Change Handbook

[Neilyc]

Hi,

We are implementing ITIL v3 where I work and I have been given the (part-time) role of Change Manager.

One of the things that I have to produce is some sort of guideline/policies/handbook that we could all use/follow for the change processes.

Do you have any pointers of where to start with this as starting with an empty page in Word is a bit daunting.

Any documents, templates, web sites, topics, other resources etc would be very gratefully received.

Thanks in advance.
Neil

[mnsmith]

Neil

First of all welcome to the forum.

One of the main factors in ensuring you ITIL "implementation" is a success is training. However, I suspect that you have so far received very little training as you are looking for some basic guidance. This is very worrying considering you are attempting to develop a change management process.

Therefore my only suggestion is to get your company to fund your attendance on an ITIL foundation course as a minimum, as this is the best place to get some pointers.

Hope that helps

Mick
_________________
Mick Smith
Change, Configuration and Release Manager

[Diarmid]

Neilyc,

welcome to the forum.

Mick is, of course, correct. I would offer the following which may illustrate your situation.

Do you mean a document that:

- refers to the policy and procedure documents
or
- abstracts from them
or
- summarizes them?

In every case the blank page goes away if you cut and paste something from one of them.

If you do not already have a documented change policy related to your service management policies/objectives etc. and you do not already have documented change procedure(s), then you cannot provide a useful change handbook.

If, on the other hand, you really mean that you are to develop the policy and procedures, (and probably also the objectives I would guess), then you need to build on the overall service policies and objectives and get senior management to spell out the policy and objectives for change. Here you may have to spoon-feed them. The best way to do this is to use your grasp of how change management will fit in and derive the generics from the ITIL books and the ISO20000 standard to get them started.

If senior management believe that this can be done without their input, then you can pay me to write a really super system for you, you can implement and when it is no good you can say told you so to senior management and get them to do it properly.

There is nothing out there that won't be bad for you if you haven't reached the starting line and already know what you are doing. And if you do know what you are doing then the stuff out there will mostly not be as good as just documenting what you are doing in a way that your organization will be comfortable with.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

[Neilyc]

Thanks for the welcome

Forgive the orginal ambigious question, I will attempt to ellaborate.

I have successfully completed the foundation course.

Senior management are not really giving me a steer in how they want ITIL implemented. All I seem to get from them is "whatever you think best" and "Do what will work for us". All a bit vague I know. They are now pressing for some action (after all I have been on a course). So they have asked me to produce a document (handbook) that we can circulate to all IT staff describing the processes, policies etc. Basically a 'here is how change management/control will be' document.

We have no formal change processes in place or documented and I am meeting quite a bit of resistance when ever I mention change control.

I guess what I am after is an outline of what this document should contain, I feel confident enough to fill in the blanks, just not sure what the scope of it should be.

TIA

[ChangeOfficer]

I wouldn't worry about templates as much as starting with the basics that you need to accomplish your objective:

What is a change
Who are the approvers
What information is required
What are your other process requirements, ie lead time, change types

If you answer these you'll be off to a good start.

[Diarmid]

[swansong]

Hi

From my experience of implementing change management processes, the most signficant cultural changes will be:-

1. There will be a single change process, which someone else will own.
2. Changes will be documented.
3. Changes will be risk assessed.
4. Someone else may decide whether your change will go ahead.
5. You will follow the process.

Its tough love basically.

I would focus though initially on talking to your sponsors to identify what they want from CM. Its great saying "do what you want", but this will only work up to the point where you do something they don't like, and at that point they withdraw their support and everything collapses.

Make sure their committment is absolute, unambiguous, aligned to their objectives and documented in a business case. This if nothing else will give you a baseline for all subsequent activities.

[swansong]

[UKVIKING]

While i can on and on, I think the comment so far are correct


I have only 1 thing to say . in my not so humble opinion

Based on what you have said, the senior mgmt has set you up to fail
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[UKIT]

Part time change manager,now there's a first,what happens when your not the part time change manager.
Bit like an airline pilot,getting up from his seat half way through the flight saying "That's it,I'm off"
For best results,the role is required to be performed in full time mode.

[Neilyc]

[UKVIKING]

Neil

Hire Diarmid

I dont know the distance from under lyme to sheffield but on a google map it is merely ... this much....
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[thechosenone69]

I would recommend Diarmid as well.
_________________
Ali Makahleh
Configuration Management(Blue Badge),
ITILV2 Service Manager(Red Badge),
ITILV3 Expert(Lilac Badge) Certified.

“If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing." W. Edwards Deming.

[Diarmid]

... so would I.

Sheffield is just round the corner, in a manner of speaking. Besides, I like Yorkshire and I once played chess in Sheffield.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

[asrilrm]

Make it 4
Not just making a colleague, you will also have a (chess) sparring partner
.. and word puzzle solving competitor