Contents
Introduction 01
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Major change 01
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Standard change 10
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Emergency change 13
01
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
The Change Management module in ServiceDesk Plus ensures that standardized pro-
cesses are followed while implementing a change to ensure business continuity and
high availability, with minimal business risks.
This process flow guide recommends the best processes to follow while implementing
the three types of changes mentioned below. These changes are explained with re-
al-time scenarios, life cycles, and process flowcharts.
We will discuss the following types of change:
1. Major
2. Standard
3. Emergency
1. Major change
1.1 Scenario
A large email marketing company has 450 employees, and a customer base of over 20,000.
Earlier on, the company used a shared physical server to host its web application and mail
server software. After some time, the exponential increase in its user base and email trans-
actions made things more complex. Emails from end users were either lost, or kept pend-
ing. As a result, the company has now incurred a high loss in both productivity and profit.
Now, let’s assume that you are the IT head of this company. You have analyzed the issue,
and found that the shared server is unable to manage the load from these necessary ap-
plications. You’ve also concluded that separate physical servers would solve the issue, and
recommended a change so that the company would be able to have a hassle-free transi-
tion with minimal downtime, and less business impact.
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1.2 Prerequisites
INTRODUCTION
Firstly, identify the values and benefits that the change would bring to your organiza-
tion, and the required downtime to implement it. Then, assign a suitable change man-
ager and technician to collect information about the change. Let’s say the downtime
required for implementing this change is eight hours. In that time frame, employees
will be restricted from sending or receiving emails in the company and accessing the
web application. Therefore, there would be no business for eight hours. On the other
hand, after the change is implemented, there would be separate servers for the mail
server and the web application, increasing productivity, efficiency, and profitability.
Next, identify the type of change based on its impact on the organization. In this sce-
nario, the change would impact the entire organization. So, categorize it as a Major
Change. Let’s say that all the major changes in your organization go through six stages.
As an IT head, the next step would be to assign a technician to collect information on
how this particular change would add value to the business. After you have the
required information, create the change (RFC). The change request then goes through
a six-stage cycle, as shown in the diagram.
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1.3 Recommended processes:
This workflow will give you a fair idea of the process involved in this major change.
INTRODUCTION
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The following screenshots of ServiceDesk Plus will help you understand how to
INTRODUCTION
implement a major change in your organization.
Life Cycle of a Major change in ServiceDesk Plus:
• Submission
• Planning
• Approval
• Implementation
• Review
• Closure
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STAGE 1 - SUBMISSION:
INTRODUCTION
VIEW: CHANGE REQUESTER
VIEW: CHANGE MANAGER
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Authorize Change:
INTRODUCTION
STAGE 2 - PLANNING:
VIEW: CHANGE OWNER
VIEW: CHANGE MANAGER
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INTRODUCTION
STAGE 3 - APPROVAL:
VIEW: CHANGE MANAGER
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INTRODUCTION
STAGE 4 - IMPLEMENTATION:
VIEW: IMPLEMENTER
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INTRODUCTION
STAGE 5 - REVIEW:
VIEW: REVIEWER
STAGE 6 - CLOSE:
VIEW: CHANGE OWNER
VIEW: CHANGE MANAGER
Follow the steps above to identify and standardize the right processes to perform a
major change in your organization.
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2. Standard change
2.1 Scenario:
Assume that there are 20 LaserJet printers in your organization. Due to the frequent
failure of the internal CPU and high maintenance costs, the management and the
board members of the company have decided to replace all the LaserJet printers with
LED printers. This will help the company lower maintenance costs and ensure quality
prints. The management has pre-approved certain processes to implement this
transition.
2.2 Prerequisites:
Categorize this change as a Standard Change, because it is pre-approved.
A standard change skips the approval stage. The following diagram gives you an idea
of the stages for a standard change.
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Life cycle of a standard change in ServiceDesk Plus:
The following screenshot, from the ServiceDesk Plus application, depicts the stages
involved in replacing your organization’s printers.
Note: Standard changes are generally considered pre-approved. Therefore, they skip
the approval stage and go directly into implementation after the planning stage.
2.3 Recommended processes:
Consider the following workflow diagram to learn the recommended processes
involved in performing a standard change.
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List the standard changes in your organization and create a workflow similar to the
above mentioned workflow to save time for your technicians and CAB members.
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3. Emergency change
3.1 Scenario:
Suppose your technicians are off to have a fun-filled weekend and you detect a data
center security breach. Your security team has analyzed the issue and found that in-
stalling a patch on your data center would fix the issue. How would you handle this
process, especially under a time constraint?
3.2 Prerequisites:
Classify such changes as emergency changes and have an emergency workflow for
them.
Emergency changes skip two stages: submission and planning. The following diagram
will give you a fair idea of the life cycle for an emergency change.
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Life cycle of an emergency change in ServiceDesk Plus:
The below screenshot, from ServiceDesk Plus, depicts the stages that are involved in
fixing the security breach in your data center.
3.3 Recommended processes:
The following workflow will give you a fair idea of the processes involved in
implementing the emergency change.
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Note: Your organization is considered to have a healthy change management process
if the number of standard changes is higher than the number of emergency changes.
We hope that we’ve given you a clear picture of the processes involved in change im-
plementation. We’d be delighted if you would explore more on change management
processes, play them out, and discover the best options for your organization.
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