IT Change Control: 8 Ways To Improve Your Processes
The words "change control" may seem like an oxymoron, but that is exactly what IT is charged with doing each time the business asks for a new application, service, or device. But IT change control processes are often mired in an outdated culture that's not in line with today's business technology reality. Here's what you can do to bring your IT change control processes up to date.
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If there's one topic within enterprise IT that almost everyone has an opinion on, it has to be how the change control process should function. No matter what company you are in, you're likely to hear opinions on how to streamline processes in order to make changes faster and more effective.
At one time, IT had the luxury of being slow to react to business needs. Applications and infrastructure were far less flexible, and thus, the business understood that changes to IT systems had to be slow. Yet, with today's much more adaptable technologies, the business has come to the conclusion that IT should be able to make changes faster -- and users are beginning to demand it.
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The problem for many in IT is that, while the underlying technology is more flexible to change, longtime change processes often remain slow and cumbersome. And that's precisely what we're discussing here. We'll give you tips to address speed, accuracy, and other annoyances that do not add value to the overall process. Some ideas we're presenting here may be ones you've already thought of -- but have had trouble implementing. Other ideas may be new and may give you a different perspective on a change control step. Lastly, you're presented with a few tips on how to remove inefficiencies that not only slow the process down, but also drive IT admins crazy.
Once you've reviewed our tips, let us know your thoughts on the ideas we presented -- and share any ideas of your own that you think would be beneficial to the process. We'd like to hear from you in the comments section below.
Most change requests come from within IT. But your users should also be taking an active role in requesting adds/changes. Employees are generally becoming more tech savvy. Start listening to their needs more closely and consider making the changes they ask for.
If you're stuck making bulk changes every few weeks, you're essentially driving a Winnebago through busy streets when you should really be on a scooter. Technology moves at a pace faster than ever before. Change control must adapt to meet that higher rate of speed. Consider smaller, more frequent changes, as opposed to queuing multiple changes that are all made in a single window.
With today's modern infrastructures comprised of virtualized networks, servers, and other infrastructure devices, it's easier than ever to build a test environment that closely mimics the actual production network. The days of using outdated and spare hardware are long gone. Because we can mimic hardware within software, duplicating production environments is a snap.
Business users are demanding that changes happen faster than ever before, which makes it more likely that some of your efforts will fail. Do your best to get it right the first time, but don't let fear of failure paralyze you. Instead, have a plan in place to back out of changes if things go badly. Fallback procedures should be considered as important as planning for the actual implementation.
I've noticed in recent years that the number of attendees at change control meetings has ballooned as IT looks to cover all bases. I've seen meetings that could fill an auditorium. If that's true for you, pare down your attendee list. Two goals of any change control meeting are to inform and identify. You want to keep other parts of IT informed about pending changes and what the expected impact will be. And, you want to identify any changes to one application or system that could have a negative impact on other parts of the infrastructure. To streamline this process, invite only the most necessary people and rely on them to disseminate information to their teams as needed.
The idea of lengthening your maintenance windows may seem counterintuitive. But when put to use, it can work wonders. For one, allowing for longer maintenance windows takes much of the stress out of starting immediately, and having the feeling of racing against the clock. Problems frequently arise during maintenance windows, which delay the start of the work. And once they've fallen behind schedule, technicians tend to make more mistakes, because they're under pressure to complete a change in a tighter timeframe. By extending maintenance windows, you can eliminate much of the stress and reduce some of the errors that creep in when administrators have to hurry.
For critical and complex changes, all eyes are on those doing the work. And please know that it's completely useless for managers to "check in" on how a change is going during a maintenance window. If you trust your people enough to make such important changes, you must also trust them to reach out to you if and when they need to. If they're not contacting you, leave them alone and let them do their job.
I often see companies fail to document what actually happened during a change window. And if they do manage to document what went on, it's only in cases when a change failed. Changes should be well documented by those involved, whether they are successful or unsuccessful. Doing so creates a history of what worked and what didn't, and those lessons can be used in future changes that are similar in nature.
Change control processes must adapt to meet the growing need for faster and more efficient IT. Your current change control processes are likely based on previous thoughts where it was okay for IT to be slow. But changes to technology are forcing IT to rethink and streamline many processes. Our hope is that some of our ideas might get you thinking about how you can improve your processes to meet the technology goals within your organization.
Change control processes must adapt to meet the growing need for faster and more efficient IT. Your current change control processes are likely based on previous thoughts where it was okay for IT to be slow. But changes to technology are forcing IT to rethink and streamline many processes. Our hope is that some of our ideas might get you thinking about how you can improve your processes to meet the technology goals within your organization.
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