American Government Solutions (AGS) change management process empowers solutions for organizations that need to address change. We believe failing to plan is planning to fail. It might be intuitively obvious to most of us, but not to our competitors. AGS has been acknowledged as one of the top 4 experts in change management. Our ingenuity guarantees changes are communicated to those effected and are clearly documented. We achieve the steps necessary to make your business changes successful.
AGS breaks down changes into parts to effectively manage changes to your business. With our accomplished change management process model, layers of the change are brought to smaller layers that detail the departments of your business the change affects. By knowing where the change needs to occur, your entire organization will see the pieces that affect your entire business process. Here is a high-level overview of our change management process. In the diagram below, each box breaks out into many different sub-processes.
AGS Change Management Process Elements
Trigger Element
The trigger element represents the triggering event that will cause the change management process to begin and represents a message (email, letter, phone call etc.).
Document
The Document process is the first step of the change management process. The receiving business unit begins by naming and describing the change identified by the trigger element. The business unit enters a name and description for the change in a common change log (e.g. paper change log, common spreadsheet, change tracking repository on a server).
Analyze
Once the change has been documented, it is assigned to an individual or a team for analysis. The assigned analyst researches the change to determine impact to the business unit and identify the affect it has on the business unit. The analyst documents what the effects of the change are for the business unit citing both positive and negative. A suggested direction may also be documented as part of the analysis. The analysis is presented to the business unit management for review and acceptance.
Formulate Resolution
Once the analysis is complete, the assigned analyst formulates the resolution that the business unit will implement to deal with the change. Then the analyst composes a detailed definition of what must be done. As part of the resolution process the analyst also identifies other business units that potentially could be affected by this business unit’s resolution.
Approve/Reject
The documented resolution is presented to the business unit management change review board for review and approval. If the change review board does not accept the resolution, a documented reason is sent with the rejection back to the analyst. If approved, the accepted documented resolution will move forward in the change process.
NOTE: A valid resolution may be to do nothing at all and the change process artifact becomes documentation of the due diligence research.
Plan Develop Resolution
The approved resolution is used to develop a plan for solution implementation. Once the plan is complete, the development of the resolution is done. Resolution development may include software coding, process changes, policy changes, manual process changes and physical environment changes. All business units, external vendors and external suppliers that are impacted are documented. A change notice is created and sent to each affected entity. The completed resolution is now ready for implementation.
Implement
The resolution artifacts (software, hardware, document etc.) are placed in to service / production by executing the resolution plan. Each item is tested to ensure it is functioning as expected. It is essential that channels of communication with affected entities are open to ensure no adverse outcomes are occurring.
Review
The analysts, developers, implementers, and management review the outcomes of the change and determine the success. If there are any issues they are document and resolved on a priority schedule. Once all issues are satisfactorily resolved the process waits for change ready notices from entities that were sent change notices. When all change ready notices are received the change is complete. The Change log is updated to reflect that the change is complete and a change ready notice is sent to the entity that notified this business unit of the change.
Element
The change is fully addressed and can be closed for this business unit. The change process terminates for this change.
Change Notice
The Change notice is a memo, letter, email or other type of communication that is sent to entities both internal to the business and external that are affected by the resolution to a change. The change notice acts as a trigger for the receiving entity to begin its change management process.
Change Ready Notice
The Change ready notice is a memo, letter, email or other type of communication that is sent to the entity that notified this business unit of the change. Change ready notices are also received by this business unit from entities that received change notices from this business unit. The change ready notice acts as verification from partner/associated entities that the change has been addressed.
AGS’ change management solution is built for the simplest change to an enterprise wide complex change. Our methodology is engineered to execute changes efficiently, communicate changes comprehensively, and implement changes successfully.