SMS in Practice: Implementing ISO/IEC 20000-1

Build the core of an ISO/IEC 20000-1 service management system step by step, with a free, ready-to-edit starter kit.

Created byBrivellis Academy

Last updated 10/2026

English

What you'll learn

Score your readiness against ISO/IEC 20000-1 clauses 4 to 10 and turn the gaps into a prioritised action list
Write an SMS scope statement an auditor can test, including context, interested parties and the 2024 climate change check
Draft a service management policy with measurable objectives linked to a KPI register
Build a service catalogue and an SLA with a priority matrix, clock rules and an underpinning check
Plan your SMS: risks and opportunities, actions, owners and resources in one SMS plan
Run an internal audit, log nonconformities and hold a management review that produces real decisions
Tailor every template with an AI prompt pack, and review AI output properly before you rely on it

Course content

8 sections • 26 lectures • 1h 23m total length

0.1 Welcome: what you'll build and how to use this course3:15
What you'll build over eight modules, how every lesson works (template → worked example → your turn), who the course is for, and three ground rules: use your own copy of the standard, this is not certification or audit advice, and have tailored templates reviewed by a competent person.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
0.2 ISO/IEC 20000-1 in five minutes: structure, the SMS, what auditors look for4:52
The parts of the ISO/IEC 20000 series that matter, how Part 1 (2018 + Amd 1:2024) is organised across clauses 4 to 10, the 2024 climate change requirement, and what a certification auditor asks for first.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
0.3 Download the kit and meet Falcon Ridge IT Services3:33
Download and unzip the free Starter Kit, see what each file does (templates 00 to 07, "b" files are the worked examples), and meet Falcon Ridge IT Services, the fictional provider used throughout the course.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
Module 0 quiz: ISO/IEC 20000-1 foundations

1.1 Walk through the readiness checklist3:10
Rate your organisation against the 44 requirement areas in the Readiness Checklist tab, using three statuses: implemented, partial and not started, with the evidence an auditor expects for each.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
1.2 Score and prioritize your gaps2:54
Turn your readiness score into a fix order: foundations first, then the "evidence engines" auditors want to see running, then the rest. Falcon Ridge's 57% baseline shows how.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
1.3 Your 2–4 week build path2:22
Group the Read Me First order of work into four weeks: foundations, direction, service commitments, then plan, measure and review, with what to get signed off each week.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
Module 1 quiz: Gap assessment

2.1 What goes in scope: services, locations, units3:38
Build your scope around services, not departments: which services, delivered by which units, from which locations, informed by context and interested parties (clause 4.3).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
2.2 Interfaces, other parties and exclusions2:56
Limit scope without excluding requirements, and document the other parties in the service lifecycle (suppliers, internal teams, a parent company) and how you control them.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
2.3 Worked example and exercise2:46
Falcon Ridge's finished scope statement: three services, four units, four locations and four other parties, followed by an exercise to complete your own.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
Module 2 quiz: Context and scope

3.1 What a service management policy must commit to3:13
What clause 5.2 expects from the policy, who must approve it, and how to keep it short, true and provable.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
3.2 Objectives you can actually measure2:43
Separate objective, measure and target, put the numbers in the KPI Register rather than the policy, and meet clause 6.2 planning requirements.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
3.3 Worked example: Falcon Ridge policy3:15
Falcon Ridge's approved policy: specific obligations, a home for every commitment, and objectives that flow straight into the KPI Register.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
Module 3 quiz: Policy and objectives

4.1 Build the service catalogue3:05
Describe each service by its customer outcome, owner, hours, availability target and dependencies in the Service Catalogue tab (clause 8.2.4).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
4.2 Anatomy of an SLA3:03
Walk the SLA template's twelve sections, and apply the one check that stops you promising what your suppliers and teams can't deliver.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
4.3 The priority matrix and response/resolution targets3:10
Derive priority from impact and urgency, set P1 to P4 response and resolution targets from your own data, and write clear clock rules so SLA reports are facts, not arguments.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
4.4 Worked example and exercise2:53
Falcon Ridge's SLA for Managed Microsoft 365: hours, availability, P1 to P4 targets backed by ticket data, and a checked supplier chain, followed by your exercise.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
Module 4 quiz: Service catalogue and SLAs

5.1 Risks and opportunities for services3:30
Build a small, honest risk register from work you've already done, using one likelihood-times-impact method consistently (clause 6.1).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
5.2 Writing the SMS plan3:31
Write the SMS plan as a map, not a manual: nine headings, each pointing to the document that already holds the detail (clause 6.3).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
5.3 Integrate with ITIL® and ISO 27001 using the crosswalk2:51
Use the Crosswalk tab to reuse work across ISO/IEC 20000-1, ITIL® practices and ISO/IEC 27001, so shared requirements are done once.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
Module 5 quiz: Risks and the SMS plan

6.1 The KPI register and service reporting3:21
Set up the KPI Register's twelve KPIs with definitions, direction, targets, thresholds and owners, and make reports that change decisions (clauses 9.1 and 9.4).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
6.2 Plan and run an internal audit3:29
Plan a three-year audit programme and run your first internal audit with the 26 highest-risk questions (clause 9.2).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
6.3 Management review: inputs, outputs, minutes3:10
Run a management review that covers every required input and records real decisions in the minutes (clause 9.3).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
6.4 Nonconformity and corrective action3:07
Tell a correction from a corrective action, find the root cause, and prove the fix worked, using the nonconformity log (clause 10.1).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
Module 6 quiz: Measure, audit, review, improve

7.1 Tailor a document with the AI prompt pack (live demo)3:37
Follow the prompt pack's safe-use rules, fill in the master context once, then tailor a template to your organisation with AI.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
7.2 Review before you rely on it: competent-person check3:01
Apply a two-pass competent-person review (facts, then compliance) to every AI-assisted document before it is approved (clauses 7.2 and 7.5).
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
7.3 Capstone and next steps toward certification2:49
Score your scope, policy and SLA against the capstone rubric (aim for 16 out of 20), then follow five steps toward a Stage 2 certification audit.
Independent of ISO, IEC and PeopleCert. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. Templates and education, not audit or legal advice.
Module 7 quiz: Tailor with AI and get certified

Requirements

Basic ITSM knowledge: incident, change and SLA
Microsoft Word and Excel, or compatible software
Your own licensed copy of ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 and Amd 1:2024 (recommended; the course cites clauses only)
No prior ISO project experience needed

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Most ISO/IEC 20000-1 SMS projects stall on a blank page. This course gets you past it. Over eight short modules you build the documented core of a service management system (SMS) aligned with ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 and its 2024 amendment.

Every lesson follows the same pattern: open a template from the free SMS Starter Kit for ISO/IEC 20000-1, study a fully worked example for Falcon Ridge IT Services, a fictional IT provider, then apply it to your own organization.

By the end you will have a readiness score against clauses 4 to 10 and a prioritized gap list; a scope statement covering context, interested parties and the climate change check; a service management policy with measurable objectives; a service catalogue and an SLA with clear clock rules; and an SMS plan, a KPI register, an internal audit program and a management review pack.

What's included: 26 short video lessons, a quiz after each module, and the complete Starter Kit in Word and Excel, with six worked examples and an AI prompt pack. The kit is yours to keep and use inside one organization.

Who this is for: service managers, ITSM process owners, IT governance and quality leads, and MSP or cloud teams preparing for certification. You should know basic ITSM terms; no prior ISO project experience is needed.

About Brivellis Academy: every course is built around free, ready-to-edit templates and fully worked examples, checked against the current edition of the standard, and versioned so corrections are published openly.

How this course was made: the narration uses an AI voice, and AI tools assisted with drafting and editing. All content was designed, checked against ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 + Amd 1:2024 and reviewed and approved by a person before release.

Important: this course is not a certification and not audit or legal advice. Certification comes from an accredited certification body. The course cites clause numbers but does not reproduce the standard, so buy an official copy.

Brivellis Technologies FZE LLC is an independent company. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or licensed by ISO, IEC or PeopleCert. Standards are referenced by their full designation (e.g., ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018) and are not reproduced. ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the PeopleCert group. All rights reserved. This material paraphrases requirements, does not reproduce any standard, and is not legal, certification or audit advice.

Who this course is for:

Service managers and ITSM process owners
IT governance, quality and compliance leads
MSP and cloud teams preparing for ISO/IEC 20000-1 certification
Anyone who has been asked to "get us certified" and doesn't know where to start

SMS in Practice: Implementing ISO/IEC 20000-1

What you'll learn

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Course content

Module 0: Start here3 lectures • 12min

Module 1: Where do you stand?3 lectures • 8min

Module 2: Scope the SMS3 lectures • 9min

Module 3: Policy and objectives3 lectures • 9min

Module 4: Service catalogue and SLA4 lectures • 12min

Module 5: Plan the SMS3 lectures • 10min

Module 6: Measure, audit, review4 lectures • 13min

Module 7: Tailor with AI and finish3 lectures • 9min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: