Audience

This course is most suited for IT professionals who have a need to understand the current requirements and core competences for managing IT in mission-critical environments. It is best suited for participants who have between two and four years of actual working experience in IT, with knowledge of systems, network and/or applications, service desk operations and/or IT professionals working in the position of team leader/supervisor/ manager in any area of IT. This includes those individuals working in the field of sales and consultancy with solution providers.

Prerequisites

To gain the most from this course, the participant should have two to four years of actual working experience in IT.

Duration

3 days.

This class is taught virtually, please click here for more information about our virtual courses.

Course Objectives

CITS is the second course in the EPI IT Training Framework. The CITS course is aligned with competence level-3 of the e-CF. CITS is a 3-day course designed to teach the skills, knowledge and competencies required of the modern IT specialist working at the senior professional, team-leader, supervisor or management level in IT management. Candidates who successfully complete the course and pass the CITS exam will be awarded the globally recognised CITS credential. This will prove that they have gained the competences required to provide leadership and take responsibility for team performances and development in unpredictable environments, using innovative methods. They will be able to place themselves above their peers, delivering added value to their organisations.

After completion of the course the participant will be able to:

• Provide guidance and implementation for IT strategy as set by senior IT and business management
• Select and manage staff, implement training programs, career plan development and job rotation programs
• Select, evaluate and negotiate vendors using RFI, RFP and selection criteria
• Provide guidance for developing, testing and implementing business applications
• Manage and/or assist in IT project management
• Design and implement service management processes for incident, problem and change management
• Understand the need for business continuity and design the business continuity plan
• Review and implement information security practices and controls
• Assist and initiate risk management practices
• Understand and select new technologies such as cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things and social media to support business change demands
• Select strategies for information management
• Measure and improve quality of IT services

Course Content

IT Strategy
The need for Information Technology
Enterprise architecture
Service catalogue
Service level management
Sustainable development

IT Organisation
Personnel need
Roles and responsibilities
Sourcing
Selection process
Hiring staff
Managing staff
Career planning
Training / job rotation
Performance appraisal
Staff departures

Vendor Selection / Management
The importance of vendors
Vendor selection
Request For Information (RFI)
Request For Proposal (RFP)
Proposal evaluation
Vendor reference checks
Contract negotiation
Contract management
Vendor management
Re-compete vendors

Project Management
Methodologies
Project organisation
Starting up / initiating
Planning / initiation a project
Risk
Quality
Scope
Work / Product Breakdown Structure
PERT diagram / Gantt chart
Cost
Communication

Application Management
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Software Quality Assurance (SQA)
Requirements
Development
Testing
Adoption (implementation)
Maintenance

Service Management
Incident management
Problem management
Change management

Business Continuity Management
Standards and guidelines
Objectives
Context
Interested parties
Scope
Roles and responsibilities
Resources and competences
Awareness and communication
Documentation
Business Impact Analysis

Risk Management
Guidelines
Context establishment
Identification
Analysis
Evaluation
Treatment
Communication
Monitoring and control

Information Security Management
Standards
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Controls types
Guideline for controls selection
Control categories
Information security awareness
Security incident response

Information and Knowledge Management
Information management
Data management
Information management - technologies
Business intelligence
Data management - technologies
Best practices in data governance
Pitfalls in data governance

Business Change Management
Business change
Frameworks, models and techniques
Needs identification
Cloud computing
Social media / digital marketing
Big data
Internet of Things (IoT)

Quality Management
Standards, guidelines and frameworks
Objectives
Activities
Services review
Customer feedback
Customer survey
Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
Metrics
Scorecards and reports
Quality register

Exam

The exam is a 75-minute closed-book exam, with 50 multiple-choice questions. The candidate requires a minimum of 35 correct answers to pass the exam. Candidates who successfully pass the exam will receive the official ‘Certified Information Technology Specialist’ certificate.

The CITS certificate is valid for 3 years, after which recertification is required.

CITS is world-wide accredited by EXIN.