 2013) allowing the best interaction of multiple integrated management systems.

Main changes introduced concern:

• incident management, service request management, availability management, service continuity management, service level management, service catalog management, capacity management and demand management have been distinguished;
• the prescriptive sections of the standard have been reduced so as to make the application of the service management systems easier for any organisation;  
• the required documentation supporting the service management system have been reduced so as to make its definition more strictly aligned with the organisation needs;
• the design, build and transition process definition for the service has described more precise way.

When will customers able to complete certificates revision according to ISO/IEC 20000-1: 2018? 

Certificates can be updated during any audit scheduled before 09/30/2021. 

However, the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) decided that all initial and recertification audits must comply with the 2018 version of the standard 18 months after transition starting date. It is important, therefore, to timely plan the implementation of the new requirements and, consequently, the transition audit execution. 

Expiry date of the certifications issued in accordance with ISO/IEC 20000-1: 2011 during the transition period will coincide with the end of the transition period itself. 

During the transition period, already certified organisations can choose to make the transition to the new standard: 

• during a surveillance audit
• during a recertification audit
• in-between to programmed audits, programming an extra audit. 

What action should be taken to prepare for the transition to the new standard? 

• Familiarise with the standard contents and perform a gap analysis between new requirements and current organisation’s systems procedures;
• Carry out training for interested personnel to prepare them understanding the main changes;
• Plan the implementation of all necessary changes to the service management system;
• Get in contact with the reference person, in order to program the transition and execute the audit;
• Assess the implementation effectiveness through internal audits, and define further actions if necessary.