The IRS Information Technology (IT) organization supports hundreds of servers, applications, software, databases, and services, in addition to various network configurations, resulting in a large and complex environment. A change to any of these configuration items may introduce risk to availability, capacity, reliability, and performance. Managing changes to these configuration items mitigates risk and improves operating efficiencies. A formalized IT Change Management Process is designed to ensure that changes are authorized and operate as intended.

Process Description. Change Management is the process responsible for managing all changes to all environments from inception thru completion. To be successful in managing change, the Change Management process must ensure that all changes are recorded and authorized at the appropriate level within IT and the Business without being overly bureaucratic. Simple (standard) changes would need minimal authorization but should still go through the process to ensure they are correctly recorded and appropriately tested. Complicated, high impact changes may need to be authorized at the Business Executive level, as well as the IT Executive level, before the implementation is initiated.

Process Goal. The goal of the Change Management process is to conduct a formal, standardized methodology in the handling of all changes. With a standard, formal approach the potential for change-related Incidents are diminished, the quality of the changes is improved and the impacts upon the day-to-day operations of the organization are controlled.

Process Objectives. Process objectives describe material outcomes that are produced or achieved by the process. The following is a list of objectives for this process:

The IRMs listed below establishes the authority for this process to be established:

Each process defines at least one role. Each role is assigned to perform specific tasks within the process. The responsibilities of a role are confined to the specific process. They do not imply any functional standing within the hierarchy of an organization. For example, the process manager role does not imply the role is associated with or fulfilled by someone with functional management responsibilities within the organization. Within a specific process, there can be more than one individual associated with a specific role. Additionally, a single individual can assume more than one role within the process although typically not at the same time. Many roles are involved in the Change Management process. This section defines the roles used throughout this document in terms of their responsibilities.

The IT ChM PMO shall manage and evaluate the process based on the following guiding principles:

Program controls are driven by the policies and guiding principles on how the process will operate.

The tables in the Terms/Definitions and Acronyms list commonly used terms and acronyms in the Change Management process..

The following resources either are referenced in this document or were used to create it.

Process training involves training all stakeholders about key processes that are crucial for an organization to deliver business objectives. . Training provides clarity to employees on a set of procedures that needs to be carried out as part of the process and the best possible way to do them. Some of the training resources available for this process are listed below:

The phases listed in the diagram below - Change Management Process Flow Diagram for each Change Category is described in the MF Service Manager - Change Module User Guide.

Figure 2.125.2-1

Change Management Process Flow Diagram

Please click here for the text description of the image.

Process inputs are used as triggers to initiate the process and to produce the desired outputs. Users, stakeholders or other processes provide inputs. The following is a list of inputs for this process:

Each process produces tangible outputs. These outputs can take the form of products or data and can be delivered to a user or stakeholder, or, they can be used as inputs to other processes. Outputs are measurable in terms of quantity and quality.

An activity is a major unit of work to be completed in achieving the objectives of the process. A process consists of a sequence of related activities that transforms inputs into outputs and performed by the roles defined in the process. Activities are measurable in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. The activities must correspond with the high-level process flow diagram above.