Change Management: Change

The Change process is a more comprehensive version of the Simple Change process, which was explained at the beginning of the chapter. Using the Change process provides a more thorough implementation of changes in your organization.

When the Change is initially saved, it is assigned to the current user and a collection of five Change Details are automatically added to the Change. The Change Details have different Change Details Types: Backout Plan, Resource Estimate, Risk of Doing, Risk of not Doing, and Testing Plan. The Change Detail Types are reference lists (see Reference lists) that you can edit and add to using the Administration component. The Change moves to the Open status.

When the Change is submitted, it is assigned to the Change Managers group for an initial assessment. The Change Managers group verifies it is a valid submission and that sufficient information is contained within the change details. If more information is required, it is assigned back to the creation user and moves back to the Open status. If it is rejected, it moves to the Rejected end status and is assigned to the creation user. Changes at the Rejected status can be resubmitted and start the process again.

When the Change Managers group is ready to progress the Change, the Submit for Approval action moves the process on. The next stage depends on which category was selected for the Change. The window for Change categories (see Categories) includes a check box labeled CAB Required. If this check box is selected for the corresponding Change category, then the Change is assigned to the Change Advisory Board group and moves to the Change Advisory Board Approval status; otherwise, it moves to the Change Manager Approval status.

From both the Change Advisory Board Approval or Change Manager Approval statuses the Change can either be approved or rejected, the only difference being that from the Change Manager Approval status the actions are available only if the current user has the role CAB Approvers.

If you select the Approve action, you select the Builder Group and Builder and the Change is assigned to them.

When the Change has been built, it is submitted for testing and assigned to the Change Managers group, who can choose from the More Detail Required, Reject, or Submit for UAT actions. When the Change is ready for user acceptance testing, the Submit for UAT action enables the user to select the Tester Group and Tester that they want to assign the Change to.

When all of the Tasks on the Change are completed, the Change can then either fail UAT (and is assigned back to the Builder Group and Builder at the Building Change status), or it passes UAT and is assigned to the Change Managers group at the Change Manager Implementation Approval status.

At this stage, the Change can be rejected, passed to Release Management, or submitted for implementation as appropriate.

If it is passed to Release Management, it moves directly to the completed Change Review status and is assigned to the Change Managers group. If it is submitted for implementation, it is assigned to the selected Implementation Group and Implementor and moves to the Implementation status. From the Implementation status, the Change either succeeds and is assigned to the Change Managers group at the completed Change Review status or fails and moves to the Failed Change status. From the Failed Change status, the Change is assigned to the Change Managers group at the completed Change Review status after a back out plan has been confirmed.

The Change Manager then initiates a Change review, where the Change may be resubmitted if the implementation failed, closed, or closed with an incident as appropriate. Resubmit assigns the Change back to the creation user at the Open status.

Optional actions for each status:

Status(es)	Optional actions
Open	Add Attachment Add Change Detail Add Child Change Add Incident Add Note Add Parent Change Add Problem Add Reminder Add Task Detach Child Change Detach Incident Detach Problem
Change Manager Assessment Change Manager Approval Change Advisory Board Approval Building Change Change Manager UAT Approval Implementation Failed Change	Add Appointment Add Attachment Add Change Detail Add Child Change Add Incident Add Note Add Parent Change Add Problem Add Reminder Add Task Detach Child Change Detach Incident Detach Problem
User Acceptance Testing	Add Appointment Add Attachment Add Change Detail Add Child Change Add Incident Add Note Add Parent Change Add Problem Add Reminder Add Task Assign/Reassign Detach Child Change Detach Incident Detach Problem
Change Manager Implementation Approval Change Review	Add Appointment Add Attachment Add Change Detail Add Child Change Add Incident Add Note Add Parent Change Add Problem Add Reminder Detach Child Change Detach Incident Detach Problem
Closed Closed With Incident Rejected	None