Tech Services, Service Management Office, Change Management Documentation
Change Management promotes the stability and predictability of the services and infrastructure provided by Technology Services to its customers by systematically managing planned changes to the production environment.
Policy and Practices
In summary, the Technology Services change management policy is that all planned changes to Tech Services offerings must be approved in advance, in accordance with the practices and processes established by the Change Management Board.
The formal policy and practices documents can be found on Box:
Mission
The mission of the Change Management Board is to maintain the stability and predictability of the IT services and infrastructure provided by Technology Services by systematically managing planned changes to the production environment.
Systematic management of change is intended to minimize the risk inherent in making a change by:
- Coordinating the scheduling of changes to avoid potential conflicts;
- Assessing the breadth and depth of potential customer impact;
- Ensuring that information about the change has been communicated appropriately to internal and external customers; and
- Ensuring that change plans are thorough and complete
The Submission Deadline is the cutoff for submitting changes for approval by the Change Management Board. The deadline is noon on the business day directly preceding the next review cycle, which is usually noon on Mondays.
The Review Deadline is the cutoff for board members to review and approve or reject changes submitted for the current review cycle. The deadline is noon on the day following the submission deadline, which is usually noon on Tuesdays.
Advance Notice to the Help Desk
Anyone submitting changes that may result in additional workload for the the Technology Services Help Desk, or include the Help Desk as a point of contact, must notify the Help Desk at least one week prior to the implementation of the change by emailing hdnotify-l@lists.illinois.edu.
Late Submissions and Emergency Changes
Changes classified as Normal or Standard and submitted after the Submission Deadline are called "late" and will not be scheduled for review by the board until the following week. Anyone submitting late changes that require an earlier review must email the change board directly and ask the board to review their change outside of the regular review cycle. Implementation cannot proceed until the change board has approved the change.
Changes classified as Emergency or Security-Related Emergency do not require prior approval from the change board. However, Emergency and Security-Related Emergency changes do require the approval of the Service Offering Owner and/or Service Owner before implementation. The board reviews changes of these types during their next review cycle.
Contacting the Change Board
The Change Management Board email address is TechSvc-ChangeBoard@mx.uillinois.edu. Questions about Tech Services change management practices should be directed to the board.
Resources
- A process diagram illustrating the important Tech Services Change Management activities and roles
- The Change How To
- The Change Calendar / List of Changes
- A template for a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)