What is ITIL Change Management
ITIL change management is part of the service transition stage of the ITSM lifecycle, which is responsible for any incident reports or admin requests at an IT service desk.
ITIL change management follows a process flow to evaluate, plan, and deploy change requests. The primary objective is to ensure that change execution does not interrupt ongoing operations, keeping the change as low riskas possible.
The process acts as something of a gatekeeper, authorizing every change record before it’s moved to the release management stage. It can also help businesses stay in control of all their change requests and monitor the development of their IT infrastructure alongside industry trends.
The five stages of ITIL change management process flow
ITIL change management process flow includes five stages:
Request for change (RFC)
Change assessment and planning
Change approvals
Change implementation
Post-implementation review
By following a strategic workflow, businesses and organizations can benefit from fewer service disruptions and IT incidents.
What are the types of changes in ITIL?
ITIL change types can be grouped into standard changes, normal changes and emergency changes. Changes can be varied – some may be routine changes and low risk admin reports, while others may need resolving as soon as possible. Some changes might also require approval from managers, stakeholders or the Change Advisory Board (CAB), which oversees and reviews overall change risk management.
Standard changes
Standard changes are periodical changes that follow a standard operating procedure using templates with pre-prepared information. A standard change is:
Low risk
Low impact
Pre-defined
Pre-approved.
Standard changes do not follow the conventional process flow. You’ll only require approval the first time. Then, you can complete any future changes without CAB approval, so long as the change has not been modified in any way.
Example: OS upgrades and patch deployment.
Normal changes
To resolve a normal change, you must follow the entire change process, including:
Scheduling
Risk assessment
Authorization.
Any changes that aren’t seen as standard or emergency should follow the process for a normal change. This includes:
Minor changes. Low impact. Low risk. Non-trivial changes that occur occasionally but must still receive CAB approval. May become a standard change in the future.
Major changes. High risk and high impact. May interrupt ongoing operations if not assessed correctly.
Normal changes may require both manager and CAB approval. It’s also important to document any relevant information about the normal change for future reference.
Example: Website changes or data center migration.
Emergency changes
Emergency changes are urgent disruptions that must be assessed, approved and resolved as soon as possible. They are:
High impact
High risk
Unexpected.
An emergency change can impact business operations and create costly downtime, requiring specific approval and authorization. It’s incredibly important for the Emergency Change Advisory Board (ECAB) to understand the risks, impact and manage approval.
The IT service management system must be prepared for emergency changes to deliver a consistent user experience.
Emergency changes also require a post-implementation review with mandatory documentation to understand potential risks that could occur in the future.
Example: Fixing a security breach or server outage.
By setting concrete standards for different change types and classifications, businesses and organizations can stay alert to issues and surprises. Emergency changes can present high risks to business operations, so it’s important to respond effectively.
Benefits of ITIL change management
Using formal change types and ITIL change management processes can add significant value to your user experience, business operations and IT team. Here are just a few benefits of effective change management:
Reduction of risk and impact
Following standardized processes ensures that all the important factors IT project management and changes are considered and managed appropriately. This includes planning, risk assessment and tracking the progress of the change as it’s executed.
Change management groups such as normal changes, standard changes and emergency changes also help reduce risk and assess the cost of a proposed change before they’re implemented.
Maintenance of current working state
ITIL change models and management processes help protect your live services from costly damage and downtime.
What’s more, change management can improve the functionality of your IT service desk by introducing a level of automation, with pre-prepared changes and paths to follow.
Not only does this enhance the business perception of your IT services, offering a better-quality service, it also helps to improve your internal workflow. Syncing your business requirements with your IT services is vital for productivity, particularly for growing businesses.
Communication and approval management
ITIL change management helps to increase visibility and communication for your business, users and IT teams. If you’re implementing any scheduled changes, it also helps to improve communication surrounding downtime and unavailable services.
By having a dedicated change request and approval process, your business will experience smoother service operations and fewer disruptions from poor planning. Nothing goes ahead without the green light of your change authority.
ITIL metrics also ensure employees are following best practice, which is vital for customers and the overall health of the business.
Effective change planning with optimized resources
Following change management workflows gives your IT service desk the ability to roll out an upgrade such as a security patch without affecting general operations. This helps improve your service delivery.
It also means your teams can complete a larger volume of proposed changes, thanks to organized procedures. So, it’s not just about improving change management, it’s also change enablement.
Reduction in number of incidents due to change execution
Change management makes it easier to identify and reduce unauthorized changes and improve incident management.
Users can submit a request for change (RFC) through the IT service desk and your teams can view everything they need from one application. From here, they can decide which changes can be implemented and receive all necessary permissions before they resolve the request.
Having a clear understanding of different change types and how to proceed with them also helps to reduce backed-out changes. And any changes you do back out of will be performed more efficiently. The same applies for major incidents and failed changes.
