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Chapter 6 ■ Service Transition
6.4.1.3.3 Standard Changes
Normal changes that are low risk and low impact in nature can be categorized as standard
changes. I specifically use the word “can” in the previous sentence, as categorization
of changes as standard is at the discretion of the service provider and customer
organizations.
Any organization will have a good chunk of low-risk and low-impact changes. In my
estimate, it should run up to 50% or thereabouts. The service provider’s responsibility to
deliver agile change management depends on their ability to identify standard changes
from the normal change list and obtain necessary approvals to standardize them.
Standard changes have distinct advantages and create value for customers. They
follow a process that is less stringent and are free from multiple approvals and lead times
that are often associated with normal changes. This provides the service provider the
arsenal needed to implement changes on the fly, which increases productivity and also
helps deliver better value to the customer.
Examples of standard changes include minor patch upgrades, database reindexing,
and blacklisting IPs on firewalls.
My expertise is in value creation, and standard changes often deliver maximum
value with minimum effort. Organizations must make an effort to identify standard
changes and provide able controls around them to ensure that standard changes don’t go
uncontrolled and are reined in with governance and rugged process.
6.4.1.4 Change Models
In the previous section I discussed the types of change requests at a high level. Going a
few hierarchies down, every type of change can be further broken down based on the
technology involved, personnel, customer requirements, and change management policies.
For example, the steps involved in introducing a software upgrade and replacement
of a hard disk are different. A single standardized process to incorporate all types of
changes, irrespective of the technology involved, will not present the best that the
change management process can offer. So it is necessary, in the interests of the service
provider to improve delivery, to create change models for different types of changes. In
Figure 6-1, I provide examples of change models for a software upgrade and for hard disk
replacement.
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