Service Manager

Setting the Risk Level

One of the key responsibilities of the Change Manager is to assess the risk of the change. Using the risk calculator, the Change ManagerChange Manager answers questions that determine the overall risk level for a specific change.

Before setting the risk level for a change, the Change Manager must set up the risk calculator.

Risk Assessment

Effective change management involves assessing the risks involved with a change. You must determine the risk to the organization before authorizing a change. Any change has the potential for risk. The type of change plays a role in the type of risk assessment. A standard change, involving a single user, has a lower potential for risk than a significant change, involving a number of users. Risk assessment should be considered for:

•A single change.

•A group of changes implemented at the same time.

•Impact and conflicts to other scheduled changes and releases.

Risk assessment includes:

•Identifying high-impact, high-risk configuration items that could affect other configuration items and services in the organization.

•Analyzing the priority and value of the proposed change to IT.

•Analyzing the priority and value of the proposed change to the business.

•Weighing the business or organizational risk to the value of the change.

Risk Calculation

The application uses a survey dedicated to changes to assess the risk of a change by creating numerical data or quantitative analysis of the risk, or assessing the risk based on qualitative assessment of the risk and associating a number with that qualitative assessment.

You can configure questions that, when answered, determine the level of total risk associated with each change. Each question can have multiple answers to choose from. Each answer is assigned a specific number associated with risk analysis. If a change has five questions for example, and each question has two or more possible answers associated with it, the numerical equivalent of the answers are then totaled in order to provide a total numerical risk analysis to the change. This total risk analysis figure is helpful in determining the ultimate approval, denial, deferment, or cancellation of the change.

Risk Level Survey

Change Managers can create a survey for each change to help determine the risk level. You can change your answers and immediately see how the risk level is affected.

The default risk levels are:

Risk Level	Weight
Low	0-33
Medium	34-66
High	67-100

You can modify or add more levels.

1.Log in to Service Manager as a Change Manager.

2.Open the Risk Level workspace.

3.Click New. The application displays the Risk Level workspace.

4.Enter information into the fields.

5.Click Save.

Modifying the Risk Level Survey

The risk level survey appears in all change records, regardless of state. The application provides a list of survey questions and answers, but you can add, delete, or modify these to accommodate your organization.

1.Open the Risk Calculator workspace. A list of default questions. is displayed

2.Click Add question. A blank line is displayed at the bottom of the list of questions.

3.Add a new question by doing the following:

a.

Double-click the line under the Question header.

b.

Enter a question.

c.

Double-click the line under the Points header.

d.

Assign a points value to the question. A higher number gives the question more weight. To give equal weight to all questions, assign each question the same number of points. The points range is automatically reflected in the Risk Level pane.

4.On the bottom pane, click Add Answer or next to a question, click the add answer icon .

A blank line is displayed at the bottom in the Answers area.

5.Add a new answer.

a.

Double-click the line under the Answer header.

b.

Enter an answer.

c.

Double-click the line under the Weights (%) header.

d.

Assign a weight to the question. A higher number increases the risk level, whereas a lower number decreases the risk level. Zero does not affect the risk level.

6.Repeat to add more answers to the question.

7.Check Default to assign an answer as the default for the question.

8.Click Save.

9.Repeat the above steps to add questions and answers to the survey.

10.To remove a question from the list, click the delete icon next to the question.

The number of answers associated with a specific question is displayed under the Answers column on the same row as the question.

Risk Level Pane

1.Open the Risk Calculator workspace. A list of questions is displayed on the left and the Risk level pane on the right.

2.To modify the range, click in the Low, Medium, or High fields in the Risk Level pane. The Total Points field is displayed, showing the total from the Points column.

Setting the Risk Level

1.Open the Change workspace.

2.Open a change.

3.Click the Risk Level tab.

4.Answer the questions.

5.Click Save. The risk level meter is automatically adjusted based on your answers.

Localizing the Risk Calculator Questions

The English value is shown by default, and appears when there is no localized content. When localized content is added, the first language used becomes the default.

Have your administrator set the language in Service Manager. See Working with Localization.

1.Open the Risk Calculator workspace.

2.Enter the content in your chosen language.

3.Click Save.

4.Repeat this process to add content in other languages.