Change Planning - Avaya Application Solutions Deployment Manual

Change control
What-if analysis
What-if analyses seek to understand the affect of the change on the existing environment. For
example, if you add a new feature to a media gateway, the what-if analysis should determine
the resource requirements of that feature on the media gateway. This type of testing is normally
required when adding additional features, users, or services to a network.

Change planning

Change planning is the process of planning a change, including identifying requirements,
ordering the required hardware and software parts, checking power budgets, identifying human
resources, creating change documentation, and reviewing technical aspects of the change and
change process. You should create change planning documentation such as maps, detailed
implementation procedures, testing procedures, and backout procedures. The level of planning
is usually directly proportional to the risk level of the change. A successful project should have
the following goals for change planning:
Ensure all resources are identified and in place for the change.
Ensure a clear goal has been set and met for the change.
Ensure the change conforms to all organizational standards for design, configuration,
version, naming conventions, and management.
Create a backout procedure.
Define escalation paths.
Define affected users and times when the network will be out of service for notification
purposes.
Change planning includes the generation of a change request, which should be sent to the
change controller.
Recommendations for change request information
Avaya recommends including the following information on the change request form:
Name of person requesting change
Date submitted
Target date for implementing the change
Change control number (supplied by the change controller)
Help desk tracking number (if applicable)
Risk level of the change
Description of the change
376 Avaya Application Solutions IP Telephony Deployment Guide