Change management is an IT service management discipline that aims to ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt changes). In the context of ITSM, change management is often associated with ITIL, which describes change management as the process of tracking and managing a change throughout its entire life cycle, from start to closure, with the aim to minimize risk. The primary objective of ITIL change management is to enable beneficial changes to be made, with minimum disruption to IT services.
ITIL defines a change as "the addition, modification, or removal of anything that could have a direct or indirect effect on services". Changes can be broadly divided into three types: standard, normal, and emergency. Configuration management provides essential information for the assessment of proposed changes and their impact on related configuration items. Change evaluation is triggered from change management to assess the impact of proposed changes on the IT infrastructure.
ITIL 4 refers to change management as a service management practice and has renamed the practice to "Change Enablement". Organizations are advised to design a process for managing changes in line with their specific requirements. The ITIL change management process supports every stage of the ITIL life cycle and is critical within the service transition publication.
The benefits provided by an ITIL change management process include managing change effectively, fewer service disruptions and IT incidents, better change communication on downtime and service unavailability due to scheduled changes, and ensuring continuous process improvement to keep pace with industry trends. However, ITIL change management also has limitations, such as the need for a dedicated team, the potential for delays in the change process, and the possibility of overcomplicating the process.
Overall, ITIL change management is a process that helps organizations implement incident-free changes with a high success rate, minimize risk, and ensure that changes are made with minimum disruption to IT services.
