Incidents, problems and changes · Autessa IT Desk
Change management
Autessa IT Desk includes change management, also called change enablement in ITIL 4: standard, normal and emergency changes, a short risk questionnaire that calculates the risk, Change Advisory Board (CAB) approval, implementation, backout and test plans, change tasks and a review before close. Every change is checked against other changes and blackout windows before it runs.
The problem
Most outages start with a change nobody reviewed
A firewall rule pushed on a Friday or a database upgrade during payroll causes more downtime than hardware ever does. Change management makes risky work visible, approved and scheduled. IT Desk keeps standard changes fast and puts the CAB in front of the ones that need it.
What you get
- Three change types: Standard (pre-approved, skips Assess and Authorize), Normal (full path) and Emergency (straight to Authorize).
- A four-question risk assessment calculates Low, Moderate or High risk from the answers, so risk is never a guess.
- Entering Authorize requests approval from every member of your CAB group; a normal or emergency change cannot be scheduled until the approval is Approved.
- Implementation plan, backout plan, test plan and risk and impact analysis live on the change.
- Change tasks wait as Pending and open by themselves when the change enters Implement; the change cannot move to Review or Closed while a task is open.
- Affected configuration items, besides the main one, feed the conflict check on the change calendar.
- Close codes record Successful, Successful with issues or Unsuccessful, and incidents caused by the change are listed on it.
How it works
How does change management work in Autessa IT Desk?
Describe it
Create a change, or raise one from an incident or problem with Create change. Fill in the justification, the configuration items it touches and the implementation, backout and test plans.
Assess the risk
Answer the four risk questions. The calculated risk updates as you answer.
Get approval
Request approval moves the change to Authorize and asks the CAB. Standard changes skip this step; emergency changes come here directly.
Schedule
Set the planned start and end. The conflict panel warns about other changes on the same items in an overlapping window, or a blackout.
Implement
Implement opens the pending change tasks. Each task owner starts and closes their step.
Review and close
When every change task is closed, Review the change, then Close it with a close code and notes.
Every option
Change types, states, risk and approval
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| States | New, Assess, Authorize, Scheduled, Implement, Review, Closed, Canceled. |
| Type | Standard, Normal, Emergency, each with its own allowed path. |
| Risk questions | Impact on services while the change runs (none, some degraded, a critical service); Is an outage required?; Has the backout plan been tested?; Has this change been done successfully before? |
| Calculated risk | Score of 6 or more is High, 3 or more Moderate, otherwise Low. The field also offers Very high. |
| Approval | Not requested, Requested, Approved, Rejected (read-only; set by the CAB decisions). |
| CAB settings | Which group is the CAB and whether any one member or every member must approve. |
| Planning | Implementation plan, Backout plan, Test plan, Risk and impact analysis. |
| Schedule | Planned start and end, CAB date, CAB recommendation, actual start and end (recorded for you). |
| Close code | Successful, Successful with issues, Unsuccessful. |
| Change task states | Pending, Open, Work in Progress, Closed Complete, Closed Incomplete, Closed Skipped. |
| Actions | Assess, Request approval, Schedule, Implement, Review, Close, Revert to New, Cancel, Add change task. |
Permissions
Who can do what?
| Role | Can |
|---|---|
| IT agent | Create changes, answer the risk questions, request approval, schedule, implement, review and close, and add change tasks. |
| Approver | Approve or reject the changes that wait on them as CAB members, and see the change calendar. |
| IT administrator | Choose the CAB group and approval mode and set blackout windows. |
| Assignment-group member | Work the change tasks assigned to their group. |
AI assist
How the IT Desk Assistant helps
On a change, ask the IT Desk Assistant whether it is ready for CAB or what else is scheduled in the same window. It can draft plans into the form for you to review, and it shows a confirm card before closing or canceling anything.
The assistant acts as you, with your role. It fills forms but never saves them, and anything risky waits for you to press Confirm.
About the IT Desk Assistant →Connected
How it connects to the rest of IT Desk
IT DESK FEATURE
Change calendar
Every scheduled change on a month or week view, with conflicts and blackouts.
IT DESK FEATURE
Approvals
CAB decisions use the same approval records as catalog requests.
IT DESK FEATURE
Problem management
Problems raise the change that fixes them for good.
IT DESK FEATURE
CMDB
Changes point at configuration items, and each item lists its changes.
FAQ
Questions about change management
Does Autessa IT Desk have a Change Advisory Board?
Yes. You choose a CAB group, and a change entering Authorize asks every member for approval. You decide whether one approval or everyone's is needed.
How is change risk calculated?
From four questions about service impact, outage, a tested backout plan and whether the change was done before. The answers add up to a score that maps to Low, Moderate or High.
What is a standard change?
A pre-approved, low-risk change you do often. It skips Assess and Authorize and goes straight to Scheduled.
Can a change close with open tasks?
No. A change cannot move to Review or Closed while any of its change tasks is still open.
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