Too many requests
A college has a student app. This week 40 people ask for changes. One wants dark mode. One says the login is broken. One wants a new report for the head of the college.
The team cannot do everything. Who decides which change goes first? Who checks it is safe? Who tells the students?
Good organisations use a process for this.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Change request | A written question that asks for something to be changed. | "Please add dark mode" |
| Change advisory board (CAB) | A group that reviews change requests and decides which to approve. | IT staff, a manager and a user |
| Approval | An official yes that a change may go ahead. | A signed form |
| SMARTER | A way to write good goals: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound, evaluated, reviewed. | Cut login time to 3 seconds by June |
| Impact | The effect a change has. | Faster logins, but some training costs |
| Resources | The things you need to do a job: money, time, people, equipment. | A developer for two weeks |
| Stakeholder | A person or group affected by a plan. | Students and teachers |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Quick check: who decides?
Have a go
Quick check: who decides?
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Step 1: what type of change is it?
First, decide the type of change. Is it a new system? Or an amendment (a change) to an existing system?
A new system is bigger and carries more risk. An amendment is usually smaller. The type decides how much checking is needed.
Step 2: the change advisory board
A change advisory board (CAB) is a group that looks after change. It includes people from IT and from the business.
It reviews each request. It puts them in order of importance. It gives approval in stages. It watches how the change goes and gives feedback.
What the CAB does
| Job | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Review | Read and understand each request | Is the dark mode request clear? |
| Prioritise | Decide what comes first | A broken login comes before a nice extra |
| Approve in stages | A yes at each step, such as design, test and release | Test result approved. Release date approved |
| Monitor | Collect facts about the change. Check it was done well. Help it go faster if it is late | Is the change on time? |
| Give feedback | Tell people how it went and what to improve | A short report to the team |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Step 3: write SMARTER goals
An unclear goal is hard to check. "Make the app better" cannot be measured. A SMARTER goal can.
It is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound, Evaluated and Reviewed.