What is Change Management?
Change management refers to the way an organization approaches adding to, removing, or altering some part of a system or process. It includes all the activities involved in such a workflow, from the initial request and exploration to development and implementation.
Depending on the type of change, this process might last anywhere from a few hours to several weeks or months.
Regardless of the level of change your team is managing, it’s important to have systems in place for effective implementation—and documenting this change management process will help you execute your plans without bottlenecks or miscommunication.
How Technical Teams Manage Change
For technical teams, the key to managing change is doing it in a way that doesn’t disrupt existing systems or services. Having a defined and tested change management process helps with this, ensuring that you have:
- Reliability and predictability
- The ability to adapt to changing circumstances
- Reduced risk when issues arise
Typically, change management begins with a request. That request often requires evaluation and approval. Then, it’s either declined, or it moves forward into the implementation phase, where it can then be resolved or closed upon completion.
As you develop and optimize your change management processes, you’ll want to document them visually, making it easier to teach new team members and communicate with stakeholders.
Back to top4 Change Management Processes That Get Better with Visual Documentation
Processing Approvals for Data Access
Controlling and approving data access is a critical IT change that requires standardization. Without a clearly communicated approval process, there is a risk that service agents might incorrectly grant access or increase software costs by adding unnecessary users to the system.
Having defined responses to various scenarios helps you ensure quick, consistent, and effective service. A standard operating procedure, or SOP, diagram helps ensure that the proper users get access in a timely manner while avoiding accidents. Decision trees can serve as part of standard operating procedures that guide your team through situations like these.
Implementing a New Software System
Implementation of a new software system is a large undertaking for an ITSM team, and one that involves many processes coming together to ensure a smooth transition.
Workflow diagrams are your new best friend for maintaining a consistent, effective change management process. They help you visualize every step required to gain approval for and implement a change, so you can get the work done fast and communicate expectations to your teammates.
Establishing and Executing a Communication Plan
When change occurs, especially critical change like implementing a new software system, you need a plan for how and when you are going to communicate that change to stakeholders—the people affected by the change.
To establish that plan, you’ll need to map out everyone within your organization who might be impacted by certain types of changes.
A stakeholder map helps you organize your thoughts and make sure no one falls through the cracks. You can map out how involved each stakeholder is in the project and at what point in the change management process they should be informed.
Transitioning from Manual to Automated Change Processes
Automation is one of the key ITSM principles that help teams work more effectively. Interactive visuals linked to company data can not only guide individual contributors through the transition from a manual to automated change processes, but also serve as demonstration for department stakeholders to understand those processes.
Improve Your Change Management Process with Visual Documentation
Is your team all-in on the Atlassian ecosystem? If so, Gliffy is the diagramming tool for you. It’s completely integrated with Confluence and built for technical diagramming first.
If you have a Confluence space linked to the Jira project that you use to manage change requests, your diagrams can be created and maintained there – it's easy for anyone to access so you never need to spend another hour searching for information from other, external sources of truth.
Ready to learn more about how Gliffy can transform your ITSM workflows and help you boost efficiency? We’d love to show you!