Change management best practices for a Splunk deployment

Change Management Process

An example of a common change management (CM) process steps and example activities.
What is the purpose of each tab?
Reference of common CM process steps and the example activities
How to use it?
These are the steps and activities to complete as identified by the various CM pathways

Pathways
Define the activities and participants to support a change.
What is the purpose of each tab?
Use this tab to define your CM pathway.
How to use it?
Use the Pathways tab to define the activities and participation requirements. This is RACI assignment, and
the process steps you need to take to facilitate the change. The pathways sheet has 5 pathways to use as a
starting point.
Depending on your change management needs and scenario, use this methodology to add more pathways.
The RACI associated with the pathway is for the person who needs to approve the change. The pathway
spreadsheet re-iterates the scope of impact and then breaks the process steps into the approval phase and the
execution phase. In the approval phase outlines steps for driving the change and which of those we
recommend with a specific pathway.
The same approach is used for the execution phase.

RACI Matrix
The Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) matrix defines the participation
requirements for various roles to complete tasks or deliverables in a change management (CM)
pathway.

What is the purpose of each tab?

Refer as an example
How to use it?
Use the RACI Matrix tab to identify the responsibilities of each role at each change process step
 Chang
Step Step Name
1.0 Identify Change

1.1 Qualify Change

1.2 Request Change

Approval Phase

1.3 Triage Request

1.4 Analyze Request

1.5 Request Approval

1.6 Request Implementation

1.7 Request Close out

2 Planning

2.1 Analysis
Execution Phase

2.2 Design

2.3 Implement

2.4 Test
Executi 2.5 Deploy

2.6 Close out

 Change Management Process
Purpose Activities
☐
Identify changes
☐
☐
Provide the information and details needed to allow the change to move forward in the
☐
CM process.
☐
Formalize the change request and to capture all necessary information and details to allow ☐
the downstream participants to complete their functions unhindered. ☐
☐
Determine how the change request needs to proceed. For example, if there is not enough ☐
information, request more details from the individual that initiated the change request.
☐
☐
Review all information and details needed to make an informed decision. This step
includes participation from SMEs for both business and technology. ☐
☐
Approve or reject the change request. This step includes participation from the appropriate ☐
stakeholders. This can be an individual or an entire team. ☐
☐
☐
Send the approved change requests to the execution phase.
☐
☐
Communicate the decision to the individual that initiated the change request. Also update
and archive the related documentation. ☐
☐

☐
☐
Estimate the people, effort, timing, expertise, and costs required to support the change.
☐
☐
Review the change request and documentation to determine the technical requirements ☐
to support the change. ☐
Identify the best technical approach and design to fulfill the change. ☐
☐
Complete the change. ☐
☐
☐
☐
Verify the change works properly.
☐
☐
 ☐
Apply the change to the production environment.
☐
☐
Communicate the status to all stakeholders and appropriate groups. Also update and ☐
archive the related documentation. ☐
☐
ement Process
Activities
Identify the change such as data value, data format, configuration setting, or alert behavior
Identify the reason for the change such as correction, new, or modification to the requirements
Assess scope of the change request such as new, add, change, replace, retire or remove
Identify the impact of the change request such as audience, use-case, platform, or cost
Determine the next step in the process.
Complete and submit a request for approval document or form
Provide sample of the expected result or outcome such as screen shot, or data set
Perform quick assessment of the potential impact such as scope, impacts, effort, or costs
Determine appropriate resources required to analyze the change request
Determine if the change request conflicts with business cycle or schedule such as time needed conflict with
blackout period
Identify and map all technical components and dependencies involved in the change request
Document the high-level technical change requirements to help understand the level of complexity, effort, and
impact of the change request
Identify the risk associated with the change request and complexity level before approval
Identify the impact level of the change before approval
Review the impact of change request to authorized person for approval
At this stage, stop any work that is in progress for rejected change requests
Communicate the change request status to the appropriate parties
Formally submit the change request to Execution Phase
Communicate the status of the change request to the appropriate parties
Record the status of the change request such as rejected or moved to Execution Phase
Close change request

Identify skillsets and resources needed for the change request

Identify and estimate the effort required to complete the change request
Identify schedule availability to complete the change request
Identify and estimate the cost of the change
Gathering, validating, and documenting business requirements
Gathering, validating, and documenting technical requirements
Documented specifications, features and operations that will satisfy the functional requirements of the change
Change build-out
Update operating procedures
Update education program materials
Unit testing
Integration testing
System Testing
User Acceptance testing
Complete promotion process from development or test to production environment.
Impacted documentation updates are distributed to production areas for general consumption
Monitor the change to validate change success
Communicate status or closure to appropriate parties
Complete and update all documentation for historical preservation
Backup all software components involved in change for historical preservation
 Change Management Pa
Pathway Number : 0 1
Description:
RACI: Object Owner Business Owner
Risk Score: 1 2
Service:
Scope of Impact

Platform:
Audience:
Business Process:
Change Difficulty:
Step Step Name
1.0 Identify Change
Approval Phase

1.1 Qualify Change

1.2 Request Change
1.3 Triage Request
1.4 Analyze Request
1.5 Request Approval
1.5 Request Implementation
1.7 Request Close out
Step Step Name
Execution Phase

2.0 Planning
2.1 Analysis
2.2 Design
2.3 Implement
2.4 Test
2.5 Deploy
2.6 Close out
anagement Pathway
2 3 4

Platform Owner Business Process Owner Operations Owner

3 4 5
RACI Name:
Approval Phase

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1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 2.0
Requestor
Change Manager
Business Analyst
Technical Analyst
Splunk Architect
Platform owner
Business Area Owner
Project Manager
Development Manager
Splunk Admin
Quality Engineer

Splunk CSM
Splunk Support
Splunk Cloud Ops
Splunk AoD
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2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Legend

R Responsible
A Accountable
C Consulted
I Informed
 Legend
Those who do the work to complete the task.
The one ultimately answerable for it
Those whose opinions are sought
Those who are kept up-to-date