Change Management
Introduction
A change is any action that may have an impact on the service being provided to Customers. A change may be derived from a need to correct a Problem or resolve a support Request, or may be an innovation or upgrade.
The main purpose of the Change process is to guarantee that the changes are implemented as quickly as possible and with as little impact as possible, avoiding any surprises, degradations of service, and other problems that may occur due to a lack of planning.
Change management improves productivity, providing stability and managing evolution, while reducing the margin for human error. It makes the company better equipped to meet market needs in a constantly changing environment.
There are two main types of Changes:
- Emergency changes: A change that, in light of its urgency, must be implemented without passing through the approval phases.
- Normal changes: Any change that affects the service provided to users, or which in some other way has an impact on users and is neither a standard change nor an emergency change. These changes require approval.
Note: There is also a third type of Change, called Standard changes, which are those tasks that involve a procedure approved and published by the Change Manager. Normally, these are changes that are made frequently and therefore a pre-approved procedure for carrying out the change is documented. The Task Management process is used directly for Standard Changes, with no need to create and approve a RFC.
Scope of application
This process is applied every time there is a need for an action or task which may have an impact on the customers, or which may affect critical services or systems. The Track-It! application will create RFCs automatically when certain criteria are met, but in most cases it is up to the technician to ensure that this process is followed.
Process
The Change Management process is as follows:
Process Sumary
The Change Management process starts by identifying a need to make a change. This is normally part of the request or problem resolution stage, or a one-off task.
- The change requirements are analyzed and if the request is valid, the RFC is created. As much information as possible is provided so that the CAB members can make an informed decision.
- The CAB members decide whether or not the change should take place, and in what conditions. The decision must be unanimous for the change to be implemented; the Change Manager gets involved if a consensus is not reached. Finally, if the change is not approved, the decision is documented and communicated to all parties; if approved, the change is assigned to the relevant Change Coordinator who will be responsible for implementation.
- The planning is reviewed and the necessary tasks are assigned. As they are carried out the Change Coordinator verifies the results. If the change is made successfully, the Change Management process continues; if not, the Change Manager and CAB are advised of the results. If necessary, the backout plan is applied.
- Once the change has been successfully implemented the results are documented, the CMDB is updated, the Change Request is closed in the system and all parties are notified.
- In exceptional cases, when there is no other option, an Emergency Change is implemented. This involves skipping the usual procedures and applying the change directly. Afterwards, the change is documented and that the people who need to be informed are notified.
Roles
In the Change Management process, a distinction should be made between the following roles or profiles:
- The Technician is a Service Desk staff member who participates in the Change Management process.
- The Change Coordinator is the technician assigned to manage the RFC.
- The Specialist is a technician who carries out tasks related to his area of expertise (for example, a Specialist in Microsoft Exchange). During the analysis and planning stage, he can be asked for recommendations, and he may have tasks assigned to him or may even be named Change Coordinator during the implementation stage.
- The Change Manager is in charge ensuring that the Change Management process is followed at all times. He is also responsible for assisting during the analysis, planning, and approval stages.
- The CAB is the group of people who are consulted before a Change takes place. They are usually people responsible for specific services, resources or business areas that may be affected by the Change, and therefore their approval is necessary prior to implementing the change. In the Track-It! application they are called Approvers.
- The Change Initiator is the technician who requests the change.