Change Types and State Models
The purpose of the change management process is to control the lifecycle of all changes. It enables making beneficial changes with minimal disruption to IT services.
Change types
Three types of changes are supported: standard, normal, and emergency changes. The change type determines which state model should be used and what change process that must be followed.
Standard change
A standard change is a pre-authorized change that is low risk, relatively common, and follows a specific procedure or work instruction.
Changes of this type are most frequently implemented, have repeatable steps, and have successfully been implemented earlier. As standard changes are pre-approved, they follow the process in which authorization steps are not required.
To make requesting a change more efficient, you can create a template in the respective catalog based on the approved standard change requests. Also, this capability allows the team to control the changes that are authorized as standard.
Normal change
A normal change is used to implement a profitable change that is not a standard change or an emergency change.
These changes require a full range of evaluations and authorizations, such as technical approval, Change Advisory Board authorization, change manager authorization, and so on. Normal changes planning foresees possible disruption to service, so these changes are often scheduled outside of change blackout windows or during defined maintenance windows. This type of changes is used to implement a profitable change for any service that is not a standard or emergency change for any service.
Emergency change
An emergency change is a change that must be implemented as soon as possible, for example, to resolve a major incident or implement a security patch.
You can use an emergency request to fix:
- a current failure situation or a situation where the impact has already been experienced.
- a fail case where the negative impact is invariable if action is not taken.
The priority of the emergency change allows it to go straight to the Authorization state for the Change Advisory Board (CAB) group approval.