Change Management

• A change is “an event that results in a new status of one or more

configuration items (CI's)”

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 Change Management
• The goal of Change Management is to ensure that
standardized methods and procedures are used for
efficient handling of all Changes, in order to minimize the
impact of Change-related incidents and to improve day-to-
day operations.

• The main aims of Change Management are :

– Minimal disruption of services
– Reduction in back-out activities
– Economic utilization of resources involved in the
change

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 Change Management

Change Management Terminology

• Change
– the addition, modification or removal of CIs

• Request for Change (RFC)

– form used to record details of a request for a change and is sent as
an input to Change Management by the Change Requestor

• Forward Schedule of Changes (FSC)

– schedule that contains details of all the forthcoming Changes

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 Change Management (contd..)

• Change Categories
– Category 0 : Is executed without prior contact. Used for workarounds/
temporary fixes
– Category 1 : Little or no impact. Change Manager authorises this RFC
– Category 2 : Significant impact. CAB discussion needed. Change Manager
requests advice on authorisation and planning
– Category 3 : Major impact. Considerable resources required. Senior
Management need to be a part of the CAB.

• Change Priorities
– Urgent: change is required now, in order to achieve the service levels
– High: as soon as possible, otherwise risk to current or future production
– Normal: change solves serious mistakes or a lack in functionality
– Low: change yields improvements that are not required by contract

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 Request for Change ( RFC) - Contents

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 Change Management (contd..)
• Request for Change ( RFC)
– It is a formal document sent to Change Management by the Change
Requestor requesting for a change.
– Every RFC runs through a number of stages before the change can be
implemented

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 Change Management (contd..)

• Change Review
– All implemented changes must be reviewed to establish whether:
• The change has had the desired effect and met its objectives
• There have been no unexpected or undesirable side-effects
• The resources used to implement the change were as planned

• Change Advisory Board (CAB)

– The CAB is an advisory board that reviews RFCs and determines and
provides detail of likely impact
– CAB participants include :
• Customers/users affected by the change
• Representatives of Service Management areas
• Application development teams

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 Change Management (contd..)

• Change Advisory Board/ Executive

Committee (CAB/EC)
– The CAB/EC is responsible for authorising urgent changes
– The members vary depending on their involvement with the
urgent change, and their availability at the time

• What the CAB discusses :

– Failed or backed-out Changes
– Changes applied without reference to the CAB by Incident
Management
– RFCs to be assessed by CAB
– Change reviews
– Change management process
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Change Management - CAB attendees

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 Change Management (contd..)

• Change Approval Process

– Financial approval
• Indicates costs are within budgetary limits or cost-benefit criteria
are met

– Technical approval
• Assurance that the Change is feasible, sensible and can be
performed without serious interruptions to the business

– Customer approval
• To ensure that business managers are satisfied with the proposals
and accept any impact to their requirements

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Change Management - Tasks

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 Change Management - Benefits
• The benefits of Change Management are :
– increased visibility and better communication of
changes
– improved risk assessment of changes
– fewer backed-out or failed changes
– better productivity of Users (fewer disruptions) and IT
Staff (duties clearly planned)
– ability to absorb large number of changes
– reduction in the number of incidents and problems
caused by changes

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 Change Management (contd..)
• The critical success factors for Change Management are :
– Be prepared for dealing with Urgent Changes
– Integrate with Configuration and Release Management
– Ensure management commitment is present and let
them set the example
– Choose appropriate Project Management
methodologies

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