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Exam Information
Official specifications published by PEOPLECERT
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Skills this practice test covers
- Compare the one-off piecemeal, evolutionary and big bang approaches to cloud adoption.
- Write a business case for cloud and carry out an organizational readiness assessment.
- Weigh the direct, indirect and hidden costs of a cloud service against its benefits and risks.
- Choose a migration approach for moving to the cloud, between providers or away from the cloud.
- Apply the shared responsibility model to an IaaS, PaaS or SaaS service.
- Adjust a cloud strategy to VUCA conditions with the continual improvement model.
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ITIL4-AMCS exam content
7 domains · 26 topics · 126 of 153 questions sorted by domain
Understand the Role of Cloud Services in an Organization26 questions
This domain sets the basics. Candidates describe what makes a service a cloud service, the three approaches to adopting cloud, and the deployment and service models.
Skills tested
- Describe the characteristics of the cloud, including cloud as a utility model.
- Compare the one-off piecemeal, evolutionary and big bang approaches to cloud adoption.
- Tell the public, private and hybrid deployment models apart.
- Compare SaaS, PaaS and IaaS by the control the customer keeps in each.
Questions by topic
- Cloud deployment and service models12
- Characteristics of the cloud7
- Cloud adoption approaches7
Define an Organization's Requirements for Adopting and Readiness to Adopt Cloud Solutions
This domain comes before any purchase. Candidates build a business case, define the organization's requirements, check whether the organization is ready, and present the case to stakeholders.
Skills tested
- Describe the structure and content of a business case for cloud.
- Gather stakeholder requirements and rank them by business value.
- Assess strategic, organizational, operational and financial readiness for cloud adoption.
- Communicate a cloud business case and answer stakeholder concerns and objections.
Official topics
- Business Case for Cloud
- Defining Requirements for Cloud Solutions
- Organizational Readiness Assessment for Cloud Adoption
- Communicating a Cloud Business Case
Identify Types of Cloud Services and Their Applicability19 questions
This domain matches the market to the organization's needs. Candidates describe the types of cloud service providers, the key elements of a cloud strategy, and how cloud solutions affect existing services and customer agreements.
Skills tested
- Describe the types of cloud service providers, including cloud service aggregates and cloud service model specialists.
- Set out the key elements of a cloud strategy for a service consumer.
- Assess how a cloud solution changes existing services and service level agreements (SLAs).
- Identify which available services fit the organization's context.
Questions by topic
- Types of cloud service providers7
- Cloud strategy key elements3
- Identifying relevant services for organizational context6
- Impact on services and agreements3
Cloud Service Selection and Procurement in the Offer Step13 questions
This domain weighs a cloud offer before the organization agrees to it. Candidates describe the costs, benefits, risks, and security and compliance points of a cloud service, and work out its return on investment.
Skills tested
- Separate direct, indirect and hidden costs, such as data egress fees.
- Describe the benefits and opportunities that cloud services create, such as scalability and elasticity.
- Explain the risks and disbenefits of cloud, including shadow IT and shifts in roles and responsibilities.
- Describe the inputs and outputs of a return on investment (ROI) for cloud.
Questions by topic
- Costs of cloud services7
- Risks and disbenefits of cloud services3
- Security and compliance considerations3
Onboarding and Offboarding Cloud Services23 questions
This domain covers moving onto a cloud service and leaving it again. Candidates choose a migration approach, plan onboarding together with users, and change the operating model to fit.
Skills tested
- Compare moving from in-house to cloud, migrating between CSPs and migrating away from the cloud.
- Choose between lift and shift migration and re-platforming or re-architecting.
- Plan onboarding with users involved, communication channels in place and users prepared for the new service.
- Plan offboarding, including data extraction and contract termination.
- Modify the operating model to support migration to cloud services.
Questions by topic
- Cloud migration approaches8
- Onboarding/offboarding activities2
- Modifying operating model for cloud3
- Key approaches for cloud migration1
- Activities of onboarding/offboarding cloud services9
Managing the Use of Cloud Services24 questions
This domain is about running cloud services well once they are in use. Candidates apply the shared responsibility model, measure the quality of consumed services, and use tools, techniques, methods and controls in context.
Skills tested
- Apply the shared responsibility model across IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
- Measure the quality of consumed cloud services with KPIs and customer satisfaction measurement.
- Use cost management, performance monitoring and security monitoring tools.
- Apply governance controls, such as policy enforcement for cloud procurement.
Questions by topic
- Shared responsibility model6
- Measuring cloud service quality5
- Cloud management tools, techniques, and controls11
- Tools, techniques, methods, and controls1
- Measuring quality of cloud services1
Evaluate and Improve a Cloud Strategy21 questions
The last domain keeps the cloud strategy current. Candidates adjust the strategy to VUCA challenges and apply the continual improvement model to it.
Skills tested
- Explain how a cloud strategy should adjust to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.
- Apply each step of the continual improvement model to a cloud strategy.
- Use metrics to decide whether an improvement to the strategy worked.
Questions by topic
- Cloud strategy adjustments for VUCA7
- Applying continual improvement model to cloud strategy14
Requirements
- Required: an accredited training course through an Accredited Training Organisation (ATO).
- No earlier ITIL certification is required.
- Recommended: ITIL 4 Foundation and a basic understanding of ITIL.
About the ITIL4-AMCS exam
ITIL4-AMCS looks at cloud services from the buyer's side: how an organization decides to adopt them, selects and buys them, moves onto them and manages them over time. Its seven domains run from cloud basics and the business case to onboarding, offboarding and improving the cloud strategy. Candidates need accredited training through an Accredited Training Organisation (ATO), but no earlier ITIL certificate. Passing earns the ITIL 4 Specialist: Acquiring & Managing Cloud Services certification.
PlanetCert's practice questions focus most on readiness and requirements and on the role of cloud services, and many apply the continual improvement model to a cloud strategy. The explanations separate close answers, such as the evolutionary approach and the one-off piecemeal approach, or a duty of the provider and a duty of the consumer. Study Mode suits the onboarding and offboarding domain, which has many separate activities to keep in order. Brainy AI Assistant can take a candidate through how the shared responsibility model changes from IaaS to SaaS, or what a readiness assessment should check.
How to earn the certification
- Earns
- ITIL 4 Specialist: Acquiring & Managing Cloud ServicesSpecialist
The certification is valid for three years.
- Before
- ITIL4-FND ITIL 4 Foundation
Recommended, not required. It teaches the core ITIL 4 terms that this module builds on.
- ITIL4-FND ITIL 4 Foundation
- After
- ITIL4-DITS ITIL 4 Leader: Digital and IT Strategy
ITIL 4's Leader module on digital and IT strategy, for those who move into strategy work.
- ITIL4-DITS ITIL 4 Leader: Digital and IT Strategy
How to prepare for ITIL4-AMCS
- 1
Arrange the accredited training first
The exam requires accredited training through an ATO, so the course comes before everything else. Use it to collect the module's terms and examples in one place.
- 2
Build one cloud business case
Pick one service, for example an email or CRM system, and write its business case: requirements, readiness, costs, risks and ROI. Several domains draw on this one exercise.
- 3
Sort costs, risks and benefits
List the direct, indirect and hidden costs of that service next to its benefits and its risks, such as shadow IT and data sovereignty. Drill the cost types in flashcard mode.
- 4
Plan an exit as well as an entry
Plan both directions for the same service: a move into the cloud and a move away from it, with data portability and contract termination covered.
- 5
Walk the improvement model under time
Many questions apply the continual improvement model. In a timed run of the ITIL4-AMCS practice test, note each one missed, and ask Brainy AI Assistant to go through the model's steps for it.
Start a timed ITIL4-AMCSrun
Who ITIL4-AMCS is for
- Cloud architects and consultants who plan an organization's move to cloud services.
- Bid, capture and procurement managers who deal with cloud contracts.
- Experienced and aspiring ITSM managers who must govern services that run in the cloud.
- Executives and portfolio, programme and project management (PPM) professionals who decide on cloud investments.
Typical job titles: Cloud architect · Cloud consultant · ITSM manager · Procurement manager · Bid manager · IT manager
ITIL4-AMCS glossary
18 terms from the exam objectives and the vendor's official material, each defined in a sentence.
- Big Bang approach
- Moving to the cloud in one large change. It finishes faster than a phased move but carries more risk.
- Cloud Deployment Models
- Where a cloud runs and who shares it: public, private or hybrid.
- Cloud repatriation
- Moving services back from the cloud to in-house systems, for reasons such as cost, compliance or performance.
- Cloud Service Models
- The ways a cloud service is offered: software (SaaS), a platform (PaaS) or infrastructure (IaaS).
- Data portability
- How easily data can be taken out of one cloud service and moved to another provider or back in-house.
- Data sovereignty
- The principle that data falls under the laws of the country where it is stored, which limits where a cloud service may keep it.
- Evolutionary approach
- Adopting cloud services step by step under a plan, learning and adjusting after each phase.
- Hidden costs
- Cloud costs that are easy to miss when a service is chosen, such as data egress fees, API call charges and premium support.
- Hyperscale cloud providers
- Very large providers that offer many kinds of cloud service at global scale.
- ITIL Continual Improvement Model
- ITIL's step-by-step improvement cycle, which moves from the vision to measuring success and keeping the momentum going.
- Lift and shift migration
- Moving an application to the cloud as it is, with few or no changes to its design.
- Managed service providers (MSPs)
- Companies that run cloud services or infrastructure on behalf of a customer.
- One-off Piecemeal approach
- Adopting single cloud services for specific needs as they come up, without an overall cloud strategy.
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- A measure that compares what a cloud service gains for the organization with what it costs.
- Service integration and management (SIAM)
- An approach that manages many service providers so that the customer receives one joined-up service.
- Shadow IT
- Cloud services that staff buy or use without approval from IT or procurement, which creates security and cost risks.
- Shared responsibility model
- The split of duties between the cloud service provider and the consumer, which changes with the service model.
- VUCA
- Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity: the conditions that a cloud strategy must be able to adjust to.