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sponsored by CIO Decisions
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Posted:
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02 May 2007
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Published:
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01 May 2007
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Format:
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HTML
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Length:
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3
Page(s)
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Type:
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Journal Article
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Language:
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English
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ABSTRACT:
Several years ago, I gathered with a group of IT leaders to discuss and define a set of change management best practices. The resulting list mapped well with both the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standard and the Microsoft Operations Framework, or MOF. (I prefer MOF, which is available for free on the Microsoft Web site.) The group identified five important elements of effective change management: - Create and maintain a test environment that mimics the production environment. Also commit to testing every change.
- Ensure that every proposed change is approved by a change review committee. The committee should include representatives from each IT function (for example, if the database administrator wants to apply a patch to the database, the application group should be involved in the review and approval of the change).
- Create "rollback" rights. A change review committee has the right to roll back changes that don't pass tests or that cause "harm."
- Communicate change clearly and concisely to affected users. They are often ignored until too late in the process.
- Deploy changes on a predictable schedule (during the third weekend of the month, for example).
Emergency changes should follow the same process but not be postponed for a regularly scheduled meeting of the change review committee -- and they may have to be made right away. Otherwise, the process should be maintained.
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Author
Niel Nickolaisen
CIO and vice president of strategic planning at Headwaters Inc.
Niel Nickolaisen is CIO and vice president of strategic planning at Headwaters Inc., an energy and building products firm. Niel has held CIO and COO positions in large- and medium-sized enterprises, typically in turnaround roles. He is expert in the selection, implementation, and deployment of enterprise business applications, analysis tools, and systems. The recipient of two patents for enterprise management tools, he is past president of his Society for Information Management chapter and holds an MS in Engineering from MIT and a BS in Physics from Utah State University.
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