ITIL (formerly the shortcut for Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a management framework aiming to aligning IT services with the needs of business using 26 core processes which are described in 5 core volumes. Since 2013 it is a trademark of AXELOS.
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library itil is a set of concepts and practices for Information Technology Services Management (ITSM), Information Technology (IT) development and IT operations.
itil describes processes, procedures, tasks, and checklists which are not organization-specific, but can be applied by an organization for establishing integration with the organization's strategy, delivering value, and maintaining a minimum level of competency. It allows the organization to establish a baseline from which it can plan, implement, and measure. It is used to demonstrate compliance and to measure improvement.
itil gives detailed descriptions of a number of important IT practices and provides comprehensive checklists, tasks and procedures that any IT organisation can tailor to its needs. itil is published in a series of books, each of which covers an IT management topic. The names itil and IT Infrastructure Library used to be registered trademarks of the United Kingdom's Office of Government Commerce (OGC), the trademark now belongs to AXELOS.
itil is just one out of many service delivery standards, others are for instance COBIT, eTOM, and ISO/IEC 20000.
