By Dolf van der Haven and Rob Herings
Introduction
The XLA Institute and other participants developed a standard for experience level agreement (XLA) in the Netherlands in 2023. This led to the NEN 8038 standard, available in both Dutch and English. To promote the standard in other countries, we engaged with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO has numerous Technical Committees (TCs) and Sub-committees (SCs), each focusing on a specific area of standardization.
The concept of XLA fits best within IT Service Management, for which ISO/IEC 20000-1 is the international standard. We pitched the idea of standardizing XLA to the committee responsible for that standard, named ISO/IEC JTC1/SC40.
The Process
When we presented our proposal in October 2024, the SC40 committee was immediately enthusiastic. After a first formal ballot for the new project proposal, development started in February 2025. The new standard is called: ISO-IEC 20000-18 – Information technology – Service management – Part 18 – Guidance on the use of experience management in a service management system.
Developing an International Standard (IS) can easily take three years; a Technical Specification (TS) can be completed in 18-24 months. To save time, the upcoming standard is a TS. Still, it involves several iterations, during which all committee members can submit technical and editorial comments. These comments are collected, discussed, and accepted or rejected. The editorial team incorporates the accepted comments into the draft standard, which is then resubmitted for review. Typically, a standard goes through several working drafts (WDs), a committee draft (CD), and a Draft Technical Specification (DTS) ballot.
The Status
ISO/IEC 20000-18 is currently at the CD stage, meaning we are gathering the final comments. We will discuss them in January 2026 and then update the draft standard for the DTS ballot, which typically takes twelve weeks. Once the DTS ballot concludes and no significant issues are identified, the standard will be sent to the ISO editors for publication. ISO/IEC 20000-18 is expected to be published in the summer of 2026.
The Content
When we started this project, the scope changed from XLA to the broader concept of Experience Management (XM), of which XLA is a part. Much of the content of the existing NEN 8038 standard has been used. For those unfamiliar with the IT Service Management standard, an introduction to ISO/IEC 20000-1 has been included.
ISO/IEC 20000-18 applies the principles of XM and XLA and provides organizations with guidance on self-assessing the effectiveness of their XM and XLA practices. It is also possible to engage external assessors to determine this effectiveness or maturity. However, ISO/IEC 20000-18 is not a standard for which you can obtain a certification. ISO/IEC 20000-1 is the only IT Service Management standard for which a formal ISO certificate can be obtained.
