A lot changed in the move from ITIL v3 (2011 Edition) to ITIL 4 in terms of the ITIL processes. The changes included the move from IT service management (ITSM) processes to service management practices. Now we have ITIL (Version 5), announced in January 2026, with the related best-practice publications following. Please keep reading to learn more about the 34 ITIL Version 5 management practices.
Overview of the ITIL Version 5 Management Practices
This article shares all 34 of the ITIL (Version 5) management practices and their ITIL Foundation glossary definitions. Five management practices have also changed their “location” between ITIL 4 and ITIL (Version 5) to now sit in the product and service management practices grouping.
Product and Service Management Practices (ITIL Version 5 Management Practices)
Product and Service Management Practices in ITIL (Version 5) – 22 Practices
This is the first grouping of ITIL (Version 5) management practices. There are 22 product and service management practices in ITIL (Version 5), versus 17 service management practices in ITIL 4:
Availability Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that services deliver agreed levels of availability to meet the needs of customers and users.”
Business Analysis (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of analysing a business or some element of a business, defining its needs and recommending solutions to address these needs and/or solve a business problem, and create value for stakeholders.”
Capacity and Performance Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that services achieve agreed and expected performance levels, satisfying current and future demand in a cost-effective way.”
Change Enablement (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that services achieve agreed and expected performance levels, satisfying current and future demand in a cost-effective way.”
Deployment Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of moving new or changed hardware, software, documentation, processes, or any other service component to one of the controlled environments.” (This has moved from the ITIL 4 Technical Management Practices in the ITIL Version 5 Management Practices)
Incident Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of minimizing the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible.”
Information Security Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The policy that governs an organization’s approach to information security management.” (This was a general management practice in ITIL 4)
Infrastructure and Platform Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of overseeing the infrastructure and platforms used by an organization. This enables the monitoring of technology solutions available, including solutions from third parties.” (This has moved from the ITIL 4 Technical Management Practices in the ITIL Version 5 Management Practices)
IT Asset Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of planning and managing the full lifecycle of all IT assets.”
Monitoring and Event Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of systematically observing services and service components, and recording and reporting selected changes of state identified as events.”
Problem Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of reducing the likelihood and impact of incidents by identifying actual and potential causes of incidents, and managing workarounds and known errors.”
Release Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of making new and changed services and features available for use.”
Service Catalog Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of providing a single source of consistent information on all services and service offerings, and ensuring that it is available to the relevant audience.”
Service Configuration Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that accurate and reliable information about the configuration of services, and the configuration items that support them, is available when and where needed.”
Service Continuity Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that service availability and performance are maintained at a sufficient level in case of a disaster.”
Service Design (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of designing products and services that are fit for purpose, fit for use, and that can be delivered by the organization and its ecosystem.”
Service Desk (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of providing the entry point and single point of contact with the service provider for all users, and capturing demand for incident resolution and service requests.”
Service Financial Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of supporting an organization’s strategies and plans for service management by ensuring that the organization’s financial resources and investments are being used effectively.” (This was a general management practice in ITIL 4)
Service Level Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The purpose of the service level management practice is to set clear business-based targets for service levels, and to ensure that delivery of services is properly assessed, monitored, and managed against these targets.” This governs the creation of service level agreements (SLAs) and the measurement of service performance.
Service Request Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The purpose of the service request management practice is to support the agreed quality of a service by handling all predefined, user-initiated service requests in an effective and user-friendly manner.” This includes service portal use.
Service Validation and Testing (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that new or changed products and services meet defined requirements.”
Software Development and Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that applications meet stakeholder needs in terms of functionality, reliability, maintainability, compliance, and auditability.” (This has moved from the ITIL 4 Technical Management Practices in the ITIL Version 5 Management Practices)
General Management Practices (ITIL Version 5 Management Practices)
General Management Practices in ITIL Version 5 (12 Practices)
This is the second grouping of ITIL Version 5 management practices. There are 12 general management practices in ITIL (Version 5), versus 14 in ITIL 4:
Architecture Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of providing an understanding of all the different elements that make up an organization and how those elements relate to one another.”
Continual Improvement (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of aligning an organization’s practices and services with changing business needs through the ongoing identification and improvement of all elements involved in the effective management of products and services.”
Knowledge Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of maintaining and improving the effective, efficient, and convenient use of information and knowledge across an organization.”
Measurement and Reporting (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of supporting good decision-making and continual improvement by decreasing levels of uncertainty.”
Organizational Change Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that changes in an organization are smoothly and successfully implemented and that lasting benefits are achieved by managing the human aspects of the changes.”
Portfolio Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that an organization has the right mix of programmes, projects, products, and services to execute its strategy within its funding and resource constraints.”
Project Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that all an organization’s projects are successfully delivered.”
Relationship Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of establishing and nurturing links between an organization and its stakeholders at strategic and tactical levels.”
Risk Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that an organization understands and effectively handles risks.”
Strategy Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of formulating the goals of an organization and adopting the courses of action and allocation of resources necessary for achieving those goals.”
Supplier Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that an organization’s suppliers and their performance levels are managed appropriately to support the provision of seamless quality products and services.”
Workforce and Talent Management (ITIL Version 5)
“The practice of ensuring that an organization has the right people with the appropriate skills and knowledge and in the correct roles to support its business objectives.”
Structural ITIL Version 5 Management Practices Changes from ITIL 4
What Happened to Technical Management Practices in ITIL Version 5?
In ITIL (Version 5), there are no longer any technical management practices. These are all now product and service management practices.
ITIL (Version 5) Sources and Official Guidance – ITIL Version 5 Management Practices
All the above ITIL (Version 5) management practices definitions are taken from the ITIL (Version 5) Foundation publication glossary.
The new ITIL Official Practice Guides from PeopleCert will flesh these management practices out into more detailed explanations that outline areas such as purpose statement, practice success factors, key metrics, processes, key roles/team members (including for support teams), and key automation tools.
This ITIL Version 5 management practices article is hopefully the first of many that share what has changed from ITIL 4. If you were looking for ITIL 5 or ITIL v5 management practices, hopefully Google or similar still brought you here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about ITIL Version 5 Management Practices
ITIL (Version 5) is the latest evolution of the ITIL service management framework, introduced in 2026. Like ITIL 4, it expands beyond traditional ITSM and now includes digital product management, AI governance, experience management, and end-to-end value creation.
ITIL (Version 5) includes 34 management practices, the same total as ITIL 4, but with updated groupings and several structural changes.
The practices are now organized into two categories:
Product and Service Management Practices (22)
General Management Practices (12)
This replaces the three-group structure used in ITIL 4.
ITIL (Version 5) no longer has a separate Technical Management Practices category. Practices such as Deployment Management, Infrastructure and Platform Management, and Software Development and Management were moved into the ther two groupings.
General Management Practices cover broader organizational capabilities such as Strategy Management, Risk Management, Relationship Management, Supplier Management, Workforce and Talent Management, and Continual Improvement.
Key changes include:
– Greater focus on digital products and services
– AI-native framework design
– Increased emphasis on governance and accountability
– Expanded guidance for automation and AI
– Simplified practice structure
– Stronger integration with product management concepts.
AI-native means the framework was designed so that practices, workflows, governance, and decision-making can be enhanced by AI, automation, predictive analytics, and intelligent optimization.
Yes. ITIL (Version 5) introduces dedicated guidance for AI governance, responsible AI adoption, compliance, risk management, and ethical AI usage within service and product management environments.
The update reflects major industry changes since ITIL 4, including:
Increased operational complexity
Rapid AI adoption
Digital transformation
Product-centric operating models
Greater focus on employee and customer experience.
The Service Desk practice provides guidance for the primary point of contact between end-users and the service provider, supporting incident resolution, service requests, communication, and end-user experience improvement.
Change Enablement helps organizations manage risk and maximize successful service changes while minimizing disruption and ensuring controlled delivery.
Yes. ITIL (Version 5) continues to align with Agile, DevOps, Lean, automation, and product-based operating models to support faster and more adaptive service delivery.
The certification structure includes:
ITIL Foundation
ITIL Practice Manager (PM)
ITIL Managing Professional (MP)
ITIL Strategic Leader (SL)
ITIL Master.
Additional transition modules are available for ITIL 4 professionals.
Yes. Transition paths and bridge modules are available for ITIL 4 certification holders, including the Managing Professional Transition (MPT) route.
No. The framework is designed to support organizations of all sizes, including small and mid-sized businesses that manage digital products, services, and operational workflows.
ITIL practices are applicable across industries, including finance, healthcare, government, retail, education, manufacturing, and managed service providers. Any organization that delivers digitally enabled products and services can benefit.
The practices help organizations improve operational efficiency, service quality, governance, digital transformation outcomes, customer experience, AI readiness, and business alignment.
Further Reading Beyond the ITIL Version 5 Management Practices
Stephen Mann
Principal Analyst and Content Director at the ITSM-focused industry analyst firm ITSM.tools. Also an independent IT and IT service management marketing content creator, and a frequent blogger, writer, and presenter on the challenges and opportunities for IT service management professionals.
Previously held positions in IT research and analysis (at IT industry analyst firms Ovum and Forrester and the UK Post Office), IT service management consultancy, enterprise IT service desk and IT service management, IT asset management, innovation and creativity facilitation, project management, finance consultancy, internal audit, and product marketing for a SaaS IT service management technology vendor.
