The ITIL Definition of a Standard Change Has the Following Elements

Change Management

Standard Change Definition

Draft February 3, 2009

The ITIL definition of a standard change has the following elements:

·  There is a defined trigger to initiate the RFC

·  The tasks are well known, documented and proven

·  Authority is given in advance

·  Budgetary approval is within the domain of the change requester

·  The risk is low and always well understood

Proposed definition for OIT/ITS

A standard change:

1. Is well defined (CI and impacted service(s) are uniquely identified), documented (there is a procedure in the form of a checklist or step-by-step narrative on how to make the change and how to back-out of the change), tested (the change has been implemented successfully) and proven (the change procedure has been used before successfully) at least three times in production.

2. The risk is low (the risk of failure is low or the impact to services should the change fail is minimal) and well understood (the types of risk are known and the consequences of failure understood and can be mitigated within 15 minutes).

3. Is transparent to the user (users will not notice a difference in the way they interact with services or need to change local system or software settings or configurations).

4. Requires no additional funding to implement

Policy/Rules/Guidelines Updates

1.  Once a change is accepted as a standard change, authorization is implied. It can be implemented as per the change/release policy

2.  All standard changes must be logged using a request for change (RFC) so they become part of the change calendar (forward schedule of change (FSC)).

3.  If a standard change fails, it must be re-certified by conducting a post implementation review (PIR) to determine why it failed and then meeting part one of the standard change definition.

4.  Service requests. Some tasks that, on the surface, might appear to be changes are service requests. Examples: password resets, new account provisioning, ip address allocation (ipalloc), dns requests, localized access control lists (ACL), web form updates, new virtual web sites added to existing hardware, phone moves, phone feature changes. Typically, a service request originates from outside the IT organization and would be submitted through the Service Desk. Service requests should be recorded and tracked by the team doing the work.

5.  Changes that may have a significant impact to campus or hospital services should be treated as a major change and go through the change process.

6.  Changes made to data center facilities are never standard changes. Examples: network, power, HVAC in the data center.

7.  Managers request a change become a standard change. The Change Manager and CAB review and approve.

8.  Standard changes should be reviewed periodically (recommended annually, every 3 years max) by the manager over the group that submitted the change.