Change Management assesses proposed changes to the IT infrastructure. Each proposed change is submitted as a change request (which is also called a request for change or RFC).  Each change request is logged as a change that must be assessed and authorized.  Changes are recorded as change records, but are typically referred to simply as a change. 

Each change is assigned a change category and priority.  Based on this, the change follows a specified change model which describes how the change will be processed. For instance, there could be a change model for a minor change, a major change, and an emergency change. 

Many changes will undergo impact assessment by the Change Advisory Board (CAB). The change model for the change specifies whether the CAB is used.  If the CAB is not used, typically the Change Owner will review all assessments.

Once assessed, a change undergoes a decision to be authorized or not by the Change Authority.  Changes that are authorized must have remediation plans. Authorized changes are added to the change schedule and are implemented by other processes, including Deployment Management, which rolls out hardware and software that is ready to be deployed.  Typically, changes are implemented within a known change window.   

Simple, straightforward changes will come from the Service Desk in the form of a service request and handled as standard changes, which do not require change assessment or authorization. Instead, they are typically sent to the appropriate process to implement the standard change.