Managing Changes and Releases

Properly managing and controlling changes improves quality and reduces errors, costs of rework, and costs of fixing errors. Bundle work into releases with established release dates to maximize efficiencies. Have a procedure and process for changes that you follow for all changes whether they are applications, hardware, system software, network, or desktop changes. Some companies claim to have a great change management process but then admit to not using it for infrastructure changes. Have a process in place for emergency changes that still allows for review and approval of changes.

Ensure proper and thorough testing of changes with the amount of testing variable depending on the risk of the change and the level it could affect the business. Make sure you have a complete test environment to accurately test changes. Complete stress tests and regression tests as necessary. Review capacity planning and the impact on capacity for changes that have a major impact. Assess the impact on availability and performance.

A different individual than the person making the change should review and approve the change. Sometimes, multiple sets of eyes can spot quality problems or potential ramifications. Many companies have formal change advisory boards to review changes and to communicate to all areas of the organization. For any change, identify risks and determine an appropriate back-out plan or rollback process for changes that go wrong. Improvising during the stress of a rollback is not a good practice.

Communicate changes to all areas of the organization, including both IT and the business areas that are affected. Properly train users for any changes that affect them or their business process. Companies have found automated tools to help manage changes to be very useful. Whether you use tools or manual methods, document all changes. Use scripts, utilities, or tools to automate the installation process of changes and releases. Track metrics that report the quality of changes or issues resulting from changes.