Change Mgmt flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Request for Change (RFC)

Formal document proposing a modification to a configuration item or service. Records description, justification, risk, impact, rollback plan, and approver, forming the auditable basis for assessment and authorisation.

Standard change

A pre-authorised, low-risk, repeatable change with a documented procedure, such as a routine password reset or adding a user. It bypasses individual CAB approval but is still logged.

Normal change

A change requiring full assessment, risk classification, and authorisation by the appropriate change authority, typically the CAB. It follows the complete lifecycle including scheduling and post-implementation review.

Emergency change

A change needed to restore service or address a critical vulnerability, using an expedited approval path. It is documented retrospectively and reviewed to prevent recurrence.

Change Advisory Board (CAB)

A group that assesses and authorises normal changes by reviewing risk, impact, readiness, and scheduling. It advises and approves; implementation remains with delivery teams.

Change freeze

A defined period when normal changes are prohibited, such as year-end or peak trading. Only emergency changes proceed, under heightened scrutiny and senior authorisation.

Seven Rs of change

Assessment questions: raised (who/when), reason, return (benefit), risks, resources, responsible (owner and implementer), and relationships (dependencies). Answers determine approve, defer, or reject.

Change failure rate

Percentage of changes that cause an incident, rollback, or remediation. A DORA-style delivery metric indicating change quality and the effectiveness of testing and assessment.

Unauthorised change

Any change implemented without required approval or record. Tracked as a compliance metric because it bypasses impact analysis, rollback planning, and configuration records.

Configuration item (CI)

Any component under configuration control: hardware, software, documentation, or service. Changes reference affected CIs so impact analysis and rollback scope are accurate.

CMDB

Configuration Management Database holding records of configuration items and their relationships. Supports impact analysis, dependency mapping, and incident diagnosis during change.

Rollback plan

Documented procedure to revert a change to the prior known-good state, including triggers, steps, verification, and time limit. Required before authorisation of higher-risk changes.

Change lead time

Elapsed time from change request submission to deployment in production. A flow metric revealing approval bottlenecks, batch sizes, and handoff delays.

Post-implementation review

Structured check after a change verifying intended outcome, absence of unexpected side effects, and closure of actions. Feeds lessons learned into future change assessment.

Change authority

The person or group empowered to approve a given class of change, defined by risk and cost thresholds. Delegation must be explicit and recorded to keep approvals auditable.

Kotter's eight steps

Sequenced model: urgency, coalition, vision, communication, enable action, short-term wins, consolidate gains, anchor in culture. Skipping early steps produces superficial adoption that erodes later.

Lewin's change model

Three phases: unfreeze existing behaviour, implement the transition, refreeze new practice. Refreezing requires reinforcement through policy, metrics, and role expectations to prevent reversion.

ADKAR model

Individual change sequence: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement. Progress is blocked by the weakest element, so diagnosis targets the first gap rather than the final outcome.

Bridges' transition model

Psychological transition with three stages: ending, neutral zone, new beginning. The neutral zone carries the largest productivity dip and needs explicit structure and communication.

Guiding coalition

A cross-functional group with authority, credibility, and expertise that sponsors the change. It must act visibly and consistently, since inconsistent sponsor behaviour undermines adoption fastest.

Burning platform

A communicated, credible case for urgency showing the cost of inaction. Effective only when backed by evidence; manufactured crises erode trust and increase cynicism.

Stakeholder power-interest grid

Mapping stakeholders by influence and stake. High power and high interest: manage closely; high power, low interest: keep satisfied; low power, high interest: keep informed.

Resistance analysis

Classifying opposition as rational (workload, cost), emotional (fear, identity), or political (influence loss). Each cause requires a different response; treating all as attitude problems fails.

Change readiness assessment

Pre-implementation evaluation of leadership alignment, capability, capacity, change history, and culture. Low readiness scores predict adoption failure and justify sequencing or delay.

Change curve

Adapted grief sequence: shock, frustration, bargaining, low mood, acceptance. Support style should shift per stage, from information early to involvement and coaching later.

Communication plan

Specifies audience segments, key messages, channels, frequency, owner, and feedback loop. Repetition across channels is required because single-channel announcements rarely shift behaviour.

Benefits realisation plan

Defines baseline, target, measure, owner, and review date for each expected benefit. Distinguishes leading adoption indicators from lagging business outcome measures.

Change saturation

The point where concurrent initiatives exceed organisational capacity to absorb them. Symptoms include project delays, fatigue, and compliance decay; managed by sequencing and portfolio limits.

Sponsor roadmap

Schedule of visible sponsor actions across the change lifecycle, such as town halls, decisions, and reinforcement messages. Makes active sponsorship a tracked commitment rather than an assumption.

Training needs analysis

Identifies which roles need which skills before go-live, and the gap from current capability. Outputs drive training design, timing, and the ability element of ADKAR.

Adoption metric

A leading indicator of behaviour change, such as active usage, process compliance, or ticket deflection. Tracked early to predict whether lagging business benefits will materialise.

Lessons learned register

A maintained record of what worked and failed in past changes. Used at initiation to avoid repeating known pitfalls and to calibrate risk assessment and effort estimates.