Information Technology Change Management Policy
This policy defines how changes are made to the college’s IT technology, including servers, network, applications and data. When this policy is followed, the risk of incidents is reduced and the integrity of the business operations and reporting is preserved. Without policy formality, the risk of incidents would be higher and accountability for IT changes would be insufficiently documented. Change Management is an IT Service Management discipline whose goal is to reduce the risk of incidents when changes are made to the IT infrastructure and applications. Change Management reduces the risk through use of standardized set of procedures to document, communicate and implement changes.
Scope
All financial and administrative policies involving community members across campus, including volunteers are within the scope of this policy. If there is a variance between departmental expectations and the common approach described through college policy, the college will look to the campus community, including volunteers to support the spirit and the objectives of college policy. Unless specifically mentioned in a college policy, the college’s Board of Trustees are governed by their Bylaws.
Policy
Software Governed by This Policy
The word “change” applies to new, modified, and decommissioned software, servers, applications, and data.
This policy is applied to all administrative software that is maintained by ITS: division; this includes vendor-supplied software, as well as in-house developed software. This policy does not cover those software installations that are administered or maintained by non-IT departments.
Banner Application Change Tracking
Banner is the interface the college uses to access its enterprise database. ITS: uses issue management software as a tool for Banner change tracking. Users submit an issue ticket when they need IT support for any Banner changes including application, access, or production data changes.
The issue ticket generates a notification to the user submitting the Banner change request, and the ticket is appropriately assigned to appropriate department/person assigned to the change.
The evidence of requirements, clarification, change inventory, testing, and user signoff are stored in the issue management software ticket.
Network Systems and Services Scheduled Maintenance
ITS: must patch and update equipment regularly to protect Colorado College's IT environment. Although we strive to minimize the impact on users, we also occasionally need vendor support during maintenance cycles. Not all vendors are available 24/7, and some 24/7 support contracts are prohibitively expensive.
As a result, we have created a schedule with three types of maintenance windows that may include system outages.
For more specific details about the maintenance windows, including dates, please see the IT Maintenance Information webpage.
Procedures
The Change Control Board, appointed by the Chief Technology Officer/Vice President of Information Technology, is responsible for enforcing IT Change Management Policy. The applicable definitions and procedures are available at: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/its/policies/ccb.html