Change Window too long

[topgun911]

Hi,
Can someone suggest how best to handle the following scenario:

RFC raised with start date/time - end date/time spanning 2 months.
The change involves a number of phases where devices will be upgraded.
Each phase will potentially take 4 hours to complete and then a 1-2 days period of monitoring.

How's this kind of change best handled?
-Should there be one RFC ?
-Should there be one overall RFC and then RFC's for each phase?

The above are just some suggestions..

Please let me know what's best practice.

[Sandys]

It boils down to how you want to handle these types of changes for your company and do what works for you.

For us, we limit the change window to a maximum of 2 weeks. If the project is scheduled to take place over several months then there would be a change for each 2 week period. Each change would have the schedule attached for that 2 week block showing when each of the devices would be upgraded.

This method works for us because it allows reasonable visibility to what devices are being upgraded in the event of an issue investigation. If any issues are encountered during the upgrade, the next change in the sequence can include the lessons learned hopefully avoiding the same issues/hiccups encountered during the previous change.

I hope that helps.

Sandy