✅ Testing Toolkit
Service Validation and Testing (SVT) is the ITIL 4 practice that ensures new or changed IT services meet defined requirements before entering production. A robust testing framework prevents incidents caused by poorly tested changes and improves change success rates.
Testing in the ITIL 4 Context
Testing is not just a pre-go-live activity — it runs throughout the service lifecycle:
| Lifecycle Stage | Testing Activity |
|---|---|
| Design | Architecture review, requirements validation |
| Build | Unit tests, integration tests, code review |
| Transition | UAT, performance testing, security testing, DR testing |
| Operation | Monitoring, synthetic testing, chaos engineering |
| Improvement | Regression testing, A/B testing, experiment design |
Test Categories
| Category | Purpose | When |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Testing | Test individual components in isolation | During development |
| Integration Testing | Test interactions between components | After unit tests pass |
| System Testing | Test the complete integrated system | Pre-UAT |
| User Acceptance Testing (UAT) | Business validates the system meets requirements | Before production |
| Performance Testing | Validate system behaviour under load | Before production |
| Security Testing | Identify vulnerabilities before go-live | Before production |
| Regression Testing | Confirm existing functionality not broken | After every change |
| Disaster Recovery Testing | Validate recovery procedures and RTO/RPO | Annually |
Section Contents
Downloadable Templates
| Template | Format | Download |
|---|---|---|
| Bug Tracking Register | Excel | ⬇ Download |
| Weekly Test Report | Excel | ⬇ Download |
Part of the Digital Kimya (opens in a new tab) ITSM Knowledge Base.