1. Change Management Real-World Examples
An overview of the Change Management Process and What Companies are Doing in the Real World

2. StrataCom, Inc. Overview
Founded in 1997 as an ITSM Consulting Company
Head-quartered in Midwest, offices around the country: MN, ND, WI, SD, NM, FL, VA, NV
Niche and focused on ITSM
Staff entirely comprised of W2 resources
Consultants versed in both process and technical consulting
Resources are primarily very senior, with newest consultants having 7 years of ITSM experience

3. Services Offered ITSM Tool Implementations ITIL Process Evaluations
ITIL Process Consulting
ITSM Tool Tailoring and Integration Work
Staff Augmentation
Managed Services Offerings around the ITSM Toolsets
Primary Administration
Tool Development and Maintenance
Primary Support and Off-Hours Support

4. What is ITIL?
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business.
In its current form (known as ITIL 2011 edition), ITIL is published in a series of five core publications, each of which covers an ITSM lifecycle stage.
ITIL underpins ISO/IEC (previously BS15000), the International Service Management Standard for IT service management, although differences between the two frameworks do exist.

5. Is ITIL Useful?
ITIL describes processes, procedures, tasks and checklists that are not organization-specific, used by an organization for establishing integration with the organization's strategy, delivering value and maintaining a minimum level of competency.
It allows the organization to establish a baseline from which it can plan, implement, and measure. It is used to demonstrate compliance and to measure improvement.
It is only a ‘Framework’—Guidelines on how to manage IT.

6. What is Change Management?
Change Management is a part of ITIL
ITIL Change Management aims to control the lifecycle of all Changes.
The primary objective of Change Management is to enable beneficial Changes to be made, with minimum disruption to IT services

7. Function of Change Management?
Ensure that all changes are properly recorded
Ensure that changes are properly categorized within the organization
Ensuring that changes are recorded, risk assessed, categorized, prioritized, planned, tested, evaluated, released, documented and reviewed in a controlled and standard manner
The primary goal of Change Management is to minimize unexpected downtime for the users.
Change Management is NOT a way to speed up change in the organization

8. ITIL Change Management Benefits
Reduced business impact of Incidents by timely resolution
Proactive identification of beneficial enhancements
Availability of business focused information related to SLA’s
Improved monitoring of performance against SLA’s
Better staff utilization leading to greater efficiency
More accurate CMDB information enabling an ongoing audit while registering Incidents
Improved user satisfaction
Less disruption to both IT support staff and users

9. ITIL Goal of Change Management
Ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all changes, in order to minimize the impact of Change-related incidents upon service quality, and consequently to improve the day to day operations of the organization

10. When Should I Implement a Change Management Process
We typically see companies introduce ITIL processes in their organizations in this order:
Service/Incident
Service Desk
Event Management
Problem Management
Knowledge Management
Configuration Management
Change Management
Service Level Management
Request Management
Service Request Catalog
Deployment Management

11. When to Implement Change
We typically recommend that the Service Desk functions are in place first
Problem Management is essential, it will actually help you determine which Changes to initially focus on
Some type of Asset Management is pretty much mandatory.
Changes are recorded against Assets (CIs)
CIs should be mapped to Services if possible, even if the number of services is low

12. Important Change Roles
Change Manager
Change Advisory Board (CAB)
Emergency Change Advisory Board (ECAB)

13. Change Manager Controls the Lifecycle of the Change
Primary objective is to enable beneficial changes with minimal disruption to IT services
Key to Success: You must have a Change Manager Role in your organization!
This person may also handle the Release Management duties
In smaller organizations, could also be the Problem Manager
Every organization we’ve worked with that has implemented Change Process has a Change Manager

14. Change Advisory Board (CAB)
A group of people that advises the Change Manager in the assessment, prioritization and scheduling of Changes.
This board is usually made up of representatives from all areas within the IT organization, the business, and third parties such as suppliers.
We see the CAB arranged in very different ways in different organizations

15. CAB Procedures Typical organization
CAB board is made up of various individuals from Infrastructure teams, process teams, security teams, etc.
Change requests are ‘Brought before the CAB’ which is typically a meeting that occurs once per week for a duration of a few hours
The floor is open for anyone to discuss the Change requests
Business users are invited to be informed of any changes that may affect their business units, but may not realize that a specific change affects their Business Unit
Typically this type of CAB turns into a Bureaucracy of the worst kind.
Changes with the correct forms filled out are rubber-stamped as good-to-go
Emphasis is not on the quality of the Change’s plan, but the ‘thoroughness’ of the documentation (i.e. is every boxed filled out with something?)

16. A Better Plan… Electronic CABs may work much better for you
Change approvals are automatically routed to Business owners for approval based on impact to their Business Units by which Services or Vital Business Functions are affected
Important Change procedures like the Implementation Plan and Back Out Plan are evaluated by Subject Matter Experts and approved or rejected
Change Managers have more flexibility managing the Change’s lifecycle when it’s not tied into a single meeting per week

17. Emergency Change Advisory Board (ECAB)
A sub-set of the Change Advisory Board who makes decisions about high impact Emergency Changes
Membership of the ECAB may be decided at the time a meeting is called, and depends on the nature of the Emergency Change
ECABs are typically called during ‘War Rooms’ by the Command Center
Normally a ‘quick fix’ for a high-priority Incident

18. How are Companies Utilizing ECABs?
A Change Manager or Incident Manager normally handles this process
Subject Matter experts have already come up with a fix for the Incident. Emphasis is on quick resolution
Approval typically done by the Business Owner of the Service affected
Documentation of Process and Approvals done on the fly and officially recorded after-the-fact
Very common to have an Emergency Change to fix something that went wrong because of a different Change Request
To improve Change Process, post mortems must be done

19. ITIL Change Categories
Normal
Represents ordinary Changes to services, hardware and applications that happen over the lifetime of a service
Standard
Represents usual changes that are repeatedly performed
May be pre-approved
Reduced or no lead times (i.e.: Patch)
Most companies choose to implement categories very similar to these.

20. ITIL Change Categories
Emergency
Changes which are necessary due to an incident or unplanned outage
Approvals may be received after the fact
Emergency changes are usually linked to a high priority incident
Unplanned
Change that occurs outside of the Change Management system or changes implemented without appropriate lead time
Scheduled Implementation before lead time date
Recorded after the fact
Captured from unmatched changes to the CMDB
Most companies choose to implement categories very similar to these.

21. Are Companies following these ITIL Change Standards?
For the most part, yes
Many organizations really struggle to come up with Change Scenarios for their organization
The ITIL Change Processes are a very good place to start
Don’t be afraid to expand on these Categories
Allows you to work on Change Workflows without adding complex logic to existing workflows
Categorization makes reporting and SLAs very easy

22. Other Change Categories We’ve Seen
Minor Change
Well-understood Changes which do not require the involvement of Release Management
Incident Change
Change specifically opened because of an Incident
Desktop Change
Changes specifically for Desktops
Many companies have different Change scenarios for:
Easy reporting against those types of changes
Ease of Administration of specific change workflows

23. ITIL Change Lead Times Change Lead Times
Lead Times apply to Normal Changes
Lead Times are based on the calculated risk score of the change ~ More risk = longer lead times
Lead Times allow enough time for the change to be reviewed and approved prior to approval
Lead Time Examples
High Risk – 10 day lead time
Medium Risk – 5 day lead time
Low Risk – 3 day lead time
No Risk – 1 or 2 day lead time
Some companies have tried to implement change without lead times. They usually have more issues as they have less control over the change. Companies with stricter lead times tend to be more successful.

24. Planning Changes in Downtime windows
Most organizations tie Scheduled Downtime windows to their Business Services
Typically, changes are scheduled during the downtime window
How are most companies scheduling downtime windows?
Standardized downtime window for all Business Services. Normally a number of hours overnight on a weekend
Each Business Service Gets it own unique Downtime Window

25. Standardized Downtimes
Advantages
Everyone knows when the changes will occur
Typically scheduled where it will cause the least amount of disruption for the business
Disadvantages
Multiple Changes at the same time may cause issues
What if your change tracking tool has an outage at the same time as the other changes occur?

26. Things to Think About Regarding Downtime Windows
Downtime windows should fit the way you do business
Think about resource availability
It may sound good to have downtimes every Saturday night, but can you get the resources you need if there are issues?
Scenarios like patching 500 windows servers that affect 100+ Services may alter your thinking on downtime windows

27. Other Common Change Management Tools
Forward Schedule of Change (FSC)
A Document that lists all approved Change Proposals and Changes and their planned implementation dates
Many companies are using software to create the FSC effectively by avoiding Change Conflicts
Not scheduling 2 high-risk changes at the same time
Avoiding scheduling changes that affect the same CI at the same time

28. Change Compliance Report
Reporting that the Change Manager uses to evaluate how the organization is doing regarding changes
Are Changes staying in their allocated downtime and outage windows
Are Changes causing Incidents?
Was the Change successful?
More testing needed?
Was back out plan successful?
Was implementation documentation correct?

29. Change Review/Approvals
Review by Manager or other entity to ensure readiness for Production
Review by Change Management for completeness and planning
Review by groups affected by Change
Approval by implementing groups on Change
Approval by Change Authority (CAB)
Approvals required are based on evaluated risk
Higher risk applications = more risk/approvals
Industry/Gov’t regulations = more risk/approvals
Minor changes may bypass the CAB approvals
Approvals do not have to represent a long delay in implementing change. Organizations with some kind of formal approval process tend to be more sucessful.

30. Change Implementation
Change Implementations
Most organizations use one master change for planning and approvals
Organize separate parts of change into tasks, which can utilize different groups as implementers
Change should show encompass the full planned time for the change, including time for all tasks
Tasks allow for better reporting and accountability of what parts are successful and what failed

31. Post Implementation Review
Post Implementation Reviews allow for organization to review changes
PIR’s promote better planning for future changes
Can be performed informally or recorded as part of change

32. StrataCom Contact Info
Eric Krueger, Principal Consultant
Laura Walker, Director of Business Development
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