Configuration change management is difficult enough. But planning configurations, coordinating personnel, using proper technologies and scheduling them within tight windows just seem to complicate an already complex task.
What would make it better?
Scheduling configuration changes, blackout dates and maintenance windows within your existing calendar system
More than 2/3 of IT professionals preferred a tool that managed upcoming configuration dates, blackout dates and maintenance windows.
Coordinating your configuration changes in your configuration management (CM) tool and it integrating to your team’s shared calendar (like Outlook or other .ics supported calendars) would be a great start. And while we’re at it, wouldn’t it be nice to see which config changes are scheduled in a daily, weekly, or monthly view? And to see which config changes are one-offs vs recurring?
There is a big productivity gain in using your existing, shared calendar system. Rather than believing the fiction that teams will readily change their habits, a more powerful solution is to provide them with the config change, maintenance and blackout info they need — all from their go-to calendars. When teams are using the same “single source of truth” for their calendars, we can start to unlock the power of coordination – especially across larger groups.
Role-based view and approve capabilities
Balancing control and transparency is key. While you may have only a handful of people actually executing configuration changes, across your organization you may want to keep multiple groups aware of upcoming changes. It is essential to assign specific individuals, and in some cases entire groups, with granular view-approve-and-execute capabilities. This keeps the guesswork out of the timing of upcoming changes. But beyond just the timing, you may also want to share the scope of the configuration changes as well as the rationale and the management approval status of those changes. Your team will also want to know whether the scheduled changes are a one-off or a recurring part of their routines that they need to accommodate. Full transparency where you want it and granular control where you need it, all within your favorite calendar tools.
Request a demo walk-through now! See the power and coordinating, calendaring and communicating your configs across your IT organization.
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