Best Practice Change Management
Proven Techniques That Really Work

We're introducing best practice change management procedures here for good reason. Sure, your organization should adopt them. More importantly though, your IT project outsourcing provider should follow them.

It's equally important that your staff be directly involved and contributing as "team" members in this process. After reviewing these procedures we'll give you a "real world" example.

The example we give isn't really a horror story, but it effectively demonstrates why it's so important to be using the very best practice change management procedures.

Steps To Success (Per ITIL)

1. Develop a Request for Change (RFC). If you're adding or changing a process, a procedure, a piece of hardware, software, or an application, then you need an RFC to explain what you intend to do, why it needs to be done, who is impacted by it and the costs involved.
2. Obtain Approval. Do this with your steering committee. This is where costs versus benefits are reviewed. It's important to remember that this is a business decision and not an internal IT department decision. This is a key principle of best practice change management.
3. Initiate Development of the RFC. IT designs the solution, which the business users then approve. Then the solution is tested by a combination of IT and users with sign-off by both parties.
4. Get Approval before Implementation. The Change Advisory Board (CAB) gives the approval. This group evaluates the implementation strategies, including the timing. It also reviews the back-out plans should something go wrong, as well as the post-implementation monitoring plans.
5. Implement the RFC. If the CAB rejects the RFC implementation, then the IT department needs the time to resolve the issues, obtain approval, then schedule the implementation. This process must have a list of the steps and a checklist to follow.
6. Report the RFC Results. Whatever the implementation results, they're returned to the CAB whose job it is to report to the stakeholders, then store the full package of documentation into the Change Management System (electronically or paper form).
7. Link Problem Issues to Change Management. When issues arise they should first be checked against the Change Management System in case the event is linked to a recently implemented RFC. Sometimes changes do not affect the system in which they're implemented, but they may well affect a neighboring system or sub-system or another business unit.
8. Periodically Audit the Change Management Process. Review the Change Management System yearly to ensure that all documentation is being handled correctly, and that signatures and implementation results are being recorded.

What Is An RFC?

An RFC is a request form that has a standard format and is an integral part of best practice change management. The RFC is used to document requests for change in any of these areas: applications, hardware, software, network, environmental, documentation and procedural changes.

RFCs can include changes to backup schedules, standard maintenance such as rebooting servers, and even ad-hoc maintenance to the facilities and environment.

The Change Advisory Board (CAB)

Members of this group should be selected based on their abilities to assess changes from a business and technical standpoint. This means a combination of users, managers, IT development and operations staff, and third-party outsourcing staff. This is yet another significant component of best practice change management.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

These measurements need to be linked to business goals, service availability and reliability. They provide management with potentially actionable feedback that can lead to improved decision making. These can include:

• Number of disruptions, problems or errors caused by unsuccessful changes.
• Inaccurate or incomplete change specifications.
• Incomplete impact assessments.
• Unauthorized changes by IT/users/customers etc.
• Additional service or application work caused by inadequate change specifications.
• Costs compared to budgets.
• Staff utilization.
• Time to execute changes.
• Ratios of planned versus unplanned changes.
• Ratio of accepted to rejected change requests.
• User satisfaction.

Don't Follow This Example

Some may be thinking that closely adhering to best practice change management procedures is a lot of work and maybe even a poor use of people's time.

It may seem that way at first, but it's often a lot less work than dealing with the problems that result from not following these best practices. Here's an example.

The company in question followed some of the change management steps, but not all of them. They had a developer who was excellent in designing and building solutions. Normally during the year there were rarely problems with changes implemented.

The only problems occurred in the two weeks prior to his going on vacation. This person wanted to complete as much work as possible before leaving. Consequently the work was rushed.

As is often the case on the eve of vacation, a number of changes were being implemented. All had been signed off by users as being what they wanted.

Problems then began to surface while this IT person was away on vacation. They caused disruptions for users, unscheduled maintenance for supporting IT staff, and the need to contact the developer while on vacation.

The solution was to establish a rule that no changes could be implemented within seven days of any developer going on vacation.

Imagine if this type of situation existed in the IT project outsourcing provider you were looking to hire. It's extremely important to ensure that your provider follows the ITIL best practice change management process.

To learn more on the subject, please visit our change management methodologies page. And we can help in other ways. Please read on.

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