Change management is defined in ITIL, COBIT, and other guides. These frameworks can provide a context for understanding change management.
Change management is a prerequisite for many of the ITIL processes. Change management allows other processes, such as configuration management and IT Service Continuity Management, to update their records as production changes.
The "business case" for change management cannot be made as easily in terms of costs, or return on investment. University IT departments must know what they want before they can justify pursuing change management.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Service Acceptance Criteria FV1.doc | 41 KB |
| WFU IS First CAB Meeting.pdf | 202 KB |
| CAB Agenda Template.doc | 54.5 KB |
Change categorization is an important component of change management. This page assumes an understanding of the overall "change lifecycle" as defined in ITIL's change management process.
One of the activities in ITIL v2's "Change Management" process is "Change categorization" (section 8.5.4 of Service Support). This v2 activity is a component of ITIL v3's "Assess and evaluate change" activity (Service Transition section 4.2.6.4).
Categorization allows changes to be processed differently. For example, one type of change might need to be reviewed by the CIO, and another type might just need a local authority (such as a manager) to approve the change. Categorization can also ensure appropriate data, needed for subsequent activities and/or reporting, has been added to a request for change (RFC).
Categorization, however, includes several different dimensions of data. ITIL v2 explicitly recommends categorization based on impact and cost:
However, an organization may also want to categorize changes based on what is being changed. ITIL v3's change management process explains several types of changes, in table 4.3:
Arguably ITIL v3 is confusing the issue when it mentions project change proposals and user access requests, as project governance is otherwise frustratingly absent in the ITIL materials and user access requests are covered in another ITIL v3 process, "access management."
Finally, changes may need to be categorized based on why they are occurring. ITpreneurs' ITIL "Release and Control" practitioner training materials mention four change types on slide 22 of their change management training slides: