Information Technology - Normal Change Request

What is a Normal Change?

A Normal Change is a change that is not an emergency change or a standard change. Normal changes follow the defined steps of the change management process. These changes require a full range of assessments and authorizations such as peer or technical approval, change management, and Change Advisory Board (CAB) authorization, to ensure completeness, accuracy, and the least possible disruption to service. These changes are most often scheduled outside of defined change blackout windows or during defined maintenance windows.

Not auto-approved
Cannot be created after the event
Must go through the CAB
Requested and CAB-reviewed with enough lead time, depending on the risk level

REMEMBER
A Change Request includes the time to complete the task AND the time for functional testing by stakeholders to validate the change's success. Timely functional testing reduces risk and impact from possible rollbacks.

Normal Change Data Flow

How to Create a New Normal Change

VIDEO GUIDE
A video guide to this process is below the step-by-step instructions.

In the filter navigator, search for Change and click Create New.
On the "What type of change is required?" screen, click Normal: Changes without predefined plans that require approval and CAB authorization.
Select the Step 1: Plan tab to start walking through the submission process.
1. Complete all the required fields for the Change Request and any additional fields that would be helpful for both completion and CAB evaluation.
2. Specifically, complete the Category & Configuration item selection, Description fields, Impact and Planning Documentation fields.
3. When the documentation is complete, press the Save button.
  
  PRO TIP
  If you're not ready to move to the next phase of the request and wish to work on something else within ServiceNow, press the Submit button. You can come back to this Change Request and pick up where you left off by searching for the CHG####### number in the top-right global search. Alternatively, you could search for Change in the filter navigator, view all Open changes and find your change there.
  
  Upon submission or saving this record, a notification will be sent to the individual who requested the change (Requested By) if that person isn't the same individual who opened this Change.
  
  [Current State: New]
To move the change to the next phase, select the Step 2: Schedule tab.
1. Assign the work to who will execute the change with: Assignment group and Assigned to.
2. Provide the Planned start date and Planned end date.
3. Using the related lists tabs at the bottom of the page, define additional Affected CIs, Impacted Services, and any planned Outages.
4. Press the Request Approval button.
  
  A notification will be sent to the Assigned to individual unless you are that person.
  
  PRO TIP
  Whenever searching tables within ServiceNow, precede your search term with an asterisk (*) to turn your entry into a wildcard. Otherwise, ServiceNow will only return results beginning with your search term.
  
  If this change will create an outage to a business service, use the Outages related list to identify which "Mapped Application Services" or "Service Offerings" will be affected by this Planned Outage. NOTE: In the future, we hope to have this process automated.
  
  When the you press the New button a new window will open to define the Outage. The Configuration Item should most often be a "Mapped Application Service" or "Service Offering" so the proper notification shows up on the Services Status page. The Type should be Planned Outage. When the Begin and End field are defined for the duration of the outage, press the Submit button.
  
  SCHEDULING WARNING
  Be aware of the Planned start date and Planned end date you select. If you select times outside of a maintenance window, you will trigger a scheduling conflict. Look for this popup.
  
  If you you select the Conflicts tab, the reason for the conflict is listed. Here is an example:
  
  For help selecting a time inside a maintenance window, click the Scheduling Assistant link in the orange popup and then navigate the calendar for an appropriate change window.
  
  Once a time slot is selected, a confirmation popup is presented.
  
  NOTE: Sometimes changes are scheduled outside maintenance windows for a variety of reasons. CAB considers these and may grant an exception; however, doing so does raise the Risk level for the change.
  
  [Current State: Assess]
During the Assess phase, every change receives a Quality Assurance task and some also receive a Cybersecurity task.

A notification is sent to the respective groups to review their tasks. In some cases the QA or Cyber groups will reassign the task to the Assignment Group for the change. If this occurs, that group will receive a notification and should complete the task.

[Current State: Assess]
When all Assess State Change Tasks are complete an Approval request is sent to the responsible Manager.

If the Manager rejects the request, the change is canceled.

If the Manager approves the request, the Risk is reassess automatically. If insufficient lead time was provided, it will be flagged as an Exception for CAB to consider. The change will assigned a CAB date and be added to the agenda for that meeting.

[Current State: Authorize]
The change is now awaiting CAB approval. If this is your change, your presence is necessary at the CAB meeting to answer any questions the board members may have. If the change is approved, you may proceed with your change at the approved planned time but don't forget to keep working the change record.

[Current State: Scheduled]
When you are ready to start implementing the change, press the Implement button.

[Current State: Implement]

Entering the implementation phase automatically fills in the Actual start field and creates a Change Task (CTASK#######) to complete this Change Request.

IMPORTANT
If you are not in the Assignment Group, the Change Task will not get assigned to you. If you are doing the work, make sure the Task gets Assigned to a group that you are a member and then to yourself. A notification will be sent to the "Assigned to" individual to complete the work.
The individual assigned the Change Task now completes the actual change work and closes the task. This action automatically closes the Change Request and the Requested by individual will receive a notification that the Change has been completed.

[Current State: Closed]

Notice that the parent Change is now closed and the Actual end was filled in.