The Change Management process for CERN has been designed to fulfill the overall goal of a unified, standardized and repeatable handling of all change requests regardless of the specific requirements and structures of customers, users as well as internal and external support groups involved in the implementation.

Change Management for CERN is based on ITSM Change Management best practices to ensure the controlled handling of requests which go beyond the scope of Request Fulfillment. The main purpose of Change Management is to ensure control in terms of schedule, quality, risk and costs.
A Change is defined as the introduction, modification or retirement of a component relevant for the provision of a service. It is the conversion of a relevant component from a defined state into another defined state. A Change can be necessary to solve an Incident or to fulfill a Request.
The Scope of Change Management covers all relevant steps including feasibility studies and cost estimates, various approvals, communication, planning, implementation, acceptance and final review.

The change management process for CERN was defined in workshops during 2011. A separate analysis and specific workshops were organized for the facilities and site management services who have some special needs in the area of work orchestration and approval; the result is documented here.