Types and the lifecycle
The three types
| Type | When | Approval |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Everything planned ahead: most changes. | By the approval policy that matches (below). |
| Emergency | Needed now to restore service or close a security hole. | One approver beforehand (a Change Manager, or the service's owner); a review afterwards, within a deadline. |
| Standard | Low risk, done often the same way, from an approved template. | Pre-approved by the template. |
From draft to closed
Draft → Assess → Approval → Scheduled → In progress → Review → Closed
Approval → Rejected: an approver says no
Any step → Cancelled: any time before it starts
In progress → Closed: a successful normal or standard change needs no review
The desk won't let a change past two gates until the conditions are met:
[!IMPORTANT]
- Sent for approval only with what it needs: the risk questions answered, the plans its type and risk require, a window in the future, not in a freeze (only emergency changes may be), and a reason when it is outside a service's change windows. The page lists what is missing.
- Started only inside its approved window, with every approval on the version as it is now, and not in a freeze.
Finishing asks for the outcome: successful, successful with issues, failed and backed out, or failed and not backed out. Emergency changes, failed changes and changes that caused an incident then need a review, due in a number of working days; the rest close.
Carrying it out
Start opens only in the approved window. While a change runs, its services show Maintenance. Running past the window's end tells the owner and is recorded. Finish asks for the outcome; a failed change tells the service's owner, if they turned that on under Settings → Notifications.
The page warns about conflicts: other changes on the same services in an overlapping window, and services that are degraded or down.
Incidents during its window. Once a change has started, the page lists incidents on its services that started while it ran or in the 4 hours after, and aren't linked to it yet. Link as caused links one as caused by the change.