ITIL-compliant change management is a well thought-out procedure for the implementation of necessary changes in an IT environment that takes potential risks and business continuity into account.

• Minimize adverse effects of change-related incidents on service quality
• Enable efficient and prompt handling of all changes
• Employ standardized methods and procedures
• Maintain the proper balance between need for change and the potential detrimental impact of changes
• Ensure high visibility and open communication channels

For the most part, IT administrators have lost track of the dependencies between applications and systems (configuration items). Various teams within a single company are often responsible for different tasks that interfere with one another. A SAP administrator, for instance, is not aware of all network dependencies in order to be able to guarantee proper operation of the SAP system. To minimize the adverse affects of change-related incidents on service quality, it is vital to establish coordination between the individual teams. theGuard! ServiceCenter implements the ITIL change management process in a template that can be adjusted to suit the requirements of modern businesses.

Submission to the Change Advisory Board and the standard approval procedure are integrated into the process, facilitating risk assessment and detailed change planning.

Taking temporal dependencies into account is vital to the success of changes.

Example: A SAP upgrade cannot be performed on a Saturday morning at 9am because the network connection to the backup system is not available. The Forward Schedule that is integrated into theGuard! ServiceCenter will provide an overview of upcoming changes. It provides information on which changes are to be made and which changes are possible.

With this schedule, Change Managers and Change Advisory Boards are given a valuable planning tool. The Forward Schedule contents can be made accessible to IT staffs. This creates a high level of transparency and an additional communication channel.

An overview of configuration items that are affected by a change can be integrated into the forms.

theGuard! ServiceCenter allows companies to rapidly and efficiently introduce the use of standardized methods. Because every IT organization is different, the change management process can be adapted flexibly to suit individual requirements – just as every other process within theGuard! ServiceCenter. It is the ideal solution for companies that seek to align their procedures with ITIL service and support processes from beginning to end as well as for companies that want to implement only some of the processes.

• Flexible change and problem management
• Rapid introduction of ITIL-compliant standard processes
• Assign and manage ITIL roles
• Clear distinction between incident and problem
• Efficient handling of repeated incidents through problem management
• Log changes
• Management and standardized processing of changes
• Calendar function for scheduled changes