What should a Change Request cover?

[SD]

Could someone confirm to what level of detail changes should be logged?

For example: Do minor configuration changes or housekeeping tasks such as the deletion of temp files on a server to free up space need to go through the change management process?

What about the removal of licensed programs and or related libraries from a server?

Any input would be appreciated.

[RobRoy47]

I know this sounds silly, but the question is “Does it change the configuration?” Deleting temp files does not. Removing a software package does. The software package is a CI, and therefore needs to be tracked. It can often be in the minor things that major disruptions occur. “It’s a small patch, nothing can go wrong!” Each organization needs to define what is and what is not covered by change management.

[Guerino1]

SD,

Hello SD,

In my experience, I can say that there are many types of changes an organization manages. Large companies tend to like to have records of any and all changes for auditing and compliance purposes. It also helps to debug problems to the environment quickly, if you have records of everything that changed in the environment. The attitude is that the more knowledge you have, the better off you are. You can always filter out what you don't want.

It's also important to know what changed in an environment, so that you can roll back your changes in the event that your changes did not deploy as intended.

This being said, there is a difference between "logging" and "tracking" a change as opposed to putting one through some form of a change management process.

In a large company, where many things can be impacted by a simple thing like removing a licensed piece of software or deleting files, the probably of "yes" being the answer to your examples is higher than in small companies.

I can personally say that I don't want someone mucking around, manually, in a production system without some form of controls in place. I've seen too many people "accidentally" modify or remove software components or files that have taken down entire business units for extended periods of time, losing their company millions of dollars of revenue. (There's nothing like watching a Wall St. trader look for a ledge to jump off of, for entertainment! He/She would only do this after they killed you first for losing their money.)

Small companies tend to be more lenient when it comes to change.

Ultimately, there is no right or wrong... just common sense.

Regards,

Frank Guerino
Chairman & CEO
[No commercial URLs please]
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