CSF's for Change and Release Management

[GertrudePerkins]

I've been tasked with drawing up some Critical Success Factors for Change and Release Management and I'm reaching a bit of an impassse!

Has anyone else got a view on what should be included? I'm starting from a blank canvass!

[rjp]

Just quickly - the following should get you started

From the ITIL,

Change Management CSFs

• a repeatable process for making Changes
  
• make Changes quickly and accurately (business driven needs)
  
• protect services when making Changes
  
• deliver process efficiency and effectiveness benefits.

Release Managemnt CSFs

• better quality software and hardware
  
• a repeatable process for rolling out software and hardware Releases
  
• implementation of Releases swiftly (business driven needs) and accurately
  cost-effective releases.

From BS15000-1 the following might also help

change Management

• Service and infrastructure changes shall have a clearly defined and documented scope.
  
• All requests for change shall be recorded and classified, e.g. urgent, emergency, major, minor.
  
• Requests for changes shall be assessed for their risk, impact and business benefit.
  
• The change management process shall include the manner in which the change shall be reversed or remedied if unsuccessful.
  
• Changes shall be approved and then checked, and shall be implemented in a controlled manner.
  
• All changes shall be reviewed for success and any actions taken after implementation.
  
• There shall be policies and procedures to control the authorization and implementation of emergency changes.
  
• The scheduled implementation dates of changes shall be used as the basis for change and release scheduling.
  
• A forward schedule of change shall be maintained and communicated to relevant parties.
  
• Change records shall be analysed regularly to detect increasing levels of changes, frequently recurring types, emerging trends and other relevant information.
  
• The results and conclusions drawn from change analysis shall be recorded.
  
• Actions for improvement identified from change management shall be recorded and input into the service improvement plan.

Release Managment

• The release policy stating the frequency and type of releases shall be documented and agreed.
  
• The service provider shall plan with the business the release of services, systems, software and hardware.
  
• Plans on how to roll out the release shall be agreed and authorized by all relevant parties, e.g. customers, users, operations and support staff.
  
• The process shall include the manner in which the release shall be
  backed-out or remedied if unsuccessful.
  
• Plans shall record the release dates and deliverables and refer to related change requests, known errors and problems. They shall be communicated to incident management.
  
• Requests for change shall be assessed for their impact on release plans.
  
• Release management procedures shall include the updating and changing of configuration information and change records.
  
• Emergency releases shall be managed according to a defined process that interfaces to the emergency change management process.
  
• A controlled acceptance test environment shall be established to build and test all releases prior to distribution.
  
• Release and distribution shall be designed and implemented so that the integrity of hardware and software is maintained during installation, handling, packaging and delivery.
  
• Success and failure of releases shall be measured.
  
• Measurements shall include incidents related to a release in the period following a release.
  
• Analysis shall include assessment of the impact on the business,
  
• IT operations and support staff resources, and shall provide input to the service improvement plan.

If you formulate a list of say the top five most important objectives for your implementation, from the above, you should get a workable set of CSFs. (Remember they are relative to the maturity level you are aiming for.)