Change Request
A Change Request is a controlled record for adding, modifying or removing anything that could affect a live IT service, carrying risk assessment, approvals and an implementation window.
Also searched as: change management, CHG record, CAB approval.
In practice
ServiceNow ships three types: Standard (pre-approved from a template), Normal (risk-assessed and CAB-approved) and Emergency (fast-tracked, approved retrospectively where policy allows). Change conflicts and blackout schedules are checked against the planned start and end dates.
Example
Patching a production database is raised as a Normal change, scored medium risk, approved by CAB, and scheduled inside the Sunday 02:00-04:00 maintenance window.
What interviewers check
Expect to name the three change types and to explain when Emergency is legitimate rather than a process shortcut.
Practise this topic
Related ITSM terms
- IncidentAn Incident is an unplanned interruption or reduction in quality of an IT service, tracked on the incident table so service can be restored as fast as possible.
- ProblemA Problem is the record that tracks the underlying cause of one or more incidents, so the fault can be removed permanently instead of repeatedly worked around.
- SLA (Service Level Agreement)An SLA is a committed target — such as resolve a P1 within four hours — enforced in ServiceNow by an SLA Definition that attaches a timer to a task and tracks elapsed, remaining and breached time.