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Change Management and Control Process in Telco/IT Networks
Change is a good thing, and if you work in Telco/IT production environments then change is part of your routine. A network change can be in the form of; hardware, software/configuration, or both. The common triggers of change in network operations are tuning and optimization, preventive maintenance, hardware expansion, software/hardware upgrades, new projects and solutions/products, migrations etc. Change requests are always with a good intention to improve the network but when poorly managed can lead to disastrous network failures, data/configuration loss and prolonged service outages that spill out of the agreed maintenance window.
Therefore, change needs to be well controlled with a good change management process. The process should not be very tight and complex because that will discourage change and remember “change is a good thing”, but also the process should not be very relaxed because things can get ugly during network changes.
A common part of the change management process is the “Change Request (CR)” form, anyone wishing to make a change on the network infrastructure (hardware, software/config or both) should be required to fill out a CR form and submit it to a Change Management Committee for review and approval. A good CR form should capture:
- General information of the change requester
- General information about the change
- Service impact analysis
- Risk assessments
- Backup and fallback plan
- Approvals
Here is a free, simple, and editable CR form that you can easily tune to fit the change management process of your Telco/IT network operations.