<p>Network change management is a process that aims to reduce the risk of a failed change. This process entails several steps that ensure successful changes.</p>
<p>Aircraft pilots use well-defined processes to ensure safe flying. Similarly, network teams can use defined processes to reduce the risk of failed network changes that create <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/feature/The-true-cost-of-network-performance-issues-for-your-business”>unplanned outages</a>. Still, organizations sometimes find that changes don’t go as planned, leading to network outages. Some disruptions are due to a process failure, while others result from unintended consequences of complex configurations.</p>
<p>This article discusses the basic operating principles of network change management, such as the following:</p>
<ul class=”default-list”>
<li>Scope determination and risk analysis.</li>
<li>Peer review.</li>
<li>Pre-deployment testing and validation.</li>
<li>Implementation and testing.</li>
<li>Documentation updates.</li>
</ul>
<p>Before entering the change management process, network teams must establish the change details, such as new configurations, device connection information and documentation.</p>
<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”1. Scope and risk analysis”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>1. Scope and risk analysis</h2>
<p>The first step in the network change management process is to evaluate the scope of a proposed change. Determine which services might be affected and the stakeholders who use those services. Consider the blast radius of a change for its potential scope and effect, including any possible negative outcomes.</p>
<p>Teams should measure the scope in terms of the following two factors:</p>
<ol class=”default-list”>
<li>The number of endpoints affected by a change.</li>
<li>The importance of the services a change might affect.</li>
</ol>
<p>Once teams identify the scope, they should perform a <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/risk-assessment”>risk assessment</a> of the change. Is it something that has been done many times before and is well understood? Is it fully automated, or is it possible that human error will alter the change in an unexpected way? Is the technology involved well understood, or is there a chance of something unexpected happening?</p>
<p>The scope of a change figures into the risk. A change to the infrastructure on which key business processes run poses a greater risk to the business than a change to a small branch site.</p>
<p>Network teams can assess risk by assigning values to key parameters. By averaging the values from the following example parameters, they can determine the overall risk level.</p>
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<p>The greater the risk, the more careful teams need to be during the remainder of the change management process. Teams should have clear change control documentation in place, detailing the rationale for any changes, rollback procedures and scope.</p>
</section>
<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”2. Peer review”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>2. Peer review</h2>
<p>The next step is to conduct a peer review. Teams can perform this step before the risk analysis, but it’s better to use the risk level to drive the thoroughness of a peer review. While all peer reviews should be comparably thorough, it’s likely that teams conduct cursory reviews for routine changes, such as access control list changes or virtual LAN modifications. <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsoftwarequality/definition/automated-software-testing”>Automated testing</a> and deployment of routine changes can help mitigate the risk of cursory peer reviews.</p>
<p>Typically, internal staff who are familiar with the network conduct the
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