Cloud Management - Deploying and Managing a Cloud Infrastructure - page 102

Though approaches to change management vary depending on the type of organization
and the types of change vary, there are common factors that contribute to the success of
change management, especially in the IT environment:
Planning Develop a plan and documentation that clearly states the objectives of the
change to be achieved and the means to achieve them.
Defined Governance Establish appropriate management channels and organizational
structures, responsibilities, and roles that engage and involve stakeholders into taking the
initiative and controlling the change that affects them.
Committed Leadership Leaders that show commitment and lead by example are required
to drive the effort across the organization.
Well-Informed Stakeholders Encourage stakeholder participation and commitment to
the change plan and facilitate open and consultative communication to further the aware-
ness and complete understanding of the required changes that permeate through the
organization.
Organizational Alignment The workforce needs to know exactly what they need to do to
make a positive difference in support for the change.
Extensive change management planning must be in place to achieve a successful transition.
Change management, therefore, has the following objectives:
■ To maximize returns and business value through IT modification while reducing the
disruption to the daily activities and avoiding unnecessary expense
■ To evaluate both the benefits and the risks of the proposed change
■ To plan, prioritize, test, implement, document, and review all proposed changes in a
systematic and controlled fashion
■■ To be the guiding mechanism for configuration management by ensuring that all
configuration changes in the IT environment are documented and updated to reflect
in the configuration management system and the change document
The following sections describe a few concepts involving change management. They
could be either the driver of change or a concept essential to the process of change man-
agement itself.

Request for Change
A request for change (RFC) should be submitted to initiate the change process. It can
be submitted by anyone with a stake in the involved system, item, or service. For example,
an administrator submits an RFC for changing the configuration of RAID storage devices
in the name of reliability and stability. An IT executive may submit an RFC focused on
increasing the profitability of a current service in order to compete with a close rival, or an
end user may suggest a change of certain procedures to hasten the business process. All are
valid sources for change.