University of Illinois System

AITS

Administrative Information Technology Services

Change Management Service

Service Description

The purpose of the Change Management Process is to ensure that IT systems continue to operate without unexpected and avoidable disruption or degradation of performance. Currently AITS uses CA Service Desk Manager (SDM) to manage the Change Management process. This tool provides the necessary forms to system administrators to file and process requests for change.

Changes in the IT infrastructure may arise for the following reasons:

  • React to software or hardware problems
  • Address newly imposed regulatory requirements, e.g. legislative changes
  • Act to proactively to introduce efficiencies and effectiveness
  • Enable or reflect business initiatives
  • Introduce new programs, projects or service improvement initiatives

Change Management can ensure the utilization of standardized methods, processes and procedures, facilitate efficient and prompt handling of all changes, and maintain the proper balance between the need for change and the potential detrimental impact of changes. The following outlines the objectives of the Change Management Service:

  • Increase the probability of change success and to minimize the need for changes to be backed out due to inadequate preparation.
  • Ensure that all parties affected are informed of planned changes and all necessary documentation and training is in place prior to the implementation.
  • Provide a record of changes implemented to assist with and shorten problem determination time.
  • Identify technical and management accountability for all changes.
  • Improve the accuracy of predicting impact, such as response time, utilization, etc.
  • Improve delivery of stable technology to the University through close collaboration with the development and support processes.
  • Reduce the risk of production system service disruption, performance degradation, and security vulnerabilities.

The change types are Pre-Approved (Bundled/Recurring), Normal, Major, and Emergency. A Major Change with normal priority requires 10 business days lead time. If the RFC will or could have global customer impact, is a potentially high risk to the production environment, or requires substantial financial and/or AITS resource commitment, it is identified as a Major Change. A Normal Change with normal priority requires 2 business days lead time. If the RFC will or could have localized impact, is a low to medium risk to the production environment, moderate AITS resource commitment, and/or moderate customer impact, it is identified as a Normal Change. A Pre-Approved Change poses little or no risk to the availability of the production environment and is defined within a Bundled Change Agreement document and can be implemented as outlined within the terms of the agreement. Normal and Major changes that cannot meet the required lead time must be submitted with high priority and follow the approval guidelines per the AITS Change Management procedures.

Emergency Changes

At times unplanned events occur resulting in a system or service interruption. The AITS Change Management Process accounts for these situations. Such an event may require an Emergency Change. An Emergency Change could be related to an IT component failure, regulatory event, or an event driven by an emergency such as severe weather. In all cases, an unforeseen event is considered an urgent event and will be handled immediately and impact communication will be disseminated as soon as possible. However, within 24 hours of the incident, a RFC should be submitted detailing all the changes that were made within the scope of the Change Management processes to stabilize a production critical situation. Upon filing an Emergency Change, an incident report must be submitted. Customers and AITS personnel are responsible for notifying the Service Desk of such events. The Service Desk is responsible for all communications for events of this nature.

Hours of Availability

Standard business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except for University of Illinois holidays.

  • On-call staff are available for after-hours support, as required, for emergencies and scheduled work

Customer Responsibilities

  • Identify a primary point of contact to work with AITS in coordinating the activities being performed by the service
  • All new work should be initiated through the Work Request or ITPC process
  • Support requests relating to the use of the service will be initiated by opening an incident or request ticket with the AITS Service Desk

How Do We Charge?

Service Level Agreements detailing project hours and cost will be worked out with each customer depending on the desired level of support.