IT KORR Knowledge Center
Change Management Template
A change request document structure covering description, risk classification, impact assessment, rollback planning, approval, implementation, and post-implementation review.
Change Description & Business Justification
Describe the change precisely enough that someone unfamiliar with the underlying work could understand what is changing and why. Vague descriptions ("server maintenance") undermine every downstream step of the process.
- What is changing — specific systems, configurations, or services affected.
- Business justification — why the change is needed and what it enables or fixes.
- Requested by and date submitted.
Risk Classification
- Standard — pre-approved, low-risk, well-understood change following a documented procedure (e.g., routine patching).
- Normal — requires review and approval before implementation; risk and impact are not fully pre-assessed.
- Emergency — required to resolve an active incident or prevent imminent harm; follows an expedited approval path but is still documented and reviewed after the fact.
Impact Assessment
- Systems affected — direct and dependent systems, not just the primary target.
- Users affected — who experiences disruption, and for how long.
- Expected downtime or degraded service, if any.
- Dependencies — other scheduled changes, business events, or blackout periods that could compound risk.
Rollback Plan
- Specific steps to revert the change if implementation fails or produces unexpected results.
- Rollback trigger — the condition under which the team decides to roll back rather than continue troubleshooting.
- Estimated time to roll back, and any data or state considerations.
Approval Sign-Off
- Approver name and role, appropriate to the change's risk classification.
- Date and time of approval.
- Any conditions attached to the approval (e.g., must occur within a specific window).
Implementation Window
- Scheduled start and end time, chosen to minimize business disruption.
- Personnel responsible for implementation and who to contact during the window.
- Communication plan for notifying affected users before and during the change.
Post-Implementation Review
- Outcome — successful, successful with issues, or rolled back.
- Actual vs. expected impact and downtime.
- Lessons learned and any follow-up actions, fed back into future change planning.
Related Resources
- Change Management Fundamentals — /knowledge-center/it-operations/it-operations-service-management/change-management-fundamentals