Change Management roles
Functional roles are different from permissions groups. You can assign functional roles only to the support staff, based on the support groups to which they belong. You can assign multiple functional roles to a support team member. For example, Allen is a member of the Operations support group as well as the Change Coordinator within that support group. Allen is given the functional role of the Infrastructure change coordinator for the Operations support group, and Allen is also given the functional role of the infrastructure change approver because Allen approves change requests for the Operations support group.
BMC Helix ITSM role
The following table describes the roles and permissions that the user needs to access the BMC Helix ITSM application.
Role | Related permissions | Related jobs |
Change Agent | This role needs at least one of the following permission:
| Change Agent performs the following activities in BMC Helix ITSM:
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Change Management application functional roles
The following table describes the Change Management application functional roles:
Functional role | Role | Permission groups | Description | Best practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Infrastructure Change Approver | Change Approver |
| The approval process uses this functional role to determine who to select as an approver when the approver has been defined as a member of the support group. For example, support group A has 20 members, but only 3 out of the 20 members have the Infrastructure Change Approver functional role. When you select support group A to approve a change request, only the 3 members that have the functional role of infrastructure change approver are selected as the approvers for that change request. | We recommend that you assign this role to users who belong to support groups that have one or more change approval mapping entries. For more information, see Configuring-approval-mappings-for-change-and-release-management. |
Infrastructure Change Coordinator | Change Coordinator |
| The Change Management application uses this functional role to determine who can be assigned as the Change Coordinator for a given change request. For example, support group B has 10 members, but only 2 out of the 10 members have the Infrastructure change coordinator function role. When you select support group B as the Change Coordinator Group, you can select either one of the 2 members that have the Infrastructure change coordinator functional role to be the change coordinator for the change request. You can also use this role when you create approval mappings and an approval request, which requires the change coordinator of the change request to be one of the approvers for a given approval phase. For more information, see Configuring-approval-mappings-for-change-and-release-management. For more information, see Change Management user roles and permissions. | We recommend that you assign this role to users who play the role of a change coordinator in your organization; that is, the subject matter expert (SME) for the change request. These users determine risk, prepare plans and schedules, and create and assigns tasks. These users typically oversee the change request throughout its life cycle. |
Infrastructure Change Manager | Change Manager |
| The Change Management application uses this functional role to determine who can be assigned as the Change Manager for a given change request. For example, support group C has 15 members, but only 1 of the 15 members has the Infrastructure change manager functional role. When you select support group C as the Change Manager Group, you can select the 1 member who has the Infrastructure change manager functional role to be the change manager for the change request. You can also use this role when you create approval mappings, such as an approval request that requires the change manager of the change request to be one of the approvers for a given approval phase. For more information, see Configuring-approval-mappings-for-change-and-release-management. For more information, see Change Management user roles and permissions. | We recommend that you assign this role to a small number of users who are responsible for your organization's change processes and procedures according to your Change program. |
Change Management is a role-based application. What applications you can access, and how much information you can view or modify depends upon your role. In Mid Tier as the Process Flow Status bar moves the change request through the stages, different roles perform different tasks. The change coordinator creates the change request at the Initiate stage and the Task Implementer works on the tasks that are associated with the change at the designated task phase (Review, Implementation, or Close Down).
The following figure displays the Process Flow Status bar in the stages of a change request.
The user with the change manager functional role can view the functionality in the application that other users cannot view.
Change requests track the progress of a change through its entire lifecycle, from the Initiation stage to the Closed stage. To manage a change request from start to finish, the main user roles listed in the following table are required. Although the responsibilities of these users can vary from organization to organization (and in some organizations, one person can fulfill several roles), they generally include the following roles and functions. In a small company, the same person can function as a change manager, approver, and task implementer.
Change Management IT Support user roles
Change Management role | Calbro user | Function | Reference topic |
|---|---|---|---|
Change Coordinator | Allen Allbrook | Member of a support group responsible for providing one or more services. The change coordinator is responsible to create, plan, implement, track, and close changes related to services that the support group is responsible for. This role is a combination of the change supervisor and the assignee roles of the previous release.
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Change Manager | Mary Mann | Operations manager who has a complete overview of the infrastructure and must know the details of what is to be changed.
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Task Implementer This role is sometimes called the Task Assignee. | Ian Plyment | Support staff member or group who performs the tasks associated with a change request. For example, a change request for upgrading a mission-critical server might include backing up data on the server, uninstalling the old hard drive, and installing the new hard drive.
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For more information about permissions and roles, see Roles and permissions. For information about other important roles in Change Management, see Additional Change Management user roles.
The following figure illustrates the different Change Management support staff roles. It also shows where each role fits into the stages of the change request lifecycle.
The following request stages might not apply to all change requests. For example, you will see the Review & Authorize stage only if the application administrator has mapped an approver to the Business Approval phase.
Request stage | Request status | Role and task | Reference topic |
|---|---|---|---|
1a Initiate | Draft | The change coordinator creates the change request. | |
1b Initiate | Request For Authorization | The Change Coordinator's approving authority approves the change request at the Review Approval Stage. | |
2a Review & Authorize | Draft | The Change Coordinator performs the following tasks:
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2b Review & Authorize | Request For Change | The Change Approver approves the business case for the change. | |
3a Plan & Schedule | Planning In Progress | The Change Coordinator performs the following tasks:
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3b Plan & Schedule | Scheduled For Approval | The Change Manager reviews the change plan and sends it for approval. | |
3c Plan & Schedule | Scheduled For Approval | The Change Advisory Board (CAB) approves the execution of Normal and Expedited changes. | |
3d Plan & Schedule | Scheduled | The Change Coordinator monitors the progress of the change request, while the initial implementation tasks move the change request to the Implementation In Progress status. | |
4a Implement | Implementation in Progress | The Change Coordinator performs the following tasks:
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4b Implement | Implementation in Progress | The Task Implementer executes the tasks. | |
4c Implement | Completed | The Change Manager (approving authority) reviews the change request at the next CAB meeting to determine whether the request can be closed or backed out. | |
5 Closed | Closed | The change request automatically closes in 10 days from the final review that is done when the status is Completed. However, if automation is disabled, the Change Coordinator closes the change request. |
Change Manager role
The Change Manager is a person or a group usually within an organization's support department. The Change Manager is responsible for the quality and integrity of the change management process. In large companies, the change manager's main responsibilities usually involve planning and oversight. In small companies, however, the Change Manager can function as the change coordinator who is performing the change. To be the Change Manager, a user must have the Infrastructure change manager functional role in Change Management.
The change manager requires the following permissions and functional roles:
- The Infrastructure Change User or Change Master application permission is required for access to change and task records.
- Infrastructure change manager functional role is required to be assigned as the change manager for individual changes.
- Membership in a company's support group is required to create change templates for that group.
To understand the overall change request process, as a change manager, see Change coordinator role. Typical change manager activities include handling assignments and monitoring support staff activity involved in implementing the change request. Even though Change Managers have the same permissions as support staff and can do the same procedures in Change Management, they usually do not perform support staff activities. The Change Manager is also typically responsible for addressing general, day-to-day issues from a personnel and customer satisfaction standpoint.
The following table describes the typical responsibilities of a Change Manager.
Task | Description |
|---|---|
Creating a change request | Anyone can create a change request by using the Requester Console. Usually, a change manager creates change requests in Change Management. For more information, see Creating-change-requests-in-the-Initiation-and-Recording-stage. |
Accepting a change request | When the change request is created, it must be assigned to a change manager. If the assignment engine is configured for automatic assignments, it is automatically assigned to the appropriate change manager, based on an organization's support staff grouping and the change request's categorization. The change manager is notified of assigned changes. While logging to the Change Management Console, the change manager can choose to view all the assigned change requests. For more information, see Assigning-and-reassigning-change-requests. |
Planning and scheduling a change request | Planning activities include:
For more information, see Defining-and-managing-relationships. |
Submitting a change request for approval | An organization's business rules determine whether a change request requires approval. The application administrator configures the approval process to determine which approval phases are available for the change request. If appropriate, the change manager can designate ad hoc approvers for emergency change approvals. After the request is approved, the change manager updates the request's status to Scheduled by moving it to the next stage on the Process Flow bar. The change manager can assign the tasks to the appropriate task implementers manually, or they can be assigned automatically. For more information about submitting the change for approval, see Approving-change-requests-in-the-Approval-stage. |
Logging and tracking a change request | The change manager can track a request's progress as task implementers fulfill their assignments. For more information, see Tracking-and-managing-efforts-for-a-change-request. |
Assessing the cost of a change request | The Change Coordinator can assess the cost of a change request and charge accordingly. For more information, see Adding-and-modifying-costs. |
Resolving change requests | A change request is resolved when all the tasks are closed or cancelled. For more information, see Completing-and-closing-a-change-request-in-the-Closed-stage |
Change coordinator role
Change coordinators are support staff members with specialized abilities who handle the details of the change request. Change coordinators frequently exercise lead responsibilities based on factors such as location, skill set, troubleshooting skills, difficulty of the change request, and company (if you are a service provider). In large companies, the change manager would be responsible for the overall change such as scheduling, but the change coordinator would perform the day-to-day management of the change request process, for example, building and reviewing change plans, managing the change implementer, making sure that the change proceeds in a timely manner, and so on.
The responsibilities of a change coordinator include the following tasks:
- Accessing requests for change
- Gathering appropriate information based on the type of change being investigated
- Associating related CIs, incidents, and services to the change request
- Providing status updates to requesters
- Monitoring the progress of the change request
- Reviewing change plans and schedules. Planning activities include scheduling the change request, assessing risk and impact, creating plans, defining and sequencing the tasks needed to accomplish the change request, and scheduling people and resources for each task.
- Reviewing all completed tasks. In the Implement stage, at least one task related to the change request is in progress.
- Conducting post implementation reviews to validate the results of the change request
- Determining requester satisfaction with change request
Additional Change Management user roles
There are some additional Change Management user roles that also have important responsibilities. For more information about permissions and roles, see Roles and permissions.
Role | Description |
|---|---|
Change implementer | Change implementers are support people or groups responsible for change requests that do not require tasks. You can designate a member of your support staff as a change implementer in the Change form. Important: The Change Implementer field is not present when you use the Best Practice view in Change Management. One or more tasks must be associated to a change request for actual activities that need to be completed. Change implementers have their own assignment fields in the Change form when you use the Classic view. The changes assigned to the change implementer can be any type of routine activity that must be accomplished, for example:
Important: If a change request includes one or more related tasks, the Change Implementer fields are not displayed on the Assignment tab. For more information, see Moving-a-change-request-to-the-implementation-stage. |
Change approvers and the CAB | According to ITIL recommendations, the Change Advisory Board (CAB) should approve all changes to the IT infrastructure. The CAB is a cross-functional group that is set up to evaluate change requests for their business need, priority, cost benefit, and other potential impacts to systems or processes. In Change Management, approvers are notified of change requests that require their review. Important: No change approvers are mapped out-of-the-box for Calbro Services. Your application administrator must configure them. As a result, if you move a change request through its lifecycle and you arrive at an approval phase, you simply need to move the change request forward. If an approver has been mapped for an approval phase (for example, Review), click the Approver tab in the Classic view or check the Approvers table on the Work Detail tab in the Best Practice view, to review who must approve the change request to move it forward. For more information, see the Configuring-approval-mappings-for-change-and-release-management. The change approver requires the following permissions and functional roles:
For information about the approver role and step-by-step procedures associated with approvers, see Approving-change-requests-in-the-Approval-stage. |
Company executives | Company executives, such as CIOs, can use Change Management consoles to understand trends relating to change configuration management, and take appropriate action to balance the flow. For example, CIOs can use the Change Management Dashboard to view important data points in an easy-to-read graphical display. They can select appropriate flashboards to appear on the Dashboard, with a time period that applies to all flashboards. CIOs can also use the Change Calendar to manage change and release activities. Executives can see a holistic picture of changes occurring in the enterprise, and associated business activities or events. Some of this information comes from the Change Management application and some through referencing objects in the BMC Helix CMDB. For more information, see Scheduling-changes-by-using-the-Calendar. |
Application administrator | The responsibilities of the application administrator, also known as the change administrator, might include installing and licensing the application, and configuring it to meet the organization's business needs. Some of the configuration tasks include:
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For more information about configuring the Change Management application, see Setting-up-and-going-live.