Change Management @UIT

Change isn’t necessary.  Survival is not mandatory.

– Charles Darwin (also attributed to Edwards Demming)

 

RFC.  FSC.  Standard.  Urgent.  Emergency.  With the introduction of the Change Management process has come a host of new terms and acronyms.  Not to mention change. 

Change is a given in our environment.  According to some studies, unauthorized and unplanned changes account for up to 70% of the incidents an IT organization experiences.  If we want to reduce incidents, increase service availability and improve user and costumer satisfaction, it makes sense to improve the way we manage change.

Change Management uses standardized methods and procedures in evaluating and implementing changes in order to minimize the risk of service disruptions.  We’ve adopted the Change Management process outlined in the ITIL best practices framework and adapted it to our needs. 

The change process starts with the need for change – updated software, modification to existing services, installation of new hardware or implementation of a new service are a few examples.  The need is documented in a Request for Change (RFC) which identifies what the change, what’s being changed, what’s required to make the change, risks, impact, urgency and a proposed implementation date.  The request is evaluated, goes through an approval process and, if approved, scheduled and implemented.

There are two key roles associated with the change process – the Change Manager and the Change Advisory Board (CAB).  The Change Manager is responsible for overseeing the process, reviewing and authorizing changes, obtaining required approvals, creating and maintaining the Forward Schedule of Change (FSC or change calendar) and convening the CAB.  The CAB is responsible for advising the Change Manager, providing approval for proposed changes when required, evaluating risks and resources required, helping to create the FSC and reviewing the FSC for potential conflicts.  Members of the CAB are chosen so that changes can be evaluated from customer, technology and service perspectives.

The RFC tool can be found at http://rfc.it.utah.edu.  It is used to create an RFC, edit and review submitted RFC,s and view the FSC.

We’ve been improving the process using your suggestions, hopefully making it easier to request and make changes while still maintaining the spirit of change management.  If you have suggestions for improvement, please contact me (Craig Bennion, craig.bennion@utah.edu).

Over the next few months we will be sending additional education messages to help UIT and ITS understand the ITIL processes that our team manages.  We welcome you to visit our website at http://itil.it.utah.edu to learn more about ITIL and how we are incorporating it into our IT department.  Click on the @UIT link for each area to see how we are applying ITIL here at the U.