ITIL4F ITIL Service Value System Practice Question
An IT department is experiencing frequent service outages due to unauthorized changes. They need to implement controls to manage changes effectively. Which ITIL practice should be prioritized to address this issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse Incident management (restoring service) with Change enablement (preventing unauthorized changes), mistakenly thinking that faster incident resolution will reduce outages caused by unauthorized changes, when in fact only proactive change control can prevent them.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Change enablement
Change enablement is the correct practice because it provides a structured process for assessing, authorizing, and implementing changes to IT infrastructure, directly addressing unauthorized changes that cause service outages. By enforcing a formal change model with defined roles (e.g., Change Manager) and approval gates, it ensures that only authorized, risk-assessed modifications are deployed, preventing the root cause of the outages.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Incident management
Why it's wrong here
Incident management is primarily a reactive practice focused on restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible following an unplanned interruption or reduction in quality of service. Its core objective is to minimize the negative impact of incidents on business operations. It does not proactively prevent unauthorized changes from occurring; rather, it addresses the symptoms after such changes might have led to an outage.
- ✓
Change enablement
Why this is correct
Change enablement is a proactive practice designed to maximize the number of successful service and product changes by ensuring all changes are properly assessed, authorized, scheduled, and implemented. This practice is crucial for preventing service outages that could arise from uncoordinated or unauthorized modifications to the IT environment. By establishing robust control over changes, it minimizes risk and maintains service stability.
- ✗
Service desk
Why it's wrong here
The service desk serves as the single point of contact between the service provider and its users, primarily handling incidents and service requests. While it facilitates communication and provides initial support, its function is not to govern or control the authorization and implementation of changes to services or infrastructure. It acts as an interface for user needs, not a mechanism for preventing unauthorized system alterations.
- ✗
Problem management
Why it's wrong here
Problem management aims to reduce the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying and resolving the root causes of actual and potential incidents. While it seeks to prevent the recurrence of incidents, its focus is on underlying systemic issues, not the direct control or authorization of individual changes. It is a reactive-to-proactive practice that investigates patterns and trends, rather than preventing specific unauthorized modifications.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This ITIL4F question is part of Courseiva's 805-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ITIL4F practice question is part of Courseiva's free PeopleCert certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the ITIL4F exam.