Show Objective: ITIL Change Management aims to control the lifecycle of all Changes. The primary objective of of this process is to enable beneficial Changes to be made, with minimum disruption to IT services. Part of: Service Transition Process Owner: Change Manager ITIL 4 Change Management - Change EnablementThe Change Management process described here follows the specifications of ITIL V3, where Change Management (fig. 1) is a process in the service lifecycle stage of Service Transition. ITIL V4 is no longer prescriptive about processes but shifts the focus on 34 'practices', giving organizations more freedom to define tailor-made processes. ITIL 4 therefore refers to Change Management as a service management practice, and has renamed the practice to "Change Enablement". ITIL V4 describes Change Enablement key activities, inputs, outputs and roles. Based on this guidance, organizations are advised to design a process for managing Changes in line with their specific requirements. Note: The ITIL 4 practice of Change Enablement was called "Change Control" in the early editions of ITIL 4 and later renamed to "Change Enablement". Since the processes defined in ITIL V3 have not been invalidated with the introduction of ITIL V4, organizations can still use the ITIL V3 process of Change Management as a template. Note: The YaSM service management model includes a process for managing changes that is a good starting point for organizations that wish to adopt ITIL 4. Process DescriptionChange Management seeks to minimize the risk associated with Changes, where ITIL defines a Change as "the addition, modification of removal of anything that could have an effect on IT services". This includes Changes to the IT infrastructure, processes, documents, supplier interfaces, etc. ITIL distinguishes between three different types of Changes:
Normal Changes are often further categorized as Major, Significant or Minor, depending on the level of risk involved. Organizations should define these types of Changes and the required Change Authorities in their Change Policy. For example, Major Changes may require a full review by the CAB (Change Advisory Board), while Significant Changes may be approved by the Change Manager. If a Non-Standard Change is needed, the party requiring the Change will typically submit a Request for Change (RFC) to Change Management. Change Management will then record, analyze and approve (or reject) the Change. Emergency Changes are assessed and approved by the ECAB (Emergency Change Advisory Board), a core group of CAB members that is available on short notice to respond to emergencies. For certain types of Changes, a formal Change evaluation takes place by the Change Evaluation process and is documented in a Change Evaluation Report. Organizations should streamline Change Management and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy by using the full Change Management process only for a small number of significant Changes. Effectiveness and efficiency of Change Management can be improved, for example, by
Change Management interfaces with a number of other ITIL processes:
The process overview of ITIL Change Management (fig. 1) shows the key information flows of the process. ITIL 4 refers to "Change enablement" as a service management practice (see above). Sub-Processes
These are the ITIL Change Management sub-processes and their process objectives: Change Management Support
Assessment of Change Proposals
RFC Logging and Review
Assessment and Implementation of Emergency Changes
Change Assessment by the Change Manager
Change Assessment by the CAB
Change Scheduling and Build Authorization
Change Deployment Authorization
Minor Change Deployment
Post Implementation Review and Change Closure
Definitions
The following ITIL terms and acronyms (information objects) are used in ITIL Change Management to represent process outputs and inputs: CAB Agenda Template
Change
Change Evaluation Report
Change Management Policy
Change Model
Change Proposal
Change Record
Change Schedule
Emergency Change
Projected Service Outage (PSO)
Request for Change (RFC)
RFC Template
Templates | KPIsRoles | ResponsibilitiesChange Manager - Process Owner
Change Advisory Board (CAB)
Emergency Change Advisory Board (ECAB)
Remarks [1] A: Accountable according to the RACI Model: Those who are ultimately accountable for the correct and thorough completion of the Change Management process. [2] R: Responsible according to the RACI Model: Those who do the work to achieve a task within ITIL Change Management. [3] see → Role descriptions... [4] The documents created or managed by this process must be approved by the CAB. [5] Applications Analyst, Technical Analyst, IT Operator (and others, as appropriate) [6] Configuration Manager, Applications Analyst, Technical Analyst (and others, as appropriate). ExamplesThe ITIL Process Map screenshots show samples of the ITIL process templates with contents from Service Transition and ITIL Change Management, including the
NotesBy: Stefan Kempter , IT Process Maps.ITIL 4 Change Management - Change Enablement › Process Description › Sub-Processes › Definitions |