IT Change Management Process
ITIL-aligned change management procedure for planning, approving, implementing, and reviewing changes to production IT systems.
Purpose
Minimize the risk of service disruptions by ensuring all changes to production systems are planned, approved, tested, and executed with rollback procedures.
This is a TEAM template — included with the Team plan.
Steps (7)
Submit Change Request
Create a change request with description, affected systems, implementation window, risk level, and business justification. Identify the change owner and implementer.
Checklist
- Change request created in change management system
- Description states what is changing and why
- Affected systems and services listed
- Risk level assigned (Low, Medium, High, Emergency)
- Business justification provided
- Change owner and implementer identified
- Change type classified (Standard, Normal, Emergency)
Expected Output
Change request submitted with all required fields.
Impact & Risk Assessment
Analyze potential impact: affected services, expected downtime, user impact, dependencies. Score risk on a likelihood × impact matrix. Identify mitigation strategies.
Checklist
- Direct service impact identified
- Indirect dependencies mapped
- Expected downtime calculated
- Risk assessment completed (likelihood × impact)
- Top risks identified with mitigations
- Conflict check against other planned changes
- Notification plan created for affected users
Expected Output
Impact and risk assessment documented. Ready for review.
Build Implementation & Rollback Plans
Create step-by-step implementation and rollback plans with time estimates. Both must be detailed enough for any team member to execute. Define rollback trigger criteria.
Checklist
- Implementation plan has numbered steps with time estimates
- Verification steps included after each major action
- Rollback plan created with specific steps
- Rollback trigger criteria defined
- Backup of current state planned
- Emergency contacts listed for escalation
Expected Output
Implementation and rollback plans documented. Both are actionable by any team member.
Change Advisory Board (CAB) Review
Present the change request, impact assessment, and plans to the CAB. The CAB reviews risk, schedule, and rollback adequacy. Document the decision and conditions.
Checklist
- Change request presented to CAB
- Impact and risk assessment reviewed
- Implementation and rollback plans reviewed
- No scheduling conflicts with other changes
- CAB decision recorded (Approved / Conditional / Rejected)
- Approvals captured with names and timestamps
Expected Output
Change approved by CAB. All approvals documented.
Pre-Implementation Preparation
Take backups, verify they are restorable, confirm team availability, notify affected users, set up monitoring dashboards, and pre-stage all deployment artifacts.
Checklist
- System snapshot/backup taken
- Backup verified as restorable
- Implementation artifacts pre-staged
- Implementation team confirmed available
- Affected users notified
- Monitoring dashboards prepared
- Communication channel open for real-time updates
Expected Output
Backups taken and verified. Team assembled. Ready to implement.
Execute Change & Validate
Execute the implementation plan step by step with verification at each stage. Communicate progress regularly. Perform end-to-end validation after all steps complete.
Checklist
- Implementation started within approved window
- Each step executed as documented
- Verification performed after each major step
- Progress communicated at regular intervals
- End-to-end service health check passed
- Performance baseline compared
- Affected users notified of completion
Expected Output
Change implemented successfully. All validations passed.
Post-Implementation Review & Closure
Monitor for 24-48 hours. Update the CMDB. Document deviations and lessons learned. Close the change request.
Checklist
- Service monitored for 24-48 hours post-change
- No unexpected issues observed
- CMDB updated with new configuration
- Deviations from plan documented
- Lessons learned captured
- Change request closed as successful
Expected Output
Change verified successful. CMDB updated. Change request closed.