ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 Published

On Saturday, September 15, the third edition of the international service management standard ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 was published.

This new version replaces the one published in 2011 and includes numerous improvements. These improvements will facilitate compliance for organizations providing internal and external services, regardless of their size and sector In all, the modifications enable a less rigid and more valuable application or the standard’s requirements.

As for the ISO 20000 editorial team, it includes representatives from 36 participating countries, 15 observer countries and 4 liaisons. Ozona Consulting has had two of its members on the international committee since 2010: Lynda Cooper and Diego Berea .

The standard’s revision process

The elaboration of ISO 20000:1-2018 started in May 2015 in São Paulo . On that date, the editorial team presented a first internal draft and approved a list of 17 principles that would govern the editorial process. Just as in the 2011 edition, the main editor of ISO 20000 has been our partner Lynda Cooper.

Generally, the review cycle of an international standard lasts three years, from the submission of the first draft to the publication of the final document. The intermediate stages, lasting several months each, require voting by member countries.

Meetings of the editorial committee of the ISO 20000 for the publication of the 2011 and 2018 editions.

Therefore, it is a long journey with two face-to-face meetings each year – São Paulo, Copenhagen, Suzhou, London, Okayama, Redmond and Lisbon. It also requires a lot of remote work, both from the editors and from the entire team. The process also includes numerous Webex meetings, sometimes at odd hours due to time differences.

But the work does not end with the publication milestone; the other parts of the standard, which facilitate the understanding and application of part 1, must also be reviewed:

• ISO/IEC 20000-2, guidance on the application of service management systems.
• ISO/IEC 20000-3, guidance on scope definition.

Sharing the new aspects included in ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018

The news dissemination process also starts around this time, in an attempt to maximize the adoption of the new standard. In fact, standards organizations, certifiers, training companies and consultants had already been doing this work for weeks, by the time the standard was published. In doing so, they assist certified organizations in the transition to the new edition. As for non-certified organizations, their goal is to achieve a first certification already following the requirements of the new edition.

As part of these efforts, Ozona organized a masterclass in Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon during the month of October. The event , with the participation of Lynda Cooper and Diego Berea, provided a practical guide to organizations that have a service management system –ISO 20000-certified or not– and want to achieve compliance with the new requirements of the standard.

The standard in Spanish

The standard must also be translated and initiate the homologation process as a national standard in each country. In Spain, the steps culminate in its submission to the BOE for dissemination and publication as a UNE standard. The mirror committee in Spain (CTN 71 GT25 of UNE) had already translated the draft prior to final publication. Thanks to this, the standard could be published in Spanish before the end of the year.

The Spanish contribution to ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018

Spain’s participation in the 2005 and 2011 editions was quite discreet. However, in the 2018 edition, it has been one of the countries that has contributed the most through the submission of technical comments. In fact, it has ranked alongside the most commonly active countries: United Kingdom, Australia, United States, etc. In addition, some Spanish proposals have had a significant positive impact on the evolution of drafts up until the final version. Not only has it been an abundant contribution, but also a valuable and active one.

So, we welcome the new ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018. From now on, we will start working in order to apply it to future projects, train professionals and help organizations achieve compliance with the new requirements of the standard.

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