Change is inevitable, and the rate of change in technology is almost constant.  IT change management for IT operations is critical to sustaining and improving availability and performance of IT services for the community.  Managing change is about ensuring that any changes to the IT operational environment are being appropriately evaluated, scheduled, and communicated to minimize the risk and impact to users and the institution as a whole.

A change by best practice definition is the addition, removal, or modification of anything that might have an impact on the delivery of an IT service.

IT change management is a process used to communicate and control those changes.

Changes typically occur at the hardware and software levels for production systems and environments.  The effect of these changes may have a broader scope than just that one element in that it may have dramatic effect on a service or system used by many users.  

Proper vetting of change requests is a critical step in the change approval process.  Change requests are reviewed by representatives of the IT organization who will evaluate the change for risk, scheduling conflicts and supporting documentation (i.e. justification for the change, test and back-out plans, risk assessment and communication plans) to ensure the highest level of success possible.