ITIL® advocates that IT services are aligned to the needs of the business and support its core processes. It provides guidance to organizations and individuals on how to use IT as a tool to facilitate business change, transformation and growth. The ITIL® best practices are currently detailed within five core publications:
Service Strategy
Service Design
Service Transition
Service Operation
Continual Service Improvement.
These five volumes map the entire ITIL® Service Lifecycle, beginning with the identification of customer needs and drivers of IT requirements, through to the design and implementation of the service and finally, the monitoring and improvement phase of the service.