Change Management

ITIL defines Change as "the addition, modification, or removal of any authorized, planned, or supported service or service component that could affect services." In other words, a Change is adding, removing, or modifying anything that could directly or indirectly affect the organization's services and operations. The changes could include documentation, processes, applications, or IT infrastructure. In Infraon, the module that handles all the change requests is called "Change."

Change Management is a set of processes defined to manage the lifecycle of a change request. It aims to minimize risks and disruptions to IT services and business operations while implementing changes.

Benefits of Change Management

• Reduced system downtime and outage

• Faster change implementation

• Decreased negative impact on business and IT services

• Visibility into future IT changes

Essential Roles in Change Management

Change Manager - A Change Manager is responsible for reviewing the submitted change requests, scheduling Change Advisory Board(CAB) meetings, updating the change records, reviewing the rollback and rollout plans, coordinating the implementation of changes, and reviewing the implemented changes. Usually, a high-level manager or a Domain Expert is assigned as a Change Manager to a change request.

Change Advisory Board(CAB) - A Change Advisory Board (CAB) may consist of Business, IT Operations, Development, Customer, Domain Experts, and Solution Architects, depending upon the type of the change. A CAB is carefully selected to ensure all facets of an organization are represented while discussing the impacts, benefits, and implementation of a change. CAB requires financial data, the technical advantage of the change request, the number of resources required, criticality, and so on, to make an informed decision on the change request. Depending upon the severity of the change, the Change Manager may decide whom to include in the discussions. A CAB chooses whether to approve or reject a change.

Change Management Process

Infraon's Change Management module enables users/organizations to implement changes through the following steps seamlessly:

• Change Detection is the first step of Change Management. For example, a customer may request a change in the services or ask for additional services. This is logged as a change request. A change request may also arise from a ticket, request, or problem.

• Change Recording - A technician or user with the required permissions can log a change in the module.

• Planning—In this stage, the change request is planned. A comprehensive plan is essential for the successful implementation of a change. A detailed plan showcases the risks, impacts, rollout plan, rollback plan, and associated downtime(if any) to all stakeholders. Planning is important in getting approvals from the Change Advisory Board (CAB).

• Analysis - A detailed analysis is performed to understand a change's risks and impacts on the organization or service(s).

• Change Approvals - The change plan needs to be reviewed, and the Change Advisory Board (CAB) decides. The change plan may be approved or rejected.

• Change Implementation - Once approved, the change manager ensures the change is implemented as detailed in the plan and at the right time. A Change Manager also ensures coordination between different teams involved in the change implementation.

• Review - Once a change is implemented, a post-implementation review is conducted to confirm whether the change was successful. A review is also performed to determine if the change achieved its objectives. If the change implementation is unsuccessful, the rollback plan is activated promptly.

• Closure - This is the last step in the Change management process. After conducting a post-implementation review, the change can be closed with closing comments on whether the change was successful, executed on time, and so on.

Change Management

Apart from these, Infraon also covers change ownership, monitoring, tracking, and communication - throughout the life cycle of each change request.

Changes are managed through the "Change" module. Users with appropriate permissions can raise changes. Changes follow multiple state(s) and status(es) throughout their life cycle.

State and Status

State	Status	Status Scenario
Open	New	When a new change is logged in the system.
In Progress	Planning	When the planning of the change request is in progress.
In Progress	Analysis	When the possible risk analysis is in progress.
In Progress	Implementation	When the proposed change plans are being implemented.
In Progress	Deployment	When the change is being deployed in production.
In Progress	Verification	When the deployed change is being verified.
On Hold	Pending	If any changes are pending to be implemented.
Close	Closed	After Post Implementation Review, the change can be closed with closing comments.
Close	Cancel	If the change implementation is canceled.

Customized Status(es) can be configured from the 'Workflow' module to suit the requirement.

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