Branimir Valentic
April 23, 2013
If there is a nightmare in IT Service Management, its name is Change. It’s not only that people are, generally, reluctant to changes. Changes impose high levels of risk and no one likes disruption in running services. That raises a question: Why do we make changes, after all?
There are many reasons why changes are made. Roughly, there are two reasons for change:
Proactive Changes – improving processes i.e. services, or reducing cost of services. I am familiar with the case where an organization redesigned operational processes to consolidate Service Desk structure (each business unit had its own Service Desk) and respective functional teams to increase operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and achieve financial savings.
Reactive Changes – resolving errors or adapting to changed circumstances. Security issues, operating system patches, vendor-initiated changes, upgrades… usually such changes eliminate (or decrease) exposed level of risk.
ITIL defines changes as “the addition, modification or removal of anything that could have an effect on IT services,” and Change Management as “the process responsible for controlling the lifecycle of all changes, enabling beneficial changes to be made with minimum disruption to IT services.” Change Management begins in the Service Strategy part of the IT Service Lifecycle. Namely, the Request for Change (RfC) defines goals and objectives of the change. After evaluation, Service Design defines how to build the change. Service Transition is responsible for build, test and deploy of the change. The Service Transition and Service Operation phases of the lifecycle overlap after deployment, and Service Operation “takes over” after acceptance. This process is valid for Normal Changes.
There are two other types of Changes: Standard and Emergency Change. Standard Change is pre-approved, carries low risk (and known risk) and follows the same process. Therefore, there is no need to go through an evaluation and approval process every time. Examples of such change include a password reset or a desktop move for a single user. Emergency Change encompasses changes that must be implemented as soon as possible. Usually, we are talking here about security issues and remediation of security treats. There is no time to undertake lengthy evaluation or testing, but there is a procedure to implement emergency change, i.e. it is not an ad-hoc practice.
Figure: Change Management throughout the IT Service Lifecycle
There are several parameters that have to be considered while implementing Change Management:
Policy – define what must be done and how Change Management is organized. Policy includes:
Processes – as already mentioned, there are several types of changes. Each of them has to have well -defined processes with clear inputs, outputs, responsibilities and procedures. Poorly defined processes can have huge consequences due to the fact that processes impact change outcome.
Resources –individuals, teams/groups and organization have to be considered separately.
Responsibilities – it is crucial that responsibilities and duties are well defined. Responsibilities in the change process depend on the organization. I noticed that, particularly in big organizations with strong hierarchical structure, a rigid approach to the change process is usually a burden. Change implementation takes too long, costs are rising and motivation of involved people decreases. Often, the outcome is questionable.
Interdependencies with other processes – Change Management is bundled with some other process in the IT Service Management Lifecycle.
From my experience, it is advisable to implement the Change Management process in one step. Contrary to Change Management, SACM is not expected to be implemented in a single implementation; rather, it will be implemented in phases.
The Change process is complex, but very important. A lot of parameters and interfaces (to other processes) have to be considered. Therefore, carefully implement an efficient Change process adapted to your organization and your needs. And, if needed, be ready to change it, because – Things are always changing!
Download a free sample of our Change Management process template to gain more knowledge about change management.