Change Management

Change Management

Change management is a control process that helps the IT organization meet changing business needs in a timely way while stabilizing the IT services and infrastructure that need to change.

Change management develops standard methods and procedures to maximize the success of a change while minimizing impact and risk to existing IT services. The process promotes transparency across UTRGV such that stakeholders are aware of changes and can prepare and plan accordingly.

Defining Change

A change is the addition, removal, or modification of anything that might have an impact on the delivery of an IT service. The change management process is the process used to control those changes. These include hardware (servers, routers, switches, etc.) and software (purchased or developed in house), as well as less obvious items such as documentation, policies, processes, and management tools.

Types of Change

  • Standard Change

A standard change is a change to a service or infrastructure for which the approach is pre-authorized by the Change Advisory Board (CAB). An example of this change includes upgrades and maintenece on current systems. Standard Changes are often low impact and have low risks. This change must be submitted and documented using a pre-approved template in Team Dynamix. Communication must be sent out to the affected users. 

  • Normal Change
A normal change is a change to a service, process, or infrastructure proposed as a Request for change (RFC) using the Change Request Form in Team Dynamix. The workflow requires approval from the Change Approver, Change Manager, and must be reviewed by the Change Advisory Board (CAB)
Normal changes originate from:
  • Incidents (Issues Reported)
  • Major Incidents
  • Problems
  • Service Requests
  • Projects (Upgrades to software, implementation of new services or applications, decommissioning of services or applications)

  • Emergency Change

An Emergency change may occur when a critical services is down or severely impaired with dsruption to business and/or student activities. Additionally, an emergency change may be required due to a security vulnerability. Regardless of the urgency of the situation, the Emergency Change Advisory Board (ECAB) must give approval when an emergency change is required. Emergency changes that have been implemented must also be classified, documented and presented to the Change Advisory Board (CAB) during the next meeting. Break/Fix changes required within or outside normal business hours will be handled by the service own following the IT Alerts procedure. An Emergency Change will be documented within two business days after the change has been implemented by submitting an Emergency Change Request Form in Team Dynamix. Emergency changes requires a post-change review. 

Change Management Process diagram

Change Management Diagram Process

  • Scope
  • Evaluate Risk and Impact
  • Plan, Build, and Test the change
  • Schedule and Check for Conflicts
  • Supervisor
  • Change Manager (Normal Changes only)
  • Change Advisory Board (CAB) (Normal Changes only)
  • Communicate
  • Implement
  • Validate

 

  • Post Change Review (if applicable)
  • Close Request

Related Documents

Training

One-on-one Training available: Submit a Service Request and type in the following for each field:

  • Configuration Item: IT Communication and Training 
  • Short Description: Change Management Training
  • Service Request Description: I am requesting one-on-one training for Change Management.