Change Advisory Boards and Approvals

Information management systems are highly sensitive to configuration changes due to the complex relationships between all the CIs involved. An apparently minor change could trigger a chain reaction with catastrophic results.

The Change Management process app enables approval boards to review and approve most changes. Each advisory board member can approve or reject changes and can provide written feedback for each RFC and proposal.

For details on the approval process for RFCs and proposals, refer to:

About CABs and ECABs

The Change Advisory Board, or CAB, is usually chaired by a change manager and its members include other service management managers. The CAB may also include other stakeholders such as customers or other third-party providers.

In the case of high impact changes, upper management may need to be consulted as strategic issues and the organization's general policy may come into play.

The CAB typically meets regularly to analyze and approve the pending proposals and most RFCs. CAB members discuss the benefits of changes and verify that a back-out plan exists. They decide when changes should be implemented, assess the effort, and assess the cost. The CAB also discusses possible risks, services that are affected, impacts to business continuity, and disaster recovery.

Emergency Change Advisory Boards, or ECABS, can be convened to discuss and approve emergency RFCs as needed. Emergency RFCs follow a streamlined process that enables your organization to react quickly, but with control and visibility. Provided notifications alert ECAB members about emergency RFCs and the "All Open Emergency Changes" reports provides visibility into emergency RFCs that need to be addressed.

The results and decisions of CAB and ECAB discussions are collected and entered in each change. Details can be entered directly into the change or attached as supporting documentation using Add File.

About the Approval Process

The approval process is similar for RFCs and proposals.

Both processes require that CAB members selected during the assessment phase approve, reject, or suggest delaying the change. Emergency RFCs can be sent directly to the ECAB once they are submitted.

CAB and ECAB members use the "Add CAB Comment" to register their decision and provide a comment.

Depending on the approval results:

The change manager uses the "CAB complete" transition to move to change the "Implementation" state if all members approve.
The change manager can override approval if the vote results differ or if CAB or ECAB members are unavailable to approve the change.
The change can be rejected.
Non-emergency RFCs and proposals can be deferred.