Change management, CAB approval and freeze windows
Plan changes with a risk rating, get them approved by the change board, schedule them on the calendar, respect freeze windows and record the outcome.
A change is planned work that could disrupt a service — a server upgrade, a firewall rule, a migration. Open Ticketing → Changes. The tabs are Changes, Calendar, Standard templates and Freeze windows.
Three kinds of change
| Type | Approval |
|---|---|
| Standard | Low-risk, repeatable work from a pre-approved template. Submitting it schedules it straight away. |
| Normal | Approved by the change board (CAB) using the rule you set — all, a majority or any one. |
| Emergency | Approved by the emergency CAB; one yes is enough, so urgent fixes are not held up. |
Raising a change
Click New change, start from a standard template, or use Raise change on a ticket. Describe what will happen, when it starts and ends, who will carry it out, the implementation plan and the back-out plan (both are needed before a normal or emergency change can be submitted), and link the tickets, problems and devices it touches.
Answer the six risk questions — how many people are affected, whether a critical service is touched, expected downtime, whether it has been tested, how easy it is to undo and whether you have done it before. Plenix turns the answers into a low, medium, high or critical risk.
Clashes and freeze windows
Plenix warns when the change overlaps another live change for the same client (or any live change when no client is set), and when it falls inside a freeze window — for example month-end or a busy season. A change inside a freeze window cannot be submitted unless an admin overrides it with a reason. A freeze window can be set to let emergency changes through.
Approval and after
Submit for approval sends the change to the approvers, who are notified and see it on the Service Desk overview. Each one approves or rejects with a comment. A rejected change goes back to draft to be reworked and resubmitted.
Once approved, schedule it on the calendar; the owner and the people doing the work are reminded a day before it starts. When the work is done, record the outcome — successful, partial, failed or backed out — and review it.
Standard templates
Managers keep a library of standard changes (for example "Add a user to a distribution list"), each with its plan, back-out plan and checklist. Changes made from a template skip approval.
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