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Service Management
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TimelessMIND Enterprise Change Manager
The goal of Change Management is to ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient handling of all changes, in order to minimize the impact of change-related incidents and to improve day-to-day operations.
Change management ensures that standard methods and procedures set fourth by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) are used to quickly evaluate and approve or disapprove every proposed change. The objective is to minimize any negative impact of change-related incidents on IT services. Different types of changes require different change management procedures. In today’s world of compliance, all changes require an approval cycle.
What is a Change?
A Change refers to the changing of Configuration Items in the IT Infrastructure in order to supply a solution to Incidents and Problems that have occurred in the past that had temporary work-arounds built. A change occurs when a Request for Change (RFC) is requested. Once this RFC is accepted a process workflow is generated to determine what work is to be done to carry out this change request. As solutions are developed for Incidents and Problems, a window is provided when a change can be implemented. This is a very intrusive process and is typically done after normal business hours to ensure the effects of the downtime of the service affect as few customers as possible.
Documentation of the Change Management Lifecycle
Enforcement of standardized methods and procedures that ensure efficient and prompt handling of all changes are, of course, important in Change Management. To best utilize these procedures, data is recorded on the entire life cycle to ensure impact analysis is provided on the impact of the proposed changes. This allows the company to see potential issues the change may cause to the IT Infrastructure and correct them before any negative impacts can cause outages. This data is stored in the CMDB and is useful in future events with similar root causes to design possible solutions in the future for problems with similar symptoms.
ITIL and the Impact on Change Management
ITIL sets the standards in Change Management for build capabilities that ensure that new or changed components are developed using established standards. Unplanned change capabilities that allow for emergency changes to be implemented using established standards have strict guidelines that are to be followed to ensure no damage to the IT Infrastructure occurs during implementation of the change.
Change Management Lifecycle
During the Change Management lifecycle the history is tracked to ensure proper documentation of all aspects of the change. These records are kept to ensure the proper standards were used when implementing the change, as well as to keep record of the change, unplanned outages, and a detailed description from start to finish, etc. Ability to manage and report on Key Process Indicators (KPIs) such as number of change requests resulting in an incident, reduced number of emergency fixes, etc.
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