Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Sample Change Management Processes
Chapter 7 introduced some concepts that might be intimidating for smaller organizations: Who
has the time or personnel for a CAB or executive committee in a small shop? In this chapter, I'll
show you that change and configuration management can be adapted to organizations of any size
and tweaked to meet specific business concerns such as speed of response and security control.
This chapter will serve as a resource for example change and configuration management
processes, which you can adopt outright or (more likely) modify to suit your specific needs.
You'll notice that all of these processes have some common elements, such as a review process
to help catch changes that will cause problems, documentation, and disaster recovery procedures.
These elements have been covered in nearly every chapter of this guide, and they are the
underlying parts that make change and configuration management worthwhile. Even if you
decide to create your own process entirely from scratch, be sure that the common elements are
included so that your process will offer the value that change and configuration management
promises.
Basic Change Management for Smaller Organizations
The most difficult aspect of incorporating change and configuration management into a smaller
organization is that most processes are set up for much larger organizations; organizations that
have the personnel and other resources to conduct peer reviews, change categorization, and so
forth. But change and configuration management can provide just as much benefit to smaller
organizations in which the entire "IT staff" might consist of one or two technical professionals
and their manager; implementing change management in such organizations is simply a matter of
developing a process that acknowledges the limitations of the organization. In fact, smaller
organizations, it can be argued, benefit more from proper change and configuration management,
at least in proportion to the organization's size. Downtime and other IT setbacks create bigger
problems for small organizations, as they rarely have the resources--especially personnel and
time--to spare for troubleshooting and resolution. By keeping everything up and running
smoothly, the organization can focus on beneficial projects rather than simply firefighting.
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Summary :
Chapter 8 Chapter 8: Sample Change Management Processes Chapter 7 introduced some concepts that might be intimidating for smaller organizations: Who has the time or personnel for a CAB or executive committee in a small shop? Basic Change Management for Smaller Organizations The most difficult aspect of incorporating change and configuration management into a smaller organization is that most processes are set up for much larger organizations;
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