In ITIL, what is a change?
ITIL 4 Foundation, objective 7. Seven ITIL practices in detail easy
Machine-checked — no person has signed for it. This question was read against the source cited below by an automated pass, which found no contradiction. That is a weaker claim than it sounds: the same kind of process wrote the question, so it can confirm its own mistake.
Treat it as a good draft rather than as settled fact, and read the source below before you rely on it. It is not used in mock exams here — only questions a person has signed for are.
How these questions are written — where each question comes from, what the verification ledger records, and what happens when one is found wrong.
The options
Not correct Any modification to production infrastructure or application code
Too narrow. It excludes changes to documentation, processes and supplier relationships, all of which fall within the scope of change enablement.
Correct The addition, modification or removal of anything that could have a direct or indirect effect on services
Correct. The definition is deliberately broad and outcome-based: what matters is potential effect on services, not whether the item is a server, a document or a supplier arrangement.
Not correct An unplanned interruption to a service, or a reduction in its quality
That is the definition of an incident. Incidents may prompt changes, but the two terms are distinct.
Not correct A request from a user for something normal to be provided, such as access or information
That is a service request. Some service requests are fulfilled by carrying out standard changes, but the request itself is not the definition of a change.
Why
The definition hinges on potential effect on services, direct or indirect. That is why change enablement's scope extends beyond code and hardware to documentation, processes and supplier relationships. Confusing it with 'incident' or 'service request' is the common error, because those adjacent terms are defined in the same part of the syllabus.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- ITIL 4 syllabus clause 7
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a short set from objective 7 and space the ones you get wrong.
More questions on this objective
- Which statement best describes what the incident management practice is intended to achieve? machine-checked
- How is an incident defined in ITIL? machine-checked
- Several incidents are open at once and the support team must decide which to work on first. On what basis should the order be decided? machine-checked
- A difficult incident is worked on by pulling several specialists from different teams into the same session at the same time; once it becomes clear who is best placed to continue, the others step away. What is this technique called? machine-checked
- Why does an organisation define a separate procedure for major incidents rather than handling them exactly like all other incidents? machine-checked
- A support team routinely fixes incidents by phone and updates the incident record only with the word 'fixed'. What is the most significant consequence of this? machine-checked