Change Management

Change Management is a first-class work type for tracking operational and IT changes — server upgrades, network maintenance, configuration changes, and any other planned work that needs review and scheduling before it happens.

It sits in the Work section of the left nav, directly below Action items. Each entry is a change request with its own sequential number, a review-and-approval lifecycle, scheduled dates, comments, and the assets it affects.

What a change request contains

Every change request carries:

• a number (sequential per organization) and a title,
• a description,
• a type (for example Standard, Normal, Emergency),
• an optional category (free text) for secondary grouping,
• a risk level (for example Low, Medium, High),
• an urgency / priority and a business impact level,
• a status in the change lifecycle (see below),
• a requester (Requested by) and an assignee (Assigned to),
• scheduled start and scheduled end dates,
• a comment thread, and
• affected assets — one or more linked inventory assets.

The status, type, risk, urgency / priority, and business impact value sets are tenant-configurable lookups — your admin defines the options (and their colors) under Settings → Change Management. See Configurable value sets and colors.

Creating a change request

1. Open Change Management from the Work section of the sidebar.
2. Click New Change.
3. Give it a title (required) and a description.
4. Set the type, category, and risk.
5. Choose who it is Requested by (defaults to you) and Assigned to.
6. Optionally set the scheduled start and end dates.
7. Add any affected assets from the picker.
8. Click Create change to open the new request.

New change requests start in Draft.

The change lifecycle

A change request moves through a fixed status workflow:

draft → in review → approved → scheduled → implemented → closed

At the review stage a change can also be rejected instead of approved. You set the status from the Status field in the request's Properties panel.

Status	Meaning
Draft	Being written; not yet submitted for review.
In review	Submitted; awaiting an approval decision.
Approved	Cleared to be scheduled and carried out.
Rejected	Declined during review; will not proceed.
Scheduled	Approved and booked into the change window.
Implemented	The change has been carried out.
Closed	Finished and recorded.

Working a change request

Open a change from the queue to:

• edit the status, risk, type, assignee, requester, and scheduled dates in the Properties panel,
• review or update the affected assets (each links to its asset detail page),
• discuss it in the comment thread, and
• delete it (admins only — see permissions below).

Print

A Print button on the change-request detail produces a clean, read-only sheet — properties (status, type, risk, urgency, business impact), description, summary of change, testing plan, approvers with their decisions, and comments — for review meetings, sign-off, or a paper trail.

Configurable value sets and colors

The status, type, risk, urgency / priority, and business impact lists are managed by your admin under Settings → Change Management, each on its own tab. For every option you can set a display color; where a color is configured, the value renders as a colored badge in the change list and on the board — so status, type, risk, urgency, and impact are all readable at a glance. Editing a label is safe; deleting an option leaves existing changes on their current value until you change them.

Change-request numbering is configurable too: set a prefix, starting number, and zero-padding on the Change Numbering tab, mirroring ticket and work-order numbering. The starting number affects only new changes.

Finding changes

The Change Management queue supports search plus filters for status, risk, and type, so you can narrow to (for example) all high-risk changes still in review.

Permissions

Change Management is governed by three permissions:

• change.read — view change requests.
• change.write — create, edit, and comment on change requests.
• change.admin — administrative actions, including deleting a change request.

By default the admin role has all three; the agent and tech roles have change.read and change.write. See Users & roles.

When to use a change request

• Change request — planned operational/IT work that needs review, risk assessment, and a scheduled window.
• Ticket — a support request from (or on behalf of) someone.
• Work order — hands-on facilities/maintenance work.
• Action item — quick, standalone, private work.

Tips

• Set risk honestly — it drives how closely reviewers scrutinize the change.
• Link the affected assets so anyone reviewing the change can see exactly what it touches.
• Use the scheduled start/end dates to communicate the change window to the rest of the team.